My husband is a computer whiz. He does something so complicated at work that I don’t even understand it enough to explain it.
I’m pretty good on computers. I’m much better than many people, but I know only a tiny fraction of what my husband knows.
But I can open up a computer control panel and make changes. I pull up the run box and type commands and paths in. I know different things to type in at a C prompt. I can get into a system folder.
Basically, I know enough to completely destroy a computer…unintentionally.
I’ve always believed is that knowledge is power. So I read a lot online—different writing links, mainly.
But I’m good at writing, unlike computers. And I’m practiced at writing—I’ve been doing it for a while now. I take snippets of different writing approaches from one post and tips from another and I mull over my plot and run little experiments.
On Twitter, I tweet the posts I find interesting. I don’t add any opinions on the tweet, I just summarize the post and put the truncated link on there.
I’m not endorsing the approach in the link. In my mind, I’m saying, “Here it is. See what you think. Maybe it will help you.” If I see something I think is absolutely wrongheaded (pointing writers to a scam, or giving incorrect industry advice, etc.), I’d never tweet it.
I got a direct message on Twitter yesterday from a publisher regarding one of the tweets I’d sent.
She was concerned (and she was very polite in her exchange with me) that one of the articles I’d linked to could be troublesome.
The article covered book openings and gave tips for hooking readers (or agents and editors) in the first paragraph.
The publisher implied that a little knowledge was a dangerous thing. That there are writers who are not experienced and will take the advice too literally—and too far. They’ll take the tips one by one and stick them in their WIP until it’s a gimmicky mess. They’ll diligently follow a checklist…and it won’t work.
I did see her point. I’m sure she gets an incredible number of bad manuscripts dumped on her desk and probably a fair amount of it results from formulaic writing.
But—there has to be a mistake-making period for writers to learn. There has to be a period of time where we read up on techniques…and fail miserably while using them. There needs to be a learning curve.
I think the important thing is recognizing when we’re not ready to submit yet.
The dangers of a little knowledge:
Not adapting the advice to fit your writing style or WIP
Being too formulaic in our approach
Information overload (which sometimes results in paralysis)
Overconfidence
The dangers of too little knowledge:
Lack of growth.
Longer period of time to improve our writing (we’d be improving it on practice alone.)
Fewer ideas on handling problem areas of manuscripts
I still believe that the more we know, the better we get. But the publisher was right to inject a note of caution—take writing advice with a grain of salt. Adapt the ideas, don’t just follow them like a checklist. Trust our gut, practice, and know when we’re not ready to submit our work.
One day I might be a computer whiz, too. I’ll just have to mess up a whole lot of computers to get there.
Knowledge helps you be the best you can be. I think they call it education.
I don’t agree with the publisher. I think it helps to read or hear helpful tips. Yes it may not suit every publisher or agent (the tips that are used in the writing that is submitted), but writers have to learn somewhere. Trial and error helps too.
I’ve been called at work a time or two by my daughter needing technology advice. :) It does run in the fam.
Elizabeth – That’s a very important thing to remember – a little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing. I come originally from the world of academia, where a little knnowledge can be worse than none at all. There are more cases than you’d imagine of people writing articles and doing research before they’ve learned enough to do it.
On the other hand, writing fiction is an act of creativity and personal investment as much as it is anything else. So I agree with you that it’s important to have faith in oneself, too, and think about the advice one gets, rather than take it blindly, so to speak. The writer knows, better than anyone else, what message s/he wants to send, and what story s/he wants to tell. In an odd way, it’s a lot like raising a child. Parents know their children. Taking others’ advice about them can be very useful, but in the end, parents have to trust themselves.
Great post! I agree that a little knowledge can, at times, cause some problems. Once I gave a writer advice to add more dialog. He added more quotations marks to his manuscript.
If we’re in the business of helping others become better writers, it behooves us to do as good a job of explaining our advice as possible. The writer, however, has a bit of an obligation to investigate and expand on that advice in order to use it correctly.
Nice blog… I’ll be back.
Interesting post, Elizabeth. Helpful. Bottom line: Every person’s writing (and publishing) journey is different. There are those who come to my workshops who are so extremely eager to be published that they will not slow down and learn lessons of creating compelling stories and characters. Then there are those who are much better than they think they are. Sometimes I want to tell all of them: You’ll know when you are ready when you are ready.
As the saying goes, you have to learn how to fall before you learn to fly. So much advice these days seems to be about not falling, that I do worry about people never learning to fly.
And worse, they start passing on that “don’t try this difficult thing” sort of advice to each other as though it’s a rule.
This is great! I’ve discovered in love that for a lot of things, the more I know, the less I realize I know. And when I think I know everything, there’s a whole lot I have no clue about. :0)
I’m so NOT a computer whiz. I tell my husband it’s “job security” when he has to come figure out why my mouse all of a sudden won’t work. He frequently says I’ve messed something up by clicking on something, but most of those “mistakes” are buried so deep that I’d never have been down that many layers into a program to screw it up accidentally.
Learning the rules, then learning when they can be bent, and how to use them to make a story more compelling are part of the learning process. Writing isn’t easy. If it was, everyone could do it.
You provide a truly valuable service to your followers, Elizabeth. I read widely about writing, too. Your links make it so much easier.
And you are so right–you gotta make lots of messes on your way to finding your unique voice. Bad advice comes from a lot of different place. Writers need to understand the choices, and then discover what works best for them, for their work, “discover” being the key word.
Keep up the great work!
You are so right that a little knowledge is dangerous! Writers with only a little experience or authors with just one book pumping out advice can hurt far more than help.
My husband is the computer guru in our house, and that’s okay. If neither of us ever masters the computer completely, I think we’ll still be okay!
It all comes down to one size does not fit all. I think the more experience we have, the more we learn what works for us and what doesn’t. Each of us must trust ourselves enough to develop our own voice – not echo someone else’s.
Teresa–It definitely is a trail and error process. I think that it just shouldn’t be played out on the publisher’s desk. I guess we all need to know when something just isn’t READY. And frequently we all get so excited and eager about our projects that we can get shortsighted about their readiness.
But we NEED to educate ourselves. We NEED to write poorly and then get better. There is definitely a process of trial and error there.
Margot–Oh, VERY good comparison there. It’s a LOT like raising a child. I remember reading all the parenting magazines and trying to follow their tips for bedtimes, etc. But my children were individuals…just like our WIPs are.
Lou–Thanks for coming by! You’ve put it well–the writer has a responsibility, too. He can’t just blindly follow advice without thinking it through and seeing if it’s something that will even work for his WIP.
Janet–Thanks!:) And I couldn’t agree more–it’s all about the discovery, through trial and error.
Diane–It’s true. And not all advice is good advice…or it’s not good for all WIPs or writers.
At least we have 24 hour tech support, right? :)
Very interesting, Elizabeth. I see both sides of this issue. I think the key is how we use the little bit of knowledge we acquire, and perhaps that is what the publisher was concerned about. We have to know ourselves well enough to know whether we know enough.
Karen
I like reading advice and new ideas. They often cause me to think and try a different approach. But you do have to know that no one thing is the absolute way to do something. If it were that easy, you could take a best-selling book and make it your own by changing the subject matter and names and submitting it.
Helen
Straight From Hel
I think what happens with writers reading tips, especially new, eager writers, is that in their eagerness the ability to discern what might be a hard and fast rule from a suggestion is lost. And I do agree with the publisher that these tips for writers should be taken as tips and not a rule to be adhered to at all costs.
And like you, Elizabeth, I have to leave the computer science to the computer scientists in my family. When I call my son he automatically asks, “What did you do now, Mom?”
I don’t tweet much but I do post links I find interesting.
You said, “The article covered book openings and gave tips for hooking readers (or agents and editors) in the first paragraph.” This advice is commonly found in books that have been published on writing and placed in libraries. (Of course, I haven’t read the article.)
I think that with all the writing books out there all giving personal viewpoints, a writers reading an article on the web won’t make them a good or bad writer. As a writer grows, he or she will come to know what works for them.
Interesting post. ann
I think you make an excellent point, Elizabeth. I enjoy reading advice on blogs. I know some of the things I read won’t work for my style and method of writing, but I still like to learn how other writers go through the process.
Elizabeth – You have a very distinguised-looking husband. Is he a chemist?
Great post! When people ask me for advice on starting their novel I tell them “The butt goes in the chair and the words go on the page. The chair is optional.” Because any writing advice really needs to boil down to that and everything else is opinion.
Conversely, I admit that a deep cynical part of me whispers that people who think that good writing can be achieved by checklist are best kept out of the writing game anyway.
One only needs to survey the recent Guardian article to see that Glen is right. There’s no one path from idea to story. I’m talking about the one where they asked every author they could get ahold of for *their* lists to see that no two are really alike, but all boil down to “Sit down and write.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one
Anyway, I’m going to link to this post. Well said indeed! Thank you.
I joined the blog-o-sphere to learn from other writers and share information about our craft. I think it’s great you’re posting links that help writers work on honing skills they’ll need for years to come. Thanks for posting about this!
Well said about the too little and too much info thingy. I used to be able to key DOS commands but my ability has atrophied ever since I got so dependent on Windows. I too can blow up a computer in one easy sitting, lol.
Marvin D Wilson
Helen–Well put! Yes, we’ just take the latest bestseller and plug in different names and settings and then *we’d* have a bestseller, too! If only it were that easy.
Glen–In my experience, I come across more writers who worry and worry over their WIPs and edit and draft and re-draft and *never* feel ready to submit. But I think that’s because the writers I know are the ones who spend a lot of time researching writing online! You’re right that there really are 2 groups out there.
The Daring Novelist–Right…the “don’t try this at home” warning. I think our writing needs to be a laboratory for experiments. The more the better! We just don’t need to submit until we know we’ve got something really good.
Kristen–Me too! The more I know, the more I realize I don’t know!
Ann–The article was pretty standard–in fact, it referenced a published book that, as you mentioned, is likely in many libraries. The article itself definitely wasn’t dangerous–but the writers who might treat it as a checklist to publication could have adapted it to their writing in a dangerous way.
Jane–That’s me, too. I want to see if I can get ideas–on technique, approaches to writing problems, fitting writing into a crazy day, etc. It really can help, if we can adapt the advice to fit our needs.
Terry–And if someone *does* think that a checklist, one size fits all approach works, then they’ll get nothing but disappointment and rejections until they look deeper and try a little harder. You’re right–it’s NOT easy.
Scott–You’re so right…there are so many different approaches and that Guardian article illuminated that fact well. I think if we can find parts of others’ approaches that work–or carefully craft our own individual approach–then we can really make headway.
B.–Thanks! I hope it’s useful. I figure that everyone can take what they find helpful and just ignore the rest! :)
Elspeth–And the trust might just come with practice.
Marvin–Well, there’s still all kinds of messing around we can do with Windows–lots of messing UP, too! I know all about that.
Karen–I think you’re right. And that’s a delicate balance there, too. Some of us are such perfectionists that we may NEVER think our work is ready to submit. And then some might get so excited over their idea that they rush it out. It’s tricky.
You know you’re famous and influential when…a publisher is following YOU on Twitter, actually reading what you tweet, AND, corresponding with you about it! Great job, Elizabeth. May I have a job in your entourage…nothing too complicated, mind you. Carrying your bags is probably within my skill set. (Big Grin.)
Seriously, I think your tweets are always high quality and always worth the read. Thanks.
Galen.
I know next to nothing and I’m not afraid to admit it!
I’ve always been told – you learn the rules so you know how to break them. :) I find it applies to many things in life!
PS – do you still have that link? I’d love to read it to see what I could be doing wrong, right. :D
I SO JUST DID THAT to my computer—I followed the suggestions for getting rid of a virus (successfullu! Yay!) but now can’t open anything but the internet *snort* Need to find the advice to undo my fixing.
I think that publisher maybe hasn’t watched enough people long enough to get the learning curve. There are people who will start freeform *raises hand* and then add in some rules. And there are people who will start with the rules (those she fears, I think) and learn to add in the creativity, but in the end, we all need to grasp ALL of it before we are ready.
Kristen Nelson, a while ago, was asked about queriers and she said ‘overall, people start querying far before they are ready, but I now believe that is part of the learning curve-they need to do that.’ (or something like that. I think it’s true. It all helps with our process.
Maryann–That’s a good way of putting it. I think you’re right that as you go along, you can tell what’s adaptable and what’s not. There aren’t too many hard and fast rules even out there.
Let’s vow to stop fixing our own computers! :)
Alex–The way the ‘rules’ go, we’ll learn them and they’ll change, anyway!
Alan–Yes, he IS, isn’t he? I married a much older man, as you can tell… :)
Andy–So true!
Yes, here’s the link: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/hooking-your-reader-part-1/
Hart–Good luck with the computer! I’d offer to help you, but…well..
And Kristen Nelson is so right. It’s all part of the learning process.
I think it’s great you put links out there, that’s what I look for in Twitter.
I think it comes down to reading and filing the information and deciding if it is right for you.
As a mom, a teacher and a writer, I firmly believe in the power of knowledge. I answer pretty much any and all questions from my kids at school. Sometimes I’ll have to explain to them why I can’t/won’t answer their questions, but that doesn’t happen often. I love learning new stuff!
Slavishly following writing rules can get you into trouble, but it is all part of the learning process. I know whenever I learn a new word I use it to death until I fully understand it and can incorporate it more normally into my life and writing. I also pay attention to a new writing rule until I understand it, at which point I start doing my own thing. I learned this lesson long ago in Writing 101: when I followed what the teacher was saying, I got C’s, but when I started ignoring the rules (where I felt they needed to be ignored) it was all A’s.
Great post, Elizabeth. I think every writer is going to follow their own path and that path will evolve overtime.
Carolyn–Thanks. :) That’s why I’m on Twitter, too.
Galen–Yes, you *may* carry my plastic grocery store bags for me. :) They seem to be my current overnight bags of choice!
Yeah, actually, I wasn’t aware of any publishers following me until the tweet. Agents and editors, yes. I’m wary of upsetting publishers! This one was a children’s book/YA publisher, but I don’t need any black marks from *any* publishers. :)
I like knowing as much as I can and figuring out what will work best for me. Guidelines, sure, but better than totally winging it. And we all mess up until we learn. My two cents anyway.
The only way to grow is to practice and get educated. The only way to learn is to try, fail or fumble, and try again. Celebrate the journey.
No matter how much you know about writing fiction, there is nothing like the real thing, sending off a manuscript for the first time. Very few people achieve success immediately, and when we don´t, we should never blame anyone else because their well-meant advice did not work for us. Along with all the theoretical knowledge about the writing process, it is crucial to try it yourself and find your own voice.
I really enjoy your use of analogy. You take something seemingly unrelated from your life and manage to tie it to some topic about writing. In this case, your learning curve with computers with your stance on studying writing tips.
I agree. The more I study writing tips, the better I get. I’ve learned enough now from reading AND writing to have a better idea when someone’s writing tip may help or hinder my style. And even when I think it will hinder, there still might be something useful about it for some future section or paragraph or even for a fellow writer.
If I had tried to learn writing entirely on my own, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I’m at now. Sometimes those writing tips explain something that I’d only half understood, making a light bulb go off in my head. But without the attempt at writing beforehand, the tip would have been worthless.
Jemi–I wish I could spend some time in your classroom! You sound like a wonderful teacher.
Lorel–I think that’s a really interesting idea! Maybe even the teacher was giving you a C because you weren’t adapting the technique exactly as she’d envisioned it. But when you struck out on your own path, she rewarded your individuality and creativity?
Paul–And it takes a while. I’d like to think my writing *voice* won’t change over the years, but I have a feeling my style will.
Mary–I love the idea of celebrating the journey…even the stumbles!
Carol–I feel better knowing as much as I can about ANYTHING. Then I can feel comfortable doing my own thing after that.
Jaleh–Thanks so much! And I know just what you mean. Sometimes I won’t completely understand a particular writing concept. I’ll mess around with it a little on paper (usually with mixed results.) If I can *read* about it, it goes so much better. I love that light bulb moment! :)
Dorte–You’re absolutely right. I think most of us just post what’s worked for us. It won’t work for everyone…and we shouldn’t hold the one who posted the info responsible.