by Vladimir Nabokov:All the traditional rules of story telling have been broken in this wonderful short story of twenty pages or so. There is no problem, no regular climax, no point at the end. And it is one of the greatest stories ever written.
High praise, and it recalls the idea that "rules are made to be broken". Similarly, there is Dave Matthews and his beautiful song Dodo, in which he asks, "why would you play by the rules?" I suppose there are two types of people in life: rule-followers and rule-breakers. It seems to me that it's almost a necessity to be a rule-breaker in order to make a lasting, positive impression in art.
I find that I am usually a rule-follower, but there are times when I become a rule-breaker, such as when a rule is unjust or outdated or simply makes no sense. I think I need to be more of a rebel more of the time.
What about you? Are you a rule-follower? Rule-breaker?
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