Breaking Writing Rules

My writing students sometimes complain about having to follow so many writing rules. They don't understand why they can't exercise creative license and write like they want to. The answer is simple - because they haven't earned their license yet. It is an irony of good writing that you must first become a master of the rules before you can break them. Why is it important to master the rules of writing? Because if you don't have the fundamentals down, you can't achieve the finesse. One must come before the other. You have to absolutely worship the sound principles of good writing - structure, grammar and syntax - learn them inside and out, and practice them religiously before you can even begin to break away and develop your own style. The road to excellence is paved by the bricks of writing basics. You must fully grasp what you are leaving behind before you can successfully leave it. So the formula is this: learn the rules, follow them, and then break them. Once you have fully mastered the fundamentals, you need to fly in the face of them, put your stamp on the literary world, and develop your own style that has its own set of rules. This is how excellence is achieved. This is what transforms you from a technically good writer into an extraordinary writer. So take the time to learn the rules, but then when the time is right, don't be afraid to leave them behind.