Why Every Book Should Break the Rules
In defense of love triangles, emotional damage, and tropes that "don’t work”
You know those writing rules you’re not supposed to break?
❌ Don’t write love triangles
❌ Stick to one POV
❌ Nobody wants morally grey women
❌ your characters need to be likeable
To which I say, (disrespectfully) no thanks.
Because here’s the thing: I don’t want fiction that’s tidy. I want books that hit like a freight train. That means nonsense is required and so are tropey decisions that shouldn’t work… but absolutely do. I want endings that feel earned even if they’re not neat, and characters who make messy, human choices because they’re hurting or hopeful or twenty-two and emotionally unavailable.
Nowadays the discourse around what is ‘good writing’ seems to me a lot more synonymous with ‘safe writing’. And that’s ridiculous. Aren’t the most memorable stories the ones that make you feel too much?
🕮 This Week’s Bookish Mood
Me: the universe-building was unstructured, kind of reckless, and there was no clear resolution in the series
Also me: *adds to favorites, five stars it, reads it twelve more times*
(the girlies that get it, get it)
In Defense of Breaking the Rules
Some of the most unforgettable books I’ve been recommended were the ones that didn’t follow the rules. People were jumping up and down to tell me about it and none of us cared if they didn’t stick to a single pre-packaged trope. In fact, most of them blended grief with romance, let characters be unlikable and lovable in the same breath. And they gave us endings that didn’t fix everything, but said something true.
Think back to Divergent, one of the best-selling dystopian book series of the 2010s. Do you remember the ending? Did you care? Probably not. Sure, it wrapped things up in a pretty bow but it was so goddamn lackluster you’d never touch it again with a ten-foot pole.
Wrapping up my trilogy only reinforced to me that stories don’t need permission to be a little strange (soft nod to a certain recently-finished book I may have sobbed over 👀 Pacific Cold Front, made to break hearts)
So next time someone tells you ‘that trope doesn’t work’ or ‘that character isn’t nice enough’, I hope you write it anyway. Because the rules are optional, the emotions are mandatory.
Which rule-breaking trope should happen more often?
If you have a book you read that broke the rules and worked, share it in the chat. We’re always down to add to our TBR
💌 P.S. Love this newsletter? Forward it to your book club bestie, your unwell sibling, or the one person you trust to recommend gut-wrenching reads.
Let’s be lose our sanity together (but like, in a well-read way)
𓂃🖊 Rachel