Posts in the "Writing Advice We Hate" Category

• Writing Rules vs. Rules of Thumb

  Writing Advice We Hate

  Hey! If you’re in the San Francisco area, come see me read with Richard Kadrey and Naamen Tilahun at Borderlands Books on Valencia Street tomorrow evening (Saturday 10/15/2011). It’s part of Litquake’s Litcrawl, the annual orgiastic celebration of the spoken word. You can find more details at my blog, or go to Borderlands-Books.com or Litquake.com. Hope to see you there!

  Writing Rules vs. Rules of Thumb

  This week we’re talking about writing advice I hate. I hate a lot of it, if not most of it. I think writing advice is fine…in its place. But my view is that writing advice should be considered a “rule of thumb,” not a rule. When writing advice starts to look like “rules,” it too often shows the cognitive, social and creative shortcomings and prejudices of the person who came up with it.

  Mind you, please don’t think I’m talking about the rules of grammar, composition, POV, etc, which I think if possible you should know like the back of your hand, and respect; however, you should also break them willy-nilly if that serves the Work. (See what I did there, with the capital “W”? That’s an example of messing with The Rules to make a point. There! I did it again!! Wasn’t that awesome? Doing it just because you’re pretentious is also allowed, but it will annoy the hell out of everyone around you, as I surely just did. But that’s their problem, right?)

  Beyond those very limited rules of grammar and composition, I think advice that makes the jump from rules-of-thumb to rules-to-live-by is anathema to creativity. Every work of fiction is different, and it should all exist on its own terms. (more…)

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• Tell Don’t Show!

  Writing Advice We Hate

  My least favorite writing chestnut has got to be “show don’t tell.” Why? Because it nearly ruined me as a writer. We’ve all heard this, right? RIGHT? How can you not? It’s one of the first rules you’ll hear if when you attend a talk on writing or a workshop or you start trading crits with other writers.

  Show, don’t tell. Your characters are thinking too much.

  Show, don’t tell. It’ll create a more visceral connection with the reader.

  Show, don’t tell. It’s more active.

  This all makes sense, doesn’t it? Sure, it’s good to make your characters more active. Yup, showing makes the scenes come alive. No question, showing can shed light on a character’s emotions more subtly than simply blurting it out. But please, don’t swallow this advice hook, line, and sinker. Take some time to absorb it, use some short stories to play around with the notion, but recognize that this is one end of a pendulum’s swing, and the other end is just as valid as this one is.

  I suppose some context is in order here. I came to writing fairly late. I played around with it in my teen years and into my twenties, but I was a software engineer at heart. And while I read a lot in my teens, I drifted more toward TV and movies as I grew older. There was nothing wrong with this per se, but you can fall into the trap that I fell into, which was putting the art of literature on the same level as film. In some ways, this makes sense. Both mediums tell stories, right? Both have beginnings, middles, and ends, and both have characters and they tell tales in dramatic fashion. The trouble, of course, is that each has distinct strengths and weaknesses, which I was not sufficiently aware of when I first started writing.

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• It’s the ‘Advice’ Part We Have A Problem With

  Writing Advice We Hate

  It’s been nice this week to read  my fellow Night Bazaarees express varying shades of:  Advice?  Screw those guys!  No, uh, of course we would never post negative comments about other writers on the Internet, especially the super grouchy ones that like to write endless advice blogs and talk smack on the forums.

  

  Look at his happy smile. He's probably got some great ideas about character development too.

  Here’s some simple math:  Think about everyone you’ve ever met.  95% of those people were total mouth-breathing goobers, weren’t they?  Come on, admit it.  Even the other 5% do hideously idiotic things on a regular basis, don’t they?  Let’s face it, without the opposable thumbs and the large pre-frontal cortex, humans would still be fighting with slime molds over the good mud.  So chances are, most of the advice out there isn’t something you want to invest too much of your time on.

  Because if someone out there has a clue, they aren’t telling us (And why would they?  They are probably too busy being happy and successful and running through fields of flowers while music swells in the background.  Somebody should be doing that.) and it would be nice if the people sans clue would maybe shut up a little bit.  I mean that in the nicest way possible. (more…)

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• The Greatest Pleasure of Advice Is Giving It

  Writing Advice We Hate

  Always listen to the experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it. – Robert Heinlein

  I guess the main problem I have with advice regarding any artistic pursuit is that both the creation of it, and the viewing of it, are so damned subjective. There’s a million ways and techniques to writing a novel – every novelist has a different process. There are commonalities, and the biggest one is that an author writes enough to fill a book and then gets paid for the effort.

  The really major problem with writing advice is, it’s not really needed. I’ve discussed this so many times before, in so many venues, I’m not going to do it again here. You can exhale now. But it ain’t needed other than to give Stephen King’s advice – write a lot and read a lot. That’s all you need to know.
  

  What the real problem is isn’t all the shitty advice out there floating around, it’s the fact that it’s almost impossible to make a living at writing, even with multiple book deals. Believe me, I know. I have multiple book deals. So, if you’re, say, a midlist writer with some book income but ends aren’t even in the same area code, not to mention hooking up through a Craig’s List ad and finally bumping uglies, what do you do to supplement your income? That’s right, writing workshops. Self-published ebooks. Where advice is doled out. (more…)

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• Do As I Say, Not As I Do

  Writing Advice We Hate

  

  Sorry about yesterday, y’all. Life happened, as it so often does. Anyway, this week we’re talking about writing advice we hate and/or didn’t work for us. Unlike Courtney, I attended quite a few workshops and writing groups before striking out on my own. I was determined to learn as fast as I could,* and I didn’t study English or creative writing while studying at the University. I certainly didn’t have the money or time to go back to school, AGAIN. So, I went to a local, free SFF writing group, listened hard and took just about everything I heard for a spin. The first two obstacles I came to were 1) the concept that there was a right way and a wrong way to write fiction and 2) the idea that absolutely everyone who gave me advice knew what they were talking about. Writing is a creative process. Creativity is an individual thing. Sure, there are universal concepts. However, they need to be tailored to the individual. For years I thought I couldn’t be a writer because I couldn’t bare the idea of an outline. (I still have troubles with outlining.) Then I attended a long-ago AggieCon** where out of the seven professional authors on the writing panel, only one admitted that they worked with a pre-assigned plot. That’s when I first realised that I could color outside the lines. After that, I came to understand that not everyone who wanted to be supportive of my work knew the right thing for me and my writing. People can and do give harmful advice with the best of intentions. So, it was my responsibility work out what fit me and my work and what didn’t. I deeply value those lessons. They gave me a head start. Another stumbling block was the old adage, “Write what you know.” When Liam’s back story grew into the heart of what I needed to say, I had a difficult time. I told myself for a year that I couldn’t possibly tell his story. I don’t know what it is to be male or Irish or an Irish Catholic living in 1970s Belfast. It took Elizabeth Moon to sort me out on that one. She looked me right in the eye and asked, “Do you love this story?” I told her I did with all my heart. She said, “It isn’t “Write what you know.” It’s “Write what you love.” Because you can’t really love someone or something without knowing it.” She then told me to research everything to the best of my ability–to interview people who did know what it was to be male and Irish Catholic in 1970s Belfast. And she was right. I’ll refine it one step farther. It’s “Write with passion.” Readers will sense your feelings. Passion combined with truth (research) will stand up off the page every time.

  I guess my take away for this week is to remember that advice needs to be thoughtfully and carefully adjusted to the individual as well as the individual story. Part of growing into a writer is finding your own path. That’s just how it is. If it were an easy recipe with rubber stamp answers someone would’ve pre-packaged it for the amazing price of $99.95 and made a mint. Problem solved. Every book would be a bestseller and storytelling would be so yesterday. So: LISTEN first. Don’t let your ego get in the way. Listen to what you’re really being told. Think about it and then listen to your heart.

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  *As it turns out, facing death does that to you. Although, I can’t say I recommend it.

  **Neil Gaiman was GoH that year.

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• Heart vs. Head

  Writing Advice We Hate

  So this week we’re talking about writing advice we’ve heard that just didn’t work for us, for one reason or another. A bit of a challenging topic for me, as it happens…because, er, I haven’t actually heard that much “official” writing advice. I never went to workshops or writing classes or what have you, and I didn’t start lurking around internet writers’ hangouts like Absolute Write and Backspace until I had completed the first draft of The Whitefire Crossing and was starting to query. I read Stephen King’s On Writing many years ago, simply because I liked his books and was curious about his thought process, but that’s the only “how to” book I’ve cracked the pages of. Most of my writing knowledge comes from having read lots (LOTS!) of novels prior to ever trying to write one of my own.

  Granted, I’ve learned a ton thanks to the veteran authors in my critique group (which I joined after I already had Whitefire’s first draft in hand). Pacing, tension, getting deeper into character POV…their suggestions helped me immensely when I rewrote the book. But that’s the thing: all their advice and comments have been terrific; I can’t think of anything that didn’t help me make the book better. (They are veteran critiquers as well as authors, and know how to spot and point out underlying problems while leaving it up to me how to fix them.)

  Okay, I can think of one piece of advice I wish I’d never heard.   (more…)

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• Practice Makes Permanent

  Writing Advice We Hate

  
  Write every day.

  Oh, come now, you all know this one, right? Isn’t it the first bit of writing advice you get when you go to a pro workshop?

  If you really want to be a professional writer, folks told me, you’ll sit your butt down on a chair and write every day.  No time off for good behavior. You have to write everyday. Even if it’s just 500 words. Or 100 words. Just… something. Every. Damn. Day.

  Now, to a certain extent, this might be great advice when you’re just a kid getting started. It helps create discipline. You figure out real quick if this is really something you want to plug away at day in, day out, 12 hours a day, for the rest of your life.

  The trouble with writing the same old junk day in day out was summed up perfectly for me by Carol Emshwiller. “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent.”

  That is, if you’re writing the same old crap every day without improving, then you’re just conditioning yourself to write crap. I wasn’t after quantity of crap, I wanted quality. And once I started actually writing for a living as a marketing and advertising writer, the idea of sitting down to churn out fiction all day, every day, each night after I got home nearly sent me into a fit. Because I really was facing down the idea of writing for 12 hours a day, every day, and that, my friends, will take you down a quick road to burnout.

  No one wants that.

  Instead, what I learned to do was to write when I needed to, or write when I was scheduled to. At the most, I’ll write fiction five days a week now, and then only when I’m on deadline. And between books I may not write any fiction at all for weeks at a time. This is generally when I’m thinking a lot about what I’m going to do, hashing out what I did right and wrong last time, and figuring out how to overcome some of the problems I had with the last book. That way, when I do finally sit down to write again, I’m not just making the same mistakes over and over again. It’s not just churn and burn. I have to do enough churn and burn at the day job because of deadlines that I don’t want to carry over that particular aspect of the day writing into the night writing. Fiction writing is a job too, sure, but it’s one where I get to be the creative director, and damn it all, I’m going to have fun doing it.

  So if you’re just getting started and you want to write every day to make sure this is the right profession for you (cause if you do end up making a living with words, you will be writing every day – note that copywriting day job), that’s great. But if you’ve got a few pro sales and you’re trying to figure out what’s not working (and maybe what is), it might be more useful to concentrate not on writing every day but on writing better every time you sit down to write – whatever odd schedule that ends up being. Writing regularly, with intent, is far better than simply banging on the keys like a trained monkey and hoping a bunch of crap won’t fly out.

  Trust me. I once wrote far more crap.

  So write well. With intent. And for eff’s sake, have some damn fun. Life is too short to fill your nighttime writing time with drudgery.

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• Michael Dempsey: If You See The Buddha On the Road, Kill Him

  Guest Post

  Michael Dempsey is a theatre actor, director, playwright, former TV and film writer. His first novel, a sci fi noir thriller called NECROPOLIS, was released this very week, so he’s doing his best to keep busy and not be a total nervous wreck. Here, in keeping with the “Writing Advice We Hate” theme, he ponders “How To” books and writing gurus.

  I’ve always had a knee-jerk reaction to authority (and not in a good way). But I grudgingly concede that we need rules in life. Things would be ugly out there if everyone ignored traffic lights, put aluminum foil in the microwave and wore their tighty-whities on the outside of their jeans. Rules help us get along and avoid hurting ourselves. That’s life.

  Rules in art, however, are a whole different platter of enchiladas.

  We’ve all heard the artistic chestnut, “You have to know the rules before you break them.” This philosophy posits that there must be a mastery of craft before artistic inspiration can be fully expressed. To this way of thinking, all those depressing black and white drawings of miners were a necessary prelude to Van Gogh’s explosion into a new dimension of color and perception. For the moment, let’s give it benefit of the doubt for the purposes of discussion.

  So there must be rules in fiction. But what rules? Whose rules? Which ones can we break, and which ones are inviolate? Where does inspiration meet technique, and how does commerce—which we grudgingly concede is a necessary factor in being a professional writer—affect the decisions we make about these rules?

  I began my career as a playwright, then as a TV network sitcom writer and screenwriter, and most recently, an author. Each of these forms of fiction have their own needs and peculiarities, but one can argue that the basic structural elements hold true for all of them. Inciting incident, rising action, climax, denouement, etc.. Sensing my greenhorn impatience, I was warned by my elders not to go off half-cocked on a project: without technique, I’d get lost. So I diligently studied the structure of plays and screenplays, analyzed them and copied them. And I read all the “How-To” books. (more…)

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