A book, some pink rollers, and a dryer bonnet

For those of you who don't know, I'm a bit of a junkie when it comes to anything and everything from the 1940s and 1950s. On a shopping trip with my mom yesterday I found and purchased a hair bonnet dryer from the fifties. As I write this, my hair is rolled up in pink sponge rollers and wrapped with the bonnet.

She Who Hunts came out on March 3, 2014. I have since writing the second book to the series (probably going to be a trilogy) and am in the process of editing and revising. In the meantime, I'm also working on a paranormal romance. Ever since starting on this romance I've had so many questions about what is normal, what is okay, and what is acceptable in romance. For instance, is it okay for the heroine to say f*ck?

                                                                                         

Like any normal modern woman I posted many of these questions on Facebook. (Don't judge!) I received such a slew of various answers. One person hates the use of the F bomb, while another said she expects it in most of her paranormal books. When I asked about using all caps to symbolize a man bellowing a statement I was met with yet even more varying answers. One said it was lazy writing, while another said there are no such things as rules and "Strunk was an idiot."

This got me thinking - at this point in time, especially when it comes to things like urban fantasy and paranormal romance where we make up our own worlds and make up rules to go with them, are there rules to the writing anymore? I'm not asking if we still have to use proper punctuation or sentence structure, more is there such a thing as writing etiquette, and what should and shouldn't be used when story telling.

I've scoured sites and blogs looking for the answer, but I find myself reaching the same conclusion as when I searched for the meaning of life.