No, Marilyn, it's called different strokes for different folks.
There are almost as many different tastes in reading as there are readers; one person's delight is another's bore, and vice versa.
Writing craft has its place, of course it does. But when it starts to dictate, or appear to dictate, stylistic elements which do appeal to different readers' tastes then, in my opinion, it goes too far in attempting to homogenise writing. I read some published writers because I love their style; I don't read some others because I don't care for that style, and I'm sure most people would tell a similar story. A story has to grip me, and whether or not it grips me doesn't have to do with whether the author has followed certain ten-step rules of story construction and so on, but whether the author can write an interesting story in a way which engages my interest.
One of my very favourite authors, in a book a couple of years ago, followed her editor's advice on writing craft and omitted a certain scene (one which would have involved lots of introspection and heart-to-hearts between the hero and heroine - and, just as an aside, this author is known for lots of use of introspection, and her books frequently hit best-seller lists
). The editor's view was that the book would be 'crafted' better, more elegantly, without that scene; a certain element of surprise would remain and in any case, the editor argued, readers didn't need to be told everything. After the book appeared, on that author's email list and in Amazon reviews, there was complaint after complaint that a key scene near the end seemed to be missing, that the author had 'forgotten' to provide the readers closure over an important element of the plot. When the author told us, on her list, what had happened, list-members were furious at being denied that scene, and scathing at an editor who seemed to presume to know what readers wanted.
The moral, in my opinion? Ignore the ten-step rules and write to your own style. It'll find a market.
Wendy
