In the writing world, there are a lot of writing “rules”: “Show, don’t tell,” “Don’t use flashbacks,” “Only use ‘said,'” “Avoid adverbs” . . . While they can certainly be helpful, they aren’t law. And if you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll know that I love figuring out how to properly break just about any writing rule. I mean, I only have a whole section in my Writing Tip Index dedicated specifically to rule breaks.

Lately though, I’ve been thinking about two rules of thumb that can be used to justify breaking almost any writing rule. And really, they merit their own article.

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