Friday, February 9, 2018

The Second-Worst Writing Advice Ever

Without a doubt the worst writing-related advice I've ever heard was from Guy Kawasaki, who said you should spend $15,000-$20,000 on marketing your book.  That is simply put the most asinine thing I've ever heard in regards to writing.  Well here's the new second place entry from Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn:
Writer’s block does not exist. Some people expect to feel good while they write, and this is an unreasonable expectation for a writer (or any type of professional). Just write.
Um, really?  That's not what writer's block is, moron.  Writer's block is not being able to think of something to write.  In bad movies it's often represented by someone sitting down to write at a typewriter or laptop and staring at a blank page/screen.  That's fucking writer's block, moron.  It has nothing to do with "feeling good."

I'm not someone who gets writer's block a lot.  Usually I like to call what I get "writer's malaise" where I'm just not interested in writing anything.  It's not necessarily because the actual act of writing doesn't feel good.  It's more that existential question, "What's the point of writing?"  A lot of stories now the point is money, so hooray!

But sometimes I get actual "writer's block" where I can't think of how to end a story.  Or maybe how to begin it.  Again, nothing to do with whether it feels good to write or not.  And the advice to "just write" doesn't help much in that case.  Sure if you're staring at a blank page it might help to just write something, anything, to get yourself started.  Hell, do a Finding Forrester and start typing something already written until you feel a new idea coming. 

But if my character is captured and surrounded by sharks with lasers on their heads and I can't figure out how to set him free, "just write" isn't all that helpful.  And again, it's not about writing feeling good or bad; it's about trying to find the story's path.

Of course this dude is somewhat famous so people will hail it as gospel.  SMH.

3 comments:

Cindy said...

I guess if you don't care about a story that makes sense you can just write...something. lol

Joanne Noragon said...

Mark Twain advised taking a difficult character out back and pushing him down the well.

Nigel G Mitchell said...

So true. I read that quite and while I think the sentiment is true that the only way to get out of writers block is to write, it's not about whether writing is fun or not.

Guy Kawasaki is definitely the worst I've ever heard. Anyone who's not already making a lot of money for their books and isn't independently wealthy would be crazy to spend that much on marketing.

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