Guest Post: The Three Pieces of Advice You Should Ignore

Today I’m visiting Clare Davidson, author of Trinity, on her blog for a special guest post called “Fight the Power: Writing Advice That Should Be Ignored.” Here’s a little snippet (for the rest of the post head on over to claredavidson.com).

Fight the Power: Writing Advice That Should be Ignored

If you’re a writer there are two things you are guaranteed to receive through the course of your career: rejection, and more writing advice than you can shake a stick at.

Now, rejection we can learn to handle. It stings, sure, but like a case of childhood chicken pox it only makes you stronger in the end (As well as itchy…but I digress). Writing advice, on the other hand, is an insidious little bugger that harms as often as it helps, paralyzes as much as it frees, itches as much as it…uh…makes things un-itch. (I don’t know, I’m a writer not a doctor).

You must remain ever-vigilant against these writing commandments, alert against the totalitarian writer’s cabal that says “Things should always be this way.”

In other words, fight the power.

Over the years I’ve heard some doozies, but here are the three worst pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received… [read the rest]