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| "My advice, if a guy pauses a video game just to text you back, marry him." |
What
is the best piece of writing advice you ever received?
It can be something exclusively concerning the craft of writing itself, something that motivated you to keep moving forward, or something that changed everything in relation to you as a writer. It can be from a famous author, a critique partner, your spouse, your dog (my dog gives great advice)! What was YOUR "A-HA Moment" and how did it help you improve as a writer?
My A-HA moment: Never buying into trends and sticking to my gut. Before I started writing, I didn't realize how competitive the markets were for certain types of books. I believed we should write what moves us--as that will be our best writing. I got nervous about that for a while, thinking maybe I should think more about the market, but then I realized if I'm not fully invested in what I'm writing, my readers won't be either.
Here's some advice on being a writer you maybe shouldn't take from good old Ernest Hemingway....
“Let’s say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with.”
So what's was you’re OMG-I-get-it moment?? If you're a reader and not a writer, what's a piece of advice you can give us writers? Maybe something you've seen repeated in middle-grade books that drives you nuts or something you think writers need to consider more.
"Go where the pain is; go where the pleasure is." -Anne Rice
ReplyDeleteHmmm...did Anne Rice write that 50 Shades of Gray book? ;) Just joking! That is a great quote. And this sounds like something Lestat would say!
DeleteAnne, I have a HARDER time with the former than the latter of that statement...
DeleteMy own most important advice would be GET AWESOME CRIT PARTNERS.
ReplyDeleteMy two other favourite pieces of advice: 'If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it', Toni Morrison and 'I try to convince myself that the story is all true, and that I am simply telling it, not making it up', Louis Sachar.
Ooh, like that Louis Sachar one.
DeleteOh, I've yet to get the crit partner. I totally should though!
DeleteToni, you're an author after my own heart. My current WIP is all about writing what I can't find elsewhere.
DeleteThat also makes trying to sell it later a nightmare, but so be it.
As Tracy knows, I recently had to come to grips with your A-HA moment.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the best advice is to keep writing. I have written four books with no deal in contract form, and I've been urged to continue writing and not dwell on any one project. I've come back to projects and tinkered, and even rewrote one and subbed it with my agent, but the key has always been to keep writing and not get fixated on ONE project being the be-all-end-all of my writing career. I see too many writers who invest all their time on one project, and never move on to another. I get the closeness and the attachment, but it's important to write something new. Something different. That's my best piece of advice...and I have to smack myself upside the head with it after I finish a project to take it myself sometimes.
Mike, if you stop, I will hunt you down and beat you! ;)
DeleteI feel for you, Mike, but Hilary, sometimes breaks are necessary, breaks aren't quitting, and it took me a long time to realize the difference.
DeleteThough sometimes it feels that way, particularly if you're very strict about being productive.
I take breaks too, Taurean, as I think most people do. It is necessary for my sanity.
DeleteI think the reason it was hard for me personally to take breaks from writing was because I didn't want to fall into the trap of letting a "break" turn into a "Flaky Runaway Writer" complex.
DeleteIt's key for a writer to know in their heart you are taking a BREAK for your sanity, NOT running away from the work.
There can be a not-so-fine line between them. More than we can honestly realize in the moment.
The breaks I forced myself to take last year were just that, even though I worried at times I was just running away from the work, but I wasn't, I was BURNT OUT from the work I'd done before the breaks in between, and since I don't fast draft like lots of authors I know these days, what I was writing beyond my blog was slow and torturous.
This year I wanted to increase my output and improve my craft significantly, but have come to the conclusion that I have to let go of certain goals for now and be willing to draft solely for quantity and let quality come from long revision/rewrite cycles.
I love that quote under the picture about the video game, Hilary.
ReplyDeleteI've probably forgotten 90% of what I've ever been told about writing, my memory is that bad. But I would have to say, "Embrace wherever you are on the journey." There are many pit stops, many causes for exasperation, but never lose sight of the fact that you are doing something you love.
Isn't that funny! I saw it on a T-shirt! ;)
DeleteEven after you get published their are pit stops and pit falls. It's never what anyone thinks. It's one nutty make-you-throw-up dizzying roller coaster, but I think we're all glad to be on it!
This piece of advice from Neil Gaiman has really stuck with me: "Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, do not ignore feedback, but only you can figure out how the feedback should be used.
Dianne, I never heard this quote before. Excellent advice. We need to solve the problems, but in our way. Yes, yes, yes!
DeleteI love that quote! Have that in a folder on my desktop.
DeleteThese are great! Writing advice that I've heard and believe in is to write what you love. You're going to be spending so much time on it that you'll get sick of it. But maybe if you can remember why you started, you'll stick with it until it's done.
ReplyDeleteMy other one is to keep the momentum going. Sometimes I need a short break, but I'm always more focused if the breaks are short (a day or two vs a week or two).
Andrea, totally agree! If I have to put down a MS for a while, I have to read the whole thing before I start again. Besides that, I have the memory of a gnat!
DeleteI'm like Michael G-G and the quotes don't stick in my head. But I agree with all the advice so far, especially to keep writing and embrace where you are on your journey.
ReplyDeleteAnd drink copious amounts of vodka! ;)
DeleteHilary --
Delete*clinking my glass of vodka with yours*
Oh, good! No one likes drinking alone. ;)
DeleteLin Oliver said at an Eastern PA SCBWI event years ago: "Don't write what you know. Write what you wonder about." That opened my eyes to possibilities I'd never considered.
ReplyDeleteThe other one I heard recently: Keep asking why. If you're stuck on your WIP, ask why the character is doing this or that. Just keep asking why, like Socrates!
Joanne, these are great! I always keep asking questions as I'm writing and especially when I'm revising.
DeleteI'm chatty, but for impact I'll be brief here-
ReplyDelete"NEVER let anyone shame you for what you love writing."
"Try not to let your weaknesses define you."
I'm terrible at query letters, and only because I must write them do I persist, but just because your query letters are less than masterful, it doesn't mean the actual book is as in dire straights.
I get why they matter to others, but for those of us who don't work in advertising in our day jobs, it's NOT a natural skill, so don't let query letters define your self-worth as a writer.
Finally, for those of you writing "Boy books" I have only one thing to say-
NOT ALL OF US LIKE GROSS HUMOR!
I include me here and that hasn't changed. If that's what you must do for a specific instance, fine, but when I review books I usually (Mentally, I don't use a point review system) dock a point off my score for gag-inducing hi-jinks, and this is the only prudish aspect to my tastes, but so be it.
I'm not a fan of gross humor either, but my 9 year old son loves it! ;)
DeleteThat must be hard. I shudder what I'll do if I ever become a parent. I hope we'll have some books in common.
DeleteWriters need to consider the voices of their characters compared to their ages. Research, hanging around kids, goes a long way here. As far as writing advice, that's a tough one. I heard a writer say once that you should write what you want to write, because no one is paying you to write these stories ahead of time. (Of course, this is not valid if you're getting paid to write a sequel, series, etc.)
ReplyDeleteMy son is 9. Right now, everything cool is 'beasty' or 'so beast'. He also likes the bad words and thinks if he spells them out rather than say them it's still okay. That should go in a book. ;)
Delete