Writing Advice - Help or Hinder?

Posted by Postado por Dulce on às 17:23 | |

Writing Advice - Help or Hinder?

Writing Advice - Help or Hinder?

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 03:03 PM PDT

I enjoyed digging through my past articles when I reposted a guest write up by Rebecca Woodhead so I did it again here. As before, I encourage you to read the comments and share your own.

An interesting topic of discussion caught my attention over at the Writer's Digest Forum today. Basically the author of the thread asked "What's The Best Writing Advice You've Heard?" As you might expect, there were many responses. As I read those responses I could not help but think - is this helpful advice? Have you ever received advice that really helped you with your writing? How about advice that really threw a wrench in your work?

Lets take a look at the advice shared by other writers. Maybe they will help us. The actual advice is in bold.

Have fun and don't give up. This is more encouragement then advice. Then again, encouragement can sometimes go further then advice. We all need encouragement.

Write at least a few sentences every day and keep writing. Motivation like encouragement is always needed. This is meant too keep the momentum of your manuscript going.


Don't quit your day job. Sad but true. This is a stark reminder that life goes on and bills must be paid.

Make sure tension is on every page. This will help eliminate dead weight or slow areas in your manuscript. I'm not sure about this one. If you have tension on every single page how do you maintain the pace and flow of your manuscript? At some point, in my opinion, a manuscript should have a slow point after any climatic scene. Be it for a subplot or the main climax. This allows the reader to catch his/her breathe. The book should be like a roller coaster. If tension is on every page you could take away from the full impact of your climatic scenes. I believe tension should be spread out through the entire manuscript.

Know your characters. Know them backwards, forwards and upside down. I cannot express enough how important this is. This is really good advice.

Show don't tell. Another example of really good advice.

Less is more or K.I.S.S. This is good advice; however, it is very hard to follow. We should use simple writing when writing about a complicated subject. Avoid all the flowery descriptions and stick too the basics. When we get this one under control we are really on the right track.

Heinlein's Rules - You Must Write, You Must Finish What You Start, You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order, You Must Put Your Story on the Market, You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold. This one is unique. I don't think this is advice at all. This is more like commands and goals. If you have the passion too write then you will finish what you start. Getting our story on the market is the ultimate goal I would say. Keeping it on the market? Other then marketing and promoting we don't have much control over that. Refrain from rewriting? This is not good advice. We all know that manuscripts go through revisions, which can mean rewriting at times, before the manuscript is submitted to an agent.

What do you think? What advice have you received? Was it helpful?

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