lemonicdemonade

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bruno
@bruno
Iro
@Iro asked:

In your opinion, what pieces of oft-bandied-about writing advice are good, bad, and ugly, respectively?

Good: ‘killing your darlings’, ie cutting things that don’t serve the story even if you love them, is a very valid idea. The trick is knowing what serves the story (tip: it’s not synonymous with ‘advances the plot’)

Bad: any kind of prescriptive story structure. Hero’s journey, story circle, save the cat, etc.

Ugly: ‘write every day’. Not everyone can, and not everyone benefits from it. Touch grass.


bruno
@bruno

While writing every day is good advice for some, I think a broader and more valid idea is working on your craft every day, or regularly. This can mean writing (and you do have to do a lot of writing to become a decent writer) but it can also include:

  • reading;
  • pursuing and having the kinds of experiences you want to write about;
  • intentionally and mindfully observing. If you find yourself at the edge of a conversation, for example, try to really actually listen to how and why people say things. Sooooooo much bad writing gives off the vibe that the author only knows anything through other people’s writing.

bruno
@bruno

Oh also: “write what you know” is right but you need to remember that not only do you have the power to expand the breadth of what you know, doing so is an essential part of writing.


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in reply to @bruno's post:

good would be 'write frequently at a sustainable pace as one tool in your kit to keep your skills sharp & promote growth / experience'

and 'document your progress every time so you build a data set you can objectively reflect on and go, whoa! ive grown a lot! and i have a cool learning portfolio to show!'

bad is 'kill your darlings (any idea you have that does not serve explicit utility for a commercial audience is scraps to be thrown in the trash) (rather than simply asking if it fits & backlogging it in an 'ideas' notebook)

"Show don't tell" as communicate information to your audience by letting them perceive and learn it rather than didactically explaining it to them, not "show don't tell" as communicate visually rather than by dialogue.

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