Writing Advice:
April Fools Edition
Sage writing advice here 😉
1) If you're majoring in English or creative writing, change your major, now.
April fools! Major in what you love. You might be doing it for the rest of your life. People believe those degrees don't equate success because they can't see the big picture or they are way too focused on money rather than a driving passion and happiness.
2) You should put [cliche from a successful novel in similar genre] in the book because people love it!
April fools! Cliches get overused which is part of the very definition of the word. Just because 50 Shades did it, does not mean we all want to write a similar romance, and authors want to be unique, not copycats.
3) You should write [genre far removed from yours] because I like it and so do a lot of people.
April fools! Write what YOU want. Sorry I'm not sorry, but there's no way I'm going to write thrillers when I have a passion for writing YA romances. Authors write what they love and what they excel at.
4) You can't write from more than one point-of-view, because you're only one person.
April fools! It's called imagination and skill. An author must project out of their own mind to become someone else momentarily--kind of like acting, no? Authors do it well all the time throughout history. Third person full omniscience actually takes on everyone's mind. It is possible to play God.
5) You should take out ALL the adverbs from your manuscript.
April fools! All because the master Stephen King said they were bad, people with poor but kind intentions tell authors to remove them all. They take his message way too far. No, just, no. Learn the difference between good and bad adverbs and take out the "baddies" King was talking about.
6) Stop writing, this is awful, don't quit your day job, or any variation of.
April fools! Keep writing people! Writing is subjective, there is no right and wrong (except grammar, maybe), so when someone gives you a negative opinion, it's just that. An opinion. For them to do so without proper constructive criticism of how to help you improve, well, they're just an [enter your favorite expletive]. Get rid of them--from your life, not literally.
What would you add to the list? Please comment below!