Advice that is useless. A collection.

Nhatduongg

Yuyuko Saigyouji, The Dreaming Ghost
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
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292
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133
All jokes aside, the worst advice ever is 'write for yourself' or a longer version 'write for yourself and someone else will like it.' Reeks of toxic positivity that ruined dreams of many budding authors.
Those are sometimes the people who write "If you don't like it, don't read" in the bottom. And guess what? I didn't read.
 

Corty

Ra’Coon
Joined
Oct 7, 2022
Messages
4,662
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183
Those are sometimes the people who write "If you don't like it, don't read" in the bottom. And guess what? I didn't read.
I wish more people would just not read it if they don't like it.

If they start bitching, 40 chapters in, I can understand that because then they were robbed of their time. But if they start bitching at the first 5?

Just why? If you don't like it, don't read it. It isn't hard to recognize that something isn't for you and find something that is. I don't get why people go out of their way to review stuff after quitting at chapters 1-2-3-4 or 5.
 

RedMuffin

OwO
Joined
May 6, 2024
Messages
997
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108
Every advice is a useless advice if you are as dumb as me. :blob_uwu:
950a37de2ac45a229c7ebd2d630015cac5c31717449b71b9976aa7e2f5b9c651.jpg
 

wresch

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 6, 2023
Messages
84
Points
48
Mind if I take another crack at read more? First, reading is something we all love, or we wouldn't be writing, we would be playing video games or watching TV. So, we are going to do it, whether it is bad (simplistic) advice or not. But as writers, I think we might consider how we read. I think I have mentioned the story of Hemingway learning Gertrude Stein's prose techniques by typing out sections of her works. Recently I saw some research that suggests writing pen in hand involves some additional areas of our brain. We are more attentive and hold more in our memories. So, it might be worth finding areas of some book that impress us and studying it by writing it out - in ink - in a notebook. It might help us understand, appreciate, and absorb some elements of style we could adopt. Just a thought.
 

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K_Jira

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2021
Messages
229
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83
If I may impart my 3 cents from what I have learned in my writing journey so far:

1. Show don't tell.

When I first started, it was helpful to ground my writing. It helped me remind myself when I oversimplified actions in my writing where I could elaborate more. But when I keep writing, learning, and establishing my style, I do realize it's not all there is to it. Sometimes it's better to tell rather than show, especially when I want to make the scene more fast-paced. I do my best to 'show' on important scenes, descriptions, and areas where I need the pace to slow down and soak everything in. I have no problem using 'tell' on less important scenes and filler actions. All in all, show don't tell isn't as absolute as how it's hailed to be, but rather, it's an aspect a writer should balance with their style.

2. Dialogue tags.

On one hand, I agree that using said too much isn't good but using over-fancied ones is also just as bad. Again, it's about balance. 'Said' and other commonly used ones should be fine to use once or twice per chapter. Personally, if it's followed by an action afterwards, I simply yeet it out of the sentence and use the action as the dialogue tag because it changes nothing. If there is a more descriptive alternative than 'said' that can give more information to the character, setting, or emotion, then by all means, you should use that instead. But if you just want to use fancier words to fill in the gaps, then 'said' or 'asked' is probably the better choice.

3. Write for yourself.

I agree with this one. Maybe, to be more accurate: Write what you want to read. If you can't like your own story, if you don't want to read your own story, then who will? As narcissistic as it may sound, you should be the first fan of your story. I believe the love you have for your story will be reflected in your writing.

That is all for my 3 cents. If you're still here, thank you for reading until the end :blob_evil_two:
 

LilRora

Mostly formless
Joined
Mar 27, 2022
Messages
1,349
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153
All jokes aside, the worst advice ever is 'write for yourself' or a longer version 'write for yourself and someone else will like it.' Reeks of toxic positivity that ruined dreams of many budding authors.
Just like Corty's bit, is really bad on its own, but can be good advice when it's explained.

What this actually means, at least to me, is not to be afraid of others' criticism and write what you like, cause even if your story isn't popular, there are people that will enjoy it. Put this way, it may not be great advice, but it's definitely not useless, particularly if it's specified seriously considering criticism and feedback is a completely separate matter.

I've seen too many authors (mostly here on Scribble) that would receive criticism and immediately rush to change their story to fit what they were told. That's a quick way to ruin the story and the enjoyment from writing it. Similarly, a lot of people here have been heavily discouraged by bad reception.

Also, I had a thought just now, pretty much any kind of advice that can fit into a phrase is useless. There's too much room for interpretation then.
 
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