Don't ignore this
Mar. 3rd, 2010 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdA rant. I haven't done one of these in a while.
A lot of times when you're out looking at writing advice they people give you a list of things to do. Like write everyday, send to everyone, or wear pink flowered shirts at three in the morning. All of these are tips to make you a better writer and/or to help you get published. At the bottom of these lists the final piece of advice is often times "Ignore everything I just said" with some other blather. This irks me to no end.
The reader has just been told that everything they have read was pointless, a lie, or useless. They've wasted their time and and more importantly their trust. They trusted the writer to give them some nugget of information they can use. They've thought about the information they've been given and how to apply it. If they can apply, if they think it's right or wrong or useful.
Then they're told they've been a fool to believe anything that they've just read. That the author of the list was just sharing gibberish.
Now, I know what the author of these lists is likely saying: "This is what worked for me. I don't know if it will work for you. There is no exact science to it". But saying "Ignore everything I just said" however is just being cutesy and condescending.
It feels like the author has just pulled one on the reader. They got their readers to read all the way through their aimless junk and all for naught. Which is not what the point of what they were writing is.
The point of non-fiction writing is to either to inform or to prove an argument. If it were fiction it would be to make it all up. Now while sometimes writing non-fiction it feels like you're bullshitting the idea is that you are imparting information to the reader. The reader should weigh and consider every word you've written.
The author is asking for trust. After all writing is a two person act. The writer and the reader. That is why readers often feel betrayed when their expectations of a book are laid to waste. Their trust has been broken.
Writers look up to published writers for guidance and help. They see these lists as a glimmer of hope to get them where they're going in a blizzard of rejection letters and slush piles. And then to be told to just ignore this bit of hope is like getting shoved back into the snow.
And so, after this, I say read what I've written and judge for yourself.
A lot of times when you're out looking at writing advice they people give you a list of things to do. Like write everyday, send to everyone, or wear pink flowered shirts at three in the morning. All of these are tips to make you a better writer and/or to help you get published. At the bottom of these lists the final piece of advice is often times "Ignore everything I just said" with some other blather. This irks me to no end.
The reader has just been told that everything they have read was pointless, a lie, or useless. They've wasted their time and and more importantly their trust. They trusted the writer to give them some nugget of information they can use. They've thought about the information they've been given and how to apply it. If they can apply, if they think it's right or wrong or useful.
Then they're told they've been a fool to believe anything that they've just read. That the author of the list was just sharing gibberish.
Now, I know what the author of these lists is likely saying: "This is what worked for me. I don't know if it will work for you. There is no exact science to it". But saying "Ignore everything I just said" however is just being cutesy and condescending.
It feels like the author has just pulled one on the reader. They got their readers to read all the way through their aimless junk and all for naught. Which is not what the point of what they were writing is.
The point of non-fiction writing is to either to inform or to prove an argument. If it were fiction it would be to make it all up. Now while sometimes writing non-fiction it feels like you're bullshitting the idea is that you are imparting information to the reader. The reader should weigh and consider every word you've written.
The author is asking for trust. After all writing is a two person act. The writer and the reader. That is why readers often feel betrayed when their expectations of a book are laid to waste. Their trust has been broken.
Writers look up to published writers for guidance and help. They see these lists as a glimmer of hope to get them where they're going in a blizzard of rejection letters and slush piles. And then to be told to just ignore this bit of hope is like getting shoved back into the snow.
And so, after this, I say read what I've written and judge for yourself.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 09:40 pm (UTC)I've always thought that it was a statement of "Well, that is a lot of stuff, but you don't HAVE to follow it." Or, "That's all meaningless, do what YOU need to do."
After reading this entry, though, it also strikes me as a little lazy. Know what I mean? Like, they took the easy way out in getting their statement across.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 09:52 pm (UTC)FWIW, the best and most consistently useful writing advice I ever got remains Heinlein's Five Rules.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 09:55 pm (UTC)Was the last rule "Ignore everything I just said"? XD
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 10:28 pm (UTC)Also, to be a good writer, one has to be able to think independently. One needs to be able to trash bad ideas and adopt new ones - even the very last "Ignore all this" tip.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-04 04:02 am (UTC)