The internet can be a wonderful thing.
It is also terrible for misinformation.
I'm talking about
creative writing here, and what is shocking to me is the number of
"hits" we can get by typing in "speech tags" or
"show-tell" or "adverbs" any other horribly condensed term
for a complex subject.
The whole area of show-not-tell (a euphemism which is highly
misleading, anyway) needs a 400-page BOOK to just begin to cover its complexity. But, search the web and find
hundreds, thousands of self-appointed
"gurus" (often with zero publications or highly dubious ones)
pontificating with authority and worse, almost always getting it wrong.
But there's another element of so-called 'advice" on
the internet. It begins like this:
Bea Ginna doesn't like the advice given out by famous
writers because (say) s/he finds it difficult to follow, so s/he (allegedly)
"quotes" the advice and then proceeds to dismantle it - thus giving a
few thousand other beginners the "right" to dismiss (say) Stephen King.
But here's the rub. In order to dismiss Stephen King (and
who is he, anyway?) you may need to misrepresent the FULL meaning of what he
says.
Let's say Stephen King has said, "Write Every Day"
You might get a response like this:
Write Every Day
Writers swear by this piece of advice. They say it
improves their skills and helps them avoid writer’s block. Even Stephen King
writes 4 hours every morning without fail.
But here’s the
thing, unless you’re a writer by profession and earn money through your words, having
to write every day is unrealistic. You have a business to run and it is
just not possible to write every day for the sole purpose of getting good at
it.
Even if you do it, I can guarantee that you’ll be
thinking about the 101 other things that need your attention and will have a
hard time focusing.
Another
reason this advice doesn’t work is because writing every day doesn’t improve
skills as much as we’d like to think. Think about it, you’re writing every day
but what if it’s not your writing but your grammar that’s weak? You’ll
continue to write grammatically incorrect stuff every single day.
We'll deal with the weak dismissal shortly, but do
people think that a writer saying, "Write Every Day" literally means, you must sit down for
the next 50,000 days and write for ten hours, or five hours, or three hours,
and not miss one single day, otherwise you have failed? When Stephen was nearly
killed by a truck, did he wake up and beg for a pen and paper?
"Write Every Day" is a shorthand, for TRY to write virtually every day, avoid
lazy days off, don't procrastinate, make writing your priority, your first
thought when you wake, BE a writer every day of your life, learn to see like a
writer, think like a writer, read like a writer.
"Write Every Day" means watch a little less
TV, stop wasting time, get up 30 minutes earlier or go to bed thirty minutes
later and find the time to write.
"Write Every Day" means take great care that
a day off for a wedding doesn't turn into ten days off followed by a two-week
holiday in Cancun.
"Write Every Day" means, if you're a writer,
you're a writer first. If you don't wake up and think, "Where will I find
the time to write today?" then you're not a writer, you're a hobbyist.
"Write Every Day" means that IF you manage
to jangle those writing nerves and exercise those writing muscles virtually
every day your sensibilities will change, you will take on the internal state
of the serious writer, the habit will become easier and there will be less
tension in any individual day's work.
"Write Every Day" means don't be casual
about this art, this craft, this work
and remember that it IS work, a lot of work, it's bum on seat and bleed.
So this particular "guru" says: having to write every day is unrealistic. You have a business to run and it is just
not possible to write every day for the sole purpose of getting good at it.
RUBBISH. Utter, total rubbish. So the business comes
first. Then you're not a writer. You can always find the time. Is there anyone
reading this who couldn't find one hour a day for kidney dialysis if not having
that treatment meant DEATH? You can always find the time.
Even if you do
it, I can guarantee that you’ll be thinking about the 101 other things that
need your attention and will have a hard time focusing
In other words your non-writing life has priority over
your writing life. In that case you're not a writer, you're a dabbler.
But do you ask what gives this person the authority
to make these pronouncements? Is he a successful fiction author? Is he a
time-management expert with degrees? Is he a psychologist? Why exactly should
we read this stuff and take it as gospel?
Why should you believe me, as I refute him?
Well you could check and find out I have close of 500
publications, 400 fiction, five novels published, a collection of
short-stories, 15 First Prizes - Oh, and degrees in English and other arts, a
degree in psychology, an MA in Creative Writing, and 20+ years working with
writers telling them "Write Every Day!"
Another reason
this advice doesn’t work is because writing every day doesn’t improve skills as
much as we’d like to think. Think about it, you’re writing every day but what
if it’s not your writing but your grammar that’s weak? You’ll continue to
write grammatically incorrect stuff every single day.
Where is this person's evidence? That's just a statement given as if it is
incontrovertible fact.
If we write every day we produce material that can be
critiqued by our peers, or by a teacher, or sent out to editors and critiqued
by them. You get better at grammar by reading (part of the normal writer's
workload) by studying books on grammar, but at the same time continuing to write.
it's practice that improves us, ideally with input from better writers,
editors, judges. Who is likely to improve the most, the guy who reads three dry
books on grammar, then reads them again and again (while not writing) or the
guy who reads those books and keeps writing, applying the grammar rules he's
reading about?
My point is, DON'T take advice from strangers. If you
surf into a writer's blog, why not check how successful the writer is? If
Stephen King suggests writing every day is a good idea, think NOT about the
sound-byte but the whole argument.
When Bea Ginna on his blog says, "Stephen is
wrong" make the obvious check. Millionaire successful writer (and not just
financially successful but critically acclaimed) versus unpublished or
self-published newbie.
(I have sourced the original writer of the quoted
counter-advice above and she has a blog and appears to be doing OK, writing non-fiction. At one point she
writes:
(I was) working nights, weekends, and even holidays trying to earn a decent
living.
Hmm, doesn't that sort of sound like "writing
every day"?
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