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"Write what you know" is TERRIBLE writing advice! 

Michelle Schusterman
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Let's talk about one of the worst (and most common) pieces of writing advice ever! Also: blurbs, writing middle grade, predictable plots, and a bit of a catch-up on how my projects are going!
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro and MG mystery update
04:57 Do you have to write what you know if everything you know is boring?
08:18 How can I keep my plot from becoming too predictable?
10:47 How do you know when your blurb is good?
14:55 Are there any things you'd do differently when it comes to your writing and publishing journey?
17:05 For MG, how do you pack so much into a small word count?
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Savage studio lights. I mostly use these for ‘talking head’ videos. amzn.to/3r7G6Un
Ubeesize 10” ring light. That’s the little guy sitting on my desk. I mostly use it for vlogging. amzn.to/31hqpzD
JJC mini tripod. amzn.to/3feXxjJ
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14 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 35   
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Check out the full panel chat on Lisa's channel! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u6_Xon0qqt8.html
@The_WriterVerse
@The_WriterVerse Год назад
I’m not sure where that quote “write what you know” came from, so I can’t speak to the author’s intent, but I think it is often taken too literal. If you’re a stay at home mom, you can only write about being a stay at home mom? No. Stay at home moms have a plethora of experiences to draw from: self-sacrifice, losing yourself, sacrifice for the greater good, organizing small ecosystems so they function efficiently, loving someone so much it hurts, maybe you know loss, a loss so profound you no longer feel the will to live, maybe you’ve been jaded by a partner and know betrayal, alienation, the list goes on and on and on. If a stay at home mom writes to those themes, you bet her stories will feel authentic. It’s when we go beyond what we “know” where things start to feel less authentic and tend to breach into stereotypical realms since we’re writing to themes we have never lived. It’s not about writing the literal lives of what we know and more about writing the philosophical themes of them. Of course, it’s not a hard rule. Write whatever the heck you want. However, if you’re writing about a theme you’ve never experienced, that piece will require extensive research and sensitivity to avoid writing stereotypes. This is why #ownvoices is so popular: the themes are written by authors who have lived through them. Obviously no one has ever lived through being a soldier in a battle against dragons, but perhaps the author has battled against a personal villain so powerful they never believed themselves capable of defeating them… until they do. Therefore, that story of dragons feels authentic to us as readers. It’s more about the emotions fighting against dragons than it is the actual dragons.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Absolutely! The advice is much better applies to themes.
@miramari732
@miramari732 Год назад
I'm pretty sure that "write what you know" is euphemism for "don't write sh!t about stuff you know nothing of" but was smh taken literally at some point :) I use quotation I've read somewhere instead: "people believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet". If information is hard or impossible to check (like why dragons can fly or how wizard did it) you can use all of your imagination in writing. But if information is medium to easy to verify (like human anatomy or naming habits of 40mln population of people) you have to be as acurate as you can be. Especially in the age of uncle Google and auntie Wikipedia, when you are sometimes one search away from making yourself looking like an idiot, just because you didn't check :)
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
That's such a good point!!
@j.s.elliot7121
@j.s.elliot7121 Год назад
I'm glad that you're feeling better after the wisdom teeth. That's a rough procedure in my experience.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
It's such a common procedure that I was expecting it to be a little easier. Glad I didn't Google it beforehand lol (and thank you!)
@apprenticescribe9463
@apprenticescribe9463 Год назад
Wisdom teeth removal is brutal. Glad you are feeling better 😊 Great progress on your book. 😊
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thank you!! 😊
@reginaduke7451
@reginaduke7451 Год назад
I really enjoyed this, and yes, that live stream was great! My sympathies on the wisdom teeth. Ow. You have a great gift for writing animal POV. Your middle grade books are so entertaining! (and no, I don't think I could write one....25K turns into a novella about adults). LOL Thanks for this pleasant wake up.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thanks Regina! And ha - that's what happens to me when I try to write a short story. Just kinda turns into a first chapter along the way lol
@alwaysapirateroninace443
@alwaysapirateroninace443 Год назад
This was helpful & really got to the heart of "write what you know" is often misunderstood & is basically bad advice.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thanks! And yes, it really is not the best advice...
@Hxarh
@Hxarh Год назад
Thank you, Michelle, I'm happy you're feeling better with the teeth 😁 (Sry for the wall of text. I answered some of the questions you asked but you've already helped me, so I'm appreciative even if you don't read to the end) Definitely a "Too many cooks in the kitchen situation." I was posting my blurb revisions on a Facebook group called "Beta Readers and Critique Partners" It consists of more than 26k members -- most of them writers. The discouraging part was when I started posting polls, asking "Yes or no, is this blurb good to go?" and the votes were always 90%+ "No, revise further". It runs contrary to what my most trusted CP's have been saying. They've been positive about most of the revisions I've showed them. What are people telling me to change or get rid of? Either: "You're being too specific; this reads like a synopsis", or "You're being too vague. Tell me more about this... Why is that happening?" I'm not being specific because those details don't matter in the context of this pitch revision. They're telling me to chase distractions. I know writers sometimes struggle with this, but I don't want to cram the whole book in the blurb. But some of the people giving me feedback are telling me to make this mistake. They're like "Why don't you tell me more about this?" And I'm like "It wouldn't be organic. If I wanted to make it organic then I'd be rewriting the entire blurb around that." Which I've tried in the past. But following that sort of advice doesn't necessarily lead to a better revision. Only a different one. But yeah, getting the balance between too much detail "Upsie! It's a synopsis now¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and too much abstraction, is like trying to follow a compass to the north pole. The compass never goes "Ding! You're there." It tells you to move in circles. I really like your strategy of narrowing it down to 3. I'm extremely fortunate to be part of an critique group of great writers who are also amazing friends. I'm resonating with the idea that I should give these to them, and trust their opinion much more than that of rando's voting in a poll on the internet. I may also send my blurb to the Query Shark's paid critique service. Thank you again 😁
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Ahhh that explains a lot! Yep, definitely too many cooks. :) I think something that happens a lot is that people want so badly to be helpful - I know the first few times I critiqued a novel, I was TERRIFIED I would have no useful feedback to offer - so they just start throwing out suggestions. I absolutely think you should turn this over to your trusted Cps/friends at this point! And Query Shark is a great idea as well. Good luck!!!
@Hxarh
@Hxarh Год назад
@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Thanks again :)
@JoeyPaulOnline
@JoeyPaulOnline Год назад
Glad you're feeling better, and thanks for answering my question. It's always good to know how others feel about their publishing path.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thank YOU, Joey!! :)
@wordcharm2649
@wordcharm2649 Год назад
All your MG novels always sound so interesting and up until I read some of your books, I'd never tried MG.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Aw, thank you so much! There's a ton of great MG out there.
@Laura_DiNunno
@Laura_DiNunno Год назад
Egads. I feel ya. I had a rough time healing from an extraction. My jaw, muh gawd!! Glad you're feeling better.
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
It was a little rougher than I expected! And thank you! :)
@DaisyXMachina
@DaisyXMachina Год назад
Heh, I shelved a 28k MG supernatural mystery b/c I thought it was too short! (Did query it lightly and an agent who asked for the full said it wasn't "over the top" enough--whatever that means!) I thought you were such a fast typist until I realized you were speeding up the video--I see what you did there!
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
😂I'm pretty fast, but not that fast! Not over the top enough...okay, that's an interesting piece of feedback. Curious as to what that was supposed to mean...
@jazzminewillis4724
@jazzminewillis4724 Год назад
Thanks!
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thank you so much, Jazzmine!!!
@susanreimer9317
@susanreimer9317 Год назад
I am really grateful you included your process for scripting the comics for your book. How would you go about scripting illustrations for fiction? Are there accepted guidelines?
@kanashiiookami6537
@kanashiiookami6537 Год назад
Yay, it went well! (Your dentist appointment) I can definitely understand not feeling up to talking or making videos after that. Ow. As for the rest of the video, I enjoyed your answers, and love the example you gave of your current book. I get that MG is harder to write, especially compared to higher word count age groups. So I find it shocking that anyone coming from an age group and genre that allows 100k books would think "I'm gonna try my hand at a 30k book. Easy! (Laughs dismissively until they actually try it)" because if we find it hard enough to cut 8k from a 110k book, how would we figure we could write a perfectly condensed 30k book if we could easily overshoot 100k without a thought? Yeah, that'll definitely take a lot of practice and discipline to go from YA/adult to MG. Anyway, thank you for your answers. Thank you for giving us your time. And thank you for the sweet Rosa clips! (So cute, I just want to cuddle her) I hope your work has been going well and that your weekend will be a great one. Thank you for the video!❤
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thanks so much, K!! :) So I was in one of those debut groups for YA/MG authors, and it was honestly shocking to me how many YA debuts at the time would come in the forums and talk about how they were writing MG "on the side." Like it was going to be this easy side hustle or something? I guess it's just the idea that shorter word count = faster = easier? So weird. Hope you have a great weekend too!
@EmmaBennetAuthor
@EmmaBennetAuthor Год назад
I hope your poor mouth is all healed very soon.x
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Thanks Emma!! :)
@kraaaah2823
@kraaaah2823 Год назад
First?!
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor
@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Год назад
Yup! :D
@kraaaah2823
@kraaaah2823 Год назад
@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor this is my first first ever!! Thanks for everything you do for we aspiring writers 🤩
@jazzminewillis4724
@jazzminewillis4724 Год назад
Thanks!
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