writing 4 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: WRITING ADVICE TO MAKE YOU A BETTER WRITER

Rebutting My Harsh Writing Advice

I am rebutting some of my own harsh writing advice! All advice has nuance, and mine is no exception. I'm delving into the other side of some of my harshest points!

by Alexa Donne

First drafts suck. → The point of this advice is so that you stop freaking out about perfection and writing a perfect book in a single draft and just write the dang book, but not all first drafts suck. Not all first books suck. I do firmly believe that all first books have problems; every book needs to be edited, but there are definitely people who write a first book, and it's pretty solid. There is less work to be done on it. It is totally possible to have your first ever novel published. Now, it's not published in its first draft state, and that's where the kernel of truth lies in the harsh writing advice.

No one cares as much as you do. → This changes. The point of giving this harsh advice to newer writers is that in the beginning, you will find that you care more than anyone else, and if you're waiting for external validation, you might not ever get it, and you don't want that to hold you back from your writing journey, your writing process, and making progress. But what's nice is as you continue to write and you draft more books, you work, you connect with critique partners that you really click with, you get an agent, and you sell a book, you suddenly aren't the only person who cares the most or there are other people around you who care as much as you do, and those relationships are so valuable.

Writer's block doesn't exist. → So controversial. I said this one in the harsh writing advice for newbie writers because I think it is valuable for newer writers to hear. If you think of writer's block as this magical concept that exists, you will let it hold you back. The point of saying writer's block isn't real is to point out there are real concrete things you can do to make yourself write, to form a writing habit, rituals that you can do that click your creative brain to focus, or just honestly, if you want to be a professional writer, you do have to learn to write even when you don't want to. But, are there times where you are just burned out, and you can't write when it's just not happening, and maybe you need to take a break? Yes, of course, that is real. Those blocks are certainly real, but the point is that you can't let that hold you back, and it can't be, "Oh, I have writer's block, so I can't accomplish any work for six months." That just doesn't work. You can have temporary moments where you need a refresher and where you need to refill your well. Mental health and writer's block are not the same things.

Sometimes you're not good enough for traditional publishing.→ Sometimes it's not you. Sometimes it is the market. Sometimes it is timing. Sometimes it is luck. Sometimes it's not as cut and dry as good or bad.

You have the time to write. → Sometimes, for periods of time, you literally don't have the time. You are going to have priorities in your life that are more important than writing.

Nothing is original. → It's all about execution and making an idea and tropes and so on your own. You can write something that is just too much of a retread, that really is too similar to a ton of things that are already out there or really famous things that are already out there. Some high concept ideas are so specific to super famous things that you just can't touch it. I still think you shouldn't worry too much about how original your idea is because worrying about that is what holds you back from writing your first book and from writing at all. There is value in every single book that you write. It teaches you something, and it pushes you along further.

How you debut matters. → I still think it's worth taking great care into thinking about how your first book is published. Your first book is under the name that you want to build a professional career under, but you can technically overcome a poor debut. You just have to be careful about it.