Like most people, I regularly check out relevant content (blogs, social media, YouTube videos) related to my work and hobbies. In this article, I’ll be talking about the craft of writing, but it applies to anything I do. This means the algorithm has learned what my interests are and keeps recommending videos (or subreddits, or whatever) about writing.
At first, this seemed useful. Some of those videos are awesome. They distill very useful tips and tricks, or truths about the industry, in a clear and easy to follow manner. Even if I’ve heard it all before, a reminder is always nice. A new example for when something does or doesn’t work is nice.
Over time, however, I’ve come to realize that the way these pieces of “writing advice” are structured and handled is … well, poisonous. It’s not actually a good influence. The advantages don’t outweigh the disadvantages.
What do I mean by that?
Well, just going off my current front page, these are some of the video titles.
- 5 things that will RUIN any novel.
- How to ACTUALLY write a scene for amateur writers.
- Terrible amateur writing mistakes you must FIX NOW.
- 99% of authors RUIN their first page. Let met rescue you.
- Don’t make this mistake or your script is already DEAD.
- Why you will NEVER finish your novel.
- STOP writing characters like THIS.
- The BEST writing process from a FULL-TIME AUTHOR. ( = Somebody who has published a single book and has given no stats or proof on how successful that even was :p)
It’s so incredibly negative. It constantly screams to all writers that they’re bad and doing it wrong, but watching this one sponsored video will magically heal whatever ails them. It tells everyone their stories are terrible, their novels ruined, their scripts having 0 chance unless they do as this random internet stranger says.
I especially hate it when they include all the clickbaity stats pulled out of their ass, about “99% do this wrong” or “go from 10 sales to 10k sales with this one trick”. Or, this one really gets me, people claiming they have “15+ years of experience writing” … because they’re 24 years old and simply wrote some words every now and then in high school :p
It’s exceedingly rare to actually find someone who has solid proof and examples to back up constructive, practical advice. Most of the videos will basically lean into core human insecurities or silly mistakes beginners make, and pretend this makes you a horrible writer or ruins your career—but you must really buy their ebook with their writing tips to fix this!
The same is true on other platforms. The major writing subreddits are flooded with people telling others they hate something and that it’s incredibly unprofessional or whatever. It’s gotten so far that many of the posts are just insecure writers asking if anything they’re doing is “okay” or “not garbage” or “even worth continuing trying to be a writer”.
Stop that!
If you’re doing any writing at all, you’re already doing great. If you keep doing it, you’ll automatically get better as you go, discovering more of the “rules” and when you can break them. You’ll also learn that everyone has wildly different opinions on stories and what’s good writing. And that these are often informed merely by what makes them the most money or gives them the most views.
I’ve simply stopped visiting any of these places or watching any of these videos. There are some gems on there, sure. But it’s not worth being told how terrible you are and that nobody will ever buy your novel, over and over, by someone who has no claim to fame themselves and maybe even repeats things that are flat-out paradoxical.
As stated, the same is true for other (creative) pursuits, such as game development and music. From that same frontpage:
- “Your game is embarrassing, change it.” (Embarrassing is such a particular word to use here. How can a game even be embarrassing?)
- “You’re wasting your time on GAME DEV nonsense.”
The internet is flooded with people giving “advice” that comes down to telling you that you suck, and your work sucks, and you’re making all these mistakes, and you should either do as they say or give up. Mostly provided by people who decided to go the “teaching” route because actually executing the skill wasn’t working for them.
There’s this joke in the Netherlands that all teachers of the Dutch language (in high schools) are just failed writers. They tried one book, it wasn’t a slam-dunk success, so they called it quits :p
That’s not to say that teaching and doing are the same thing. There are many great teachers who were never amazing at doing the skill, and vice versa. In general, however, I feel Einstein’s saying holds true: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Stop that!
No, you don’t need to tell people their work is amazing or that they don’t make mistakes. Those are simply lies, especially when talking to a true beginner in any craft. The whole idea of providing practical advice and examples to learn from is because people know they can still learn.
When I made my first game, I kept switching up what the X-axis and the Y-axis were. Which one was horizontal again? Which one vertical!? I could get stuck on an error for 4 hours, only to realize there was no error and I was just looking in the wrong place.
When I wrote my first book, my sentences were so long and illogical that my family—whom I’d asked to read it and give feedback—couldn’t get past the first page. The first book I published (in Dutch) had terrible whitespace margins and a typo on the second page. I just never spotted it, because I didn’t know the exact grammar rule and was busy trying to understand how the hell you structure a story in the first place.
We all make mistakes. We all start from zero. The entire starting point of asking questions, giving advice, helping others is by stating what they might be doing wrong and what they might try to improve. I’d rather someone tells me how to fix a mistake that would ruin my novel, than hear nothing and publish a terrible story as a result.
My problem lies with the discourse around it. With the language used and the general approach taken by almost everyone. The need to present everything as if you’re a failure and they are the great being with all the answers and the ultimate truth.
Is it so hard to simply say “Here are 5 tips that might help your current novel” instead of “Fix these 5 mistakes or your novel will FAIL!!!”?
Is it so hard to just leave out the nonsense marketing or buzzwords if you have nothing to back them up? Just don’t say you have 15+ years experience. Or honestly say that you’ve written a single book and what you’re about to explain are simply the lessons you took from that.
Is it so hard to just say “here’s what I think and why I didn’t like your novel”, instead of presenting random rules you made up as truths to which every “professional book” should adhere?
I have a browser extension that picks a random thumbnail for YouTube videos and turns titles completely lowercase (and without emojis). I’d recommend everyone to use it, because it’s a world of difference. It showed me that those tricks are used because they work. I was more likely to click on these clickbaity videos telling me I would die if I didn’t follow that advice. Removing that trigger changed me. Suddenly, I only clicked on videos that were actually constructive and that I thought were valuable, and usually I was right.
I’d recommend everyone to use something like that. If you really can’t fully stop seeking out advice or discourse about your craft, at least guard yourself against all the bullshit that poisons your mind-set. Especially beginners do stand to benefit from solid advice videos, which can help you work on weak areas right now instead of only finding out about them after writing your first 3 books.
So no, I don’t want people to stop “helping” others or seeking help, of course not. I want the method of doing so to be less terrible for everyone’s mental. To be less commercialized and clickbaity.
Some people claim that our capitalist (digital) world is great because it requires you to find something others “need” and provide it, or you don’t make money. And they’re right: capitalism is why I can buy food around the corner for relatively little money, or buy any book with ease, because people saw a need and decided to fill it and profit from it.
Unfortunately, we’ve moved far past what people truly need and filling that gap in return for a reasonable monetary reward. Instead, people resort to tricks like this and endless poisoning to convince people they need what they offer. If that video hadn’t told you that your first page SUCKED, would you have ever thought you needed to fix your first page? And, to do so, that you needed their ebook or their writing course? Probably not.
Artifical needs are created, digging into insecurities or core human emotions, to drive up selfish gain. That’s it. Those who resort to such practices do not truly want to help you be a better writer. Of course not! If you were good and confident, you’d stop watching their videos! And I think it’s worth realizing that and not letting it ruin you.
Until all that changes, I’ve basically stopped looking at any videos or engaging in any online discussion about the craft. I’ll just be writing and finishing stories as best as I can, without people telling me I will die a terrible death if I use a specific adverb they dislike.
You can guard yourself against bad influences. You can have a strong mental and let the negative energy or bullshit wash over you. It is still better (and less tiring) to just remove the constant noise entirely from your environment.
Those were my thoughts for today. I wrote this article after opening YouTube to relax at the end of a long workday … and ending up anything but relaxed :p
Keep writing and learning, keep helping each other without clickbaity tricks or selfish gain,
Tiamo Pastoor