Verboten
I did something yesterday I wasn't supposed to do, inasmuch as multiple trained professionals have told me never to do it (again). I trimmed my bangs. They were hanging in and past my eyes and I wasn't feeling patient enough to make an appointment with my stylist and then pay $55 for a half inch trim. So I went at them with little scissors. I have tricky bangs. They have a little curl toward the middle so if you're not careful you end up with a very uneven, cringe-inducing fringe of hair. I think I did a good job. It's a little blunt but not bad. Certainly not, "Stephanie, we talked about this. Never trim your own bangs." talk worthy.
How does this pertain to writing, you ask? I'm so glad you did! Often, in writing classes or books you hear or read advice on the craft. Some of that advice begins, "Never" followed by an action. I've heard never begin stories with dreams or flashbacks. Never end a story with a surprise for the sake of surprise. Never write outside your gender, race, experience. Never write using dialect. Never write while slicing onions (that's just practical, folks). Now some of this advice can be useful and some of it can be, how shall we say, limiting?
Understand that you can write whatever you want, however you want. A lot of these old chestnuts were constructed by people tired of reading bad stories that began the same way or contained the same terrible similarities. They figured if they told aspiring writers never to do these things then they might avoid reading stories with those gruesome elements. But you're no chump! You know that you can write amazing stuff that violates any and all of these rules (except the onion one: safety first!) Heck, sometimes you can even trim your own bangs with success!