I found this article to be very useful and a guide to basically everything you need to know as an apprentice writer! Still find myself guilty of many of the things mentioned therein.

http://www.rachelsimon.com/wg_common.htm

Very interesting. Thanks for putting it up.

We went to the site and copied the 35 Common Traps. I haven’t read the article yet. I’m sure it has some good advice, but it makes me tired just looking at all that text. I’ve already read so many rules concerning writing novels that it has taken the fun out of writing.

Does anyone else feel this way? Does anyone else feel like saying, “The hell with the rules. I’m going to write what I want and the way I want.”

Azel

Yeah, I know what you mean Azel - most important thing is to be creative - rules should always be secondary - hence why I get so annoyed when people spend time talking about font size and the length of margins etc. the most important thing is to be able to write well, with fresh ideas and a good story - although this is v difficult to achieve too! You can't ignore the technical side of things - although I guess it depends on whether you write for yourself or for readership.

Don't think of them as rules, Azel, but tips.
Read, read, read, an array of novels, then you'll know which tips are applicable to your writing style and which aren't. And it goes without saying you should write what you want.

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- you really do have to use your discretion with these things. If your worried about what is applicable and what isn't, then you're not reading enough novels, because all authors deviate from them at sometime or other. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not.