Hey guys, so the following is a rough draft script for an Anthem of Ink YouTube video. Let me know if you’d be interested in more like this. Enjoy!
Hey Guys,
My name is Antonio. I’m an indie fantasy author and I’d like to talk about the worst writing advice that I’ve ever received.
Beginning this video I plan to tackle all the common writing advice and tell you, in my opinion, does it work.
When I was starting in my author career, I found there was a lot of advice out there, but not much with substance or immensely helpful. So here’s my take on what’s helped for me as a published author.
Keep in mind that a lot of this my opinion, and you can feel free to disagree and tell me how stupid I am in the comments. Now without further ado let’s dive in.
All right Storytime.
When I was first starting, learning to hone my craft and garner an audience was hard. And if I’m being brutally honest, they’re still difficult.
Trying to find your way as a newbie author can be very discouraging, and this is where I received the absolute worst piece of writing advice and the best motivation to kickstart my writing career.
What advice?
Write what you know.
Why do I hate this? Several reasons, it’s used as a cliché and never receives a proper explanation.
I remember being told, “You know they say write what you know, but it’s too bad you don’t know anything.” Needless to say, that one kinda stung.
But it felt true and especially starting. I knew nothing. There was no one I could ask for help. None of my friends were authors. No one I knew wrote short stories or poetry in their spare time. I was alone and I knew nothing.
How could I be an author? How could I contribute anything?
For a week, I felt terrible and ready to give up. The words unceasingly echoed in my head and until eventually the stubborn teenager in me said “You know what? I’m gonna prove you wrong. Who are you to tell me I can’t do this?”
What I hate most is that it’s incomplete.
There’s no application, and as it’s written it overlooks many other valuable pieces of information.
For starters, you can always know more. There’s literally nothing stopping you. Pick up books. Surf the internet and YouTube.
I watched countless videos of Pixar’s art of storytelling, Jenna Moreci, and googled questions I had. The only thing stopping you is you. Just saying.
So does this advice help? Yes, it’s not terrible advice. You should always be yourself, and like I said, this did motivate me to start my fantasy series, but without proper application any advice is useless.
Here are my five takeaways on how to improve your writing from this advice.
Number one
Don’t use it to beat yourself up.
First, I want to be transparent the person who said this was trying to be loving but their words just didn’t come outright. But that’s okay, I still love them anyway.
But as I said before, you can always know more, and you’ll learn the most as you go along. Just because someone tells you to write what you know, doesn’t mean you have to know everything.
No one knows every in and out of how to flawlessly publish a book. Writing takes work. No one crawls out the womb as Stephen King, ya dingleberry. That’s right dingleberry. Such language I know. But I call ‘em as I see ‘em, and write what you know.
Number two
Draw from experience
If I could some up the next two tips I’d say manage your assets. So what does this mean?
Well in business-speak, assets are anything you have at your disposal. Now maybe saying hey wait, what’s all this about business. I wanna write about arm wrestling techno pirates on the moon, and I say good for you.
But what do you have to contribute to the story? How can you give it life and personality? What can give it meaning?
Draw from your experiences. Everyone has their interests, hobbies, and passions that make us human. You are human, right?
When writing what you know is done correctly, stories have depth and personality. Characters have voices and idiosyncrasies bring realism and entertainment. Worlds flourish with color and perspectives unique to you. You’ve made it your own, and you don’t have to devise some zany plot to do so.
Let’s go back to our example of arm-wrestling techno pirates on the moon. Now personally, this may come as a shock, I have never had much experience with real-life pirates, robots, or space. I’ve crushed your dreams I know. But what can I offer from experience to write what I know?
Here are some common experiences explored in stories,
School, Friendship, growing up, work, love, loss, regret, ambition
Maybe the main character could try to save his friends from pirates with the help of his former high school sweetheart.
Friendship and school are the easiest to play off of. Unless you’re like me and you have no friends. (JK)
Wow, that got depressing.
Number 3
Use your knowledge of niche fields
My point is here you don’t have to be smart in everything, but if you know something well, it might come in handy.
Say you know robotics or astronomy. It could help you flesh out all the practicalities of this space pirate adventure. It can add realism and fine-tune some interesting worldbuilding.
Just, please. Please, please, please don’t info dump. If it’s not crucial to the plot, cut it. Your goal is to tell a story and entertain. Nobody needs to the entire history of space travel if it never comes up in the story. The audience probably doesn’t care how much research you did. Sorry.
Conversely, not researching can be obvious to those who are experts in those fields. So remember the secret. You can always know more. Do your research.
Number 4
Write about what you’d like to read.
This lesson has been huge for me, and in my opinion, what this advice should be. This helped me pin down my writing into something I was happy with.
For example, just because people are writing amazing literary fiction doesn’t mean you must write in that genre to be a brilliant author. The same goes for other genres. Be yourself. That should go without saying.
All right Storytime– again.
So when I got out of high school, I fervently held that literary fiction was somehow the pinnacle of writing. And somehow I wanted to write something that impactful, yet more enjoyable. Did you catch that last part?
While I appreciated literary fiction, most of it I didn’t enjoy reading it. I thought learning how to do this strenuous task would make me an outstanding writer, but instead, the stupidly high expectations only made me hate myself and drowned my passion for doing what I loved, storytelling.
Writing what you like to read will help your motivation to write and overall enjoyment. So I encourage you, if you enjoy reading action-adventure, then write it. Genres you are accustomed to will come more naturally than those you are not. Do ever stop doing what you love.
Number 5
Don’t forget you can always know more
I just wanna reemphasize this point. Research can help a lot with the writing process, but it also can be an unnecessary distraction.
So use it with caution, and don’t beat yourself up for not knowing things. Write about what you’d like to read. Don’t set yourself up for failure.
Using your knowledge of niche topics can add realism to your story and build magnificent world-building. And draw from personal experience, emotions, and feelings to breathe life into your characters.
I hoped this helps you all with your writing journey. Be sure to let me know in the comments what’s the worst writing advice you’ve received.
Subscribe for more content like this, and until then don’t forget to keep writing.