100 Things You Should Know About Writing (Part 3)

53) Who Do You Trust?

Although Part 3 of 100 Things is supposed to be more about technique (I.E. the finer details of what makes a story work), today's section will be a bit of both technique and craft. 

See, I've been getting rather annoyed very often, so I thought I'd write about it today so those of you who are reading this can keep it in the back of your mind. 

Wattpad is an awesome place for new writers. It is also, more often than not, a terrible place for new writers. New writers can easily post what they've written for feedback, or ask any question on the Improve Your Writing club forum and get a ton of information back. 

The problem I've found is that a lot of this information is furnished by people who don't really know much more about writing than the person who had asked the question. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm 100% behind even new writers sharing tips of things that have worked for them. But what I'm seeing a lot of is when people have only tried one thing and act as if that one thing is the only thing that works. 

Or they heard a piece of information somewhere as being a writing rule and swear by it as if there's a Ye Olde Writing Bible written somewhere with all these rules that exist only in isolation. 

In other words, as easy as it may be to find writing advice on Wattpad (or, for that matter, anywhere else), it's just as easy to find a lot of bad advice. 

Such as advice on avoiding cliches. (Which I've written about why this is a bad idea in detail in Part 2 Section 27.) Advice such as taking that mythical personal writing style into account first when deciding on a PoV (Voice and Style: Part 1, Section 16. PoV and how to use them: Part 1, Section 15). Advice that main characters must always be likeable (Part 1, Section 13). I can go on, but I think you're catching my drift. 

The point is that none of that advice is good advice if taken at face value. So one of the most important things that you must learn as a writer is to know when you can trust someone who've given you advice.

The answer to this is tricky, and I don't really think it's something I can teach you. The reason? 

Because to know whose advice to trust, you need to learn how to trust yourself as a writer first. I've seen so many new writers get completely lost in the ocean of advice, simply because they waded in without knowing themselves first. 

Writing doesn't have a one-size-fits-all method that guarantees success, and I think we lose a lot of new writers because that's what they're looking for. What they find is way too much advice, most of it contradicting. 

Write every day. No, write when you want to write or writing will become a chore.

When you have writer's block, rest. What? There's no such thing as writer's block. Get your butt in your chair and write, you lazy ass. 

You have to write and find what you believe to be your rules. But at the same time, you need to be flexible enough to realize when your rules are standing in the way of your success. 

Yes, this might seem contradictory, but really it's not. Rule #1 Never write unless feeling inspired might seem like a good idea, until you see that you're never finishing a single story you started. (Inspiration is a fickle thing.) 

I used to have a rule of only ever working on one book at a time. Then one day, I realized exactly how much time I wasted every time I got stuck somewhere. (I get stuck because I don't plan my rough drafts, but I don't plan because I've realized that planning doesn't work for me.)