Why not all writing tips work

When I started writing fiction, I bought Sarah Domet’s book, 90 days to your novel. I tried to follow her prescriptive advice but couldn’t make it work for me. I assumed that I was doing something wrong.

Now I understand that I can’t write the way Sarah writes, because I don’t think the same way she does. But that doesn’t mean I can’t write a book.

I encourage my students to keep learning by reading how-to books and blogs on writing, listening to podcasts, asking advice from others and attending workshops. But, I encourage them, like I'm encouraging you, to ask whether it works for you. If it does, great! If it doesn’t, try something else.

Let me show you why 90 days to your novel didn’t work for me.

Only recently have I worked out something about the way I think. I've always struggled with doing things quickly. In the past I thought the way I thought, and the way I did things was wrong, so I’d try doing things in a more linear and routine way. Sometimes I’d manage to be productive and other times not. Now I understand that my natural way of thinking and doing things is chaotic. And finally, I’m OK with that.

Have you ever thought about the way you think? Have you noticed that other people think differently to you? Does it take you longer to do some things than other people? There is no wrong way to think, there are just different ways. And that’s why you need to test whether someone else’s rules or suggestions are right for you.

Even though in the past, I and others have seen my non-linear way of thinking as a disadvantage, one former manager saw the positive in it.

Let me explain. When a former colleague and I were given similar tasks e.g. an annual update of a large number of documents, my colleague would churn through 10 or more in a day. I’d begin, but as I was working, I’d realise there were other documents or webpages that had been missed. I’d try to work on my allocated tasks but these missed items kept distracting me, making me less productive. Eventually I’d tell my manger about the missed ones and instead of being annoyed, he was pleased that I’d picked up the error. Years later I I understand that my way of thinking is not wrong, just different to my colleague’s, and that we both brought value to our team – she with her linear way of thinking and me with my non-linear (network-type) brain.

What I’m getting to, is that when you learn something new, like writing, be open to new ideas and ways of doing things, but ask yourself: does it work for me?

In my creative writing courses, I now include “Two writing rules”. Yep! This seems inconsistent with what I’ve just been writing about, but you’ll have wait till next time to find out what they are.

Till then, write well!