5 PIECES OF WRITING ADVICE I HATE
If you've been a writer for any length of time, and especially someone who's online a lot, you'll have heard a whole lot of writing advice. Some of it has its place, but a lot of the time it's done in absolutes, and there are a lot of things that people forget when it comes to absolutes. Every writer is different and every one approaches the writing life differently, and that's completely valid.
Now having been writing more than half my life, it makes sense that I'd have picked up a few pieces here and there that I found just rubbed me the wrong way. You'll probably find that every writer out there has some pieces of writing advice that they just do not agree with and do not pass on to newbie writers, or if they do, they do so with a large pinch of salt.
I thought that today I would delve into the five pieces of writing advice that I really just can't stand, and dig into why and what I think should be given in its place!
#1 WRITE EVERY DAY
You can probably work out why I don't like this. I'm a chronically ill and disabled author, and it's just not physically possible for me to write every single day. But the same applies to those who are completely healthy as well. Writing every day is not sustainable, and while there are probably some unicorns out there who can manage it, I don't know any of them. My preference to this advice would be to set a routine, find a way that works for you, carve out that time, and it doesn't have to be every single day, and make it work. I think that's what the original giver of this advice meant, but the nuance has been lost over time.
#2 SAID IS DEAD
I got the same talk that I'm sure a lot of writers have had from their English teachers. We should vary the dialogue tags and never ever use said. Except that sometimes it's the best word for it. Sometimes getting creative with the tags makes the writing look clunky and comes across sounding like you picked up a thesaurus and just went nuts. Need I remind anyone of the writer who should not be named, who used the dialogue tag 'ejaculated' in all seriousness? Like really? That's better than just saying said? I don't think so. While yes it's good to have a little variety, said is often the better word.
#3 WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
Ah, this one is one that gets me every time. While yes, there is a time and a place for it, a lot of the stories told are things people could never experience. I don't have psychic abilities, and yet I wrote a whole eight book series about it. I've never been in a dystopian, yet I've written about that. I'm not an empath, etc, etc. While yes it's a good idea to include things you have experience with, the ability to write almost anything is universal. Imagination is a powerful tool, and while yes, you should research things you're not familiar with, especially if we're talking marginalised identities, it's not where it's completely impossible to have help with that, like sensitivity readers, which are a great tool to use. If we all stuck to only writing what we know, fiction would be very boring.
#4 ONLY WRITE ONE GENRE
This is something I see a lot of people talking about and it always makes me sit back and think: huh? Like I do realise that there are some writers who will only write one genre, and that's fine for them, there are others, like me, who have a handful of genres and move through them. While it may be easier to have success with just one genre per pen name, it's not a case of always having to write that genre and nothing else. It can be done, there are successful writers who started in one genre and moved to another, and it works. It might be harder work, but it is possible. I go where the ideas take me, and even then, I'm more based in a handful rather than all the genres.
#5 X TROPE/GENRE IS DEAD, NEVER WRITE IT
I don't know whether people realise that everything goes in and out of fashion in cycles. There are always going to be hot genres and tropes for a time, and then people turn their focus to something else, and eventually yes, they come back to that trope/genre. It might make it harder to market, but along with the hot topics, there are always going to be those readers who always love that trope and genre no matter whether it's in fashion or not. So go ahead and write what you want, and decide about releasing and such on your own, but it's not a case of any genre or trope being dead forever. It'll come back around eventually.
So there we go, those are the five pieces of writing advice that I hate. While there is always going to be some pieces that apply more to others than you, there can, usually, be a way to make it work, I just avoid absolutes because they are never universally true. Your mileage may, of course, vary.
Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!
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