A useful thing to remember about writing advice is that whenever I, a professional author, see people posting writing absolutes (like "you must do this" or "never do this") - I disagree with them at least half the time. Use the advice that resonates for YOU. Ignore the rest!

"When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." -Neil Gaiman

I love beginning with dialogue.

I’ve seen so many authors complain about how what worked for the last book isn’t working for the current book

Right? I really hate all of the “musts” and “nevers”.

got it. only follow absolutes half the time.

Spent 2hrs. deconstructing Chekov's Gun yesterday for the satisfaction of doing so. Totally agree with you, though I've become fascinated with the foundations of many rules-- the motivations behind them, and potential outcome of people having adhered to them.

So true! I spent ten years as a special ed teacher working with struggling middle school writers and, let me tell you...absolutes do not work. That's the only absolute I'll tell people, because everyone processes differently.

This advice to ignore advice does/does not resonate with me.

Most people would say I do things very, very wrong. I still somehow end up with a book at the end, so...