writing advice that actually made my writing worse
okay but can we talk about writing advice that actually made my writing worse for a second
like not in a âthis is bad advice for everyoneâ way in a âthis absolutely sabotaged me personallyâ way
because ??? some of this set me BACK
1. âshow donât tellâ (taken too literally) this one almost ruined my prose
i got so scared of âtellingâ anything that every sentence turned into⌠over-explained action
instead of writing:
she was nervous
iâd write:
her fingers tapped against the table, her leg bouncing, her breath uneven, her gaze flickering toward the door--
and it just KEPT GOING
like yes, showing is important but at some point youâre not âimmersiveâ youâre just exhausting
2. âcut all adverbsâ this made my writing feel so stiff it hurt
i started replacing simple phrasing with weird, clunky sentences just to avoid using one single â-lyâ word
like⌠why am i doing gymnastics to avoid âquietlyâ
no one is giving out medals for adverb avoidance đ
3. âwrite every day no matter whatâ this one burned me OUT
because instead of listening to my brain when it was fried, i forced myself to produce words i knew werenât going anywhere
and then iâd reread it later and hate everything i wrote
which made me want to avoid writing even more
consistency matters, yes but forcing it when youâre running on fumes just trains you to associate writing with dread
4. âplan everything before you startâ this killed my excitement SO fast
iâd spend weeks outlining every detail and by the time i actually started writingâŚ
the story already felt âdoneâ in my head
no curiosity left. no momentum.
now i leave gaps on purpose so i actually want to keep going
5. âmake your writing sound prettyâ this is the one that made my writing feel the most fake
i was so focused on making sentences sound âgoodâ that i stopped focusing on what was actually happening
everything turned vague. floaty. kind of⌠nothing
like yeah it sounded nice but nothing hit
now i care way more about clarity and impact than sounding impressive
6. âyour first draft should be terribleâ okay this one is half true but also messed with my head
because i took it as: âdonât even TRYâ
so iâd write things i knew werenât working and just leave them
instead of⌠fixing them a little? making them better?
your draft doesnât have to be perfect but it also doesnât have to be painful to read đ
idk i think the biggest thing iâve learned is:
advice isnât universal
what helps one writer can absolutely wreck another
so if something is making your writing worse, harder, or more miserable
you are allowed to drop it. immediately.
no guilt. no âbut everyone says this worksâ
like okay⌠it doesnât work for ME.
and thatâs enough.




















