Some of these rules are "how not to sound like an amateur", especially #3 through #6. I think these are nearly universal. Others are how to keep the fiction f

Some of these rules are "how not to sound like an amateur", especially #3 through #6. I think these are nearly universal. Others are how to keep the fiction feeling fun, like the rules about not physically describing characters. This is much more particular to what the author is doing with the novel, and I think they're better understood as defaults that you should overrule only if you really want to. And I think that this is so largely regardless of genre. My personal taste in SF largely obeys all of these rules. But my girlfriend, who is also an SF fan, definitely loves books that violate some or all of 7, 8, and 9. Perfect example, I think I'd have enjoyed Feersum Endjinn a lot more if it had followed these rules. But then again, maybe if it did, it'd be nothing special (as it is, it's a pretty special book that happens to be not-really-for-me).