Why You Shouldn't Listen to Writing Tips Blogs

I see you're already not taking this post's advice. It says don't listen to writing tips blogs and, yet, here you are, reading this post. On a writing tips blog. What are you doing?

Fine. If you're not going to take this title at face value, I'm going to have to explain things to you in a little more detail: 
You shouldn't be listening to writing tips blogs. They have caused some alarming issues within the writing world that include (but are not limited to): Lack of originality, brainwashing, fear mongering, and all stories sounding the same. 
Yep. 
They're terrible. 
And I know me writing this post is the equivalent of Yoda saying that the Jedi high council is stupid and needs to disband. Errr. No. That's overestimating my importance. It's more like Obi-Wan Kenobi saying that. Actually, I'm probably more similar to Jocasta Nu, that one member that only really smart, dedicated fans know about. 
Anyway. I recognize that I'm about to degrade my own platform, but that's okay. Friends don't lie, so I'm not going to lie to you about this: Writing tips blogs aren't all that great. Here's why:
People rely on them to much. Don't know how to write dialogue? Read a blog post. Don't know how to write multiple POVs? Blog post. Trying to avoid teen character cliches? Post. Do you see where I'm going with this? People have become so reliant on reading writing tips blogs that it's taking away your need to think and read critically. Rather than choosing to think outside of the box with your dialogue, you get your information from somebody else (who probably got their information from somebody else). Rather than putting your own unique spin on POV writing or teen characters by pulling from your own brain or books that you've read, you're going to a secondary source. Ever wonder why so many books sound the same nowadays? This is one of the contributing factors. 
They're run by people with biases. We bloggers sure do come across as nice and smart and kind, but you know what? It's a lie. You have no idea who you are dealing with. You want to know what we're doing? We're persuading you. Persuading you to like us so that you will trust us so that we can somehow get money out of you. This persuading invariably leads to changing the way you approach writing. You didn't know this was happening, but it is. Good luck trying to work your way out of what ideas are yours and what ideas have been fed to you over the years by that favorite blogger of yours that you thought you could trust....Unless that blogger is me, in which case: You can totally trust me.

Or can you?

They preach rules that don't always need to be followed. Let's see how many of these sound familiar to you: "Said is dead." "Don't use prologues." "Don't use fragmented sentences." "The word 'was' is of the Devil." "Show, don't tell." "Don't go a long time without dialogue." "Write what you know." You know what? All of those rules are crap. Sure, sometimes they're good to follow. Sometimes they aren't. It depends on who you are, what you're writing, and why you're writing it. But a lot of writing tips blogs don't tell you that, do they? Nope. They just tell you what you can and can't do. Who are they to give you orders? They aren't the boss of you. 
They lead to lack of diversity. Because the above three points, they lead to writers all writing in the same ways. Nice little soldiers following the rules, relying on orders, and marching to the beat of somebody else's bias. Congratulations. Join the club of authors whose books all look and read the same. 
They are secondary sources of information. Why are you bothering to read these, anyway? You know the information us writing tip bloggers are giving you? It's just trickle down knowledge from books we've read. Novels we've studied. Human traits we've observed. Some of it gets lost in translation. Writing tips blogs are the equivalent of using Google Translate to translate something instead of going and talking to your bilingual friend. Read some books. Study them. That's where all of the information really lies.

And there you have it. You can go ahead and unsubscribe from all of the writing tips blogs you follow. Go on.

Wait, wait! What are you doing? Are you unsubscribing from my blog? No! Wait. I'm not finished yet. *quickly thinks of way to salvage the situation* Ah. Got it.
Writing tips blogs are not evil. But they're not the end-all of writing knowledge, either. It's alright to follow them, but it's not alright to follow them blindly.

And it's certainly not alright to use them as a way to avoid critical thinking. The truth is out there. Find it by reading some novels on your own. All of the information you'll mine from them is the same info you'll find on a writing blog...you just have to look a bit harder. But it'll build brain muscle, which you can then use for writing.

So go. Read your writing blogs if you want to (especially if it's mine. Mine is good). But use your own brain, too.

If you want, of course. We've already established that you probably shouldn't be listening to writing blogs, anyway, which also probably applies to this post. UNLESS that means that you shouldn't listen to this post about not listening to writing blogs, which means that you technically should listen to writing blogs.

Well. I have inexplicably developed a headache, so I'm going to leave you now. But, before I go, riddle me this:

What do you think? Is this post correct or isn't it? What does it mean? Is it ironic or true? Or both? Can something be both ironic and true? You tell me.

Have writing or reading questions? Use the hashtag #ChatWithHannah in the comment section below or on social media to have them answered on my Youtube channel!
Related articles:
9 Ways to Use Reading to Improve Your Writing
12 Writing Myths You Need to Stop Believing

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