Exceptions

Another trip out of town, stopping at a bookstore, has given me an idea for a blog post. While I have way too many books to read (smaller than some, yes I know if you have a 100+ list), I still bought 2 books. The first book I bought took some time. I wasn't going to buy it yet because it's going to be awhile before I get around to it out of the read pile, but eventually changed my mind. That book is The Hunger Games. Yeah, I know... I've been told by certain people (and you know who you are) about how I must read this book. Blah blah blah. I bought it and it's in the pile. The other book is the reason for this post. I bought a hardback copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I am an anti-hardback person but for this book I made an exception to that rule.

Why did I make an exception for this particular book? Aside from the fact that it sounds like a great book that I've seen discussed on twitter... I have read one book by one of the authors. The book I've read is Boy Meets Boy, which is a cute little book with, and get this, gay main character! Yep. One of the Will Grayson characters, according to the information on the book, is gay. That is enough reason for me since it's hard to find books like that without doing a fair amount of research ahead of time. Since I write books with gay main characters, I need to read books that are like mine but published. So, I made an exception because like writing rules, reading rules can and will be broken.

While there are a number of rules that deal with writing and publishing a book, there are also exceptions to most (if not all). If you didn't see it, here is my entry for the blogfest about breaking the rules where I discuss some of the rules first. http://dawnembers.blogspot.com/2010/06/break-rules.html
Another post on writing rules can be found here: http://dawnembers.blogspot.com/2010/03/rules-of-writing.html

Sure, most of the time it might be a good idea to not start by talking about the weather. And not every book should start with dialogue. Some prologues aren't necessary for certain novels and present tense may not work in different cases.

But there are exceptions.

While, there are exceptions, on the other hand, don't take them for granted. Sure, I bought a hardcover book but next time I'm at the store, the no hardcover rule will still be in place and if I purchase books, they will be paperback. Because an exception is an occasional phenomenon, not a regular occurrence.