Hello, my friends and the occasional relative!

As regular readers may know, I have begun to learn more about some formal aspects of storytelling. I’m doing this to sharpen my understanding of what I do and why in writing novels, and to improve my presentation on the page. A bit late after completing 3 books for publication, and say 5 to 6 first drafts of novels overall, but better late than never.

I have of course studied aspects of this before, bought books, followed rules, skimmed other sections, but there has always been more left unexplored, and even that explored has not been done with enough thorough intention, to pay attention and properly absorb information to be used or synthesized into my existing understanding of what it is to be a storyteller.

A funny thing happens when you start looking for information on writing. The attack of listicles, of headlines filled with fear, of advice telling writers to do this one weird trick. That book by Stephen King.

It is a blizzard. So many 1, rarely 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, rarely 8, 9 and of course 10 things to do, or to avoid doing in order to get published/be successful. Maybe I should start doing articles and videos advising 2 and 8 items, that is clearly the gap in the market right there.

Fear can dominate: you’ll fail if you don’t do XYZ, don’t do this as a fantasy author, do this to avoid being labeled a beginner, or worse, an amateur.

So many channels all offering variations on the same advice. Scratch the surface and many are cribbing chapters from the same books, just putting their own spin on them. If the books are referenced clearly that is great, I can use the videos as an introduction and go get the books myself. I have a list to buy and read. A TBR, if you will.

In seeing this avalanche of advice a pressure gets generated, an insane pressure from all these voices and headlines telling you to do thousands of these things (cumulatively) and avoid hundreds or thousands of other things in order to grasp the ring of success, by whatever metric you measure that, and of course there are social media channels defining that for you too.

It is potentially maddening. There is no way to follow all the pieces of advice and write anything, let alone a novel. Confused paralysis beckons. At best you’d make a soulless Frankenstein of a piece that follows all the rules and misses the point.

Of course many will advise further to not consider the advice as prescriptive, that you should pick and choose what works for you – but if you are a newbie, how are you going to know that yet? It is tough, and I feel for folk starting out on their writing journeys: all I would advise (irony alert) is to look for a foundational text or theory to start with, and build from there, and try to avoid getting lost in detailed tweaks and tips for writing (including genre advice) until you have the most basic elements down, and know more precisely what it is you are looking for more specific advice on.

I don’t know if there is a truth to be found in the maelstrom of voices begging for your attention online, other than a more or less thinly disguised “buy my product, whatever it may be” beneath the advice. Which is fair enough, everyone has to promote their work.

Buy my product(s).

I try not to offer advice in my blog (I know, previous irony alert squared), just describe my journey along the long road of this writing life. I am manifestly not an expert, cannot point to a track record of massive success. I’m just another voice in the maelstrom.

All I can do is wish you luck on your journey, and that I do, unreservedly.

Until next week, my friends. Now I’m going to use this one weird trick to end a sentence, known as a full stop.