On balancing and weighting writing advice

On balancing and weighting writing advice (#IWSG Blog Hop)

Posted in On Book Marketing, On Writing

On balancing and weighting writing advice

You’re stuck on a question about how to use a writing device, and off to the Internet/library/bookstore you go. Perhaps you stop after article number one, thinking certainly this must be the definitive answer, because this publishing professional has game to spare. She may well, but still your search should continue. Why? Because writing advice needs to be balanced and weighted. For every teeny facet related to being an author, there are often numerous opinions regarding the correct path forward. That’s right, from frowned-upon words, to execution of exposition, to ratio of dialogue to non-dialogue, no two authors are following the exact same instincts. Furthermore, prior to writing those advice articles/chapters, no two publishing professionals had the same mentors, publishing journeys, or life experiences. So I say balance and weight all the writing advice you take in, and keep taking it in your entire writing career, because when you do read yet another freaking article about dialogue tags, the cogs in your head will adjust the balances and weights for this sub-topic accordingly.

On balancing and weighting writing adviceOn balancing advice: Say you read three articles about best practices for book titles for your genre. Two of the articles advocate abstract titles; the other three say concrete titles are the way to go. That’s pretty close to a fifty-fifty split, so you may decide it doesn’t matter, or you may go with concrete because it has more votes.

On weighting advice: But even though abstract titles only got two of the five votes, both of the authors advocating abstract are best-selling, and so perhaps you decide to weight their opinions more heavily.

And don’t forget to take your own opinion into consideration.

I wrote this post for the monthly Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. To continue hopping or to join the hop, click here. (There are more than 200 of us, and it’s fun!)

Have you experienced inconsistent writing advice? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

P.S. I got shortlisted for a Crime Writers of Canada book award! My novel THE ALIBI NETWORK is nominated for an Unhanged Arthur Ellis, the unpublished category sponsored by Dundurn Press.

 

Published by raimeygallant

I'm a thrice-shortlisted author of mysteries and thrillers. She/her

125 thoughts on “On balancing and weighting writing advice (#IWSG Blog Hop)”

  3. Cool on the shortlist. Read all the advice you want. Follow any formula that works for you if you’re writing in a canned genre. Write dialogue like music you’d listen to, or at least respect, regardless of what anyone tells you or tries to do to it. Stilted dialogue is the bane of decent writing. Leave out as much as you put in, unless you have found a niche market that loves minutia of more than one sort. CI types love that stuff, erotica types love that. Rarely does any group want every step of ALL of it. Beyond that, all authors have “rules” and if you read their stuff they all break them. Editors have formulas, as do publishers. They want to see you hit those ephemeral guidelines more than they want you to tell a good story. Writing ethics, skills and style choices are the writers. I was told I could take all the profanity out of a book and make it a YA read, and they’d do it for me for $2,500. I didn’t set out to write a Hardy Boys quality coming of age story. Bad advice is everywhere, even when offered with good intention. Listen to yourself, listen to your story. Unless you’re looking for a deal. THEN follow the “rules.”

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      1. They’re out there. The mystery formula, the old Agatha Christie formula. Ever wonder why the same basic tenents of a cop show, regardless of natioonality of production, cycle through the same parachuting accident, the same wo/man in the wrong place at the wrong time, the same outcast rides/drives into town? Why Star Trek and Gunsmoke are a change of costume and different effects? This stuff has been laid out for pulp, romance and classical lit for centuries. The rue difference is word count up or down, more or less character, more or less environs, more or less background soap opera. Here ya go. Don;t believe me? Lay some of this over (pick a best seller). About what page d we get the bad guuy, the dead bodies, the first red herring? The rest is six guns or set yoru laser to stun or en garde, you dastardly beast.

        http://www.thepulp.net/pulp-info/the-pulp-companion/summer-2003/plots/

        analagous to Deep Throat telling Edwards and Bernstein or OB 1 and Luke – “follow the links, Raimey. Follow the links…”

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  6. My editor and I went back and forth on pretty much everything. To her credit she was right most of the time but every now and than I went with my gut and told her no.

    Looking back I’m glad I did. Sometimes the best advice is your own. You know your book, your characters and most of all you know where you want to go.

    Advice is great but sometimes the one with the best advice is staring back at you in the mirror.

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  8. Congrats on being shortlisted, that’s fantastic!
    With regard to writing advice, I tend to soak up as much advice as possible, but ultimately make my own choice on whether to agree or not. Then I find out if I should have listened!

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  9. Congrats on your nom!! How exciting. Great post – reminds us to shop around to find the best fit. Thanks for co-hosting IWSG this month.

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  12. Whenever I’m on the hunt for some writing advice/opinions, I usually read three or four articles on the subject, and then go with whatever my gut tells me to do at the end of it all. But I find that writing advice is very subjective. For every article you find saying “don’t do this!” you can easily find two more saying “definitely do this!”

    Congrats on the short list!

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  13. Hi,
    I admit I do research and read writing advice and opinions but in my opinion, they are just that, opinions. No author knows it all and what works for that author may not work for me. That’s why I follow my gut feeling. My own instinct about what is right for me.
    Love your article.
    Shalom aleichem,
    Pat G @ EverythingMustChange

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  14. I agree. See, this is my biggest advice when it comes to home schooling, plus one other factor. You can read advice until you’re blue in the face–ask people what works for them, and fill your head with all the words. BUT it’s not until you practice what you learn, and practice extensively, that you learn what your own style is and how to make it work for you. So yes, research, but practice as well.

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  16. SO I tried to leave a comment… Not sure what happened to it… But anyhow, I think there’s a third part missing here. You have to research, but in practicing you learn what really works for you, and what doesn’t. Advice is great, but only insofar as it complements your style and genre.

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    1. Sorry about whatever may have been happening with my website, Crystal! I hope it doesn’t happen again. I like your point a lot. With practice, our opinions solidify or change, depending. Thanks for the input!

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  18. Congratulations on making the shortlist! And, yes, writing advice is, ahem, all over the the page. Everybody’s blogging. Workshopping. A lot of the advice is just content. If you’re writing in a genre you’d already be familiar with the industry’s expectations because you’d be reading in that genre. As you mentioned, Raimey, it’s the other so-called rules that paralyze.

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  20. Congrats on your nomination!
    Thanks for the post. It can be very overwhelming to balance all the information out there about writing. As you said no two people have the same journey and that has to be taken into account when it comes down to ‘must do’ advice.

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  22. Good post, Raimey. I’ve often wondered how writers view advice from others. I tend to take it all in and then do what comes naturally to me. It might not be the best approach, but writing can become mechanical if hard and fast rules take over. If you really want your head to explode try using an editor like ProWritingAid. 🙂 Congrats on being short-listed.

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  23. Writing advice is just that – points to be considered. We really must accept that one-size-does-not-fit-all in spandex clothes or the craft of writing. Congrats and good luck with being short listed! And thanks for co-hosting today.

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  24. Congrats on the short list! I like how you weight all of the advice. That’s impressive. I kind of do something similar, but it’s more like I sift through it over time. I noticed one day that “show vs. tell” had come under fire in someone’s post, because sometimes we really don’t want the full second-by-second experience of being with a character. Then, I re-read some old favorite book of mine (I think it might have been Harry Potter), and I realized they were right. Some moments need to be shown fully, and then there needs to be those bits where we sum up two months of studying at Hogwarts in two sentences to move onto to the Troll scene.
    Anyway … I rambled a bit. Maybe I need to write a post about it?
    Congrats again!

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    1. I would read that post. For all the articles about showing versus telling, I’ve only read a couple that speak with insight about the need to balance the two. 🙂

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  25. That’s pretty much why I go to Chuck Wendig and his blog Terribleminds for writing questions. His advice always boils down to “Don’t do [the thing]! Unless you do, in which case, carry on. Your mileage will always vary.” He gives great writer business advice periodically, too.

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  27. All advice needs to be taken with a grain of salt, I think. There is no ONE way to do anything, and there’s always exceptions. I think the longer you write, the more you realize this.

    Congratulations on the nomination!

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  30. Congratulations on the shortlist and the nomination! And, thanks for co-hosting.

    There are different opinions about basically everything in life. It’s why you can’t make everyone happy, whether they are customers or readers. Because I’m a newbie memoir writer, I take everything I read as the gospel. Luckily, my husband is more in tune with reality and he basically reminds me about what you just posted. 🙂

    Just like you will never go cruising if you want your sailboat to have all the bells and whistles and be 100% ready to go, because it never will be, so will reading about the craft until you know “everything”, keep you from starting your own book. It will never happen, and you will never be a perfect writer, since that doesn’t exist. Better to give reading those books a break and start your own writing process. 🙂

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      1. As a matter of fact, Victoria and I have been in touch for a little while, and, just now, are starting to exchange chapters as critique partners. I guess you read our minds today, Raimey! 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion, though.

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  31. Congratulations on your nomination! Yeah, I have two shelves of writing craft books, a bit pile of Writer’s Digest magazines, and new information arrives daily in my electronic inbox. I take an eclectic approach, experimenting to see what helps. For example, some of Lisa Cron’s Story Genius doesn’t resonate with me, despite the praise heaped on her by writers I respect. But her scene cards have been a blessing and a revelations. Wishing you good writing juju in May.

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    1. That’s the way I feel about some other highly praised craft books as well. Some chapters I love, others I have reservations about. And thanks for the congrats, Rhonda!

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  32. Thank you for co-hosting today, Raimey, and congratulations for being shortlisted for the “Crime Writers of Canada” book award! Wow! That is an accomplishment ~ good luck ~ but being shortlisted is already a big win! I often read books and magazines about writing. There is usually something inspiring or informative to read. When it comes to writing, I listen to my own voice. All the best to you when writing in May and beyond!

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  35. Yeah, so many writers with so much advice to offer. Keep the rules, bend the rules, break the rules, it all starts to sound the same after a while. For me, I read, try everything, keep what works, ignore the rest. Like you so perfectly said, no two professionals had the same experience or followed the same path. I keep that in mind whenever something that seems clever turns out to not work for me.

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  37. Congrats on your nomination! It’s a huge thing.
    You’re so right about every article offering different advices. Every beta-reader offers different comments too, even when they critic the same story. So I’ve learned to take all those comments and advices and weigh them against my personal feelings on the subject. It’s my book after all.

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  38. Oh my gosh! Congratulations, Raimey, for the nominations. This is wonderful! Bravo! It couldn’t have happened to a better writer. And thanks for co-hosting the IWSG question for May. All best to you!

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  39. Nice post! Thanks for hosting, too. As for writing advice: read all you want, compare opinions, and then think and decide what is good for you. Not all advice will work for everyone. Heck, when I read back over my posts on writing, I don’t even offer consistent advice!
    My IWSG Post

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  40. Sounds like I need to crack out my spreadsheet software and create complicated formulae to make my decision, perfect! 😉 But seriously, this is really great advice. Thanks for hosting and congratulations on your nomination. I am so excited for you!!

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  41. Congratulations on being shortlisted. As for conflicting writing advice – as in life so in writing – everyone has a piece of advice and it invariably varies. I loved your discussion on abstract versus non abstract titles. I hadn’t even thought of it like that so thank you for expanding my brain.

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  42. You asked if I’ve read inconsistent advice. The answer is YES! I’ve spent time and money to learn all I can about Show vs Tell. I’m so confused now, I’ve given up (temporarily). Your site contains a wealth of knowledge. Congratulations on your most recent accomplishments. Thank you for co-hosting this month’s IWSG blog-hop.

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  43. Congratulations on the shortlist!!

    I think you’re right about weighing the advice. I also add in whether or not I enjoy that writer’s style, assuming that if you like their style it will translate to your own writing style easier.

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  44. Congratulations on the shortlist for the award. Awesome sauce that is!

    Fascinating post too and something I’m with you on. For every article with the best advice there will be ten others saying the same thing. If we are not careful that can lead to being overwhelmed with conflicting opinions and end up paralysed with inertia. Very important, as you say, to read them critically, weigh them up, consider if what they say fits in with you. Be open to changes of mind if a more applicable article contains new information or is well argued. At the end of the day all of them are no more than advice. It’s up to us to decide on validity and what works for us and what doesn’t.

    Good advice here Raimey

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  45. Inconsistent writing advice is the norm for writers, I think. Some times it’s best to look at authors whose books you admire and that are most similar to your own and see what they did.

    Thanks for co-hosting IWSG this month!

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  46. For a while I stopped reading craft writing books and articles. They all seemed to say the same thing, or interpreted the reference materials completely different. I still get insights from the craft writings, but as you say, I weigh the advice. You never know what ‘exactly’ will sell. Just write it!

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  49. Thanks for co-hosting!
    I like to view writing advice as recipes. The meal you cook following the directions comes out better when you make your own substitutions based on your own preferences and tastes.

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  50. Great post! I think a lot of the time choosing which advice to follow comes down to understanding different approaches and making choices between them. It’s why I’m often wary of advice that speaks in absolutes, because it usually only applies to certain styles of writing. If you’re aware of why the suggestion is being made, then you can make a decision over whether the advice will suit you or not as a writer (eg if you’re into writing lyrical prose, then a lot of advice on how to create a pared down style isn’t as relevant and vice versa) Just my two cents.

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