The Only Writing Advice that Actually Matters

[@johnnytownsend4204]

One writer I knew insisted that if you didn't write at least 2000 words a day, you weren't "serious." "It's a job. And you don't go to work only when you want to. You do it every day." Well, I don't work 7 days a week. In fact, I only work four days a week at my "real" job. And I've written dozens of books without writing 2000 words a day. I love your advice to find what works for you. And to evaluate feedback with both acceptance and skepticism. Some readers give great advice, some give mediocre advice, some give both. But even the mediocre advice, if we examine it, can make us reevaluate what we've written and see if there are any ways to improve it, if evaluating that advice helps us come up with something the reader didn't tell us and that we didn't think of earlier.

[@larssjostrom6565]

I once read a writing advice on romantic storyarcs that the characters should push each other to overcome their fatal flaws. It was so difficult to write that I said alone in my appartment: "It would be simpler if humans had mating seasons." Later thanks to reading texts by psychologists, I now write according to the principle that the lovers shall have qualities each other want. To accept influence is a part of a relationship, but being pushed into change is not a relationship in itself.

[@Jane_Harlie]

I like to think of my romantic characters as having qualities that the other doesn't just want, but needs, in order to overcome their fatal flaws. They aren't necessarily pushing each other, rather they are gently guiding eachother towards a change that needs to happen.

[@larssjostrom6565]

@@Jane_Harlie I disagree but I understand.

[@Tishisaurus]

"I wish humans just had mating seasons" - the catalyst of 1000 werewolf/shifter romance novels...

[@larssjostrom6565]

@@Tishisaurus Haha, but how to feel when the shifter is out of the mating season and the human want more? Which relationship therapist can help them with that?

[@wespenre3418]

Thank you! I think many writers will be relieved to hear you say this. Bad advice, put forward as the uttermost advice, makes writers doubt themselves because it does not resonate with their genuine way of expressing their art. Thus, this video was indeed necessary. If I ever scratch my head, being stuck in my writing, I go to your channel (I advise people to subscribe to her newsletters and pay the low fee like I did. What you get in return is very helpful). Thank you, Alyssa. You're a gem!

[@AlyssaMatesic]

That's exactly right. No need to create more confusion and doubt in what is already a sensitive, vulnerable, and wholly individual process! And thanks so much for your support - it means a lot!

[@InvestigatingDavidCrowley]

Excellent advice! This year I've approached my writing in a much different way. I now read/listen to anywhere from 15-20 books a month, and I've taken the step to hire an Editorial Assessment Editor (BEST choice ever!). My book is now very different from where it started. Yet, due to all of the outside influences, my story has become so much more than I had dreamed in the beginning. THANK YOU, Alyssa, for everything you do to help those striving to become the best writers we can be.

[@madeleinemilligan8155]

This is so true! I completely changed my writing routine beginning Nov/Dec 2023 and everything transformed for me by just finding my own routine in the last year. All the pieces of advice you mentioned are some of the best things out there. I've read what's recent, what I hate, and what I love, and all of those books have helped me find my way more. Using my English composition peer response group for fiction feedback has been very enlightening to me, too - they even opened my eyes to the notion that I might actually be good at romance writing (something I never imagined was possible)! And even before all that, writing consistently has really shown me how important it is to just keep working. I've learned so much about my strengths and weaknesses through writing flash fiction, short stories, and starting a couple more novels. While I still have a long way to go, I understand my writing and storytelling style well enough that I know where to push myself and where I'm doing well. It's at least easier to know what to focus on in revision. On the subject of books recently read, I thoroughly enjoyed Roshani Chokshi's The Last Tale of the Flower Bride last month. The combination of lush prose with gripping pacing (on top of alternating POVs) made it such a transformational work for me and pushed my ideas of what was possible within a Gothic storytelling context. It's one of those stories that hasn't left my mind since I finished reading it!

[@ShadowSolaris]

Not a book but a great story to enjoy right now is Arcane, with its last season just out. While the series show incredibly beautiful visual and has incredible characters and moving scenes (every episode is a work of art), the last season has pacing issues and inconsistencies that I (ironically) learned from as a writer. Still worth watching though!

[@sarahhodge5738]

The number of times I've seen authors on Threads try to argue against "read in your genre" is astounding! It's always the "I don't have time" excuse. I think it was Stephen King who said that if you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write. (It might not have been King. I'm 70% sure it was.) That's a writing rule that I live by. I just finished Hannah Whitten's Hemlock Queen last night, and I am adding it to my comp titles. I loved it. Enough that I'm reading her For the Wolf/For the Throne duology now.

[@MrSarajevofresh]

The best tips for someone who wants to become a great writer are: 1. Seek advice from experts in the field, who are (surprise) great writers. Read great books by great authors. We live in a time of exponential oversaturation. Life is too short to read average books by average authors 2. Be original. This world doesn't need another copy in a row 3. Write what you know. And even if you write fantasy, there is a way to wrap the mundane story you know in the shell of fantasy. So, live, gain new experiences, "steal" human destinies, historical events, absorb cultures and traditions, environments, feelings. Make stories more compelling

[@walteroakley9115]

Another good source is watching some of the special features/Writer's commentary on DVD's/BluRays. They can explain why they made a plot choice or why they used a specific character. Furthermore, they can usually explain things that you may not have picked up. My writing started becoming very multi-layered when I did this. Also don't stick to one format. If you write novels... yes read novels... but you are 100% right... look to WELL WRITTEN movies and tv shows. Even graphic novels and comics, not everything translate over... but it can give you some different ideas for plot devices and storytelling.

[@Tishisaurus]

I used to love commentaries! I miss them so much! Damn, I didn't realise streaming had taken that away, now I regret not owning a disc reading device...

[@apersonlikeanyother6895]

Good advice. A few thoughts. 1. I get best inspired by art in Different genres like painting or dance or music. 2. Most of the worst media I have consumed is BECAUSE of bad writing advice. Write what you know. ( The worst advice ever) Nothing worse than a novel about tennis by a tennis player. Overuse of Story structure. Rising action, heros journey, all the other garbage, finally prescription, never use adverbs or the word very etc. id rather read the clumsy honest writing of an amateur than someone following a formula. 3. Writing with a Market in mind. just do drop shipping instead.

[@TheEccentricRaven]

Great insight, Alyssa. I agree with all three. I read both my favorite genres and genres I don't normally check out as a way to learn from both. I recently read Stephen King's 11/22/63, my first time reading a King book. I loved how well he builds up tension. He does a good job with Show, Don’t Tell. I thought the middle was a mess. I enjoyed the story while learning what I could do and what I would prefer to avoid.

[@leaanngallardo2439]

Thank you, Alyssa. Your advice condensed it all down to the three most important elements of becoming a better writer. I am currently reading Winston Churchill's autobiography, My Early Years. Man, what a great a writer he was! And what an artist with taking the passive voice and making it a vibrant and effective storytelling style! That's what I'm learning from reading his own writing.

[@anthonyphan702]

One somewhat common bit of writing advice I come across is to avoid editing as you go. I have written four novels averaging 90k words each, all within a period of a few months using this method; HOWEVER, the amount of major revisions required as I reread them critically is too much for me to want to bother with. Consequently, I may not ever release them. My current WIP is going painstakingly slowly (I consider it a good week if I get a chapter done), but I have found that I think much more clearly knowing that everything behind is pretty much 90% locked in. I have also found that editing multiple times en route helps me to figure out my characters a lot better, and they are speaking more uniquely on the page. My WIP is in the paranormal thriller genre. I'm currently reading a lot of old Latin and German texts (Old Testament, Seneca, Virgil) and nonfiction like Malcolm Gladwell, Carl Jung, and Josh Weltman. I like the poetry and logic of the Latin in German, particularly because three of my main characters-subarctic wolves-speak like Chaucer or Goethe. A TV series that I have been drawing a lot of inspiration from is SONS OF ANARCHY, partly due to its accessible Hamlet themes and grittiness, but also because I didn't like how it lost sight of a lot of its dark humor and twisted lightness. My WIP has the potential to get too heady and grim.

[@62202ify]

I get a lot of resistance from those who should be supportive, they say "You need a college degree", "You have no background, no experience, no references", "You're a dreamer". Sounds to me like maybe they're afraid of me being successful, because they want to keep me where I am,for their own needs. For me writing and being published is my tunnel to escape from a prison....hmm, a slave escaping a prison....🤔

[@ericericson4]

You are a dreamer. You should do well.....

[@pyzziie6712]

I'm writing my first novel in English and it's not even my native language. Like you I got 0 background in writing.we can both do it 💪🏾

[@chrismcmurry8508]

A degree to write fiction? That's probably more of a hindrance than a help. They have no idea what they're talking about.

[@skichalk]

Mark Twain had a fifth grade education.

[@donnaotoole2673]

Same. People who should support, sabatoge instead.

[@tearstoneactual9773]

So I am reading Book 2 of the X-wing Series "Wedge's Gamble" - This particular book involves a lot of spy craft and covert operations as the Rogues work to help with the upcoming task of routing the Empire from Coruscant. In reading it, I have come to realize how similarly I write to Michael Stackpole (the guy who started the X-wing series) and how much he's influenced my desire to be a writer. I love the moving parts he's setting up, the different characters, conflicts, and foreshadowing. I've also been watching "The Shield" series again. It's raw and edgy, sometimes stressful. Rife with conflict as Vic Mackey and the rest of the Farmgington District precinct deal with each other, their problems, and of course dealing with the public. I can't exactly put my finger on what draws me in so much, other than the writing is so good with so many hooks and the actors are so good and believable.

[@ZachScottB]

Thank you! I just finished a series that sent my head spinning! I was not expecting and thoroughly shocked that this series, hit all the story genre beats and different notes like engaging characters, unexpected foreshadowing, rising stakes, ect... The gross content of Dexter, should have led to a story that I would of, and have until recently, shunned. These books by Jeff Lindsay have me hooked.

[@rowan7929]

It was a bumpy ride for me since I started to write back in 2018. Completely green with no understanding whatsoever while fighting my dyslexia. During that time, I got from good advises to bad ones to really confusing ones. One saying you can't use contractions or minimize the amount of pronounce in a sentence. While I kept reading in every book the exact opposite and editors adding even more pronounce in a sentence to make it more coherent. I know I've improved a lot. Far from great but so much better than when I started. Now that I found trustworthy people, such as yourself, who finally guided me in the right direction, writing has become a joy again and not a struggle.

[@Aurum137]

So true!

[@joshuamctaggart6732]

Thank you! Perfect!!

[@AlecMcDowellX5494]

Everyone should write according to their own circadian rhythms. How we burn fuel and how we maintain our biological homeostasis, while keeping ourselves at a cognitive equallibrium is the real challenge. Hormonal and emotional balance are necessary to have, when writing a book. Maybe it's just me but there is a phenomenology to writing a book.💯

[@JP-zl7mt]

Thank you, Alyssa. AI said my writing is closest to THE BURNING WIRE by Jeffery Denver. So I'm reading it for the first time and finding similarities. When his agent opens his door again my foot will be in it. James Petrie

[@PsychOnlineAldrian]

Reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and re-reading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. Both have books with "immortal" protagonists and I'm researching for my own novel in progress. Happy writing, everyone!

[@keithmazikowski4507]

Thank you for your actionable advice. Finished reading The Terminal List by Jack Carr. Loved the pacing in his novel. Currently reading Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton. Wow what exceptional prose. Awesome descriptive writing. Cheers.

[@daisyjoan5608]

Great advice as always! Currently reading "Remarkably Bright Creatures" by Shelby Van Pelt. Also just finished up the third season of From on MGM + Two totally different genres but I have highly enjoyed both! Also, still working on my fourth draft of Mercy Song, my 70k + word WIP. I'll be Writing is hard work!!

[@twinklebspraypaintart5475]

I am currently reading the stardust thief and enjoying it very much. I really like the jinn character named Kadir

[@astevenswrites]

Personally, I'm soaking up a LOT of good storytelling concepts from the show Arcane. I just recently re-watched season one and then, of course, season two, and there is SO much one can learn from how to do good character development, pacing, emotional connection, plot mirroring, and so much more.

[@Milton2k]

Watching "From" and "Silo" these days, pretty good. Recommended.

[@KatieMaddalena]

Whenever I see comments like, "Reading will make your story the same as all the others," in my experience, these people are just looking for excuses not to read. They aren't interested in writing as an art. They just don't have the skills to tell their story in any other medium. Writing is not unskilled, by the way. Which is why you usually don't see these people finishing theirs, either.

[@The_Novu]

The only way you find your process is by working. This isn't surgery where getting "creative" is highly inadvisable. Sitting on Reddit all day asking the same questions won't beat picking up a difficult book from a master and reading it and using what you learned.

[@melissaulrich6511]

I've been wondering, when authors write their first drafts of a sequel belonging to a series that's been acquired by a publisher, how bad is that first draft allowed to be? Not only when it comes to grammar but the sentence structure, repetition of words (like "walk", "laugh", "smile", etc.), the plot itself (if the ideas fit the story well)...

[@Milton2k]

Sometimes I watch horrible flicks as a masterclass on "How not to do it".

[@elinevedder2768]

Hi Alyssa, Thank you for your videos, as always. I'm currently reading BOY PARTS by Eliza Clark. There are similarities with the novel I'm currently working on. It's motivating. I know that what I'm envisioning (the themes and the topics), can be sold; people are reading it. At the same time, some elements in BOY PARTS are great for that book, but won't work for me. That too, is valuable knowledge.

[@melvindodson6827]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@larrybird4398]

❤

[@tadeoherrera7882]

👍🏻

[@dianehuffman3676]

Can you talk about speculative fiction? I'm unsure what exactly this encompasses.

[@annworthington7253]

I write YA and am current reading The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera. I’m intrigued by the story and the stakes are very high, but the author jumping from first person POV for the 2 main characters to 3rd person omniscient for dozens of other characters, really bugs me. I wish the entire book was written in 1st person for only the 2 MCs. I think it would be more emotionally charged if the reader had only 2 POVs.

[@ericericson4]

Yes, the problem is that we are all different and what works for one, may not (probably will not) work for everyone. Stop trying to stuff us into your box.

[@Anand-e4r]

Hlo dear from india 😊😊

[@sersnuggles7697]

I hate Tolkien and kinda like George RR. I like dark introspective and mind challenging narratives that rewards people with a subtext intuition

[@Venzynt]

How many people talking about writing online actually write? 🤔