I say “one of the best” because there might be better ones. I would give this 4 stars, I think. There’s still some parts that could be phrased differently, but it’s pretty well done.
I would direct you to my video I’m posting today or tomorrow because it contains all my reactions to the tips, but I’m not going to shameless self-promo this time around
(@ Fox_in_Thoughts on YouTube)
because the video isn’t up yet.
If you didn’t know, I’m on the hunt for the best writing advice article, or at least on the hunt for the best way to give writing advice.
This is the article and the way they wrote it, I feel like it includes all different types of people at all different levels of writing. I didn’t think these articles existed but apparently I was wrong. What do you think of this article?
Do you think it helps both newbies and experienced writers looking to improve?
I especially like how they talk about having regular writing time. They don’t mean every day. That’s so different from the other writing articles that say you need to write every day. Curtis Brown Creative makes sure to include different types of people.
I’m at the point where I’ve read so many articles and books and watched so many videos on how to write that it’s all starting to sound the same to me. While I don’t think there’s an ultimate supreme article that will lay it all out for absolutely every writer, this is a very good one, and I’d add it to the list of good sites for writing advice. Some of the places I visit:
I’ve never read any of her books, to be honest, but the info on her blog is plenty useful. There are a lot of people who couldn’t write their way out of a paper bag who give stellar advice despite that. Like all those AuthorTubers, for instance…
I’ve stopped listening to most advice (not all of it), to be honest. Most of it doesn’t work for me.
Like, for instance, none of them would give advice to show your character arguing over a crow making noise outside to show their character. It’s always get into the action so as not to bore the 2-second gnat squirrel attention span of your readers or give your character a lie to believe or your character needs some fire, their one desire or develop the antagonist and their motivations.
All those are good in theory, but you need to actually execute these points within the story and have them make sense within the context of the plot. Sometimes, you don’t need all of them or even any of them. What if the antagonist is your main character?.. you’re developing them anyway.
Or what if the story needs an introduction in order to understand it? Some sort of context and not just a random action event/inciting incident. That would save a lot of cough exposition dumps cough in the future, especially in SFF novels, which are notorious for those in this day and age.
The best way to figure it out is to practice. You don’t need to write a 100k novel every time to try out an idea, a concept, or a technique. The best way to figure things out in regards to writing is to experiment and figure them out yourself.
I’m not saying to disregard everything, but just figure out what works for you. You don’t need to follow everything. Some things just don’t work for me, but work for other writers, and vice versa. There is no set universal standard. No set plot, and no set of characters. There are foundations, yes, but not an end-all and final solution that will make your writing good, and make you famous.
I totally agree! The best way to learn to write is to experiment with your own writing. And of course, to read good books by others who’ve experimented with their own work. And the best writers, to me anyway, are the ones who don’t write formulaically and don’t fit into molds. (*＾-‘) 乃
Yes course definitely. You need to “learn” the craft in order to master it.
I mean, a lot of what is published in the mainstream today is basically fluffy romantic shitposts, and most late Millenials and Early Gen Z, and current teenagers seem to love that. But I’m not all about that at all. And that’s alright. I don’t expect people to be about what I write either.
If people like that, and it’s popular and they wanna write that and read that, that’s alright. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna poke fun at it from time to time .
Relationship-wise, their parents were the “free love generation”, being early GenX, late Boomers, but their grandparents have closer to the 50s model of relationships–which means their own parents were floundering.
I mean, my parents were really solid on relationships during my childhood, and I chose well in the end because of that, but their parents had chaos, when you dip below that surface. And there’s a major shift in how open everyone was about relationships and sexuality.
We want the previous generation’s guidance from their experience…and at the same time we’re going “shut up, Boomer!”
So, fluffy, boring relationships are what people consume because they can’t figure out how to make stable relationships of their own–especially as they prioritize anything but the relationship.
Hah, jokes aside, reading that makes sense but also was a sign of the times. So I guess the fluffy relationship part makes a lot of sense. But my cynically angry Churroesque Boomerisms say that it would be better if people just admitted that they wanted more platonic relationships, instead of this boring sludge of romance we are getting these days.
IMO, stuff like Heartstopper and Love, Victor was too sanitized for Romance, and so was The Baker and The Beauty. They might as well be shows about two close friends instead of lovers and romance. It should have been about friends finding themselves, instead of being lovers.
All these shows made for the Zillenial/Gen Z generation, to me, are interchangeable with the MCs being friends and lovers. There is nothing passionate between them, and it’s forced into romance a lot of the time. It’s stale and just trying to be inclusive and push a message. I’d rather have no romance than this stuff we get now, but that’s just my opinion. Either go all in or don’t.
And yes, this is coming from someone who isn’t really romantic at all. But I’d rather it wasn’t half-assed. But I know that because of the audience it’s aimed at, it has to be and it’s annoying. And that’s a big reason why I am put off romance (modern romance) in novels, and TV shows.
I know this is a bit weird, coming from me, but I’d rather see the two main characters screwing passionately across counter tops, and getting into it and making their way to the bedroom with this song playing than barely kissing and be sad shy people over popcorn watching a movie (but again, I am an all or nothing kinda person, aren’t I?):
It’s a priority thing. I can want friends, but if there’s no boyfriend and I want a boyfriend, too, then I’m making choices between building platonic bonds and more, constantly. That and a lot of older married couples stay out of platonic bonds because SOMEBODY out there can’t keep it platonic (whether it is the couple or the outside friend), or their friends are not relationship savy yet give out AlLtHeAdViCe.
And it’s actually males that statistically suffer from a lack of platonic bonds. It’s why they have no one after divorce or death. Women need less equals and more lovers (statistically speaking on feeding a need some cheap breadcrumbs).
One of the things to remember, as well is that a site like this is a surrogacy of platonic relationships. Any group site we flock to is this: We don’t really know each other, but humans give off a semblance of giving themselves away in a community, and it fosters this feeling of closeness that is only so real. We build scaffolding of empty eggshells and nothing with real meat–unless we meet someone who is extremely unique. (That type seems so viscerally real that it’s hard to handle.)
Then the only part that’s left is real intimacy (whether that includes sex or not).
But yeah, in Mayans MC, the dad, Felipe has no platonic bonds. He’s like 70 and has no friends. And his wife died, so he really has no one except his sons, and he’s a massive loner. But he’s reconnecting with someone from his past, who is the mom of Gallindo, the cartel boss.
Yes, I am unique. Kidding, the more people try to be unique, and authentic with labels in an inauthentic way, the more they actually blend in and become a part of the social landscape. And don’t get what they want (well at least in the modern way, it seems like that).
Yes, Was Red a Boomer or was he before that? Maybe born in the 1920s/30s. That’s the Greatest Generation, right? (If you go by the show being set in the 70s).
.
But my cynically angry Churroesque Boomerisms say that it would be better if people just admitted that they wanted more platonic relationships, instead of this boring sludge of romance we are getting these days.
And that’s a big reason why I am put off romance (modern romance) in novels, and TV shows.
