My primary job is being an editor, which is a concise way of saying that my job is analyzing writing and giving writing advice to authors on how to better not only their manuscript, but themselves.
So let me be the first to tell you that all writing advice comes with the huge * of YMMV.
As in your mileage may vary. Why? Well, it all starts with my favorite line from Freiren which is, “The world of magic can be overturned in a day…”
There are no 100% rules of writing.
Well, other than “use words” I guess, but that’s just being pedantic.
What I mean is that, there is not a single rule I can give you about writing that someone, somewhere hasn’t already broken and has probably broken it awesomely. Or at least in a commercially successful manner.
“A story has a beginning, a middle, and an ending.”
Ah, but in medias rez would like a word with you. A word that starts the story in act 2.
“You must have a villain.”
Fortune’s Pawn had no villains, only antagonists who were all good people trying to solve an unsolvable problem in their own flawed ways.
Or how about how Andy Weir didn’t think anyone wanted to read a hyper-detailed sci-fi about engineering one’s way off of Mars after being abandoned? Or what about Fifty Shades of Gray?
There’s countless examples out there of how the world of writing was overturned in a day by one passionate writer with a fresh idea done well. Which brings me back to writing advice.
There’s an infinite amount to learn about writing. It’s a true art that has no end. One can study it and practice it for one’s whole life without ever finding a peak. You’ll never look down and say, “Yup, learned it all. I’m as good as can possibly be at this.”
I.e. there’s no max level to writing.
Which makes giving writing advice a bit paradoxical since any advice can, technically, be broken. Perhaps to great effect even. Ultimately, I think this is a case of knowing the rules so you can break them. For, in practice, writing advice usually helps people get better.
Hopefully you see why it’s hard to give writing advice though. I feel like everything I say has an * on the end.
We all climb the mountain in our own way
Further complicating the issue is that every author ultimately has to learn to write by writing. Doing is the greatest teacher. Also, again, this is art. Even if you’re writing the most banal cash-in crap imaginable, it’s still art. And how you do art is different from how I do art. Always was, always is, and always will be.
We can talk about the spectrum of discovery writing vs plotted writing all day but even two plotters will plot differently, focus on different story elements, and write different prose. There’s only ever overlap in this world, never duplication nor cloning. You have no writing twin.
Everyone ultimately figures out their own writing style to tell their stories they way they want to. This, I believe, is an intrinsic part of written art.
So, when I give writing advice, I know that it may not work for you. It may not work for your story. It may not be right for you. (Though I do try to pay attention and tailor my advice. I’m trying to give people tools they can use after all.)
I am just one artist, one man who has studied the art, trying to convey technique to another artist. Talk about tough.
And that means that YMMV.
What to do with writing advice?
This is not an article meant to be a screed against writing advice, but merely one to explore the inherent limits of such. Though the big question is how should you handle it?
I’ll be honest, I’ve seen writing advice become a cage on others’ creativity. You gotta be careful with this stuff.
My advice, and the attached irony, is to never automatically assume that the advice is true for you. Rather, let’s not fall into the fallacy of authority. Just because an experienced author or editor tells you to do things a certain way doesn’t automatically mean they are right; for you, for now, for that WIP.
Emphasis on automatic because they might be giving you excellent accurate advice. Advice you should take. Just don’t take everything you read blindly. That’s all. That’s my big statement.
If you’re giving advice, don’t act like it’s the gospel truth. (Hi, future me who is going to unwittingly ignore this!)
We all need to understand that the shoes may not fit and that they may not be suitable for the particular mountain a given author is walking up.
You the author are the final authority on what goes into your work. You should apply some gatekeeping as to what comes into your story and your creativity. You should test out advice and be ok with sometimes saying, “this isn’t for me.”