🖊️ I'm a Weirdo, What the Hell am I Doing Here?
I have led a local writing discussion group and critique circle since... oh... time immemorial. I give a lot of good advice, apparently. Good enough that more than one person has asked if I have ever written or would ever consider writing a craft book.
I have always shied away from the idea. On the one hand, I have a lot of breadth of knowledge, but not necessarily enough to deep-dive on any one topic, and craft books tend to be deep dives. Nobody wants to buy Save The Cat Gives Broad Uncontextualized Writing Advice. And also, my advice is... unconventional. It works for me, sure, but most people would not find it practical.
To wit, whenever someone complains that it's hard to come up with a good title for their story, I suggest that they come up with a good title first and then write a story that fits it, rather than the other way around. And they generally look at me like I have two heads. Even when I assure them that this is, in fact, how I write, most people aren't willing to give this a try. And there's probably not much market for a craft book called Writing Advice That You Won't Use.
The thing is... even if people don't find my advice practicable, when I explain the reasoning, they usually find something there. In short, while 90% of what I suggest you won't use, it will all give you something to think about. And that's, honestly, not a terrible hook to hang a craft book on.
So for my 2024 blog series, I'll be doling out weird writing advice that I will eventually compile into a craft book called Weird Writing Advice. Should be fun.
Happy New Year!
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