If you want to get published, never, EVER:
- Write a story in more than one or two points of view,
   and heaven forbid you should use four or more.
- Open a scene with a character looking in a mirror.
- Use hokey dream sequences.
- Kill off one of the main characters.
- Start with a prologue because everyone knows
   prologues are old school.

And those are only a few naughty no-no's on the ol' verboten list. Here's the deal, though . . . of the rules I've mentioned, I've broken every one of them in books I've gotten published. I know. Right? What good are rules if schleps like me laugh in the face of the rule gods and still get published? How come some writers can get away with these shenanigans?

One word: story. It all has to do with a breathtaking story. If you capture the reader's attention, grab 'em by the throat and ramp up their heart rate with an oh-my-sweet-pickled-pineapple-I-MUST-read-the-next-chapter kind of intrigue, then you can break rules left and right and get away with it. Whoa. I think I might've broken a rule or two in that sentence.

The bottom line is that if you listen to every editor/agent/expert/mother-in-law out there, you'll be so confined by do's and don'ts that your creativity will die an ugly death. Write your story, in your voice. Sure, go ahead and listen to the rules. Know what they are. But don't live, eat and breathe them. Readers and publishers crave freshness in storytelling, and sometimes that happens by flipping the bird to rules.