- Joined
- Jan 22, 2008
- Messages
- 8,138
Good advice:
- Read and write a lot, not just from your chosen genre.
- Keep trying to improve. Never think that you've got as good as you can be or need ever be.
- Money flows to the writer (except where you are paying for criticism, etc).
A lot of advice isn't set in stone.
Be wary of following jokey articles to the letter. A lot of comments made in such articles are exaggerated for comic effect. Also, I personally would ignore any advice that isn't written in clear English or is written in internet jargon. I feel no obligation to pay attention to criticism that reads like it was written by a lolcat or a translation engine. Likewise anything that is just a bunch of buzzwords: there is only a certain number of times I can read about "racefail" without "goodthink" creeping in.
Most advice from how-to-write books and so on is worth reading, and bearing in mind, even if you are going to go on to break it (one rule I think is vital and never see written down is "Always know why you're doing what you're doing"). Be aware when you are going outside the lines - say, talking about death in a comedy - and know what effect doing so will happen.
To give an example, "Write what you know" isn't accurate. It's too simplistic. What it should say is "Write what you can portray to a suitable level of accuracy", which is why I've written about plenty of gunfights and no divorces.
Again, and more subtly, you are sometimes told to write about what you love. The caveat is that if you are writing stuff in just because you think it's cool or because it turns you on, people will notice it, because realism and credibility will go out the window at about the same point that the Lesbian Bikini Tank Brigade shows up and your book will become, at best, kitsch. However, generally speaking, this advice is pretty good. A book that is written utterly cynically, or without any interest on the author's part, is usually pretty obviously hackwork.
So overall, I can't think of anything I'd call straight-up nonsense, but there's a few that need "most of the time" stuck on the end.
- Read and write a lot, not just from your chosen genre.
- Keep trying to improve. Never think that you've got as good as you can be or need ever be.
- Money flows to the writer (except where you are paying for criticism, etc).
A lot of advice isn't set in stone.
Be wary of following jokey articles to the letter. A lot of comments made in such articles are exaggerated for comic effect. Also, I personally would ignore any advice that isn't written in clear English or is written in internet jargon. I feel no obligation to pay attention to criticism that reads like it was written by a lolcat or a translation engine. Likewise anything that is just a bunch of buzzwords: there is only a certain number of times I can read about "racefail" without "goodthink" creeping in.
Most advice from how-to-write books and so on is worth reading, and bearing in mind, even if you are going to go on to break it (one rule I think is vital and never see written down is "Always know why you're doing what you're doing"). Be aware when you are going outside the lines - say, talking about death in a comedy - and know what effect doing so will happen.
To give an example, "Write what you know" isn't accurate. It's too simplistic. What it should say is "Write what you can portray to a suitable level of accuracy", which is why I've written about plenty of gunfights and no divorces.
Again, and more subtly, you are sometimes told to write about what you love. The caveat is that if you are writing stuff in just because you think it's cool or because it turns you on, people will notice it, because realism and credibility will go out the window at about the same point that the Lesbian Bikini Tank Brigade shows up and your book will become, at best, kitsch. However, generally speaking, this advice is pretty good. A book that is written utterly cynically, or without any interest on the author's part, is usually pretty obviously hackwork.
So overall, I can't think of anything I'd call straight-up nonsense, but there's a few that need "most of the time" stuck on the end.
