YouTube For Writers...?

All Things Writing
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lol Made me laugh because it’s so true!
You just take it all in with a grain of salt. Watch them more for entertainment rather than education. The problem is, they’re positioned to be like education.

If you want entertainment:
I recommend Curious Archive

and
Tale Foundry

No writing advice, but it can be inspirational.

I don’t get it. HFM and all the others that claim certain pieces of advice to be true, do they actually believe they’re the great experts or are they just there to create content for clicks? Like you said, zero qualifications (but what are qualifications? Who will we really listen to? When does someone become an “expert”?). They create a world or write a book and suddenly believe they’re experts? I’ve written a book. I won’t say I’m an expert at all.

I’ve learned things, sure. I can suggest what someone can do if they’re in a similar pickle, but that’s a suggestion based on my experiences. Not the golden-ultimate-wonderful-spectacular rule that will save your writing career.

I think the art of writing is something that everyone just continuously grows and learns from through doing. You learn what works and what resonates with people and what doesn’t. Things change over the course of a decade or era. What was “wrong” back then might be “right” today or vice versa.

He’s backed up his advice using his own book’s example, too (it’s the video on hooks) and it was a weak hook in my opinion :stuck_out_tongue: Why did you think that was a good example? The problem with these people is that they have a big influential platform.

I worry about those who watch the videos and who are steered into a direction that brings their downfall, but they don’t realize it because they wholeheartedly believe and trust this authortuber they follow. You probably know what die-hard fans are like :grimacing: They will not listen.

I do like the aesthetics (calm music, rain, coffee, a cat? yes.), but what I don’t like is when those videos are trying to claim they are educational and give little education.

Also, happy to see I’m not the only one who thinks some stuff for writers out there is a problem. I think we can do something about it.

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image

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Mew, but not sure why :stuck_out_tongue:

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Happy mew. I agree with everything you said.

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Good question; one that completely obliterates most “advice” out there because their utility and truthfulness isn’t possible to qualify.

I half agree with the statement: “There is no such thing as a bad idea, just a bad execution of an idea.”

Bad ideas exist, 100%.
However, I think that most badly written stories are just poorly executed and not predicated upon bad ideas.

I bring this up because most advisory content that exists is constituted by nothing more than the condemning of certain ideas that are either overdone or commonly used in the wrong way. These can be helpful (avoiding clichés, for example), but for the most part they really don’t aid writers. If anything they can do the opposite.

ESPECIALLY when they have a $997 writing course promising a career with Penguin Random House mentioned thrice in the video and top-linked in the description.

The only course I’ve seen that looks worth it’s money is the one by Jericho Writers. They put you in direct contact with publishing houses, pro editors, trad published authors and others while also walking you through the entire process (their students have a 30% manuscript request rate, opposed to the typical 1%).
Great thing is it’ll only cost you $5000 :melting_face:

The whole selling a course thing really annoys me.

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Ouch.

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Fortunately, I would say most of the stuff out there will be nothing more than a hinderance to be outgrown. Think of them as the teddy bear you held for comfort as a kid.

As for the die-hards, people who stick to a YouTuber and can’t see their faults likely won’t make good artists because you need to be able to see the flaws in yours and others work.

The best way to learn isn’t to look at what others did right, its to look at what they did wrong.

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Hm, perhaps yes.

The subject matter could still be a bad idea. Apparently there was a book about covid becoming human and the scientist falling in love with him.

I was reading this thinking, oh wow, how nice, so they give you the whole package. Then BOOM! $5000???

I guess, if you think of it as an investment… And if trad pub doesn’t work out, you could always take the book and go publish it yourself.

Anyone who thinks they remotely have some expertise end up selling a course or a book. Like this guy called John Fox.

I found this video by him about writing challenges that I thought would be fun to do, and then I searched him up and found that he has a blog with writing advice.

I was going to react to this article, but I decided not to because he seems to go after people who disagree with him and he makes short reels on IG as if it’s TikTok.

The comment section is wild, if you’d like to take a look.

Example comment

He keeps defending himself instead of just staying silent or fixing his mistakes.

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He says it’s for beginning writers here, but not in the actual article as far as I could see.

:clap: :point_up_2: This! It takes experience to see this though and also some trial and error, imo along with a healthy dose of self reflection and understanding of your own writing habits, skills, and such. You also need to figure out what part of their advice to take and what part to completely ignore.

I used to watch quite a bit of Abby Emmons, but after I realized she’s mainly a plotter, and that her advice doesn’t always work for me, I had to figure out what parts of her advice to take (if at all) and what to ignore. It was a lot of trial and error.

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0_o This gave me a twitch in my eye.

Yeah. Considering how much a University/College course would cost you and the lack of propitiousness that comes from that price tag, $5000 is worth it given their numbers.

Go for it. If he makes a vid on you that’s free publicity.

“Waking up to find you’re an insect is far more exciting…” :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: You CANNOT be serious.

That’s true. I tried watching Emmons the other day but found it was just the same old stuff. Arbitrary advice obfuscated in an attempt to accentuate perceived expertise.

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I think you will like this…

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I like channels that are real. None of that superficial bite size content. Specificity is key.

If you give out advice, show me practical ways of using said advice. Otherwise, it’s all just regurgitated content that I can’t do anything about.

For myself, what would I like to see? I’d like to see more concrete examples of:

  • beautiful line writing. How to rewrite mundane sentences to achieve a specific mood.
  • how to develop unique character voices in dialogue so characters don’t sound the same.

I’ve heard lots of advice for these topics but it’s never backed by examples that would show me how to master my writing.

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Thanks, you’ve given me video ideas :grin: Not to say I can give you answers. I can only open discussion.

The second one, I’m always trying to figure out. What is “character voice” anyway, when it’s all in your head? And then I see advice like, “write how normal people speak”, and then, another person says, “don’t write exactly how people speak with all the ums and likes. No one wants to read that” Okay, so what do I do? No idea.

They give answers, these people. They give one example of unique character voice and think that explains everything. But it doesn’t. They don’t show how to go from “same-sounding characters” to “unique character voice”. The process is missing probably because they don’t really know either.

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I think that’s exactly why there’s so little concrete information out there. We often know when something is wrong but don’t know how to make it right. People act like they know what they’re talking about but they’re just repeating what they’ve previously heard without putting it to the test.

As to the voice, some of my characters are easy. They might abuse a specific word, have a quirk, etc, which makes them distinguishable, but those also border on stereotypes or archetypes and there’s a limit to how many stereotypical characters you can have without your book becoming stereotypical. So what do you do with all “normal” characters?

I’ve tried to follow the advice to listen to people talk but that’s tricky without coming off as a creep. So far I’ve only been able to lock down one of my coworkers. He’s easy. He rambles on forever and I found that the trick to his speech is instead of finishing a sentence, add “and” and do a sidenote without ever coming back to the original sentence or getting to your point. So in the end, he says a ton but you’re left confused because he never finished any of the sentences he started.
Lol. Just imagine adding parentheses but never closing them, just opening new ones.

Another coworker ends all conversations with “You bet.” :sweat_smile: Not exactly a riveting character voice.

What I’d love to crack down is this one coworker that tends to frame everything he says into a story. He’d make an awesome character but his brain is so unpredictable. I don’t know how to mimic that.

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Or they think they’ve put it to the test by replicating the “model” answer. But they don’t really know what they’ve done. It takes effort to really think and figure out what you might have actually done to get from A to B.

omg XD It’s eternal parentheses XD

That’s interesting. When you say “into a story” is that different from making anecdotes?

As for me, for character voice, like you said, the “normal” characters are hard. I’ve tried to add voice not in the voice but in the mannerism before the speaking. Idk if that’s a good solution, but my partner, before he says anything, often he would have a long thinking period and a very subtle (but noticeable once you get to know him) “pondering face” because it takes him a while to form his thoughts and another while to turn those thoughts into words.

Before, I would pile up words to “help him” because I thought he needed more context, and it was later that I learned it just takes him a while to process words and form words. I don’t have to pile up words and maybe I shouldn’t if I want his uninfluenced answer.

Once I got used to him doing that, I would pause to let him say something instead of piling up words and sentences on top of that before he gets a chance (because words are my friend and I have a lot to say immediately XD).

Anyway, I tried something like that with a character and showed his “pondering” moment in which he makes all kinds of facial expressions before answering. Still working on that method. I mean, I can’t go on for too long with the silent mime expressions he’s doing with his face.

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I have the same problem as your partner. I’ve finally come to the conclusion that my problem is that my thoughts are abstract and I need to translate them into something that would make sense to others. I usually get stressed that I’m taking too long to say my thoughts. It’s exhausting.

My other problem is that people are usually not patient and if you don’t answer immediately, they think you have nothing to say. They don’t wait. You’re an exception to that so on behalf of your partner, thank you for noticing he needs the time and thank you for waiting.

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Yeah, a lot of the time when we go out, and he needs to give an answer, I see that :sweat_smile: I also had to let my parents know that he’s that way, so they don’t try to rush him.

Not just me noticing he takes time, but it was good on his part to be open to talk about it when I brought it up. We often have these candid conversations about how each of us operate as people in order to better communicate. He might need time to ponder and have a good think, and I might repeat my answer in a million different ways because I think out loud. We have these conversations with a laugh.

You’re welcome, I guess. If we met face-to-face I’ll wait for you to answer :blush:

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So, we’re getting off topic.

About YouTube for writers, what is everyone’s thoughts on scripted authortube/writertube videos? I like scripted videos, but it all seems too well thought out? Not authentic? Or I could be trying to justify the reason why I don’t use a script.

I think out loud and I think showing me struggling to answer a question for writers is showing the more real side of writertube? I might have a lot of experience, but I won’t have the golden answer, you know? Obviously.

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I don’t mind scripted videos as long as they’re not “read” to me. As long as it feels natural. Some people are good at that. Some aren’t. Maybe it’s all about practice.

If you tend to ramble on or repeat yourself, you might just have to edit it heavily. Maybe try both approaches and see what gives you better result.

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Some YouTubers are just naturally good actors, so they can use scripts without looking like they are. Keeps them on track so they don’t ramble, and sounds professional. Others, like Kami said, look like they’re reading it. If it starts to come out in a dull monotone, it might be better for them to just speak extemporaneously. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯

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The thing is, I don’t edit :stuck_out_tongue: But I do have bullet points on the screen, so I don’t get too off topic. I also know beforehand what I’m going to talk about. It’s like giving a presentation.

I start comparing my videos to those that are scripted and sound professional and use nice words, while I’m over here saying, “things” and “do the stuff” XD

Anyway, I also don’t mind scripted videos. In fact, even when it feels like “read to me” style, if the person’s voice is soothing, I’ll listen to it

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