Advice! It abounds. It proliferates. It exfoliates.
But advice? Not always helpful. In fact it can be downright unhelpful. Often comically so.
So you tell me on this Wednesday: what’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?
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Stacey says
I would have to go with the write what you know advice. I think if an author is willing to put enough creativity and/or research into a subject, then writing something you don’t know is even more thrilling than writing what you do. Isn’t the point of a novel escape from the every day?
Luc2 says
I can’t think of any poor advice I’ve received on writing. Even inaccurate information has its value because it makes me figure out why the information is wrong. I so agree with this comment.
In general, i think advice can only be as good as how the recipient receives, analyzes and applies that advice (or not).
Of course, some of these examples here above prove me wrong…
Anonymous says
No advice! I recently mailed my full manuscript (all 300 pages of it) and received an email with a standard rejection. Tell me it sucks! Tell me you got a paper cut! Just tell me something after I waste all that paper!!
Vieva says
Oh, my favorite on the “so useless it hurts” advice –
Upon telling someone I’m not published yet because I don’t have an agent, I was asked, “Well, why don’t you get one?”
Ahem. Thank you. That one piece of incisive logic just reshaped my whole world. Yeah. Right. (end sarcasm)
Sempiternal says
Worse advice: Get rid of all run-on and incomplete sentences should only be used in dialogue between characters because it reflects how people speak, but not in the narrative.
um…ok. Not happening I like my writing style.
Polenth says
The people trying to ‘correct’ my British spelling are way up there (they knew I was British). The big problem was they focused on telling me about my terrible spelling, rather than telling me anything else about the writing.
Chatty Kelly says
“You should write about….”
Several folks have read my stuff and said “you sould write something about….” It needs to be my idea for me to be able to make it grow.
Gwen says
I think it varies from person to person, doesn’t it? The same advice might be completely wrong for one person, but might hit the mark for another…
Personally, the advice that I received that just didn’t work for me would be to “write every day”. That is, write some of my story everyday, not just write anything at all. I find that writing that one particular story daily does more harm than good. I need to be in the proper mindset to write it, and sitting down just after I’ve dashed in from class with 40 minutes until I have to leave for my next class equals chaotic, incomprehensible writing.
Meg Wiviott says
Worst advice – “You should have your son (who was 6 at the time) illustrate your picture book. Wouldn’t that be cute!”
Yeah, right!
Deirdre Mundy says
Re: research and ‘write what you know’
I guess it all comes down to the definitiion of “know” since you can KNOW something (like the works of Sophocles) without having LIVED it.
So — writing about a small town in Iowa when all you know about Iowa is “they have corn and caucuses there” –not great.
researching Iowa in depth, looking at pictures, reading letters and diaries of Iowans, etc. etc.
Well, now you know a fair bit about Iowa, you can imagine the rest.
Writing a fantasy set in a world that has some elves and maybe a dragon or magic… meh.
Spending time thinking through the logic of your world, the backstories of your characters, etc… well, now you know them!
Tish Cohen says
My worst advice was publishing advice rather than writing advice.
The week before Town House sold to film, then as a book, two separate people told me they were worried about me. “You’ve been having such a hard time,” they said. “It shouldn’t take this long to be published.” Both said they’d be happy to help me out. Connect me with their publisher — Publish America.
I tried to explain I was going the traditional route with an agent sending to a real publisher and even though I knew they didn’t understand the difference, I still hated the way they pitied me. It was an ugly week. But the next week – that was a good one!
Steph says
I wonder if “write what you know” is more about writing characters and situations that people can relate to than about writing personal reality. Too often I’ve read stories that don’t have anything I can relate to. They lack a human element or are too contrived when it comes to setting or emotion or dialogue. They lack depth.
Naturally Rowling and Tolkien hadn’t experienced first-hand the stuff they wrote about, but their books are so loved (except by Nathan as far as Tolkien goes – for shame!!) because they are injected with very human, understandable elements. They carry details we all recognize.
I don’t know if I’m making myself clear enough here. I’m trying to say don’t take “write what you know” so literally.
It’s really not bad advice.
Worst advice given me was to give up being a copyeditor because copyeditors are unnecessary and people won’t hire them. If I can help give more power to you and your ms, if I can be a guide, why would I be useless?
As for following the never and always rules, yeah, it’s bunk. Once you know all the rules well, you can certainly break them. Look at Cormac McCarthy.
Sorry if I’ve hijacked the blog here!
abc says
I can’t remember any advice, much less bad advice. What does that say about me?
Gottawrite Girl says
To self publish. COME on, now!
Lady Glamis says
Worst advice ever? Two pieces of it:
First, from my mother:
“There’s too much detail.”
Second, from a good friend:
“There’s not enough sex.”
Neither of them write.
Suzan Harden says
“There’s no such thing as constables in the United States.”
Seriously, this was from RWA contest judge in California. The story’s still making the circles (and getting laughs) among the Texas RWA chapters. The constable I based my hero on thought it was pretty funny too (right before he gave me another speeding ticket).
Angie says
“More sex is always good! More, more, more! The readers want the good stuff!!”
Yuck.
Other than that, anyone who says that their method of doing X is the only way to do something. Unless they’re an editor or agent saying how they want a submission formatted or something like that, there is no One True Way.
Angie
Lorelei Armstrong says
“This is too different. Try to write something more conventional. Nobody will publish this.”
Yep. The buy button on Amazon came on last night.
Waaaay too much champagne. But that’s another story.
Scott says
Anyone else find themselves arguing with Word about usage? Grrr.
Chris says
Any advice that has the words NEVER or ALWAYS in it. I hate extremes. I’m all about the gray areas…
Stacey says
Steph,
I wish there were more copyeditors out there who did their job! I cannot tell you how many new books I have read that have HORRIBLE and VERY noticeable typo problems. That is something I pick up on a lot when reading. If this is a published work, it should not be so bad!
Ulysses says
Worst writing advice?
– Give up.
– Write in Swahili. It’s a big market.
– Use a Dvorak keyboard. Chicks dig it.
– Never use always.
– Write something funny.
– Write something serious.
– Marry money (actually, that’s good advice, just awfully difficult to manage).
– Get a life (again, good advice, but too hard).
– Put some pants on that monkey before the neighbors see… er, sorry. This was supposed to be WRITING advice, wasn’t it.
ashley says
I don’t have any worst advice to contribute, but I just had to say that I am loving today’s blog!
The no commas thing cracked me up..
Kristin Laughtin says
Anything along the lines of “Never do ____” or “Always do ____”. Yes, rules exist for a reason, but a skilled enough writer will be able to play around, manipulate them, and break them effectively.
Sarah says
About “write what you know”- I do think J.K. Rowling knew about loneliness and families and challenges- about English schools and games and teachers- about pain and loyalty and love and death, so yes, she did write what she knows. That’s the core stuff- the rest is just fun stuff she made up…
The worst advice I ever got? Only be a writer if you can write like the “greats”, and what are the odds of that, so why even try? Screw that. Save us all from English Lit teachers!
Anonymous says
I agree whole-haertedly with Chatty Kelly’s: “You should write about….”
This is even worse when your agent, who should know better, tells you this. The idea has to be my idea, or I have no motivation to work on it.
****
Write What You Know is the worst advice I’ve ever gotten. It’s utter nonsense. If people only wrote what they “knew” every novel would be about an upublished novelist trying to get published.
Elyssa Papa says
Worst piece of writing advice: You need to set everything up in your first chapter–goals, characters, dreams, etc.
Elyssa Papa says
Another one: You know have you ever thought about cutting this many words and selling it direct to this publisher? A lot of people start their careers like that.
As if I’m not good enough to get an agent. Maybe I’m not. *shrugs*
dara says
Hmmm…
Probably “Write what you know.” I don’t really “know” about Meiji era Japan or the yakuza, but I’m writing about it anyway. True, a certain amount of research is needed there, but I wouldn’t be a writer if I limited myself to contemporary fiction 😛
Oh and also was told that if I’m unpublished, it’s nearly impossible to land an agent and that I need to have something like a short story or other piece of fiction self-published first…o_O
From what I’ve seen, that doesn’t really “count” as publishing credits. And I’ve seen and heard of plenty of writers who get agents without being published first.
Kristine Overbrook says
Why are you writing romance? You should write a real novel.
and (not really advice, more of a comment)
There are too many writers out there, don’t expect to be published.
(then I win a contest and this person says, “Oh, I guess you are a good writer.”
Anonymous says
Worst advice: Publisher guidelines? Those are for people who “are not in the know.” You know who I mean–the outsiders, the newbies.
So if a magazine says they do not want simultaneous submissions, you can ignore that. Secretly, they don’t mind.
After I received that advice, I emailed a bunch of editors checking with them. Every one of them said it was bad, bogus advice, but was the advice-giver convinced? Nope. It was exactly what she *expected* them to say.
Harry Connolly
Kim says
“You might as well give up because no one is going to like what you write anyways”
Thanks, Mom.
Battlemaiden says
Worst advise I received after a writer whom I admire read a piece of my writing…
“Dont try to copy me”
Ouch
Anonymous says
“Conflict on every page.” I once ruined a perfectly good first draft that way.
Also, any variant on “If you don’t/can’t do X, you’re not cut out to be a writer.”
mpe
Just_Me says
“You can’t write that! (Fill in the blank) doesn’t exist!”
From various people who read my fiction writing. I roll my eyes and wonder if they think Harry Potter is real. You can write fiction. You can even write genre fiction. It’s not *that* bad.
Marilyn Peake says
Steph –
I love how Cormac McCarthy breaks so many really big no-no always/never rules. He takes a minimalist approach to commas. He leaves out apostrophes in words like “don’t”, spelling that one “dont”. I came across this in The Road, one of my favorite novels, thought he did it to symbolically reflect the breakdown of civilization and language in the novel; then read in one of his essays that he just finds it too difficult to type apostrophes except in words like “I’m” where “Im” would be pronounced all wrong. He also mentions in the essay that he thought about the book for a year, but wrote it in about three weeks. He then goes on to win a boatload of awards for The Road, including the Pulitzer Prize. Cormac McCarthy is my hero.
Nick says
“Get a job.”
Kristi says
Don’t use compound sentences. Or clauses. Make every sentence short.
While effective for sarcasm, that would turn some of my prose into:
This is the hero. This is the heroine. They meet. They fall in love. There is a conflict. You could sell this manuscript to a first grader it’s so “Dick and Jane.”
I’m all for concise, but concise doesn’t have to mean choppy prose.
Anonymous says
“Never mind getting an agent. It’s a good contract; go ahead and sign it.”
jjdebenedictis says
An online critiquer once told me to remove the apostrophe from “Catherine’s hand”. This person honestly thought “Catherines hand” was correct.
I politely thanked them for their critique, then leaned away from the keyboard and laaaaaughed.
Lupina says
It’s a tie.
From a writer friend listening to my complaint that my then-WIP felt emotionally flat to me,
“Put in a sex scene.”
From a well-known author during a critique for which I had traveled nine hours and paid hundreds of dollars – and said author forgot to bring my submitted pages and obviously had not read them – “You should always make characters’ names simple. And only use one character’s voice throughout a book.” Sum total of advice.
For real.
Anonymous says
I agree with anon (above) — Conflict on every page.
In YA they tell you conflict on page one. This makes the first chapter unredable, imo. Not knowing if the MC is a boy or girl, thirteen or seventeen, polular or alone, but being thrust into a big damn battle scene makes for a jarring opening.
Linda says
Received in a critique:
“Narrative is what makes a good story. Get rid of all the dialogue.”
From a self-published writer: “Why are you trying to find an agent? Self-publish. It’s the better way to go.”
And several well-meaning people told me to start small, with short stories, and work my way up to novels. I’m still trying to unlearn all the short story writing techniques and learn how to write a longer work of fiction.
superwench83 says
My shelf novel is titled Amethyst, and while I was still working on it and seeking crits, I had someone google the word “amethyst” for symbolic and historical meanings. She said I should incorporate these symbolisms into the story. She also quoted some white-witch or whatever about the use of amethysts for crystal healing or something, and said I should put that into my story as well.
?????
Scott says
“Replace those boring ‘saids’ with more interesting verbs, like exclaimed or suggested.”
Scott says
Oh, and a college prof once suggested that I fix the grammar errors in a poem I wrote in the voice of an 11-year-old boy.
Miriam S.Forster says
I had a well-meaning friend tell me once that I might want to write a novel set in the real world before I “attempted fantasy”. (He had not read any of my writing) He seemed to think that present day novels are easier to write….
I’m sure Sue Monk Kidd and Jodi Picoult would agree. (grin)
Candy Gourlay says
Don’t show your manuscript to anyone.
Lauri Shaw says
“What are you waiting for? Stop editing it and just get it out there into the world already!”
P.S. – he stopped speaking to me when I didn’t land a deal after about nine months went by. I was tarnishing his reputation by being a “nobody.”
JES says
“In a mystery, you NEVER reveal early on who the killer is.”
This advice (from Agent X, actually hired after I’d sold the book on my own), plus the consequent major revision, predated by a year many reviews which said things like, “Despite the author’s efforts to the contrary, it’s pretty obvious up-front who the killer is.” And it never occurred to me to bring up Columbo.