The Worst Writing Advice

[POOHEAD189]

Exactly as it says in the tin. What is the worst writing advice you've ever been given? Honorable mention to the worst writing advice you've seen given to anyone.

Go.

[BrokenPromise]

Give up.

Honorable mention: In order to write well, you need to know a lot of words. Focus on having a big vocabulary and everything else will work itself out from there.

[AlteredTundra]

"Fanfiction doesn't improve your writing"

Which is objectively false. Fanfiction helps one gain confidence to write in general (IMO) and thus will lead to one eventually writing their own stuff. It's why I also despise when people shit on fanfiction writers.

[Hyperdrive]

Just be good and Mix and mash other's writing in making your entries

Honorable mention: "Read the dictionary daily, you'll eventually learn how to write better"

[Obscene Symphony]

"Fanfiction doesn't improve your writing"

Which is objectively false. Fanfiction helps one gain confidence to write in general (IMO) and thus will lead to one eventually writing their own stuff. It's why I also despise when people shit on fanfiction writers.

@metanoia

Fanfiction is also practice, and practice is ultimately the only way to get better.

As for my submission: "Romances shouldn't be planned"

[AlteredTundra]

<Snipped quote by metanoia>

Fanfiction is also practice, and practice is ultimately the only way to get better.

As for my submission: "Romances shouldn't be planned"

@Obscene Symphony

Couldn't agree more with your first statement.

[SleepingSilence]

Any advice that has no context or examples given.

Borderline useless to any writer when you offer critique or advice, and then fail to offer them any context or examples.

[mickilennial]

“Write what you know.”

While this can be good advice, if interpreted in the wrong way this can hurt a writers broad ability to reach beyond their limited experience and influences. A good writer should be able to write outside of their experience (and what they’ve personally read) with tactful research, awareness, and curiosity.

[Chuuya]

"You don't need to read the entire post/response. You can just skim."

This is inherently terrible advice for obvious reasons and I feel like I've seen it in practice far too much. Both on the Guild and off it too. Hell, I've even done it myself when I'm in a hurry to deliver a response out on time. It's very easy to miss pivotal information (ex: place, time, dialogue, etc.) by skimming through responses. At least in my experience anyway. Better to read everything out and digest it as best you can.

[Bork Lazer]

Alright, I feel like I'm going to slay a sacred cow here.

" Show, don't tell." should be changed to " Show and tell."

Yes, it's the number one golden rule of writing. It's what every English Lit teacher tells us in middle or high school whenever we get a creative writing assessment. I think the problem right now, barring first-time fanfiction writers who robotically write out every single line, is too much showing and not enough telling. In fact, I believe this rule is the ultimate source of purple prose that has plagued an healthy amount of literature. Summary and brevity can have its own dramatic effect as well and serves an essential role. There should be a balance between both. Obviously, this will vary depending on what type of genre you want to write and so forth but it's not something that you should follow dearly to your heart.

[mickilennial]

I prefer descriptive writing to minimalism, tbh.

[NuttsnBolts]

Exactly as it says in the tin. What is the worst writing advice you've ever been given?

@POOHEAD189

"Give your character a Katana!"

[Hero]

"Don't ever use 'said' when a character is speaking."

Sometimes characters just say things. Said is fine. Use it.

[Obscene Symphony]

Alright, I feel like I'm going to slay a sacred cow here.

" Show, don't tell." should be changed to " Show and tell."

Yes, it's the number one golden rule of writing. It's what every English Lit teacher tells us in middle or high school whenever we get a creative writing assessment. I think the problem right now, barring first-time fanfiction writers who robotically write out every single line, is too much showing and not enough telling. In fact, I believe this rule is the ultimate source of purple prose that has plagued an healthy amount of literature. Summary and brevity can have its own dramatic effect as well and serves an essential role. There should be a balance between both. Obviously, this will vary depending on what type of genre you want to write and so forth but it's not something that you should follow dearly to your heart.

@Bork Lazer

Show, don't tell is the ideal, but it's something to build up to as you learn and improve.

I'd say the fatal flaw in that advice is that it's misinterpreted; in writing (as opposed to film) the 'show' isn't about visually representing something (or describing it in writing) rather than explaining it, as it is in film; rather in writing it's about character action and setting effect.

For example: don't tell us in narration or dialogue that a character is X thing (say, stern). Instead, show us through action that your character is stern, for example, by having them respond sternly to a situation. Don't describe that the government rules with an iron fist; show them doing something tyrannical. Basically, as a general rule, if you have to tell the audience something (through narration or dialogue) about a character or a setting, you haven't done a good enough job establishing that thing through demonstration.

So yeah, it's not really about description vs brevity, I think it's just misinterpreted that way cause a big trouble in writing (I think we all fall victim to it sometimes) is imagining your scene as a movie when film doesn't translate to paper as well as you might think.

Maybe an appropriate writing-focused rephrase would be "Demonstrate, don't describe"

or something really catchy idk you get me

[Obscene Symphony]

(In response to "skimming is fine")

<Snipped quote>

This is inherently terrible advice for obvious reasons and I feel like I've seen it in practice far too much. Both on the Guild and off it too. Hell, I've even done it myself when I'm in a hurry to deliver a response out on time. It's very easy to miss pivotal information (ex: place, time, dialogue, etc.) by skimming through responses. At least in my experience anyway. Better to read everything out and digest it as best you can.

@Hyde

Also sorry for the double post but AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK 👏👏👏

[POOHEAD189]

"You can't write that kind of story/character" is my favorite.

Fuck you, I'm going to write what I want to write, loser.

[Carlyle]

<Snipped quote by POOHEAD189>
"Give your character a Katana!"

@NuttsnBolts

Katana characters in post apocalyptic stories do not pass go, they do not collect $200, instead they go directly to jail.

[The Elvenqueen]

"tHaT'S NoT CaNoN"

Um, yeah, I know. That's why I wrote it, duhhh :P

[Rapid Reader]

"Tragedy and trauma makes your character more interesting."

In the long line of things people have misunderstood is the idea that terrible things in a character's past inherently makes them more interesting or adds depth. Tragedy is great, it's a wonderful tool, but it's not a chainsaw you can use to cut your story down to perfection, but rather a scalpel you have to use very carefully.

Your character being an orphan doesn't fix a sloppy backstory. Your character's dad being an alcoholic doesn't change the fact that you wrote a Gary Stu or Mary Sue. Parent death isn't the only way to add some problems to a character's past.

Sexual trauma doesn't fix bad writing and it isn't something you should just throw into a character concept unless you have the ability and willingness to really explore the horror of something like sexual assault.

Mental disorders don't fix a boring or stupid character concept, especially if your writing makes it clear you don't possess any particular knowledge, understanding, or experience with said mental disorder. Mostly, I find it pretty offensive how mental disorders in RPs and writing tend to just be very surface level and stereotypical descriptions that serve to further some pretty poor understandings of neuroatypicality. Related, psychopaths and sociopaths as characters are getting pretty droll, it takes some serious thinking and writing to pull these types of characters off well without just looking like you're writing a walking example of pop-culture stereotypes.

All that being said, having horrible things happen to your characters is a great thing for writing, just make sure you have the ability, knowledge, and energy to really dig deep into the implications of the trauma you inflict on your characters.

[mickilennial]

"Don't ever use 'said' when a character is speaking."

Sometimes characters just say things. Said is fine. Use it.

@Hero

But don't overuse it! Said is fine, but if the entire conversation is just he/she/they said, then it becomes monotonous and bad writing form.