What's the worst writing advice you've ever received? Did following this advice really derail you or did not following this advice really propel you forward?
I think the worst advice you can give is, "It's awesome! You should totally pursue it!" while thinking, *this is rubbish, this person's just wasting time.*
"You need to pick your genre."
While this may be sound marketing advice, it's crappy creative advice. I was writing non-fiction essays and blogging. Then I was into writing poetry. Then I was into writing sci-fi. Now I am into writing fantasy. In the future I may write Buddhist steampunk mysteries.
I write what my passion leads me to write.
I'd read a Buddhist steampunk mystery!
it can also apply to the advice that "short story writers should write short stories and novelists should write novels.
Hi Phil,
the worst advice I received was also the best advice.
It was to avoid passive phrasing. However the critiquer added the words, 'you should eliminate every instance of "had" or "was"'.
One comb-over to make my story more active made all the difference to it as a piece. However being told to hunt down and kill every instance of 'was' (not necessarily passive but certainly flat) turned the story into a competition between verbs. Not every story is best written super-actively, and not every moment in a super-active story should read like volcanoes erupting.
Actually I think all the worst advice I've ever received took the form 'don't'...
cheers
Jennie
I agree with no rules just guidelines. Anything taken to extreme, generally, isn't good.
Some of the worst writing advice I've been given usually starts with a sentence similarly to "You should do 'this'." Basically they're telling me how my characters should act and where my story should go without me prompting them for that type of advice.
wow. I base so many characters off real people. Their mannerisms, their walk, the way they react. If I didn't have real people other than myself to draw from... my world would suck!Someone once told me the following:
When writing characters don't base yourself on real people.
Someone once told me I should say who is the dwarf, and who the elf is...
Problem was... they were all human.
They kind of thought all fantasy had dwarves and elves.