Why You Hate Your Writing | THE SECRET ABOUT WRITING ADVICE

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

I was going to ask "do you ever hate your writing?" but who am I kidding, we all do at some point 😂

[@SteveJubs]

Yes! What’s helped me to really love the process of writing itself is to give in and make the choices I actually want to make with the story, even if I’ve heard somewhere that those choices might not be the “right” ones. Have a silly little joke come to mind in the middle of a super dark action scene? Throw it in. Suddenly a line that sounds totally out of character for your MC (but intrigues you all the same) pops into your head? In it goes. No need to overthink it right now. You might end up cutting those things later, but often I’ve found moments of writing like that can help to clarify or even ultimately change the character for the better, or help you find a more compelling narrative voice for the whole story. Those are the moments that surprise me as I’m writing, and that’s what makes the process fun for me. Write what you want to write, not what you “should” write.

[@lostgoth3980]

I'm so glad that I found your channel. Most writing tip vidoes are super generic and basic.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you're here too. :)

[@eunicefazzi6697]

I needed this video so badly. I’ve just been planning, researching, and daydreaming scenes for a fanfic but couldn’t write any of it. I just couldn’t get over the anxiety of writing the first draft. Your idea about writing the layers out first sounds way more attainable. Thank you!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

You're so welcome, Eunice!! The layers thing really helps take the pressure off (in my experience, anyway). I really hope it helps you get that fanfic written!!

[@amyng9560]

Hi Michelle! I've been following your channel from the very beginning, and it's crazy how you always hit on the exact writing problem I'm facing with your videos! I know my biggest issue right now is conquering perfectionism, and it's so debilitating being paralyzed from putting words on the page when there is so much running inside your head. This video is exactly what I needed for a push in the right direction. Could you talk more about perfectionism? Now that I know what is keeping me from writing quickly, I can see it turning my pace into molasses, but how do I climb out of this rut I've made by spinning in circles around the first draft? I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the helpful advice and words of encouragement I found through your channel! Thank you!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Hi Amy!! Thank you o much for watching - I'm so glad this has been helpful! Perfectionism is a tough one (and a great future video topic - thank you!). I will say that the writing in layers thing has helped me with that a lot. Have you tried freewriting a scene yet (prior to drafting it)? When you tell yourself this isn't a 'real' draft and it's just one stage or layer, that should really help encourage your brain to let go of the whole "make it perfect" thing. And setting your font to white or doing whatever you need to do to make it impossible for you to read your words as you write can help so, so much - that way, you have no idea how good or bad it is. When I had workshop students complain of writer's block, I'd set a timer for ten minutes and have them freewrite in a white font about anything at all. The only rule was that they couldn't stop typing. That usually helps you break out of "perfect" mode, at least for a moment!

[@lindseysmith2455]

YES. It's revising advice! YES! *finally starts drafting*

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

yessss go Lindsey go!!!

[@NicoleSantora]

"REVISING advice" 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 I needed to hear that.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Yes! :D Thank you for watching, Nicole!!

[@JoeyPaulOnline]

This is such good advice, and something I've also only just realised is you're right, its revision advice, not something to think about during drafting. Like they say drafting is telling yourself the story everything else comes next!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks so much, Joey! I couldn't agree more. :)

[@geupelboi]

Thank you for what you said about not letting others pop your balloon. The story I am working on starts off with a dream sequence and then I heard all this obnoxious advice about how starting with a dream was the worst thing you can do with your book. It was angering and frustrating and I did not take the dream out.

[@manikandanu2317]

Wonderful advice.. I give you one old piece of advice which works all the time. "Just write it."😊

[@PickaGodandPray]

Ohhh this is such good writing advice to help with anxiety of writing! I love the idea of making it silly, I’m going to try that it!! Writing in layers has never occurred to me but that also sounds like a fabulous idea!!! Thank you for making these videos and being so honest and upfront!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks so much, Jojo! I really hope that exercise helps - please let me know how it goes! I write in layers when I have a scene that's really giving me a hard time, and it always helps. :)

[@kdelo2652]

Wow! Exactly! Thank you for answering this question. :-) This is exactly what I needed.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

You're so welcome, Kimberly! I'm happy it helped! :)

[@kikyosend]

Loved the suggestion to think of it as “revising advice” like that really helps a lot!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

So glad that was helpful, Jessie! Thank you for watching! :D

[@reginaduke7451]

"Revising advice"!!!! Brilliant!!! I love your videos.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thank you so much, Regina! :D

[@heathermacdonald6404]

Today was one of those days when I found myself drifting into the kitchen again and again in search of something to nibble instead of sticking with writing. I was doing what you did with your first novel, writing a few lines, reading them, erasing them and trying again. Finally, I gave up and turned to KZbin, (emphasis on You, in this case,) in search of a bit of hand-holding. As always, you did not disappoint. I feel ready to try again, and this time I'm going to remember what you said about all the writing advice being revising advice. I have no problem rewriting. Not true. I rewrite too soon! I need to let fly all the scenes clogging up my brain and then set the whole project aside for at least a month before revising it. Did I mention I told my four kids that if I didn't write 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo I would give each of them $500? Deadlines and getting paid for writing, (even if I am paying myself), have always motivated me. Good luck with your NaNoWriMo project and all your other stuff. And thanks again for this super pep talk! I think you just saved me $2000! :D :D

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

OMG. I'm so glad this video helped you get back on track, Heather - but most of all I'm in AWE that you basically bet two grand on yourself to win Nano! That is COMMITMENT. I love it!! Sorry your kids are gonna be disappointed though 😂

[@heathermacdonald6404]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Just watched Beth Barany's talk at the Plot Forest Summit. So worthwhile!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@heathermacdonald6404 Oh great!! I can't wait to watch. My internet has been out all day and I don't want to run up my phone bill streaming stuff so I haven't watched anything yet, argh!

[@chelseawritesbooks8763]

I cannot express enough how grateful I am that I have found your channel. Thank you for making this channel. You have had the best "writing" ;) advice I have seen in the 3 years I have been on "authortube." Your advice videos don't make me feel bad about my writing and I can tell that you are a teacher and are actually teaching us. Like you said, too many advice videos are just the same Google results over and over given in an almost patronizing way. And I don't want to compare or tear others down, I do not mean to do that. It's just, you see so many of the "DON'T DO THIS" without giving help to not do the things they talk about. So at that point to me, it's not advice, just pet peeves. So it's extremely refreshing to have/see a teacher again. I miss my college writing classes so much, and finding your videos is just the thing I needed. I have struggled with the seeing it all on your head but just cannot get any words down no matter what. I am absolutely going to implement this practice in my writing. I will be sharing this video with all my writer friends.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Chelsea!!! Thank you so much - this comment really made my day. "it's not advice, just pet peeves" -- that's such a great way to put it. And I don't think it's tearing others down because there's nothing wrong with making videos where you just state your opinion on stuff! I follow lots of channels like that and they're super entertaining. But like you said, it's not teaching. (Honestly? I watched a video a few weeks ago by a youtuber I really like and she called out something she hated in certain types of books and it's something I both love as a reader and writer...and I let it get in my head for a day or two. I had to remind myself that everyone has different tastes and I if I love the thing, I should write the thing! :) Please let me know if you try the layers thing - I hope it helps you out!

[@j.p.2636]

I have heard so many times to not write a prologue but there are so many books on my shelves right now that have...you guessed it....prologues

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Yuuup yup yup

[@marvamason]

Brilliant, as always

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Aw, thank you so much, Marva! :)

[@jasonrebegin]

Dear Michelle - I love your videos. I’ve been listening to several lately in preparation for queries. I’ve discovered much from them to help improve the current draft in hand (and ha, yes one can OD on it as a form of procrastination). After listening to yours I have to say, you have a wonderful color and tone to your voice! I also appreciate the style and clarity of your advice. I look forward to hearing many more. Of course, I have to curse you/thank you for forcing me to go back into my draft and fix things now that I know better! :)

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thank you so much, Jason! I really appreciate that and I'm so glad the videos have help (and, er, distracted!) you. :) I hope the draft is going well!

[@jasonrebegin]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor thanks. I feel great about it...except for a few moments of head hopping to fix. Not much longer now, but excited to apply your advice to the new novel (already outlined)

[@grimreads]

This is actually great advice.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks so much! :) (And LOL, the irony...)

[@grimreads]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor I tried adding a "great advice video, will follow none as you told me" but could not get the wording snappy enough.

[@lunaticpoetlover]

Hi Michelle! Back from a YT break. This is great advice here, thank you! I'm really struggling to get that first book out, but I'm sure that once it's done, I'll be much more confident in myself as a writer. Happy writing!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Heyyy welcome back!!! I hope you're doing well! Thanks so much, and you are 100% right. Finish that draft and you're going to feel like a superhero! :D

[@lunaticpoetlover]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor I'm fine, thank you. How are you? In the last year I tried seven books and still not a finished draft, I must finish one before I get stuck in a writer funk. :(

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@lunaticpoetlover I'm doing ok! And ugh, I've been there. Starting a new book is so appealing when you're in the middle of a draft and feeling stuck! Writerbrain is so tricky.

[@lunaticpoetlover]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor I'm hoping that the fact that I failed seven times but keep trying is a good sign, in my other hobbies I would have given up by now, hehe :-) Oh, well, onwards and forwards, & cetera.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@lunaticpoetlover Absolutely! You're going to get there. It's totally normal to stop-start several projects before you find your writing groove!

[@KimberlyGasuras]

Excellent advice! I needed to hear this today so thank you, Michelle!!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

You are so welcome, Kimberly! I'm glad it was helpful! :)

[@splufford]

Hi Michelle, I just found your channel and I am binge watching all your videos. Personally, I struggle with the need to find the best story out of the scenario I have created. For example, for any set of characters, goals and problems, there are an infinite number of ways the story can go. I find myself questioning whether the route I have chosen is the best one. Sometimes, the fear of choosing the wrong route paralyses me and I tell myself I have missed a much better plot point that another more gifted author would see. I know it is lack of confidence and I wish I knew when I have found the right way through the story or had the courage of my convictions to just run with it. And yes, I hate pretty much all my writing because it is not the beautiful prose I would like it to be. This is my struggle. Best wishes, Carolyn

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Hi Carolyn! First of all, thanks so much for watching. :) Second of all, everything you just said is SO relatable! I'm working on a book right now and I'm having the same fears. Is this really the right plot for this book - that's a thought I've honestly had in the last week. You're right, it's lack of confidence and it's so hard to power through! FWIW, I think trusting your gut is key here - and I know it can be hard to tell if your gut is telling you there's a better way to plot this, OR if that's just fear talking. But the more you write, the better you'll get at knowing when it's your gut. And hey, worst case scenario? You write the draft, you realize there IS a better route, and you rewrite it. It's not as scary as it sounds! I've had to rewrite plenty of my drafts and it's really not starting from scratch - you'd be surprised at how quickly it goes. I hope that helps, and keep working on it!!

[@splufford]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Thank you so much for taking the time to reply - it is much appreciated. I am not a newbie writer. I write every day and have been doing so for over ten years. But I have a lot of half finished projects where I have got stuck because I cannot decide which is the best route to take. Then, because it's hard for me to figure out where to go next, Shiny Object Syndrome kicks in and I start a new project. i do this a lot. Sometimes I try and write myself out of the dilemma - I write multiple routes and reject all of them. I wish my gut was noisier, if you know what I mean? Not in an indigestion, windy kind of way but in a yelling in my ear, oi, you, choose a route and get on with it, kind of way! I saw some advice from the sci-fi author Dean Wesley Smith who when asked how he decided which route to take, said choose one, write it and then when you have finished that book, start another book and use the other route. That is my latest approach - just pick the one that I like and go with it rather than agonising over which one gives perfect story structure.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@splufford Ohh I really like that advice! And it made me think you know, one route might not necessarily be better for a book, just different. Which (to me, at least) makes it seem a lot less stressful.

[@splufford]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Yes, exactly! Thanks for your help and your videos. I am binge watching :-)

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@splufford Anytime, and thank YOU! :)

[@scientificsolution3045]

Thanks

[@dableaper]

this was FANTASTIC advice! My first novel is still shelved because it was so bad. LOL But my current debut novel is currently being polished and I have learned so much more after writing and correcting my novel than any video or writing advice I've ever watched/read.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks so much, Bridget! That's awesome!

[@annmanzo]

Great advice. My first book sucked but could have been helped with more editing. I, now, free write then plan to spend more time on the editing. But seeing all the video's of what not to do then you go back and read a great writer and they break all the rules. it's confusing. So again, great advice. In my writing group we all wrote a short story on the same subject, each story was different when we read them aloud.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks, Amy! I love that as a group activity - I used to do something similar in my workshops. Another one that's kind of similar is a round robin, where everyone starts a story, then passes it to the person next to them to continue it, etc etc until everyone in the group has written a piece of every story. It was always fun to read them out loud!

[@annmanzo]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor That's interesting I'll bring it up at tonight's meeting, thanks.

[@ayukiholmes5514]

Again, awesome video~ and yeah, I'll do my best to not be perfectionistic when it comes to writing and just enjoying it instead 🙂 I tend to do that as a habit and as a result, never finish a draft because I hated the plot and where it was heading 🤣 Anyways, I'll try and balance between the two and see if I can continue and finish the draft in question and finishing a long forgotten draft that needs to be finished as wel XD

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks so much, Ayuki - and yes, push through that draft! Even if you don't end up liking the story, you still just learn so much about drafting by completing one that it can only help you on future books. :)

[@j.r.shepherd1860]

Great video! I did that in my first book. I wrote the draft and I'm still editing today. I mean do you ever really stop editing? I'll be following you! I look forward to learning more!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thank you so much!! And ha, I hear you...the editing never ends. Or at least, that's how it feels most of the time. ;)

[@j.r.shepherd1860]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor I've been at it for about a year. Someday I'll get it edited and hopefully published. Baby step!

[@XYouVandal]

is there any value to coming up with a throwaway novel idea and using that idea for your first novel, never expecting it to be any good, just so you can write it fast and get that first novel completed before moving on to the book you really want to write?

[@kanashiiookami6537]

Yes. To everything. ❤ Seeing that layers bit, though, made me realise that was essentially what happened with the first book of my series. I wrote that 181 page draft (naively thinking it was great) came back to it again and again (still thinking it was great) and edited the grammar and maybe tweaked some dialogue and added bits I forgot or some things that sounded better. Then the flash drive I had saved it on ate it and I had the minimally edited draft #? As the only transcribed bit on my computer. It took me a while to get the nerve to go back to it, but when I did it had been long enough that I felt removed from it enough to say "this sucks" because I realised it had no proper voice. Technically I still go back and tweak it, but it is immensely better than before. So, sort if the same (unknowingly) 3 step process, just spanned out over what seems like forever. 😅 One thing I would add to suggest to new writers, something of which I had to figure myself because books never touched on it, was chapters. When I wrote the very first (unfinished) story of mine I thought "oh, I'll just write and add chapters in later. I don't want anything to disrupt the flow of the story." But that is a significantly daunting way to write, and edit because of this almost literal feeling wall of text (I also hadn't bothered with line breaks, paragraphs, indents, or basically anything that's included touching the Enter key. So it was all the words you could fit on a page for every single page. Hence unfinished.) So if you're a plotter then tell yourself "this is what needs to happen in this chapter" and put the chapter heading after that, no ifs, ands, or buts even if you think "well I can just keep writing the next chapter without breaking it up...." Because it us daunting. (Speaking from having done that with a 40 some page first chapter that later became 80 with edits. It was way too daunting being faced with this wall if text.) But, if you're a pantser and outlining chapter by chapter will ruin your creativity, give yourself a set number of pages that sounds manageable. For me it's 15 because I know going a page or two over won't be that daunting. And it won't be as short as say, 6, which feels like a smack over the head when you hit it so quickly. This, the chapter breaks, is by far what helped me the most in writing the books I have. I don't know if it's old news, or unneeded by some, but if there's anyone out there like me that gets intimidated by page after page of uninterrupted story/thought, this will help. Anyway, thanks for another great video. Beginning author or not, this gives a kick up the backside that's needed to just write the story and leave fear at the door. ❤

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Oh wow, that's fascinating that you didn't think in chapters? Question, and I'm sorry if this sounds silly but - did you think in scenes? Because I totally get what you're saying about the wall of text (that would indeed be intimidating!) and I'm wondering if your story flowed like one continuous scene as well. I do get a lot of questions regarding scene/chapter length that I find hard to answer because there is no strict page or word count number, but there are definitely rules when it comes to what constitutes a scene and you've got me curious how you thought about scenes (or if you thought of them!) back then. That's a really great tip for beginners, K - thank you!!!

[@kanashiiookami6537]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor even now when I write I see things playing out like a movie, so I don't know if I technically think in scenes. I just know that I've learned there are reasons movies and TV shows cut to black (or some such) before a scene switch and that there is where scene and chapter breaks should go. (This is why Jeff Gerke's "can the camera see it" resonated so much with me and my style for explaining show vs tell.) The reason I didn't think of things going chapter by chapter is because I when I was writing I thought chapter breaks would literally break me from the story (I was wrong, though) because I had read (or attempted to read) a few books growing up where each chapter cut from one POV to the next in no fluid way. So we'd just get near the climax of a battle or fight or some such strongly engaging thing, then the chapter ends and we're in a different POV where everything is relaxed and slow, which inevitably makes me stop reading because I've lost the momentum that had me flipping pages like a mad person as if I was chasing the bad guy (or some such). This I didn't want for my books, so I thought chapters could be put in later when the story was done. Only the whole wall of text that looked like an unending stream if thought and dialogue made me give up in the detail re-orienting read through I needed to do to get back in the swing of things. (Hence chapter making things easier) This is when i discovered writing craft books, and i read (or tried to read, when it came to the more dustily written ones by authors who seem to think the classics are the only way to go) just about every book on the craft I could get my hands on. But not once have I ever seen mention of chapter breaks and how/where to put them. That's why I figured mentioning it here might help someone down the road, because even setting a manageable size like "I can write 15 pages before I *have* to put a chapter break" really does make writing a book so much easier. At least in my opinion. (I heard years ago if an author that wrote mysteries by writing up a random bunch if scenes/chapters before puzzling them together in some semblance if a book. Not sure if she was any good, I just knew that this was before I started writing properly and I remembered thinking along the lines of the fact that I knew I had to write a story how I would read one, no ifs, ands, or buts.) I don't know if that cleared things up, or made them muddier, but I hope you can find your answer somewhere in my jumble of thoughts. 😅

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

​@@kanashiiookami6537 Oh interesting! It's so great that you learned this just through reading fiction and observing what you liked and what you didn't. With those books that ended chapters mid-action and switched POVs, I wonder if the author was going for a cliffhanger kind of thing? If so, apparently it didn't work (at least, on you!) 😅 Wow, I've never heard of anyone writing a mystery that way. I might be wrong about this, but I do recall reading that the author of The Night Circus wrote most of it as loosely connected short stories, then reworked them into a novel. I always thought that would be a fun way to approach a book, if it worked for the premise.

[@kanashiiookami6537]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor yeah, I'm assuming it was cliffhangers, but very poorly done (for me at least.) Because rather than jumping from action into calm it makes sense (to me) to jump from action into more action, albeit likely not as intense, but still something to grip the reader. Because (yet again for me) reading an intense scene and getting chucked head first into some cosy spot is a bit jarring and it makes me hate having to slog through it just to get back to the other POV, which makes me either want to put down the book or skip ahead, and I *hate* the idea of skipping ahead because I like order with things and I like to follow said order. (Insofar as reading a story, or writing in the order one would read it. Order of strictly following a plot/outline is not me.😅) That all being said, I have tried to research who it was that wrote with the random writing style, and I think, if I understood correctly, that it's P.D James. I've had to skip about in old interviews here on KZbin and I found a couple, one from 1983 (if I'm not mistaken) that's a 13:55 video where somewhere around the 10 minute mark she makes a reference to writing things out of order depending on what she wants to write that day. (Apparently plots everything out, but if she feels like doing dialogue one day, that's what she does. If she wants to write action then that's her day, and so on and so forth.) Hers is an intriguing writing style, but the fact that I discover things about the plot and characters by writing as I'd read makes it that even if I ever wanted to I could never set out to write a book that way, because I think her style feels like you could never stray from your outline. (But that just may be my interpretation) Anyway, I hope your writing week goes well. Stay safe, and thank you for all your help. ❤

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@kanashiiookami6537 Oh wow - thank you so much for the link! I'm going to check that out. What an interesting approach. I'm not sure I could do it either, but it does sound like fun!

[@amysirawskyofficial]

Writing advice is for your second draft.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Truth!!

[@caitshea2U]

lol I had my character wake up from a nightmare in Chapter 1 😅 my readers didn’t complain either lol

[@SaiiiiiiSaiiiii]

"You can use it to procrastinate-" OH NOOOOO-

[@libraryofadventures7800]

This video is so helpful! Thank you! P/s: Can you be my writing mentor😁

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

You're welcome! :D And haha, of course - just leave a comment with a question or topic, and I'll add it to my list of future episodes!

[@libraryofadventures7800]

Michelle Schusterman how do you deal with burnout?

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

@@libraryofadventures7800 That's a topic that has been on my list for awhile - I really need to get to it!!