Two Important Warnings for Writers ~ False News & Toxic Advice

Image Courtesy of Marco Michelini ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/michelini-47800

Writers these days really do need all the help they can get; but then, writers always needed help—I’m sure Og in his cave, painting his stories by torch-light, needed help (and, I bet his wife actually came up with many of them...)

So, what’s the specific help our age makes necessary?

Well, folks who write but have no intention of publishing might be able to fulfill their needs by themselves; unless you consider that most any writer needs to have material; and, that could demand that they receive the help of various parts of the world and the humans in those parts of the world, to gather raw material for stories; even if only a bus ride to the park to watch the ducks on the pond…

And, when it comes to publishing, try these two links for some help:

Traditional Publishing or Self-Publishing

And, writers who must publish could use the help in Jane Friedman‘s article Don’t Immediately Trust Mainstream Sites on Publishing Stories.

Here’s just the beginning of that article:

Over the last month, there have been a couple publishing stories receiving wide play across mainstream news sites such as The Guardian, Vox, Huffington Post, and others. While such outlets may be respectable and have the ability to get most stories right, in the publishing industry, two problems often come into play:

• A lack of understanding of industry statistics—and an inability to put them in their proper context
• Knee-jerk judgment regarding anything Amazon does

If you’re a writer, I do hope you go read the whole thing…

Jane has another article (guest posted by author Susan DeFreitas) that could well be much more important, for any writer: How to Spot Toxic Feedback: 7 Signs That the Writing Advice You’re Getting May Do More Harm Than Good.

The article is mostly about feedback in writing groups but it could certainly apply to other situations…

I’ll list her topic headings (with a smidgen of text to give a bit of explanation) and hope they help writers hurry over to the full article on Jane’s site.

1. Failure to Understand Your Intent

“…you should not share your work with people who are unaware of their own biases.”

2. Projection of Personal Issues

“Notice that someone in your workshop always wants to know more about ________.” (Susan gives a few examples…)

3. Inappropriately Personal Feedback

“In the creative writing workshop, we critique the work, not the author.”

4. Unprofessional Tone

“With an early draft, more often than not, the truth hurts. But there’s absolutely no reason it can’t be related in a professional and courteous manner.”

5. By the Book

“…as any experienced editor knows, the novel is far too interesting an art form to completely conform to any one system (especially one that’s taught in freshman comp).”

6. Not Thinking It Through

“…thinking through the multitude of ripple effects that any major change would entail and squaring them with the perceived intent of the book.”

7. Conflating the Problem with the Fix

“The bestselling fantasy author Neil Gaiman once said, ‘Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.’”

To any writers out there (from me):

Do, please, get at least three or four opinions about what you write (hopefully from writers and non-writers), unless you’re exceedingly brave or you have a ton of experience…
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