Oh my god I am So Tired of writers telling other writers to avoid using the passive voice and adverbs. And to write more like Hemingway. And a number of other things.
NO!!!!!
Do not listen. You write the way you want to write. There are no rules to writing. And those that do exist can be broken and bent if you know what you’re doing. There is no recipe for good writing, there is no sure-fire way to write a hit.
Embrace those adverbs.
Love that passive voice.
Fall for those long sentences and complex constructions.
You do you. You’re doing great. Your own way.
Okay BUT.
‘Breaking the rules’ in a way that avoids common pitfalls and doesn’t make your writing something that’s a slog to wade through demands skill and a lot of experience. A writer needs to really understand the rules in order to break them effectively and a lot of fanfic writers, me included, are nowhere near that point yet.
I mean, this is why a jazz musician can improvise and ‘break rules’ and it sounds wonderful, while someone who’s a lot less accomplished might try it and sounds like unpleasant noise.
So take advice like Stephen King’s while you’re learning and then later, one you’ve got the confidence and skill to do things like use the passive voice while avoiding the pitfalls that often accompany it, go ahead and chuck those rules out! Take off the training wheels and go wild.
This is very true, yes. I just don’t like absolutes. “DO NOT USE X/Y/Z” is not good writing advice.
What you just said is. There are tons of common pitfalls in writing, including the abuse of passive voice and adverbs, that can be easily avoided by saying things other way. But that doesn’t mean that the passive voice and adverbs should be avoided at all costs!!!!!!!! like most people make it seem.
As a translator, the first thing they told us was exactly this. “Avoid using the passive voice.” “Don’t use adverbs.” “Gerunds are your worst enemy.” Two years later, my teachers are all “Remember that thing they taught you? Yeah, forget it right now.” And that kind of stuff is difficult to unlearn. VERY difficult to unlearn. I think it’s a healthier approach to just say “look, using these constructions when you’re starting out could be tricky, so you’ll probably be better off trying this OTHER thing first, and THEN you can try those out when you’re more comfortable in your writing,” you know?
Yeah, that’s much better. People DO get the idea that adverbs are never to be touched when that’s not the case at all. I might frame future posts like the Stephen King one with that sort of disclaimer. Otherwise we’re always defaulting to some piece of advice that must be obeyed instead of learning to trust our own skill and experience.
Honestly I’d reckon that getting a solid grounding in grammar and then just reading way too many books is way more useful than any do/do not list for writing. Learn how words work, and learn what you like. And how to do research, because the only thing I’m less of a fan of than the Stephen King Advice is that old nonsense about writing what you know.
But then I’m also the sort of person who responds to *any* kind of do/do not “advice” with a bristled spine and a “well fuck you too!” lmao.
Yes!! Exactly. Look, when I was in second year, our (admittedly very shitty) English Literature teacher told us that people didn’t and shouldn’t write in the second person. That it’s too difficult. That it doesn’t look good. And so forth.
I am a very petty person and I was incredibly affronted and insulted by this, so I literally went out and wrote an entire fic in second person. And it’s awesome. My personal “fuck you” to my English Lit teacher, even if he will never read it.
I feel that so hard, omg. Congrats. xD
‘Too difficult’ pffffft please.
Published
Overdressed & Underappreciated 