We cannot escape them – the nitpickers, absolutists, and sticklers. The tedious tribes of this is how we do it, and that is how it’s done. Rules are created to gain control and uniformity, and we follow them to maintain order and balance. With writing, as with jazz, you can’t break the rules until you know them, until you’ve become so skilled or bored or frustrated that you burst free from structure and create something wholly unique. The best writers question everything, especially what’s been done before. No community has ever grown or evolved without challenging borders. Go in search of the edges.
