How to Avoid Being Fooled by Bad Writing Advice
By Jane Friedman | January 28, 2011 |
Therese here, with a brief reminder that the WU Original Analogy Contest ends tonight at midnight EST. Enter, enter! Take it away, Jane.
During my teaching this quarter, a theme that’s coming up again and again is the either/or fallacy. This fallacy occurs when we divide the world into black and white, and don’t allow for other options.
As humans, we have a crazy predilection for thinking in this way. Us versus them. New versus old. Print versus electronic. Zero-sum games.
When I speak at writing conferences, I fall prey to this thinking myself. For instance, I start to see the field in terms of writers who are resistant to marketing/promotion versus those who embrace it.
I did this just recently at the Writer’s Digest Conference. I jotted a note to myself saying: There are 2 categories of writers!
Category 1: For these writers, it’s all about the work, the writing. The reading. The art and the craft. Story is paramount. The writing speaks for itself. It’s not the job of the writer to market—that’s not what he’s good at. He writes (dammit!).
Category 2: These writers market and promote before the work is even good enough to be published. They’re focused on getting known, maybe because they’ve been told that’s what they must do. They’re after readers because it’s been hammered into them that it’s about community, relationships, connections. (Meaningful ones, dammit!)
Why would I categorize like this? Because battles erupt visibly and people take sides—in the Q&A sessions, the Twitter streams, in the hallway conversations. The conflict attracts attention.
The truth is, though, that we’re all on a spectrum. Most of us balance the two sides, or switch gears when we see that it’s necessary for progress.
But we all like to label and categorize as if there were extremes, even if that’s not an accurate reflection of how we operate.
Playing to extremes is exceptionally helpful in getting readers. Writing a great blog post or developing a successful online presence is often about knowing how to attract attention, or be bombastic in a charming way. Talking about the gray areas within an issue—parsing through all the intricacies—isn’t known for generating traffic. Boldness is.*
You’ll all pay close attention if I say: You Will Fail Instantly If You Do XYZ! But it’s a huge snoozer if I say: A Few Might Stumble By Not Considering XYZ.
When you read writing advice online—or in any medium—please keep this dynamic in mind. The people who talk about the contingencies, who make allowances for differences? Those are the ones to pay close attention to.
The black-and-white advice? Take it with a grain of salt.
* Notice that I’ve slipped in another fallacy here. Yes, there are popular bloggers and personalities who have made a name by being reasonable and rational—and discussing all those gray areas! However, it is not the predominant style or modus operandi that you frequently encounter. I also realize few of us are easily hoodwinked by extreme positions; yes, we can spot sensationalism! But it’s very easy to focus attention on the most contentious or “interesting” positions.
Jane Friedman has more than 20 years in the publishing industry, with expertise in digital media and the future of authorship. She’s the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential industry newsletter for authors. You can find out more about her consulting services and online classes at her website, JaneFriedman.com.
Thanks for the injection of rationality and sanity, Jane!
No black and white advice here, Jane. Thanks for reminding us about the contingencies. Always did like Plan C :D
Excellent points. :)
This was a sane reminder to balance ourselves on the spectrum. As challenging as it may be, we must both establish our platform and write superior material.
If you’re going to take “advice”, ensure you take a look at who is giving it and why.
A successful author (who has sold to the public) probably has a much more realistic strategy than any teacher/professor/other who keeps harping on the “you must” areas.
Find advice which would work for _you_ and fits your reality. Neither a pure “pantser” nor pure “outliner/blueprinter” necessarily fits your creative abilities.
You’ll find most advice focuses on the What to do — structure, characterization, concept, etc. You need to subject that to advice to a jaundiced eye and see if it matches _your_ reality based on what writing has actually been successful.
There is that broad spectrum or gradient from pantser to blueprinter. It is only part of the methodology or Craft. Find something that appears to work for _you_ and do it.
As you become more proficient at writing (both in the Craft and in the Creativity), your methodology might (and probably should) change. Enhance and strengthened what worked for you. Put less emphasis on what didn’t work. Then you will have a “truth” which works for you.
How do we measure what works? Unless we’re in it just to indulge our creativity, the metric will most likely be based on what we sell.
It’s the balance we need to strive for. Writing is part of publishing which is a business. There is the creative side, which is the writer in her writer cave knocking out the next best-seller while she ignores everything else around her. Then there is the business side, when the writer comes up for air and has to continue to promote themselves and their books.
Your post was a great read after spending the last four years listening to writers claim the literary world works this way or that. Over time, the best advice that resonated with me came from those who have shared the notion of balance.
I’d continue on with the comment, but your post provokes mere head nodding over powerful words. Even as I type, I’m tipping my head back and forth and murmuring “emm-hmm.”
I’m glad a popular blogger is addressing this issue. It can be a maze to follow those writing help advice guides/web sites. People don’t trust their common sense to make the most of it. Writers even less. Glad you’re calling to them.
As all of us know….daily we are bombarded with how to’s. It is an endless maze which leaves me confused more often than not.
This post is refreshingly altruistic.
Thanks.
Jane, I have to think that if we took a little more care with our own use of language — and our “absolutely!” fondness for extremes — we might be better at discerning over-simplification in the writing community.
As I tweeted and read tweets in sessions at the Writer’s Digest Conference last weekend, I found many of us hailing speakers as “awesome!” and their presentations as “incredible!” Such glib squeals told folks who couldn’t be there with us nothing about what was going on.
James Scott Bell’s personable session on revisions, for example, was less “brilliant” than it was sensibly organized, smartly paced, and full of clever ideas. But it takes a little effort to search out terms authentic to a moment. It’s easy to pump out yet one more “fantastic!”
Your post reminds us that, as writers, the burden is on us, of all people, to wade into that good, gray area of expression and mine it for accuracy, integrity, and telling precision. In time, maybe that can help us avoid pigeon-holing each other, as you’re saying, with facile categorizations of writerly approach and interest.
“Amazing!” post, Jane. :-)
Great point. I noticed this myself back when I was stalking every how-to-write-a-query website I could find. Agents would say over and over again do this, don’t do that, but then right when I thought I had everything figured out they’d post a query that broke all the rules, but was a “winner” because it got their attention for how different it was.
The lesson learned: don’t break the rules until you know how to follow the rules, then make your own way somewhere in the middle. It’s those lovely shades of gray that rule the day!
Jane: This post raises some thoughtful points. It puts into context some of Anis Shivani’s inflammatory posts at Huffington Post (among others).
Thanks for the article.
Jeffrey
Great observations. I know a number of writers who seem to feel that they have to follow the rules. Unfortunately, these rules are sometimes black and white – or worse tied to such a tiny detail that the writer becomes paralyzed trying to obey.
Interesting post, although- I have to play devil’s advocate and say that the grey areas are more interesting :) Furthers knowledge and intrigue.
Insightful post. This is a time of such flux; it’s quicker to glom on to one piece of advice than sift through what works for the individual writer. Given that each of us has our own story to tell and our own path to tell it, no one method is going to get us where we want to go. Spend time writing our own work or spend time blogging to build readership? Follow what the “industry” says works or get there from a different direction? If I hadn’t had a blog, Good Housekeeping wouldn’t have found me. And the blog hasn’t catapulted me into the stratosphere, either. Blogging/tweeting/whatever guarantees nothing, only plays a part. As Anne Brown said above, “those lovely shades of gray.” Thank you for addressing a necessary topic.
Debra’s latest post is about gray — of winter…
Your observations remind me to keep balance in mind in all areas of life. All too often we categorize our jobs, our relationships, our circumstances as all good or all bad when, truth be told, most of life is a gray mix. If we learn to focus on and appreciate the good, we may be able to tolerate the less-than-perfect with more grace–and less complaining.
Definitely something to think about. Thanks for sharing!
“The truth is, we’re all on a spectrum.” Great post, Jane. I actually love both aspects of the writing business–the writing itself, and the marketing. I like Bruce Johnson’s comment, especially about the “gradient from pantser to blueprint.” At the end of the day, I do prefer “being bombastic in a charming way” to dealing with the gray:-)
Good points here. I often hear people say just write and write well, and the rest will come. But I think an awareness of the marketing aspects are important too.
Wading through the black and white, the do’s and don’ts, the left and right are all literary dances that can leave a writer paralyzed. Sometimes you have to make your own path and follow where it leads. Doing what feels right for you at the time and then taking detours when those routes lead to nowhere. Who says you have to always follow the crowd. Usually the “in” thing to do now, will be replaced by the next “in” thing to do. Create your own “in” thing and see where it takes you.
Excellent article! As someone who struggled with taking advice both good and bad and floundering as a result. Tsaking a middle ground and learning what to listen to and what to ignore has been critical in my getting back to writing and producing. I have written more in the last three months than I had written in the previoous ten years because of the “advice” I had been listening to. Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us.
Thank you, Jane, I enjoyed your post very much. I have a friend who adores a certain workshop-giver who, to my mind, seems to be saying if you want to succeed as a writer, do it his way or you’re an idiot (unless you happen to be the next Stephen King). Yes, he has published fairly steadily over the last thirty years, but I have to wonder how much his wife’s ‘success’ helped with the bills. When I asked how much he got for the workshops, she insisted he didn’t get paid a dime. Could be true — there are lots of dedicated mentors out there. But when 500 people pay a nice price to attend, where does the money go? Anyway, since our writing styles, genres and goals are completely different, we’ve agreed to disagree. At least until one of us proves it one way or another!
For myself, I’ve made a contract with myself: Until I get at least half of my novel done, I’m going to concentrate on writing. Then, as I work toward the finish, I will start nosing around how-tos for blogs, queries, pitches, e-pubs and all the rest of it. It’s the only way I can make any sense of it all.
Great article Jane.
I think part of this “Camp A / Camp B” mentality when giving advice is some people like to explain things fully.
They do this to an extent where they tend to put things into a nice, neat little box where there are strict rules and guidance to adhere to, with no room for debate.
I’m certainly guilty of it at times when venturing into the unknown. :)
[…] I found this blog post is by Jane Friedman. Though brief, I think it illustrates an important point: those people spouting […]
Thoroughly enjoyed your post and quoted (and linked to it) on my blog
Hate the way that even good advice articles can be presented as an easy 1-2-3 step formula.
Hate the notion that there is a formulaic answer to anything outside chemistry (ok, and physics and perhaps even an ology or two that I haven’t quite mastered). Or that there’s secret information out there in a Dan Brown kind of way and once you acquire the insider knowledge everything is going to be just fine and dandy.
To Bruce Johnson, et.al.: Category A. self-published authors. Category B. authors published by big houses in NYC.
Would advice from the former be less worthwhile than from the latter?
Thx
Thanks for the post and the advice. I often feel lost in the middle ground, promoting but not doing it correctly. Of course, what is the correct method? Are there simply too many writers publishing now? How can you stand out? When is my WIP ready for an agent or self publishing? There is a lot of advice out there, and you are good to point out differences.
Thanks for this post. It got me thinking about when I read newspapers and how titles catch my eye and how I can be disappointed about the content and then I explore the rest of the page and some of the other titles might not catch my eye but the content is exactly what I am looking for.
Great food for thought. I think I read somewhere, that it takes around ten years for a writer to become accomplished, and so I have just started and I am going with that ten years and happy to slog it out. I want my headliners to be as hard hitting as the content. But in saying all that, I have already told myself, I must remain true to the content and some may not be as reader friendly as others, but I will just keep reaching.