The "rules" of writing have been set down a very long time ago and I don't think it possible to re-invent the wheel. It is possible though to make the wheel continue to turn smoothly and well by making your stories as good as you can make them.
Reading feeds writing so the more widely read you are the better. (You have more sources of inspiration for one thing). And all writers of adult fiction owe a huge debt to our colleagues in children's literature because people don't just walk in to a bookshop and get the latest novel. They go in because they already have a love of books fuelled by the stories they loved as children.