Writing advice is pretty much everywhere in these glorious days of Google. Even before the advent of the internet, you could guarantee being able to find manuals that would provide you with all manner of writing advice.
I even made a list of my favourite how-to books for writers.
But given it’s now available in books, on blogs, on podcasts and even Youtube, what do you actually DO with it?
Writing advice is exactly that. Advice.
It’s ultimately your choice but essentially you have two options. Ignore it, or give it a go. Some bloggers and writers will issue their advice as gospel.
I fell foul of this a few weeks ago when commenting about my own process on someone’s blog post. They put me in my place because my process didn’t fit into their particular vision. Won’t be commenting there again!
But anyway. My whole ethos in providing writing advice on this blog or my author branding blog, Write Brand Sell, is not to tell you what to do, but rather to let you know what I’ve done. If it works for me, maybe it’ll work for you! If it doesn’t, fair enough. Try something else.
But if it does, then hopefully it’ll either shorten your learning curve if you’re just starting out, or it’ll give you a new perspective if you’ve been writing for a while.
If you prefer video, check out the Youtube video below. Otherwise, keep reading!
Writing is an art
Some people believe that writing is an art. These are usually the same people who believe you shouldn’t attempt to make money from your writing. I won’t go into that now, but suffice to say, if writing is an art then you’re supposed to just keep doing it. Eventually, you’ll write for long enough that you should improve just through sheer consistency.
I don’t buy that. You can write for 10,000 hours but if you’ve produced 10,000 hours worth of crap, then what’s the point?
Writing is a craft
I believe writing is a craft, and therefore it’s something you can improve and hone by learning new techniques. Listen to other writers. Read widely to see how other people do it. Try out exercises.
Maybe you’ll write 2000 hours worth of crap, but then you’ll put what you’ve learned and tried into practice and you’ll produce 8000 hours worth of awesome material.
Point is, if you don’t try new techniques or approaches, then you might be missing out on something that will ultimately be of benefit.
Keep your writing exercises separate
I don’t do writing exercises within the working document for a work in progress. I like to keep them separate. The idea is that I do the exercises, my subconscious absorbs them over a period of time, and then it becomes second nature. It’ll ultimately come out through my short stories or novels once I’ve internalised it.
So buy yourself a new notebook and do them by hand. Or if you’re not easily distracted (like me), keep a separate Word document, or Evernote notebook, and keep them in there.
This has the added bonus of keeping potential story seeds in one place. So if you’re ever feeling stuck for ideas, go back through your exercises and see if anything jumps out.
Use them like warm ups
You wouldn’t run a marathon without stretching first, would you? Graphic designers don’t start designing without doodling and sketching first. Writing is no different, and exercises can be a quick and simple way to flex your writing muscles before sitting down to type.
Short exercises are a good way to ease you into your writing time, and they can also ultimately help your projects. After all, if you feel stuck, you can do an exercise to ‘unblock’ yourself.
Plus, don’t fall into the trap of thinking writing is just sitting at the computer, working on the main document. Filling out a character sheet, or journaling as your antagonist, or using writing prompts around the world you’ve built are valid parts of the writing process.
Keep what works, trash what doesn’t
Most importantly of all, if you try an exercise and you find it doesn’t work, just ditch it. Likewise, if you read some advice and think it sounds like nonsense, feel free to ignore it. If it doesn’t resonate with you, then don’t waste your time.
Keep what works and add it to your repertoire, and trash the rest. Your writing life is too short to waste on something that promises a lot but delivers very little!
So over to you. What’s your stance on writing advice?
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I love writing advice. I read everything because I can always be learning. And I agree about that dumb advice that simple practice will make you better. That’s BS in anything including writing.
If we don’t start out with proper instruction all we do is ingrain really bad habits. Think of it like a golf swing. Sheer hours of practice will only give us a blown knee,tendonitis, achy shoulders and ruptured discs…and really bad habits. It’s why it requires a golf pro to teach us in the first place to make sure we are practicing good form that WILL eventually improve steadily.
Same in writing.
Exactly! Why waste all that time and effort when you could get someone to point you in the right direction first?
I love reading writing advice, I do it all the time, but I did fall foul myself after thinking I ‘had’ to write one way and it almost caused me to quit. Thats when I became a pantser and all of a sudden finished a novel.
I try to pitch my posts similarly. I never just make some shit up for a monday post. It is only ever lessons I have learnt, things I have tried or stuff I really don’t like after having tried. It my blog and I see it as my key learning tool as well. I use monday writing posts, to actually consolidate my learning! It’s like my personal notes file. It just happens to be on a blog which happens to be read by a few people!
It’s the best way to share things with other writers. It’s pointless hoarding knowledge! I love reading other writers’ posts and I learn something new every time I do!
Agree. There is SO much out there and it can be overwhelming. You have to use what works and ditch the rest. Like you said, it’s just advice. I don’t like when it’s presented as the only way to write. Leads to frustration, at best.
I always keep my writing exercises separate. Related – this is the second time I’ve seen Evernote mentioned this week. So…how do you like it?
I love Evernote! I find it really useful for keeping snippets of ideas, observations, or even photos of interesting things in one place. It’s particularly useful if I’m out and about and I have an idea – I can type it on my phone, and then it syncs with my account so I can access it easily from my laptop next time I’m sitting down to write. I highly recommend it!
Writing might be a blend resulting of inspiration and discipline…, art and craft in other words great advice… I might watch the video later on too… Best wishes
Oh totally, writing doesn’t really work without inspiration, and without discipline you won’t see consistent improvement 🙂