These rules are largely the low hanging fruit for aspiring writers. If an expert in a craft is asked to give advice to an audience of beginners, I'm guessing t

These rules are largely the low hanging fruit for aspiring writers. If an expert in a craft is asked to give advice to an audience of beginners, I'm guessing they'll pick the problems they see the most common, plus perhaps a few salient lessons they've learned recently and make a list. Also, regarding theory of fiction / narration -- that is a mixed blessing. You see writing software like Dramatica push a particular theory (based on the hero's journey) -- and only if you find the high level of that theory compelling will you find the software to be maximally useful. Also, I bet the authors managed to avoid a lot of low-tech author / writing community flame wars by avoiding fiction and narration theory ;-)