As so stated by Steve Barry.  I think everything he has to say, while a bit unoriginal and rather universal, is pretty spot on.

However I do find it a bit hypocritical and at the same time oxymoronic to have rule number one be that there aren’t any rules and then proceed to list seven other rules.  I get what he’s saying and I see the quirk but still . . .

For you, I shall highlight–

Maybe he’s speaking in terms of overall style.  Yes you can do whatever you want so long as it works but how many people are actually capable of doing that without having a name to fall back on should it not work?  What’s more, how many are allowed to do such a thing without that name recognition?  It’s a nice thought but realistically speaking, the majority of writers aren’t good enough (myself included) to do whatever they want and make it work (because, more often than not, that usually means some out of the atmosphere style that’s on Picasso’s level) nor do they have a name they can use as a safety net.  I see it being as one of those “in theory” points.

A good way to indicate if the reader would be bored is if you’re bored reading your own work.  Always a bad sign.  Don’t bore yourself first and foremost.  Write a story that you’d want to read and then the rest will follow.

Confusion is never a good thing.  I can only speak for myself when I say this but I know that when I’m reading for pleasure, I don’t like to think too too hard about what I’m reading, in terms of what the hell is going on.  If my brain starts twisting because I can’t figure the plot itself out, the book is being set right back down.

Keep yourself out of it.  Unless your characters are psychic, they’d not going to know future plot details unless you take it upon yourself to put it in there (or it’s first person point of view recounting a past event).  In that same vein, write your characters reactions and personalities, not yours.  Unless you’re writing an autobiography, get the hell off the page.

Trim the fat.  Most people don’t like reading door stoppers.  Learn the difference between what you want in the book and what you need in the book.  Huge difference.

Keep your facts straight and don’t outright lie.  Readers don’t like being slapped in the face with a fish for no apparent reason so there better be some inklings to that fish slap somewhere.  If Clark Kent was always insinuated that he was Superman but at the end it turned out this it was really his twin brother, Mark, but he didn’t even have so much as have a mention before page 375, people are going to get cranky.  Just like a gun seen in the first act should be used by the third, a squid at the end of the story had better be hinted at throughout so the readers can prepare themselves for calamari.

Don’t piss your readers off.  This means not mashing your keyboard with your fist to come up with character or place names, giving characters more than one dimension, using feasible plots, writing that isn’t stilted and I’m pretty sure the list could go on.

The story’s gotta be good.  As I know we have all seen, a good story can mask bad writing but no matter how beautiful the writing, if the story sucks, the writing isn’t going to save it.