actually not done i’m still annoyed and i have nothing better to do so i’m going to expand on this
in life, everyone and everything has something called: preferences
i’m putting the definition here because some people don’t seem to know what it fucking means ESPECIALLY not in relation to writing advice and i am specifically bringing it up because prose and writing style are the two most common PREFERENCES that i see masking as “writing advice” that make circulations around tumblr and the internet en masse. and people will pat themselves on the back; they think they’ve gone a good job educating young writers who look up to them for guidance when fundamentally those are the last two things that anyone should be giving any weigh in on.
i feel like every fucking day people forget that writing is more than just an assignment for school or a wheel for academic innovation—but a goddamn art form.
coming from an artist who draws as well as write, one of the worst things i ever did for my visual art was listen to people who tried to give me advice on how to find my style. people who said “you should do more of this” and “less of that” because “it looks like this and you want that” or “it won’t look like this which you don’t want” — my problem was letting other people and their PREFERENCES dictate my own art and what i liked to draw.
are you catching the fucking theme here
because i don’t know why people assume that writing isn’t the same way
eragon and percy jackson are books written in completely different ways, and there is a fan base for both, is there not? percy jackson thrives on snappy, first person, dramatic action and less dialogue tags and eragon succeeds in long winding slow worldbuilding interspersed with more flowery dialogue tags. still, lord of the rings has its dedicated fan base and the linguistic attention to detail is literally PRAISED by anyone who’s read it while others may call it “too much work” to convey “sometimes not much plot”.
different stories require different prose and voice. different prose and voice is GOOD.
starting your writing advice with “well i think that people should use less dialogue tags” or “well i think people should use more dialogue tags and flowers” is COMPLETELY irrelevant. why??? because it’s a fucking PREFERENCE!!!!! it pisses me off that this needs spelling out!!!!
advice should be malleable to the user and seek to give them the tools to advance their craft. your advice should never come from a place of what you think someone else should do because it’s not fucking helpful unless they specifically ask you specifically for your preference. when you give someone worldbuilding advice, do you say: “oh well i think setting your story in europe or some version thereof is bland and boring therefore you shouldn’t do it because it’ll make you a bad worldbuilder” ???? like you don’t!!!! you say “here’s some things to consider when making your world:” and you give broad statements that can be used by anyone!!!
style and prose is always going to vary from person to person and that’s GOOD. two people can write the exact same story beat for beat and have it be completely different by the style or prose that they use to convey that idea. that’s AMAZING. it’s amazing that we as humans can infer so much from shorter more direct prose and allow ourselves to fill in the blanks and it’s EQUALLY amazing that we have so many words, metaphors, similes and idioms to explain in great depth what actions are taking place and what characters are thinking and feeling. both are good!!! stop pitting two bad bitches against each other!!
that’s all i fucking have to say go out and read books, find shit you like to read and write the story you want to see. if anyone wants to give u prose advice kill them idk.
