What I think is interesting is that the more you do, you have to invent a book of rules of what you can do and what you can't do. And the very real danger is that if your book of rules becomes a book of cliches.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
You write a novel by inventing a world and inventing the rules that govern that world. Then you break the rules when you want to.
I think a lot of people study the rules too much and then don't know how to be creative.
I loved writing a book in which, in some ways, it's very, very classical, and in some ways I'm breaking lots of rules about what you can do and what you can't do.
I think a lot of writers are tempted to add complexity by over-complicating things, but always remember that most natural rules/laws are, at their core, simple. Start simple, and build from there, or you risk getting yourself and your readers tangled.
Most rules that you think are written in stone are just societal. You can change the game and really reach for the stars and make the world a better place.
If I'm desperate, I'll read anything. But even when I can be choosy, I still have no hard-and-fast rules. I have rules about what I won't read, rather than what I will. No science fiction, no romance, no chick lit. Although even these rules can be broken.
One of the things I've tried to do in my career is really write different kinds of books, so I'm able to broaden people's expectations of what I'm allowed to do.
I've always wanted to find the rules that govern everything. It's amazing that such rules exist. It's even more amazing that we can find them.
I've always been a rule-follower. Even when I was a kid, I tried to do everything by the book.
Literature invents its own rules.