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Old 04-18-2012, 11:32 AM   #7
gmw
cacoethes scribendi
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Items 6 and 7 seem like duplicates to me, okay so the emphasis in 7 is on the character, but the concept is essentially the same and I feel could be effectively grouped under one heading. But are these two items (merged or separate) "golden rules", or simply items worthy of consideration while developing your story and characters? Sure it would probably be too much to read an entire book of characters that are perfectly good and perfectly bad, but - depending on the story - there may indeed be a place for a distinct lack of balance ... it's even possible to suggest that a lack of balance can be very important to many tales.

Most of the rest of your list seems like good advice - although I'm not sure they feel like "rules" to me, but perhaps that's a good thing. For example (not picking on Justin, just taking that post as an example), a rule about not killing off your character in the first chapter is not really a rule, it is feasible to do exactly that and still have a long novel, as the reader finds out how that came to pass. Like so many other "rules" I've read, such rules are probably good things to consider, you should know the rules before you break them, but few constitute true golden rules.
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