bad writing advice

I think mostly the inevitable happened on this panel, which was largely that we gave good writing advice and not bad writing advice. However, there were two pieces of bad writing advice I was given, which I shared and warned people not to perpetuate:

1. It doesn't matter what genre the people in your writing group write. Good writing is good writing.

2. Always outline before you write your first draft.

But basically, the problem with writing advice is always that it assumes that the giver of the advice is like the receiver of the advice. This is rarely true, although as an aspiring writer, I did tend to hang on the words of those who seemed to write as I did. I sought them out because I could tell fairly early on that not everyone wrote as I do. My style is very much the jump in and see what happens. Which isn't to say I never outline. I do. It just tends to happen in the second draft stage, not in the first. I have learned to call my first draft "an exploratory draft" so that those who actually write something that other people might be able to make sense of understand. And yes, I have tried to outline before I do that first draft. It never seems to work for me. I lose all interest in the book.

Good writing, it turns out, is not good writing. This pains me to admit. I tend to derive some of my own self worth from the idea that *my* writing is *good* and even if I don't have the success in numbers that other writers do, it doesn't matter. Because someday it will be recognized as good. Or even if it isn't, I will always know that it is good. This viewpoint has certain advantages, because I don't have to go crazy reading reviews or watching my amazon numbers to see if my book "works." I do allow a certain amount of criticism to get through, but I'm trying to develop a harder shell and a better sense of what I care about on my own about my writing. The disadvantage to this is that I end up sticking my foot in my mouth sometimes when I am talking about the elements of good writing.

Good romance writing is different than good fantasy writing. Good adult writing isn't good writing for children. Good academic writing isn't good fiction writing. A great race report doesn't necessarily make for a great chapter in a novel. Good writing is not good writing, and a critique group who hates the genre you aspire to write will confuse you. Yes, there are things to be learned regardless. But you may also have to work to unlearn things.

Good writing advice:
1. Finish the book
2. Get an agent
3. Take out the boring parts
4. Never pay for your book to be published. The money always flows to the author.
5. Write a second book before your first one comes out to avoid sophomore slump.