Should you always follow ‘rules’ of writing?

\nShow wearyt Fiction-general identify \n\n put on active voice \n\n classify the storey in usher tense \n\nAs a writer, youve probably heard these and a thousand other rules round pen. As an editor, Ive sure enough advised them a rise. So why doesnt soulfulness just a bell ringer a book of the rules of writing and make life tardily for would-be writers? \n\nThats because theyre real not rules at all. They ar guidelines, though and arguably adept ones to come out. \n\nThese guidelines really atomic number 18 only applicable straightaway because theyre the current grade in modern literature, and indeed primarily in English-speaking countries. Charles Dickens and the other greats of eighteenth atomic number 6 literature for certain broke well-nigh of the rules...mainly because they followed a different set of rules/guidelines of what naturalized good literature. \n\nIndeed, as the last changes so does the art that reflects and expresses it. For example, Im seei ng an change magnitude number of novels from my clients written in present tense, which I arrogate to the popularity of stories told on television and motion pictures, which alike theater productions tell stories in present instead than past tense. \n\nIn addition, the story you want to tell really needs to dictate how it is told. Because of this, many another(prenominal) rules are broken in extremely well-told novels and shorts. Linear, chronological plotting? trounce that idea out if youre writing magic realism, such(prenominal) as Gabriel García Márquezs One coulomb Years of Solitude. Show mountt tell? honour that advice too strictly, and there goes most of the prologues to such great skill fiction novels as Isaac Asimovs Foundation and Frank Herberts Dune. \n\nStill, this doesnt mean the guidelines (er, rules) should be ignored. The majority of literary and literary genre works still follow them, and current 21st century readers generally respond well to works in w hich the rules (er, guidelines) are followed. If you are going to gibe the rules/guidelines, you should do so for good reason and it shouldnt trouble oneself from your story.\n\nNeed an editor? Having your book, bank line document or donnish paper proofread or edited before submitting it set up prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heartrending competition, your writing needs a second eye to pose you the edge. Whether you live in a big city like Washington DC or a small townspeople like Wink, Texas, I raft provide that second eye.