Johnny Compton
Read less writing advice; read more writing.
I've seen many questions online that could be answered by reading more of the types of books the aspiring author wishes to write. And much of the advice I've seen online, well-intentioned as it is, could be summarized as, "How to write just like me."
Even great pieces of advice by masters of the craft are reduced and filtered online into being useless at best, misleading at worst. For instance, Elmore Leonard's "rules" of writing, which is a fine article (of course, it's written by Elmore Leonard) full of nuance and counterpoints to his own recommendations, which is then robbed of the abundance of its substance in reductive, abbreviated lists, which then get regurgitated by people who never read the original article.
Even having said that, I think reading the books on Elmore Leonard's favorites list (available on his site) is better for the aspiring writer than just reading his article. I'd recommend that approach with anyone you're getting advice from. Instead of just reading what they say to do, read what they've read and enjoyed. Often times their favorite books flagrantly violate the suggestions that they're presenting as laws, and that's okay. You're not reading their books to say, "Gotcha! You said never do X, but your favorite book does X twice in Chapter One alone!"
You're reading the books to get better.
Read less writing advice; read more writing.
I've seen many questions online that could be answered by reading more of the types of books the aspiring author wishes to write. And much of the advice I've seen online, well-intentioned as it is, could be summarized as, "How to write just like me."
Even great pieces of advice by masters of the craft are reduced and filtered online into being useless at best, misleading at worst. For instance, Elmore Leonard's "rules" of writing, which is a fine article (of course, it's written by Elmore Leonard) full of nuance and counterpoints to his own recommendations, which is then robbed of the abundance of its substance in reductive, abbreviated lists, which then get regurgitated by people who never read the original article.
Even having said that, I think reading the books on Elmore Leonard's favorites list (available on his site) is better for the aspiring writer than just reading his article. I'd recommend that approach with anyone you're getting advice from. Instead of just reading what they say to do, read what they've read and enjoyed. Often times their favorite books flagrantly violate the suggestions that they're presenting as laws, and that's okay. You're not reading their books to say, "Gotcha! You said never do X, but your favorite book does X twice in Chapter One alone!"
You're reading the books to get better.
Read less writing advice; read more writing.
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