The best writing advice isn't about writing

This is an old thought I wrote down exactly three years ago, but for lack of a suitable blog at the time it remained unpublished... then forgotten. Might as well bring it back now. To my surprise, most of what I wrote below never made its way into other, newer articles. It's all for the best then, I suppose.

The Internet is full of writing advice. At first sight, prospective authors have a wealth of accumulated wisdom to draw upon, right at their fingertips. Normally, that would be great. Except...

Except all that advice always focuses on the nitty-gritty of the actual craft of putting words to paper. And it's ridiculously specific. Write this many words a day. Edit twice. No, thrice! Don't edit, rewrite. Don't rewrite, cut. Avoid these words. Exposition is bad. Blah blah blah.

Worse, it's all bunk. Words were invented to be used, and there is no one right way to use them. Like in the game of Go, no matter how well you write you could always have done it better. Your best bet is to read a lot, talk to other people a lot (preferably people not like you) and practice, practice, practice. Pick up tricks, try them out for size and create your own blend. ( Read more... )