I try be helpful when new writers ask questions, but I end up repeating myself constantly so now I want to whack new writers with a fresh-caught snoek and yell JUST WRITE THE FUCKING BOOK at them like some kind of genre gordon ramsey. Seriously though, write the fucking book. The rest is edits. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

clhellisen.bsky.social • 2 days ago

I try be helpful when new writers ask questions, but I end up repeating myself constantly so now I want to whack new writers with a fresh-caught snoek and yell JUST WRITE THE FUCKING BOOK at them like some kind of genre gordon ramsey.

Seriously though, write the fucking book. The rest is edits.

Comments

benedictanning.bsky.social•2 days ago

That's what r/writing is for - people who don't write telling people who don't write how to write

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

oooft but correct

bryngreenwood.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’ve been asked several time by the local arts center to do an intro to novel writing class. To which I always have to explain that I have endless advice for how to revise a novel, but the secret to writing one is just sitting down and writing everything you can think of. Pretty short class.

clhellisen.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yup

stewarthotston.com•2 days ago

Amen

neilwilliamson.bsky.social•2 days ago

There's just so much *talk* about publishing. Like people have time to go into every little detail and eventuality that would honestly be better spent writing the fucking book. Or even another fucking book. And another etc.

And it's not just new writers either. And it's always the same questions.

neilwilliamson.bsky.social•2 days ago

Which is not to be disparaging of writers networks and communities. They're wonderful and the support new writers get from more experienced ones is great. But there's only so many times you can go round on the same merryground before you have to get off and do the work.

antihippy.bsky.social•2 days ago

I think the problem is online discourse, which is ultimately a nanometer thick focusing on superficuiality and tricks. If the influencers are banging on about "publishing" and not writing the fricking book, then I think it leads to this situation. altho I don't know if much has really changed.

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

The writing advice I got (back in ye darke ages of internet forums) *was* given by actual writers.

And 9 times out of 10 boiled down to 'SIT IN YOUR CHAIR AND WRITE'

The rest was more how to massage what you've written into shape, and that often came from giving and receiving good crit.

antihippy.bsky.social•2 days ago

That is the basic advice of all the greats. But I don't think that sells well on the internet.

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

nope.

people looking for a cheat sheet, a hack that will make writing simple and easy and no need for revisions.

*sips tea*

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

the endless circle(jerk) of the PoV debate.....

neilwilliamson.bsky.social•2 days ago

So many endless debates. Try it. If it doesn't work try something else. Yes it'll take ages, but that's how you learn.

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

so much this

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

Plunge in there, get dirty, mould that fucker with your hands and heart and teeth. Throw everything you have at the page.

Stop fucking around with bullshit like save the cat.

learn to write by writing

learn to rewrite by rewriting

etc

navalairhistory.com•2 days ago

Oh god yes. I am a firm believer that you cannot really get to a pleasingly structured story until you have written ones that fail. Although some people have an instinct for it - ultimately it’s not rocket science, you just need to take the reader on a journey. Either way, STC and its ilk is no help

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

I have a hate on for STC; its overuse has led to a tasteless porridge of novel writing that does nothing new or exciting. Nothing that plays outwith the expected conventions of a hollywood plot.

And yup, the more you read and write, the more you hone that instinct for what makes a story work.

navalairhistory.com•2 days ago

100% this. Deeply unsatisfying as it makes all stories, on a fundamental level, the same

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

I do sometimes use beat sheets as a kinda transparency overlay on a finished draft, to see where current edtiors will expect certain things to happen, but even then, i don't follow it to the letter.

navalairhistory.com•2 days ago

Yes, these things are tools - we can use them as much or as little as serves us. They’re supposed to work for us, not us for them.

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

And this is why I don't run novel-writing workshops because I don't have a nice easy fix for you that will make your novel fall onto the page in a glittering array of first draft perfection.

All I have is a mantra that you can't fix what you haven't written.

sebdoubinsky.bsky.social•2 days ago

I always tell them: "Do your shit. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

and then you work out why what doesn't work doesn';t work, and you fix it

or get rid of it

theklaken.bsky.social•2 days ago

Earlier today I was telling my coworker exactly this: you can't edit what doesn't exist. Having ANYTHING on the page is infinitely better than having nothing, because then you can refine and polish it

clhellisen.bsky.social•2 days ago

yup, there's no fixing a hypothetical