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Bad Writing Advice

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
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?
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Any advice that says you have to do x, or in some way implies there is only one correct way to write fiction. And no, it didn't derail me because I never fell for it :D
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
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.*
 

C Hollis

Troubadour
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.*

That very thing stopped me from writing for years. I was always afraid that's what people were thinking when they told me I should write a book. It took some encouraging comments from a couple of my college professors to change that.

And my friends said, "Dude, we've been telling you that for years!"

The worst advice as far as I'm concerned is taking some of the countless so-called writing axioms as absolutes. Guidelines, that's all they are, guidelines. Some of the classics take those axioms and tromp them into unrecognizable mush.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I agree with all of the above. I don't think any writing advice should really be written in stone, nor do I think you should tell someone something's awesome if it isn't.

I think as writing peers some may like to shy away from totally bashing someone's dream. So they do the polar opposite when perhaps they shouldn't. I'm of the opinion that anyone can become a better writer if they spend the time reading and writing to get better. However, if something's all around not good, telling someone that it's awesome is not doing them any favors.

Some bad writing advice I received once was that "I need to scale it back because it's too weird." I actually got that a lot when I first started writing. I would perceive being weird to be a good thing when it comes to fiction.

Some advice that I thought was bad at the time I got it: "You need to give your character some personal journey." This was when I was in classes that were mostly dealing with grandmotherly characters finding a new lease on life or university students "discovering themselves." I thought the advice was to write more like that. Now I know it's more about giving a character goals to achieve throughout the story. Makes sense to me now!
 

Sander

Dreamer
Someone once told me the following:

When writing characters don't base yourself on real people. They are fictional and they should be grandiose. A story is only interesting when the characters are and great characters come from extremes. A hero should be flawless, inspiring, a beacon of hope. While villains should excel in being absolutely dreadful. Grays are not interesting, a great story has very clear lines of good and bad.

I basically take that advice and do generally the opposite.
 

Scribble

Archmage
"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.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
"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!

The advice to chose a genre and stick with it can also apply to the advice that "short story writers should write short stories and novelists should write novels." I always go back and forth on that. They're definitely two completely different mediums. However, I like writing both so I'll continue to do so.

I find that some of the most interesting writers tend to blend genre conventions. China Mieville and Joe Abercrombie stick out to me as writers that excel at creating worlds that aren't atypical of their respective "genres."
 

Jamber

Sage
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
 

Scribble

Archmage
it can also apply to the advice that "short story writers should write short stories and novelists should write novels.

Brandon Sanderson actually says this in one of his lectures. I think he has a good reason for saying this, but I don't think it applies to everyone. I think he knows this, but all he can do is explain what works for him, and to suggest people try it in the hope it will work for them - or to figure out that it won't!

You've got to start somewhere, with some kind of teaching. Hopefully, you can learn quickly what to discard from that teaching and what to keep!
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
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.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
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

It's always preferable to make scenes more active when you can, but I'd say most published writers have plenty of instances of "was." If they're good story-tellers, I don't really notice these kind of things. I'm actually fine with it myself, but some people are more picky about active vs. passive verbs.
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.

For me, if someone tells me I "should do this" I don't always take it as bad advice. It may be good advice overall. I just need reasons why. However, that's often a sign of a bad critique partner. One that just places their view of how story-telling MUST be done above actually giving helpful critiques that work best for what you're trying to do.
 
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TheokinsJ

Troubadour
I think the worst piece of advice I ever got was from an author (Can't remember his name), who said "Bad writing is contagious, don't read it". Being 12 at the time and as devoted as I was, I then stopped reading books because I would read a couple of sentences and go "This is bad writing, it will affect me!"... I realised a year later after having read nothing for a long time, that bad writing if anything helps to teach you what not to do, and that reading anything helps you become a better writer.
 

PhoenixF2B

Dreamer
I find I have a great deal of respect for those who can work effectively in multiple genres, whether it be movie, music or prose. It shows great range.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Sanderson talking about finding your style and realizing that writing advice gives you things to 'try,' not commandments.

 
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Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
Someone once told me the following:

When writing characters don't base yourself on real people.
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!

@ Phil. I like your "weirdness". I think not enough people dare to think outside the box.

I can honestly say I've never really received any bad advice. I've had people make comments about little aspects of my stories I wholly disagreed with, nit-picky things mostly about historical social structure (which I'm very secure in most of my decisions), but I thank them for their time and move on. I've been on the receiving end of loads and loads of great advice and am proud to work with a crew of people who I know do their very best to give me sound advice and help me step up my work by playing to my strengths. I'm a lucky writer in the friends I've made. This journey has become a lot more fun with them by my side.
 
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