Advice "Overwhelment"

One of the most important skills a writer can have, IMO, is the ability to handle advice well. But, if you're looking to kill some of the noise, I have two pieces of (hehe) advice for you:
1) If it includes the words always or never, just move on -- and feel free to ignore whatever else that particular advice giver says; and
2) Almost everything people give as writing advice is, first and foremost, editing suggestions. Don't worry about keeping track of it all when you're actually writing.

Experience will help you digest all the advice and then distill it into what works for you and your story, and what doesn't.

Along with all your research, have you also been writing? The only way to get writing experience is to write. After you've finished something, edited it, and edited it again, take that final draft and see if any of the advice might apply to it. Does it work just fine as it is, or do you need to tweak it? Remove some adverbs. Have you overused the word "just"? Do you break the 4th wall and, if so, does it work? Do you hop from one character's POV to another's in the same scene? You might want to fix that because readers find it confusing.

Understanding all the advice that's available to you is impossible until you can apply it to your own work. So go write something and don't look at any writing advice until your done.

*Okay, I wrote all that and then noticed that you have a novel completed and are in the process of editing it. This also takes practice and experience. To find out what short-comings the ms might have, you could try using a beta reader. Sometimes betas only know when something doesn't work, not why or how to fix it. That's where the advice might come in handy.

HTH & GL!

The best thing I had going for me when I wrote my first few short stories, and my first novel, was ignorance. I knew nothing at all about writing, I hadn't read any how-to books or magazines, and there was no internet.

This, I found, was a huge advantage because it meant I couldn't get confused by has seventeen people say thirty-five different things, or by having an article or book by one writer saying the opposite of an article or book by another writer.

I did have the hundreds, or thousands, of novels I'd read, and the bazillion short stories I'd read.

This is exactly what most writers throughout history had.

I wish more new writers would stop getting online, for advice, would stop reading technical how-to books, and would just write.

Forget the damned techniques, how-to books, opinions, and advice, shut yourself away in whatever your version of writer heaven looks like, and write a novel. When the novel is finished, and polished to the best of your ability, then, and only then, look for advice, if you still think you need it.

Here's my advice LOL

Yes... I know. All you need is more.

Just keep in mind that if you have been doing a cross-internet search for writing advise that all these people come from different backgrounds, write about a myriad of different things, and represent hundreds of different genre's.

I think it would help to focus on advise whose focus, style, and/or genre is similar to your own present work. My first creative writing teacher gave the class two important pieces of advice that seem to conflict at first. (With my explanation paraphrasing her explanation).

The critic is always right.

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They are your audience. They are the ones who will be reading your work and they know best what they like.

The critic is always wrong.

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The world is full of armchair warriors. They are a dime a dozen and can only guess at the point of your writing. The only person you really have to be true to is yourself.


The bottom line is that you can be the best judge for which advise applies and which advise does not. Carefully consider all the advise that you are given and apply the ones that best fit your situation and your story.

This has happened to me. The thing to do is tune out. Otherwise you're just gonna get confused, imo. By now you've probably read enough advice on writing. The thing to do now is write and work with what you've got. The best way to learn how to write is to write and that's something no one can offer but you. G'luck.

(Sorry this ended up so long, lol) I hope this doesn't add to your confusion, but my advice at this point would be get your eyes off it now and other people's eyes on it. Since it doesn't sound like you've singled out one of those rare gems who improve your work like magic, lots of other eyes on it. I've had plenty of betas who didn't return work, or who just wrote a few nicey-nice comments, or who just didn't seem to know anything about writing. Thoroughly going through a novel length manuscript that hasn't been critiqued along the way is a big job, aside from the issue of differing skill levels. So if you just got one or two betas, imo you'd have to be quite lucky to get the solid assistance that a first (?) novel is practically guaranteed to need to be brought up to a publishable standard.

Good betas are hard to find so in addition to that, I'd put it through SYW a chapter at a time. We usually have our own particular writing "tics," the same things we do over and over. So when something is caught, be sure to change it in the rest of the manuscript as well. There's nothing that guarantees people won't help you with more chapters than finding you didn't care enough about it yourself to correct the errors throughout the book but left it to them to say the same things over and over again on each chapter. And remember that when they're just seeing a chapter, some of the advice may not fit into your overall novel. You can request betas on the chapters you post. Also, be sure to critique back. That's where I've learned the most, by far. There are a few dozen common writing errors that begin to stand out in neon to you once you've seen them a few dozen times in other writers' work.

No matter how many times you go through it yourself or what you learn indirectly and apply to it, there's a serious limit to what we can see ourselves in our own writing. It's usually apparent at a glance who participates heavily in the critique process (receiving and giving) and who hasn't. You will probably be shocked at how many things other people catch that you didn't, no matter how many times you went through it yourself or what you read. I have known writers who wrote for many years and didn't participate in critiques and didn't improve much. They just keep doing the same things over and over again and did not necessarily improve at all. So I would not follow the "just write" advice. The how-to-write books are great too, but critiques get directly at what you need to work on.

And then, critiques are another thing to learn how to use. I probably use only 10% of what's said anymore, but that 10% is the polish and I need it. I make the changes that stand out right away as "how in the world did I miss that?" Cross out the ones that just ain't it. Then you only have to deal with the iffy ones. With those, consider more carefully if other people have also had a problem with that section. But, when in doubt, leave it the way you had it. Good luck and congrats on finishing a draft!

I don't really look too much into general advice. I'll read it and keep it at the back of my head that it is something some people may think of. However, I don't act on general advice.

Personal advice is a very different thing. Personal advice I consider more deeply and try to address it because it pertains specifically to me and my work. General advice on the other hand is well, general.

Eh, just remember that advice on writing is very subjective. I was fortunate enough to attend a reading by Philip Pullman, and afterwards, he talked a bit about his writing process. At the time, I was a total noob, and I took his words as gold and tried to emulate his writing habit. When it didn't work out for me, I thought, "Well goddammit, this is it. Proof that I suck as a writer." But then I read Stephen King's On Writing, and his process is quite a bit different from Pullman's. That's when I realized how subjective the process of writing is. Just write. Over time, you'll learn what works for you and that's what's "right".

Calliea said:

Does the abundance of advice only help you to improve your text or is there a point at which it just makes arrive at a conclusion that maybe you just suck, can't ever follow all the right things and feel all:

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Actually, there comes a point when you have to tune it all out and just go with your gut.

You can't get anyone else's eyes on your work until after it's written, and you shouldn't let their eyes on it until it's not only finished, but as polished as you can make it on your own.

At this point, you can get all the eyes, and all the advice, you need. Do it before this, and it's likely to result in confusion,m and a mess.

BethS said:

Actually, there comes a point when you have to tune it all out and just go with your gut.

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For some writers, yes, but I've seen a lot of writers stopped dead because they couldn't just tune it all out and go with their gut.

Yes, when I first started out I read everything. I was very confused. I'd say still read some blogs/tweets/websites, but know that it is all subjective. Writers still argue if putting your factual information at the top or bottom of a query is a good idea. Do what you think makes sense for you and your book. Like Putputt said, it's all subjective. You'll start to know what is what after you've been at it for awhile.

Now that I think about it, most of my blogging consists of trying to strip mountains of advice down to the core elements and disambiguate all of it. That wasn't my intent when I started, and I didn't actually think of it in those terms until right now, but that's definitely the direction it took.

Yeah, writing advice can be overwhelming. The same could be said for critiques. Everyone has different preferences as a reader, and you could find countless books that break just about every writing rule and are still great books.

That's the main reason I prefer to learn how to write fiction through reading fiction, and then I supplement that with the rules and think about how they apply to what I read and write.

For example, I read books that did head-hopping before I knew what head-hopping was, and I felt jarred by the constant changing of heads. Then I learned about the writing rule and realized that I wasn't alone in disliking it.

Jamesaritchie said:

The best thing I had going for me when I wrote my first few short stories, and my first novel, was ignorance. I knew nothing at all about writing, I hadn't read any how-to books or magazines, and there was no internet.

This, I found, was a huge advantage because it meant I couldn't get confused by has seventeen people say thirty-five different things, or by having an article or book by one writer saying the opposite of an article or book by another writer.

I did have the hundreds, or thousands, of novels I'd read, and the bazillion short stories I'd read.

This is exactly what most writers throughout history had.

I wish more new writers would stop getting online, for advice, would stop reading technical how-to books, and would just write.

Forget the damned techniques, how-to books, opinions, and advice, shut yourself away in whatever your version of writer heaven looks like, and write a novel. When the novel is finished, and polished to the best of your ability, then, and only then, look for advice, if you still think you need it.

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Agreed. I, too, sold my first short stories before the internet. I hadn't a clue what to do except I knew 'I could do that, too' after reading a magazine of short mysteries.

But I'd been reading my entire life and writing novels, short stories, all just for my own satisfaction.

As to the op, just stop reading most of those blogs and advice columns. Choose a few you like and subscribe to them. Leave the rest alone. And when you have a question, ask here, on AW.

I have found a great majority of the 'advice' out there on blogs are 500 words of regurgitated crap.

Sure, they may have some element of truth to them but they are usually so generic as to be useless.

My way of learning has always been to bombard myself with as much information as I can handle, and then a bit more. Then I ponder it, try it, and see what sticks in the long run. After that, it's just write, write, write, write, and of course write.

As far as editing, I feel that is a separate skill from writing. Often writers possess the skill to edit, but often they don't. I don't claim to have great skill in editing, but it was the only option available to me when I completed my novel, so I just did it. It's not perfect, but then what is.

A good story can always be re-edited. Over and over if need be. But a perfect editing job doesn't always denote a good story. If you have a good story, then you're on your way in my opinion.

That said, too much advice confuses me too in the short run. But in the long run, it can make all the difference to finding what works for you. Keep at it.

I feel this way all the time, but I do my best writing when I'm able to ignore it (not always an easy thing for me). Otherwise I run around in anxiety circles and accomplish nothing.

Two of the best ways to learn are through taking chances and by making mistakes. In the early stages of development, a writer should do what others have suggested above--write without fear of those mistakes. Overwhelming anxiety about making mistakes can produce writing paralysis. Give yourself a writer's lobotomy and get writing. And, as James suggests, read, read, read. And put some intellectual muscle into what you write. Think about your scenes before you sit down to write them. Come to the computer prepared to write.

As an example, when I started writing, I read many of the books on writing technique. But the lessons didn't really sink in until they were evaluated in the context of my own writing. Sometimes it's hard for me to learn from other people's solutions to mistakes. But if it happens through my own writing, it sinks in fast and hard.

Much will be learned in the editing process. Much more will be learned through beta reads and other forms of critique. And the learning process will (should) never stop as long as we continue to take chances and we use mistakes as learning tools.

Some advice has a greater weight then others, so I don't always listen to all advice. I highly suggest looking up and watching Brandon Sanderson's Creative Writing class lectures on Youtube. They're amazing and he has multiple students published.

Maybe it's time to start sending it out. If it gets a few rejections, then consider another round of edits. It could be you're just done.