"Don't edit as you write." I get it. It can kill productivity, but leaving glaring errors or even plot points that just don't quite work right, bugs the crap out of me and stalls me out. I will say that I don't do major edits while I'm writing. I made that mistake once before where I reworked the first ten chapters again and again and then didn't end up using most of it. But, my delete key gets lots of use. If I reread my last chapter and find a problem, I fix it. I'd say, with most of this advice, try everything once. Try writing every day. Try not editing as you write. Try outlining. Try pantsing. Because trying different ways of doing things is the only way to find out what works best for you.
I agree! I edit as I write too and it works wonders for me, even though it might not work for everyone. For me it feels so much more manageable to polish my book as I write rather than letting the issues compound into a disaster by the end.
Totally. Sometimes I look for previous information os read for fun my won writing and find a misspelling. Like hell, I'm going to leave it. And sometimes I find contradictions in my writing, so it's better to change now than recall it later.
THIS! I'm the most notorious editing-as-I-write writer ever and I agree that has slowed me down after rewriting my first few chapters a dozen times, but I've also learned to tone it down. Just eliminating it completely has not worked well for me and in fact gave me more work to do once the plot holes and plot direction started to get out of hand. A loose outlining method has also been helping me
Absolutely. I hear this all the time. I understand what they mean, but I can't leave errors, bad sentences or plot holes in. I revise every chapter (or section) once they're finish, polish it up and then move on. It makes editing the final product less daunting.
What works best for me is to edit as I write. It's never been a problem for me. It's true that drafting uses a completely different part of the brain than editing does, but some of us are able to switch back-and-forth without losing track of either goal. Luckily, I can do this, and I could do it on day one. What I'm not fond of is writing advice against this given specifically because it doesn't work for the person giving the advice, which only shows how narrow their thinking is, in that what doesn't work for them is something they quite wrongly assume won't work for anyone. Being that presumptuous alone is enough to skunk their credibility. And it's the opposite of helpful. But I understand how editing while drafting doesn't work for everyone. I have a friend in a writing group who is incapable of doing this. As a matter of fact, she makes separate editing passes on her scenes, one for dialogue, another for action, and a third pass just for the narrative. That works for her, and it's actually pretty clever.
@@Reedsy Thats was actually a rather archiac use of the word ejaculate.Said is dead? more like someone needed to tell J.K Rowling that ejaculating is dead.(well at least when it comes to the definition she was using) In the archiac definition of ejaculate J.K Rowling was using it preaty much means for someone to exclaim dialogue without thinking about what there saying as the result of the speaker being overwhelmed with emotion.
I have a habit of using the word said in writing however I would recomend to aviod over using it and I would definantly recomend never replacing the word said with ejaculate.LOL now that just cringey.
I've always considered the advice 'write what you know' to be one of the dumbest. Write what you want to write, just be prepared to do your research. Or better yet, write what scares you. But frankly, I've never heard a professional writer say don't use said. It's the best most invisible word to use. Basically, I tell writers to ignore most of the 'rules', and really only follow only two: write a lot and read a lot. All the rest are just 'suggestions'
If everyone were to follow the "write what you know advice", you couldn't write about crime unless you're actually a criminal or work in law enforcement. Nobody could write from a different time period because they aren't time travelers. Fantasy would be completely of the question as its based on things you couldn't possibly have encountered. But doing research is obviously important. My mom told me about a crime novel she read in the past, with Norway (where I'm from) written from the perspective of an American that did apparently no research and would write about the people eating polar bear meat (probably the equivalent of saying Americans eat mountain lions, just because it exists there), Oslo being north of Norway and some more. The main character was of course a whale hunter (while it does at least exist, its nowhere near as typical as that author probably imagine). She didn't remember the name of the novel, and I would like to know it if someone knows.
I have never played soccer or know much about the game, but because I was writing a story for 2 little boys who do, I got a crash course in it by writing it. . It helped that my husband and his brother had both played years ago, so I could also ask them if something didn't sound or look right. I think we never know where exploring new avenues will lead us. And the little boys loved getting a copy of the rough draft at Christmas too. Still working on illustrations and researching best way to publish it for me, but it was fun to learn about, famous players, and with the World Cup going on recently, it made a nice connection for the boys, and to see themselves as the main characters.
Your point about "knowing what you write" reminded me of when I worked at a medical institute and helped students compile research for their term papers. I hadn't even heard of some of the topics that they were bringing to me, but I only had minutes to help them find relevant sources for reference. Knowing HOW to approach research can be a fun and validating skill, and could make for an interesting discussion topic! I would love to hear more about how your experiences with researching for writing. On that note, I had a student once who REFUSED to write about her own experiences or feelings. She was an excellent writer, but most of the stories she wrote felt forced, flat, and a little off - almost like she was keeping everything at an emotional arm's length while writing. She was very sweet, but also very hard on herself. I asked her about it, and she told me that "nothing about [her] own experiences have ever been meaningful", and "no one would probably read it anyways". We talked about it some more, and she came back with this beautiful, haunting short story about having tea with Death, where she explored her own struggle with feelings of worthlessness. She was proud of that piece, and she must have realized shortly after that she really wanted to be a carpenter (when her parents wanted her to be a historian). She does woodworking now. The last time we met and talked, she was VERY happy. She apparently still writes whenever she can. I think that context can matter a lot when it comes to pithy advice, and that advice can take on different meanings depending on how it is applied. Exploring the ways in which these shorthand "rules" can be interpreted can lead to some insightful situations.
“Write what you know” I REALLY hate that tip.I always write about stuff I don’t know because it lets me do it in my own way and I sometimes get to really experience things that I wouldn’t be brave enough to do normally
Your comments are good to hear. For instance i need to edit right after i fix a draft. If the book is long i forgot what i wrote when i set it aside for a few weeks. I needed to edit right away. That's what i do now.
"Write what you know" is one of the worst pieces of "advice" I have ever seen offered to anybody trying to write, especially as nobody ever offers the parallel adage, "Know what you write".
I like it. If you're an expert on the material, you'll be more nimble and write with greater confidence. You just have to be careful not to assume other people have even a basic understanding.
Or another good phrase relating to that i heard, something Red from OSP said, "write what you know, but you can always know more" in relation to things like diversity or complex social issues in stories
I do think there's value in letting a piece rest before editing but at the same time I like to read through a chapter right after I'm done with it as the ideas within a still fresh in my mind and I find places where they can be executed better, I then set the chapter aside to edit again later.
One of the things I love best about this video (after the great original interpritation) is the title. She says "7 common writing tips that I don't agree with" instead of "7 common writing tips that are stupid" or even "7 common writing tips that wont benifit you". She is acknowledging the facts that they are common writing tips, and that it is her opinion and that it doesn't have to be ours too, just suggesting. She also is not being rude or snotty in the title. It is very short but really sets the suggestive and helpful vibe of the video.
The first one I agree with (you) because one may vary a lot from day to day (at least I do). You need to have your brain working properly and be somewhat in the right modus to write. Some days you may just be too tired or otherwise unfocused, or just dont have inspiration. And that makes you lose the overall "feel" of what is good writing. I still try to write every day where I would be capable if that's the right word, but it does not end up being actually every day
“Everything has to have a purpose”. I don’t like that because even though I kind of agree with the premise, I feel like a lot of the time if you put something in and in your gut it feels right, then maybe it does have a purpose anyway. It might just not be that obvious what that is.
These are some great tips and debunking. I can't agree more with the "write every day"... nobody in any job should do that job everyday. You need to recharge. As for "said is dead", nothing makes me laugh more than when I workshop a story for a University class or do editing for a colleague and read something like "YOU DAMN IDIOT!" he shouted. I had a strong background in theatre before I started writing fiction, so I actually crutch on dialogue, and while reading often skip sections to get to it. I'm a big fan of omitting said all together especially in a back and fourth exchange. You just need a couple in there as say sign posts which can be blended it cleverly if you take the time. "Morning,." said Alain "It's not morning until I've slept." "What time did you get in last night?" "Not even sure - pass the coffee? "I'll pour it for you, your shakey-ass looks like it'll hit everything BUT the cup." "Thank you," said Dave, "Will you hold the cup up to my mouth as well?" I mean, I did that on the spot so I'm not saying it's an example of how to write amazing dialogue, but notice you can quicken the pace by just eliminating said. The passive/active voice point, I agree with what you're saying, but your example failed to win me over. "The University was built 50 years ago." Is verging on a useless info dump narrative sentence. (I'm aware it's just and example so don't take my criticism's as such, just a discourse on the subject) If there's a reason for the age of the University being important then avoiding passive voice is easy. "Built 50 years ago, the University preceded the formation of the county it now represented." "The University - built 50 years ago - didn't look a day over 49." But you're right, sometimes passive voice is the most effective, and that's what we should strive for is effectiveness, not formulaic rules. "John cried." "John was sad." Sometimes the latter will just work better. Great video. Great advice. Keep at it. Awesome from somebody so young. (not that I"m even old)
I do photography and let my work sit for a day or two so I have a fresh perspective. When I write it floods my brain so fast it gets convoluted so I need to revisit it to make it flow. When I get my first draft you'll get a copy to read over. Be Safe - Have Fun!
1. Write everyday (but take breaks as you need) 2. Dialogue should be realistic (but not audio-realistic) 3. Foreshadowing everything (that you want people to predict) 4. Write what you know (or learn what you want to write) 5. Don't use said (where you don't need it) 6. Don't use passive voice (unless it conveyance your information easier). Also, don't use sentence fragments (unless you want it to feel fragmented for impact) 7. Take a break after the first draft (if you want the story to settle in your brain.)
I wish I'd been as knowledgeable about writing when I was your age. Good point on the writing every day thing. Personally, if I don't do at least a little bit, I start to feel a bit off. Like I'm not talking to friends for a while. However, on work days I tend to do a little writing just to keep up with it, and when I have a long period of free time (I have a week off every month due to my schedule) I like to throw myself in for as long as possible. Stephen King talked about "Finding the hole in the page" and when you really get going, really immerse yourself in your world, it is so much better than trying to drive uphill. It's more like reaching the other side of the hill and coasting down at high speed.
I write to find out. These are wonderful points you make. I edit as I write, (holdover from manual typewriter days when it was best to get one page settled before going on to the next, a la Dean Koontz), but also do book, line, and copyedits once it's finished, too. Thomas Pynchon used "sez" in the present tense for says. I use said sparingly. I use fragments when useful and break paragraphs into smaller ones for clarity and flow.
Yeah. The fixation with #6 vexes me. Even in cases where passive voice isn't needed, some instances might not weaken the sentence much, while helping a lot in varying sentence length and adding vocabulary and musicality.
Love this advice, mostly because all 7 points follow the theme, "Do what works for you." All of these writing rules, not just around HOW we write, our style etc. but WHAT words actually end up on the page are a little silly imo. Yes, there are good principles, and we want people to be able to read what we write... right? But in my own amateur experience, enjoyment of reading is about much more than proper spelling and grammar. When I wrote my first (and only) book, it started out very proper English. When I started editing it... fragments, illegal commas, passive voice here and there, accepting there are no fast-and-hard rules to art... now it's far more interesting, exciting, reads with impact, and it's better. Thanks for the video!
I hate when people tell me "Don't write it unless you finnish it;" Sometimes I write a something and I eventually lose interest in the story but I still have a passion for writing! That's like saying I can't write anything
"Don't write it unless you finish it" is dangerous advice. All stories have hard points you need to rework or push through, but sometimes a story is broken and it can't be fixed or it was written for the wrong reason. There are quite a few videos on here about that. Forcing yourself to continue on when it's hurting you and you won't get what you want is pointless. Plenty of writers have let go of years of work because of that. They didn't stop writing.
These make me feel so much better. Thank you! I hate the "Write what you know" and "Never use fragments". I think it's okay using fragments in character dialogue or first-person cause it makes the writing more quirky and fun.
I've heard all of these and agree they don't work for everyone or every story. I try to avoid using "said" as a dialogue tag if there's only two people speaking to each other, as most readers can follow a conversation, but if you have story elements between lines of dialogue, it's important to establish who's speaking, especially at the beginning. Like you said, it works like punctuation.
Yes! I got so tired of hearing teachers who should know better, parroting "Said is dead." Not so. (fragment!) "Said" is a vitally important word that does its job perfectly by staying out of the way. I've seen good writers even getting more emotional punch in the dialogue by using "said." Thank you for making this clear...may that silly advice finally go the way of egg white omelettes.
very wise - writing tips will work for some - not work for others - and for a particular writer - a tip might work at times - and not work at other times - all writing advice should be evaluated or tested - never blindly accepted - that's the only writing tip chisel into the brain
Yes I agree good to edit while the story is still Fred’s in your mind but reading it with almost fresh pair of eyes after couple of weeks to a month is great if you want to make improvements to story structure and even dialogue.
I'm not bothered by rare and actually punchy fragments. But using fragments a lot just becomes the same as butchering syntax at some point. Sanderson spams them. It makes his prose almost unreadable to me.
I agree with all of these. It can be summed up in a single piece of advice that I do indeed agree with-'Use what works, don't use what doesn't'. Now go embroider that on a pillow, including the comma splice.
@@alpha1solace Yes! The comma rules are hard and fast in academic writing. In fiction, maybe not so much. The rules are much fuzzier. It could feel like you're breaking rules when what you're really doing is making sentences clearer to the reader, and showing emphasis or creating rhythm which they otherwise might not pick up on. What is the purpose of a comma in the first place? It's to make prose easier to understand. It prevents the reader from running things together that they would not run together were they hearing the sentences spoken aloud. That is really the comma's only purpose in life, other than that ability to add emphasis and create rhythm through pauses in fiction or by removing commas to speed up the pace. So I say bend the rules to release the power of what a comma can do. It's not a good idea to do that casually or carelessly, or to over-use commas, of course, but if you have a specific conscious reason that makes sense, go right ahead and do it. Vaya con Dios.
The advice I don't like is to never offer solutions in writing groups. Some of the best solutions to my problems were suggested by people in writing groups. If people had been following this advice, the group would have been nearly pointless. I wouldn't go to the group if it was just for me to talk about my own writing and have no discussion.
My prose is currently awful, so I edit as I write because I need as much practice writing prose as possible. Constant edits mean that I'm constantly improving my crappy prose. Later, I might get so good at writing prose that I won't have anything new to learn by constantly editing, but it seems to me that I need many, many years of practice before my prose is anything like decent without these constant edits.
Said is not dead. Of course not. I still avoid it whenever I can. I probably use one dialogue tag for every 60-70,000 words (I counted), and I'd like to think I do that without confusing the reader. It's hard work finding ways to be clear without resorting to dialogue tags, but it is a skill worth developing. My advice? Do the hard work. I'm not fond of writers over-using dialogue tags. It feels like they're just phoning it in and are unwilling to do the hard work. Overuse of dialogue tags will get me to put a book down pretty quickly. There are a number of other techniques that can get the same job done that a dialogue tag can without being as clunky and obvious as a dialogue tag. And not using dialogue tags is a legitimate form of 'show, don't tell'. 'He said' is actually a form of telling.
My advice I really disagree is that a story has to fallow the hero journey. Which I really strongly disagree because a lot of great stories that don’t fallow the hero journey.
Common writing tip I don't like: Do a readthrough and make notes of the story before you do grammar edits. This is hard for me because the grammar gets in my way. I have to do at least a quick grammar check with prowritingaid to make sure it flows before I edit. This also teaches me how to write better, so when I do the edits there will be fewer grammar errors for me to correct.
Sometimes I purposefully break typical writing rules with the hope of annoying people 🤭😅 It would be an interesting challenge to write a story where you break every one of these "rules" at least once.
If you took the adverbs out of his novels (and there are plenty there), they would no longer make grammatical sense, and he'd be nothing more than a blogger for Professor Google.
Writing what you know does not always work because what we are familiar with we tend to care too much about. In other words, we latch on to too many details. When we're writing about what we know. It becomes boring, but the problem is that it's not boring to us and that it becomes even more boring for the reader.
Starting a sentence with "And". Ultimately we all dont have the same goal of what we wish to accomplish while writing, just like the readers do not all have the same goals while reading. There are no rules for how one experiences life. There may be strong guidelines that writers should consider and be aware of, but rules do not exist. Communication is ever changing and existed before we tried to explain words in a dictionary. And there are limitations, strengths, and weaknesses in every language. For instance, having an exclamation point at the beginning of a sentence makes more sense to me than at the end. Espanol got that right, as well as accent marks. But we should keep in mind that when there is push back and we get feedback to know about our source and if they represent our audience or not. Lots of editers are like critics; its easier for them to change the work thats already on the page then it is for them to create a story from scratch. Perhaps they give good insight, perhaps they are just anal and categorize things in a specific way that does not need to be adhered to. There are by natural more followers than leaders. When it comes to writers, the followers can get published more easily, and risk less to do so. There is an advantage in this. But its the risky stuff that may make the most impact in the world, if it ever gets read.
Foreshadowing helps me set the world or characters traits. "Write what you know" I hope Stephen King wasn't doing that or he'd be someone no one would want around.
I must admit I dropped using adverbs to describe how people are speaking. Stephen King suggested that your description of the scene should be good enough to tell the reader how something is being said - I think that's a good point... but I noticed I can get around it. Instead of, 'he said quietly' i can write 'he whispered' lol. Is that the same??
First of all, you're super cute. But hats not why I'm subbing and now listening to your videos. You've got alot of points I agree with and I look forward to seeing more!
I'm a math teacher. When you say you hope to never do math again, I died a little inside. Just kidding. I do want to mention with the write what you know/know what you write. I read mm romance and I've started to steer clear of many female authors because I get taken out of the story with how little they explore what the gay lifestyle entails, and what sex between two men entails. Personal opinion. There are some female authors I enjoy, but it's few.
I've published a number of short stories! You can find links to them in the descriptions of recent videos on my personal channel (ShaelinWrites). I'm currently working towards publishing a novel.
Reedsy Awesome. I’ve written over a million words. Ready to knock out that novel. I’ll know I’ve done my job when I keep my readers up at night. I’d delved into novellas, but it’s harder to put food on the table with them it seems. I’ll check out your stories. Keep on writing! ✍️
Editing right away is confusing to me. I have to pretty much forget what I wrote before I edit so I don't accidentally add something from further down plot wise. I've done this before and accidentally fingered someone before they were supposed to be and completely ruined it. It was a good thing only my mom had read it at that point.
Write about what you know: I'm not sure if it means only what you know from your life, but rather, you want to so something and has no idea? Do your research. I have no idea how to lift a person in the air, so I looked for it. Can I lift a person now? No, but I know how it lookds like (as it was a video).
"Write what you know." Who gives this advice? Hahaha... I enjoy writing stories and researching at the same time. Eighty percent of the details in my stories is from research. 😊
Sai is dead! Come on! I am 12 years old and said is dead is such a popular saying. I know lots of other words for it but why not said? What's bad about it? Its not a swearer word. Said is a great word that people first think of but when they can't use it. Ugh!
