“Although I could see where the rule makers were coming from — backstory risks slowing down frontstory, it’s true, and time-jumping risks confusing the reader, and stories with moral stances risk becoming preachy — I always felt a bristling aversion to rules, because the stories I loved usually broke two or three of them in the first five pages.” – Anthony Doerr
I have a rule. When I read a writer for the first time, I’m not allowed to look up his or her picture until AFTER I’ve encountered the story. I don’t want appearances to influence me. I only want to interact with the text, without any preconceived (and often inaccurate) ideas I may develop by looking at a photo of the writer.
But I also love to hear a writer talk about breaking the rules. Sometimes all the “don’t do this or thats” can stifle even the first sentence. And that’s why I loved reading this short article by Anthony Doerr… I looked up his photo AFTER I had read his novel ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. If you don’t have time for the whole article, the last two paragraphs are hilarious.