#ignore proscriptivists

Hi anon!

I've never really looked for writing advice (I actually avoid a lot of 'how to write' books and similar and prefer to get my advice from artists and screenwriters etc.)

I'd say probably the most useful advice for me so far has been something along the lines of: 'Any writer that gives advice that starts with 'all writers should/shouldn't' is saying something you can safely ignore if it doesn't apply to you or it doesn't feel right.' There are no universally applied rules. Adverbs aren't always bad. Past tense isn't always evil. And no, you don't have to keep a daily wordcount (and for some people it's only unhealthy to even try).

The other piece advice that's been useful to me, which isn't writing advice but advice to anyone who wants to do a creative pursuit, is that it's generally foolish to wait for inspiration to strike. Waiting for inspiration before creating is the hobbyist's indulgence (and a nice one, there's nothing wrong with doing something purely for fun and fun only), but if you're doing it as a job, discipline is an important skill to cultivate, and discipline + inspiration don't always go hand in hand. (I.e. sometimes you'll be writing when you really don't want to, don't feel it, and aren't 'immersed' in it. That's normal).

There are writers who can do a writing job and feel inspired every day and this doesn't apply to them. But for me personally, I had to learn discipline.

But honestly the first piece of advice matters most to me, because a lot of proscriptive writer's rules don't specifically apply to what I'm doing (for example, scriptwriting television drama structure rules apply far more accurately to my serials than novel writing structures, so looking for writing advice from novelists is going to fall down for a lot of serial stuff, and vice versa). I became a better writer when I threw out a lot of what I learned at university (I did creative writing there), and when I stopped reading books on 'how to write' and threw Stephen King's writing book into the bin. (It was ableist as fuck - most writing advice isn't designed for disabled people dealing with fatigue or pain issues and it shows.)

So basically my favourite piece of advice is 'if someone gives you a rule like it applies to all writers, just remember they're only writing what works for them, and if you're not them, it's fine to ignore it.'

OH WAIT, I forgot my favourite piece of advice ever (I don't have a favourite anything anon, sorry you're finding this out the hard way, my neurodivergence simply doesn't allow for it):

You need to write some shit if you want the flowers to grow.

I.e. You have to write some bad stuff, some objectively terrible shit, because every garden needs fertiliser and you know what fertiliser is? It's generally just poop, manure, shit, it stinks, it doesn't seem like it's going to create anything! But, hands down, that is how you get the best garden.

You want beautiful mesmerising coordinated garden-level immersive writing where people go (metaphorically) 'wow, what an amazing garden holy shit I could never'?

Get ready to write some shit first, lol. And a lot of it. And because gardens need repeat applications, it never ends asdlkfjsafdsa I have so much affection for this advice, because it recontextualises all of my creative pursuits. It's the same with art, with comics, with playing piano, with doing cross-stitch. You want to do it well? Get ready to put some shit on that garden bed lol. And if you stop because you don't like the feel of shit on your fingers, look at other people's (metaphorical) gardens and remind yourself that they needed to a lot of shit to get there too.

It's crude, but it cuts through so much of the jargon and gets down to the truth of the matter: You can't get good at something unless you're prepared to put in the time to be bad at it first. (Or, philosophically, even the bad stuff is crucial, and therefore great, because it is essential to your growth and your process).