I’ve been writing for a while. I’m currently writing my seventy-second (72) novel. I have some opinions about writing, the process and the craft.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that there’s very little advice about writing that works for every writer. You really, REALLY need to listen to what your own writer brain tells you, and follow the craft as your soul dictates.

Honestly, the only thing you need to do as a writer is to write. You may need to take breaks. We all do. But write. And keep writing after every break.

 So here are the top three pieces of advice that I either consider flat out bad, or that doesn’t work for every writer, plus some modifications to that advice to make it better.

You must write every day.

For some writers, this is great advice. For me, forcing myself to write every day, even when I didn’t feel like it, was deadly. It made me resent writing, instead of it being my happy place where I get to play.

I know some six figure authors who binge write. They’ll spend a few weeks banging out their next novel. Then they’ll be totally focused on publishing and marketing for a few weeks (or months). Then they’ll focus back on the writing.

Maybe that’s a process that works for you, focusing on each part individually for a while. Maybe you need to treat your writing more like work, and do Monday through Friday, but not writing on the weekends. Or perhaps you have a day job and other obligations, and can only write on the weekends.

Or maybe you do need to write every day.

All I’m saying is that you need to take your process into account, and see what works for you.

You Must Finish Everything You Write.

I’m like 99% in agreement with this, particularly if you’re a more experienced writer. 

However.

As a beginning writer, you may start a lot of pieces that you don’t finish, as you find your way into the craft. Eventually, you do have to finish what you start. But if you’re just starting out, don’t be too hard on yourself if you turn away from some of the harder stories. Your writer brain may intuitively recognize that you aren’t good enough yet to write the story how you want to write it.

You will get to a point where you will finish everything you start. For me, that may or may not involve writing every word of a story. I may just summarize the end, so that I get the story out of my head and I no longer have to think about it.

There are only a couple of novels that I’ve started and never finished. May go back to those someday. May not.

So in general, I agree with this. With exceptions.

Writing Is Rewriting.

Honestly, I used to believe this. That everything I wrote had to be rewritten. This was horrible advice for me, particularly because I hated the rewriting and editing bits. Ugh.

(I eventually learned that because I’m such an intuitive writer, I have no idea how I created the book in the first place. It just kind of flowed out of me, ya know? So any editing or rewriting was terrifying. As I didn’t know how I’d created the book, I didn’t know where any issues were or how to possibly fix them. These days, I’ve learned to focus on a single aspect when going through a novel, such as voice or character, and then I can do a very light editing pass. I have to rely on others to tell me what I’ve done wrong.)

So I taught myself over a couple of years’ time to write a clean first draft. This process wasn’t obvious or intuitive. It required work on my part. But I’m a much happier, and more productive writer, as a result.

I am not going to go to the other extreme and tell you that you should never rewrite, either.

This is a question of process, honestly.

Some writers won’t write a word if it has to be “perfect.” They need that messy first draft to get all their words in order. They are the ones who actually like editing and rewriting. (Weirdos.)

I don’t rewrite. Not really.

I do what I call, “cycling.” I start each day going through what I wrote the day before, cleaning up as necessary. That’s a trap for some writers, as they get stuck going over and over what they’ve already written. I don’t get stuck, not sure how to get writers unstuck, as it were.

So am I rewriting as I’m writing? It’s a squishy thing. Maybe a little? It doesn’t feel like it. I’m honestly looking at word and sentence things, occasionally at emotional things.

When I run into a scene that needs some setup from a previous scene, I go to the previous scene and add the thing. (If I need to. What I frequently find is that writer brain has already added the thing, and I just didn’t remember that it was already there.)

Bonus content:

Outlining Ruins Your Work/You Must Outline Everything

First of all, instead of referring to the two as either “Pantser” or “Planner,” I use the terms “Gardener” or “Architect.” An architect may only do a back of the napkin sketch, or full blueprints marking every outlet. A gardener walks into the backyard and throws seeds up into the air, then chases after the ones that hit the ground blooming.

Neither is right. Neither is wrong.

There are writers on the extremes of each. I generally use some combination of both, depending on the project.

And that is what writers need to learn: each project is different.

You have come up with a process that works for you for writing your novels?

Great.

Get back to me after your tenth or fifteenth novel. Is your process the same? For the vast majority of writers, it won’t be. What worked earlier no longer does. Plus, you’ll have new techniques.

I think this is a good thing. This means you’re growing as an artist.

So don’t worry about labels or if you’re doing it wrong.

Enjoy your art. And other people will too.