What writing advice helped you the most? or didn't?

[AliceMoonvale]

I'm sure we all know the timeless classics of:

Write every day or often, in chunks, etc
Show, don't tell.
Try and aim for 1500-2000 word count, yadda yadda.

How much of this type of advice has helped you?
Or rather, which ones ended up wasting your time or even made your writing worse?

Is there a specific tip or technique that unlocked new creative possibilities for you or improved your writing in general? Such as helping with writing consistency, character development, pacing, or anything else.

Then there could be advice that just sounds overrated and ultimately winds up being ineffective. For example. some “golden rules” everyone swears by that just didn’t work for you.

---
For myself, personally, I browsed around when I first found scribblehub and adapted to the shorter paragraphs. It is definitely not my style by any means, but I was able to understand the appeal and viewed it as a challenge to 'say more but write less', if that makes sense. lol

'Show don't tell' has been a hit or miss for me. In my opinion, I feel that sometimes 'telling' is necessary when you need to convey certain information. Trying to show all the time every time can definitely bog down pacing occasionally.

Best example of 'telling' would probably be in the harry potter books. (first thing I can think of)
J.K. Rowling frequently uses 'telling' to get through world-building or to give backstory quickly, but then she shifts to necessary 'showing', like with Harry's first experience going to Diagon Alley.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

 

[PancakesWitch]

the thing about show dont tell that most authors dont tell you about is that you can go on and tell too, it just has to happen when the plot needs it or demands it, when, for example, some conflict between two nations happen, you cannot just explain it through dialogue alone, it would be far too much, so you skip the explanations through dialogue and tell it narratively, while making it as if the characters learned this in the skipped dialogue, or other times when something the character introduces but that the audience doesnt know, but the mc is aware of, narration can explain this to the audience through telling, etc, just strike a good balance and don't tell too much to the point it fills a whole chapter

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

The most helpful was to not reduce what you consume and inspire yourself with by tunnel-vision. If you like sci-fi like I did when I got this advice, go to a different genre. For me it was romance books and the slog that is mystery. Maybe I just genuinely hate mystery if ALL of them seemed to suck in my opinion. But. Damn can my brain do backflips while juggling chainsaws now.

Make a unifying structure that supports the theme.

The worst advice was to write like the classics. I wasted so much time I gave up on writing for a decade because I couldn't figure out how to do alliteration and other similar old as fuck writing.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Write when you can. If you're not writing, read.

Don't follow it as much as I used to but it was very useful when I started out.

Also the entire essay about how the created the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover comic book by the creative team had a lot of good advice, some intentional, some not but there, as do the little essays Piers Anthony includes at the end of some of his books, mostly the Xanth ones.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

The most helpful was to not reduce what you consume and inspire yourself with by tunnel-vision. If you like sci-fi like I did when I got this advice, go to a different genre. For me it was romance books and the slog that is mystery. Maybe I just genuinely hate mystery if ALL of them seemed to suck in my opinion. But. Damn can my brain do backflips while juggling chainsaws now.

Make a unifying structure that supports the theme.

The worst advice was to write like the classics. I wasted so much time I gave up on writing for a decade because I couldn't figure out how to do alliteration and other similar old as fuck writing.

Yeah, nobody wants to write like outdated old people. Look at the old testament. Laaaame~ too much telling and not much showing! SHOW ME JESUS

Write when you can. If you're not writing, read.

Don't follow it as much as I used to but it was very useful when I started out.

Also the entire essay about how the created the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover comic book by the creative team had a lot of good advice, some intentional, some not but there, as do the little essays Piers Anthony includes at the end of some of his books, mostly the Xanth ones.

Amen. When I'm not writing my romance slop, I'm reading it.
Best advice, honestly.

 

[foxes]

These tips are just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone adapts them in their own way.

A large number of rewrites or letters helps you catch the right idea and come back to it later. It also helps you refine your personal style. However, it does not truly address the issues or ideas of the work itself. In fact, it may even lead you in a different direction.

I have already mentioned the concept of "Show, don't tell." This is a harmful approach. It is easier to write a different story than to address this issue. You will 100% lose the motivational punch of your narrative by trying to smooth things over.

 

[Paul__Michaels]

I don't know. I only got into writing because I couldn't find the story I was looking for and just started going. Like I read a shit ton on Webnovels (RESPONSE FROM THE AUDIENCE: Boo!) and SH. So I had a decent sense on pacing and word count to posting on SH. I lacked any formal training because of my dyslexia, but it didn't deter me from writing. And I made a lot of mistakes but luckily I got readers to point them out to fix the glaring ones. My biggest issue was I switched between first person and third person.
But my mindset going into writing was to write for myself. So it's weird that I'm now writing for others. It's a strange shift.

So, I know it doesn't work for everyone that gets into writing, but try to write your story for yourself. If you find it entertaining then it should resonate with possible readers.

 

[unlaumy]

Not exactly from someone in particular, but I keep telling myself that analyzing 'bad' works can still help you improve your writing. Not in a 'hah, at least I'm better than this guy' kind of motivation, but more as a constant reminder. It will go much better if you also analyze another work that's so good that you can't even imagine reaching that level.

I wasted so much time I gave up on writing for a decade because I couldn't figure out how to do alliteration and other similar old as fuck writing.

You're better than me. My 'in the zone' moments always end up with gazillions of alliterations... not in a good way too.

 

[CinnaSloth]

best advice off the top of my head..
watch a movie you've seen a dozen times.
write out their actions in your head.
describe the scene as if you were telling it to a blind person.
every detail of the character's emotion, movement, connections.

worst advice..
focus on a single genre.

my advice?
no... don't focus on a single genre. that's fine if you do, but instead, broaden your horizon to all genres and take small bites of each, and take bigger bites later from the ones you enjoyed.
you never know if you're good at one, or better at another. writing is a skill, skills are meant to be learned. focusing on 'genres' is dumb. what you should focus on, is the story you want to tell. the genre is the LAST thing you think about when creating a story. stories can be as big, and as broad as you want them to be, and can contain everything, and anything. don't limit yourself to the walls of a genre. write your story, and find out what genres it can fit into.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

best advice off the top of my head..
watch a movie you've seen a dozen times.
write out their actions and in your head.
describe the scene as if you were telling it to a blind person.
every detail of the character's emotion, movement, connections.

worst advice..
focus on a single genre.

my advice?
no... don't focus on a single genre. that's fine if you do, but instead, broaden your horizon to all genres and take small bites of each, and take bigger bites later from the ones you enjoyed.
you never know if you're good at one, or better at another. writing is a skill, skills are meant to be learned. focusing on 'genres' is dumb. what you should focus on, is the story you want to tell. the genre is the LAST thing you think about when creating a story. stories can be as big, and as broad as you want them to be, and can contain everything, and anything. don't limit yourself to the walls of a genre. write your story, and find out what genres it can fit into.

That's right, it's always good to branch out to trying other genres.
Except LitRPG, unless you enjoy suffering.

 

[Tetrahedron]

the classic 1500-2000 words count (per chapter implied) is getting way too short, especially if you do the likes of Progression (or whatever it's called in Scribble Hub).

It is also effective at manipulating traffic, which it gives a longer form of fiction (closer to 4000+ word per chapter) a harder time to gain traction.

And don't forget that it didn't teach the readers how to be patient or enduring just enough in reading a fictional work. Everything has to be instant as expected.

 

[expentio]

Probably a little off-topic, but the advice that helped me least was to have a concept. To only start writing if you got the whole thing planned through. Also, to treat the first story as training and abandon it afterwards to get started for real.
Would probably never have started if I had followed those. In my case, at least, I once got started, and from then on just followed my characters. I had fun writing that, and others apparently enjoyed it too. It's certainly not universal, but some writers are less planners, and more go with the flow, and this is fine, in my opinion. Of course, planning the next ten or more chapters should happen. A backlog is important. However, being discouraged because you were told that you need a professional concept to get anywhere good would've been counterproductive in my case.

 

[LiteraryWho]

The best writing advice I ever got was actually workout advice, and I didn't so much get it as overhear it, but, "Write."

Or, to elaborate, I'll give it to you as workout advice, and then translate it into writing advice. So, if you want to develop a good habit of going to the gym and working out, the key is to make a point of regularly/every day, going through the motions of going to the gym and working out. You can start out with something as easy as, "Every day at a certain time, put on your gym clothes and sit in your car/walk to your bike, head to the gym, etc." If you keep up that habit of always making the attempt, inevitably you will start to build off of that habit into the real thing, and before you know it, you're shracked to hell.

Now, to translate that into writing, what I personally did was commit to writing one page (in TextEdit) every day. Not one page of story, or notes, or world building, or of anything at all, but every day (for the last ten years or so) I've filled up a page with *something* every day (on same days I "time travel" and do two pages in one day). At first I mostly wrote crap, but in the last ten years I've produced three novels which I'm very fond of.

 

[L1aei]

Vodka, whiskey, bourbon, and mead... mead, maybe not that. That's more for the taste than to loosen up self-judging expectations.

Really, it truly helps you not give a fuck about what you punch on your keyboard. Afterwards, after you genuinely proofread it, then you can fix up that bullshit mess. Try that out once. See what comes of it. Maybe you'll regret it, but how many of you authors are sitting on a vault of unpublished material? I am and it is for good reason. I'd start shit and realize I was going nowhere with it. Yeah, I think that advice is toxic, but it is good advice if all you care about is writing. Besides, there is good reason we associate taverns and hearing some patron in their cups spilling a tall tale.

 

[Eldoria]

Well, rules are born of necessity. There are no truly universal rules, across genres, platforms, and cultures. The most important thing is to use the principle appropriately according to the narrative's needs.

Use "show it, don't tell it" if you want to build an immersive narrative, especially in important scenes. Conversely, only "tell it" if the narrative doesn't need to "show it," such as summarizing previous plot points, sharpening character emotions or motivations, and skipping time to avoid scene repetition.

Write short paragraphs only if you're writing on a mobile-friendly web novel platform. Don't write short paragraphs in a paper novel if you don't want customers to be upset because the paper contains more blank lines than content (waste).

Don't use aesthetic prose if you're aiming for easily visualized scenes. Instead, use prose that aligns with your identity if you're aiming for aesthetics and narrative uniqueness.

Use first POV or limited third POV only if your fiction focuses on a single character-driven focus. Conversely, combine multiple POVs if your narrative has many complex characters.

Use fast pacing only if your scenes focus on action rather than reflection. Conversely, use slow pacing only if you're focused on building tension, reflection, and in-depth character development.

Design a humanistic (3D) antagonists only if you want to build empathy and understanding for the characters without justifying their (evil) actions. Conversely, design cheesy villains (1D or 2D) only if you want to make the readers applaud when the villains are brought down.

It's all about narrative needs. Rules exist to address narrative challenges, not complicate them.

 

[Nekyo]

I guess the best advice for writing, is the same advice for advices in life in general:

"Advices are like clothes, try them on, but only keep the ones that fit you."

So with writing I realized that I hate editing beyond help.

So the advice of writing drafts and polishing later hurt my momentum because whenever I had to go back and see a draft I'd dislike it so much that I'd tear it down and remake the whole scene from scratch which got me stuck.

It felt like going back in the story so it bothered me. Meaning I'm definitely a writer that writes and refines as I go. (I'd still go back and tune previous chapters sometimes if I feel it can be improved. But is way more polished than a draft at least.)

 

[L1aei]

Oh, uh... maybe I should include using more strong verbs rather than adverbs? There, that sounds more healthy than my last piece of advice.

 

[Little-Moon]

Mhh I guess what worked best for me was doing it at my own pace.

Basically throwing all those well meant and genuinely helpful advices out the window and trying to find out what I am comfortable with and then build upon that base and progress from there piece by piece instead of forcing myself to suit someone's else's methods or trying to do it all at once.

Not the fastest way sure but one that ensured I actually managed to finish what I started once and keeps me going.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

I guess the best advice for writing, is the same advice for advices in life in general:

"Advices are like clothes, try them on, but only keep the ones that fit you."

So with writing I realized that I hate editing beyond help.

So the advice of writing drafts and polishing later hurt my momentum because whenever I had to go back and see a draft I'd dislike it so much that I'd tear it down and remake the whole scene from scratch which got me stuck.

It felt like going back in the story so it bothered me. Meaning I'm definitely a writer that writes and refines as I go. (I'd still go back and tune previous chapters sometimes if I feel it can be improved. But is way more polished than a draft at least.)

Someone else who understands. Nice.

 

[CanOfTuna]

I got a huge writer's block one time and followed the mantra of 'keep writing anyway', well it worked but ended up scrapping 6 chapters haha