Writing tip and advice that didn't work.

[Generic.Archdemon]

No reflection on the advice, could be a good one, could be a bad one, but for you it just didnt stick.

What some writing advice you got, that just didnt work out for you personally?

 

[Kalliel]

I don't think I've gotten any advice, nor did I seek them out either, so everything is perfect!

 

[Terrate]

"Being consistent" is like the bane of all advices that will at least be broken once or more times. Like being too busy with real life matters, getting into minor accidents(device suddenly acting up, losing your progress), something else came up, something else better to do, being bored in general, just not feeling it, and other million more reasons that can either be valid or a stretch to why you just didn't write that chapter that day.

 

[MajorKerina]

It's kind of my own advice but to write every single day. That just does not work. It works for Brandon Sanderson and Steven King. There's gonna be days where you need to take a break and process what you wrote. And there will be some days nothing will stop you.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

Carefully planning your story. After doing so, I no longer feel like writing it.

 

[Yule]

That typical English teacher advice where it basically goes like "brainstorm your ideas, neatly graph them like an art project, and write a rough draft that you'll discard later." Personally, my inspiration's dead by the time I do all this. So I just wrote on the fly ever since elementary school.

I mean, I'll still look over it and proofread and all! But that's after I finish writing, not before.

 

[Beta_Krogoth]

Writing smaller chapters. I tried it, I tried breaking up the larger chapters and posting them in bite sizes. Created more problems than it solved.

 

[FatElf]

Carefully planning your story. After doing so, I no longer feel like writing it.

Can relate. Planning the smallest details kills all the joy of writing for me. I've taken to have just defined "bigger" plot goals, which I strive to reach at some point. How the characters will get there, if they even will get there, is decided while writing.

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

All of them and yet none of them. I have tried faithfully each advice I have been given over the years, have incorporated the parts that work for me and discarded the parts that don't, slowly building my own methodology.

Perhaps the only advice I have outright rejected is "Write what you know." Cause I know everything, and what I don't know, I research it.

 

[Bartun]

Mine would be "make shorter chapters". I know the norm is around 1-2K words while mine are around 7-8K words. My chapters are simply too long but I tried to make them shorter but I just can't make the story work with shorter chapters.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

"have sex wth your subject matter to get to know it better,"

 

[dummycake]

"have sex wth your subject matter to get to know it better,"

didn't work because you didn't have sex

 

[ChocolateLover030]

"Show. Don't tell."
Just so you know, people are dumb. Including myself. And some readers can't read and infer and needs to be directly told instead.
"Show AND tell." would be a better advice in my opinion

 

[Story_Marc]

"Show. Don't tell."
Just so you know, people are dumb. Including myself. And some readers can't read and infer and needs to be directly told instead.
"Show AND tell." would be a better advice in my opinion

Show, don't tell isn't bad necessarily, most people are just incompetent at actually teaching it because they're just repeating a commonly said phrase as opposed to understanding it.

Here is it explained competently.

Though yes, I DO agree that show, don't tell is bad advice since there are times when you should tell instead of show. It's contextual.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

didn't work because you didn't have sex

Ummmm...
Sure...
Let's go with that.

Mine would be "make shorter chapters". I know the norm is around 1-2K words while mine are around 7-8K words. My chapters are simply too long but I tried to make them shorter but I just can't make the story work with shorter chapters.

Do what I do.
Chapter a b c d ...
Some stories lend themselves to huge chapters, but in a serial format, that doesn't work. So just divide them up in 1500 to 2000 word chunks and have the chapters have letters.

Like 6a 6b and 6c are really one chapter but because this is serial, you chop it up.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Procreate, they said. It'll be fun, they said.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Write an outline. That's the dumbest advice I received because like MatchaChocolate as soon as I outline I don't want to write.

 

[J_Chemist]

• Write every day.
• Show don't tell.
• Follow grammar rules.
• Tropes are tropes for a reason so you should follow them if you want to succeed.
• Write an outline and stick to it.
• You should hit word count goals for your chapters.
• Post a chapter everyday.
• Your MC and core cast should be relatable/likeable.

I've had a few tips thrown at me here and there but it's all been rather useless. It's more rare that I get advice that's useful, honestly.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

some writing advice you got

 

[Temple]

Carefully planning your story. After doing so, I no longer feel like writing it.

Pantser problems, same as me, lol.