Best writing advice I ever got:

[MasterPhoenix]

I got this little nugget from a professor of creative writing: Give yourself permission to write shit.

That little nugget gets me through writer's block.

 

[BlackSnake]

Sounds like great advice

 

[MasterPhoenix]

I live by it. I write a lot of shit. Every once in a while, I write something that isnt.

 

[Purple Sage]

I tried this. Long ago, I wanted to write fiction, but I took it too seriously. I was in Great American Novel mode, and it was just incredibly laborious. So I tried writing some genre stuff. Detective stories. Sci Fi. Romance. Porn. Always the same problem. I mean, if you take writing porn seriously, there's no hope for you. I have given myself permission to write every kind of shit I can think of except Republican political theory, and I just end up taking it seriously. It turns out that although I'm perfectly capable of writing reams of shit, I have no desire to do it, permission or not. There's so much of it around already.

 

[Aurora Black]

The best advice I've ever gotten is to actually place myself in my characters' shoes and write as if the story events were actually happening to me. It's draining on all levels, but the result is worth it.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Write shit, edit brilliantly.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Give yourself permission to write shit.

That little nugget gets me through writer's block.

I heard another way of saying this: The great is the enemey of the good. Meaning, trying to be great is a sure way of guaranteeing you don't write anything good.

I went through the same thing as Purple Sage. Because I couldn't write Great Stuff right out of the box, I stopped writing altogether for years. It was only when I started writing porn that I gave myself permission to just write and not worry about creating masterpieces.

I disagree about not taking porn seriously, though. There's no reason erotic literature can't be as good as any other.

 

[rgraham666]

I suppose it's kind of a corollary to Sturgeon's Law, "90% of everything is crap."

And Ellison's Rebuttal, "At least I don't set out to create crap!"

I try to balance out these two aphorisms. I realise that even the best work I do isn't going to match the Masters, say Conrad or Shakespeare.

But I do try to make what I create as good as I can make it.

 

[R. Richard]

I had someone review my writing some time back. I told them I wanted their feedback because I had other irons in the fire. The reviewer suggested that I put the reviewed item "with the other irons."

 

[dirtylover]

I got this little nugget from a professor of creative writing: Give yourself permission to write shit.

That little nugget gets me through writer's block.

Couldn't agree more, although now I've got the phrase 'reams of shit' in my head and I don't like it.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Well, looking back at my earlier writing, I've definitely written my share of shit. It IS harder to write shit when writing a novel, which I am finding out as I try to get past writer's block and revise my novel for publication.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

He wasn't a prose writer, but William Stafford was asked how he got to be such a good poet, and he said, "I write a poem every day."

When asked, "How do you manage that?!"

He replied, "Lower your standards."

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

He wasn't a prose writer, but William Stafford was asked how he got to be such a good poet, and he said, "I write a poem every day."

When asked, "How do you manage that?!"

He replied, "Lower your standards."

Aptly put.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Write how you want, don't try to write what others tell you is aceptable.

 

[TxRad]

The best advice i ever got was to just write and don't stop...

Except to think and then remember to start again......

 

[NoJo]

Write shit, edit brilliantly.

I your pith.

 

[zeb1094]

Some advice I was given:

Don't give up your day job!

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Write how you want, don't try to write what others tell you is aceptable.

Spot on!

 

[silverwhisper]

dr mabeuse quoth
i disagree about not taking porn seriously, though. there's no reason erotic literature can't be as good as any other.

i agree wholeheartedly.

i think the best advice i've ever rec'd was "just write".

ed