Yeah just got me thinking. For example my one friend loved Twilight, thought it was the best written book alive. Another friend was a big fan of all of Dan Browns work. And although i've never read there books i know that both authors and there works are not very respected by writers. Then there was another friend who was obsessed with Harry Potter, and when we were talking about these rules/guidelines, she was pointing out where they were broken in HP. (Again only read the first book so i dont know but she read them a million times so i trust she is right.)
just got me thinking. Maybe non-writers really dont notice the stuff we work so hard to avoid.
The thing with Twilight is not only is not very respected among writers...it's not really respected
anywhere outside of the young teenage girl market.
I've never read Dan Brown's work, but a major part of the popularity is the fact that he's controversial.
Does Harry Potter break the "rules"? Yes. A lot. The longer I'm a writer, the more I notice it. But the difference is with Harry Potter it
works. Rowling is such a great story teller that you don't
notice the writing. Also she gets better with each book. The writing in
Deathly Hallows is better than the writing in
Sorcerer's Stone.
The reason why telling is so warned against is because it can be flat to read and mess with the pacing. Done wrong, it distracts from the story. This is true for most -- if not all -- of the rules of writing. Everything is warned against for a reason.