writer's vow of chastity

Just as Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg wrote the film maker's vow of chastity (also know as Dogme 95), so Bart has proposed a writer's vow of chastity.

A draft of the rules as of August 4, 2007:

The writer's vow of chastity

The writer will use no modifiers.
- No adverbs.
- No adjectives.
The writer should act as a behaviorist.
- No words describing emotion.
- The writer will not make the reader directly privy to a character's thoughts (no interior dialogue or interior monologue).
The writer may break these rules only when it is unavoidable.

The above may be summarized as, "Not doing the reader's work for them."

—B.P. Odom

The summary references advice from C.S. Lewis to his students:

Don't say it was "delightful;" make us say "delightful" when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers "Please will you do the job for me."

the writer's vow of chastity