Write Away

I love it. Honestly, I'm skeptical of pretty much ALL writing advice that takes the form "Don't do [X]," because for just about every possible [X], there's an example somewhere of it working really well. There are probably exceptions, but I can't think of any at the moment. But anyone who reads at all can tell that these rules aren't being followed by their favorite writers.

Sometimes the standard response to pointing out that, say, Tolstoy loved him some adjective pileups and people seem to like Tolstoy anyway, is to say "OH HO HO HO; YOU'RE NO TOLSTOY THOUGH" and leave it at that.

Then it can feel to writers who are still finding their legs that there is one set of rules for non-famous plebs like them and another set of rules for Real Writers, and a cold sea of caution between Pleb Island and the Continent of Real Writerhood. It isolates.