Forgive me a wee ramble. 
It seems to me the terms Rules and Techniques tend to get muddled in some advice-related threads.
RULES ( in whatever sphere) are meant to be followed and there is invariably a penalty for ignoring them.
RULES in grammar and punctuation exist so we can communicate in writing with one another. The penalty for ignoring basic rules of grammar and punctuation is our written sentences become garbled and at worst unreadable.
There are no RULES to be followed when writing our novels and if we follow standard grammar and punctuation rules there's a good chance the individual sentences in our novel will be readable.
BUT - even assuming we have followed the rules of grammar and punctuation that is no guarantee that all the sentences together will make a readable whole.
We can think we have the greatest characters and story in the world but that is worth little if we can’t convey the characters, images and their story to the reader in an interesting and engaging fashion so the reader wants to read all our sentences, paragraphs, chapters and pages to the End.
There are many pitfalls - weak or no POV, wordiness, repetition, excessive world building or scene setting, rambling descriptions, dull dialogue....
Spotting or having these pointed out to us and rectifying them and removing excessive adverbs/adjectives etc., still offers no guarantee of flow and clarity if we close our eyes to 'technique'.
TECHNIQUE is the accumulated wisdom of those who have gone before us. Proven ways of writing more effectively, including expressing emotions and action/reactions more convincingly, the structuring of stories so they draw a reader in, the means of allowing the reader to become involved in the unfolding tale, ways of writing narrative and dialogue to achieve better flow and clarity...etc..etc.,
We should heed technique and choose those elements we feel helpful, because pretending 'techniques' be lumped together with 'rules' and/or do not exist or don't apply to us, means our writing may never be as strong as it could be or do proper justification to our story.
"Hoi! Bufty! Gerroff yer box!"
It seems to me the terms Rules and Techniques tend to get muddled in some advice-related threads.
RULES ( in whatever sphere) are meant to be followed and there is invariably a penalty for ignoring them.
RULES in grammar and punctuation exist so we can communicate in writing with one another. The penalty for ignoring basic rules of grammar and punctuation is our written sentences become garbled and at worst unreadable.
There are no RULES to be followed when writing our novels and if we follow standard grammar and punctuation rules there's a good chance the individual sentences in our novel will be readable.
BUT - even assuming we have followed the rules of grammar and punctuation that is no guarantee that all the sentences together will make a readable whole.
We can think we have the greatest characters and story in the world but that is worth little if we can’t convey the characters, images and their story to the reader in an interesting and engaging fashion so the reader wants to read all our sentences, paragraphs, chapters and pages to the End.
There are many pitfalls - weak or no POV, wordiness, repetition, excessive world building or scene setting, rambling descriptions, dull dialogue....
Spotting or having these pointed out to us and rectifying them and removing excessive adverbs/adjectives etc., still offers no guarantee of flow and clarity if we close our eyes to 'technique'.
TECHNIQUE is the accumulated wisdom of those who have gone before us. Proven ways of writing more effectively, including expressing emotions and action/reactions more convincingly, the structuring of stories so they draw a reader in, the means of allowing the reader to become involved in the unfolding tale, ways of writing narrative and dialogue to achieve better flow and clarity...etc..etc.,
We should heed technique and choose those elements we feel helpful, because pretending 'techniques' be lumped together with 'rules' and/or do not exist or don't apply to us, means our writing may never be as strong as it could be or do proper justification to our story.
"Hoi! Bufty! Gerroff yer box!"
