Writers’ Rules Are Made to Be Broken…I think

I saw a rule posted on Writerly that said, “Avoid Alliteration Always.” Thought of it this morning as I was planning to write a new post for today with the Title “Breaking Bread With Buddhists.” (which was replaced with this post but will be my next topic.)

I beg to differ with Writerly. I like alliteration. Like it Lots. I think it’s poetic. Poetry Packs a Punch. And, like most literary techniques, alliteration is okay when used sparingly and cleverly. Allow Alliteration Agilely.

Rules for writers evolve. Recently I read a novel in which the dialogue was punctuated without the use of quotation marks. My first thought, since it was an ebook, was that it was poorly edited. But I mentioned it to a writer friend and he said, “Oh, no, it wasn’t poor editing. It’s a thing now.” (note my use of old-school quotation marks.)

It’s a thing, now? No quotation marks? What’s next? No punctuation at all how will we know when questions are being asked or when emphasis is intended or when to breathe or one sentence ends and another begins and before you know it the whole thing dissolves into chaos but you hardly even realize it because chaos may be spelled incorrectly because the rules have gone out the window

So, tomorrow I will write about Breaking Bread With Buddhists. And darn it, I will break the rule about alliteration because I still can. I’m a writer. Hear (or rather, read) me roar!

What writer rule do you find objectionable?