Tips for first-time writers have ranged from the practical to the sarcastic – with hours of fun for those following the hashtag on Twitter. If only some would heed the advice …
'Just write about vampires' ... Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Twilight
Ah, Twitter. With your endless links, distractions and feral gangs of impassioned pop fans (I'm still feeling the wrath of Michael Jackson fans after posting a joke about him a week or two ago), you are indeed the writer's worst enemy. Just occasionally, though, Twitter is good for something and the #badwritingtips hashtag that has been trending on and off for the past two days has produced a plethora of barbed nuggets by and for writers, professional and amateur alike. Agents, book cover designers and publishers chipped in too.
Many of the tweets were clearly born out of frustration at bad writing that succeeds, disdain for bad writing that fails and sarcasm towards trends in the publishing business as a whole. Others offered sage words on the process of getting published – or why many writers are likely to be rejected. "Industry professionals who decline to read your work are puppets of The System. Tell them so, from their back garden at 3am" wrote @JasonArnopp. Or, as @PhilipArdagh put it: "Agents love it if you include a photocopy of your bottom with your introductory letter. It shows you're KOOKY!"
Personally, I (@benmyers1) am not at all jealous of Stephenie Meyer's – or indeed Martin Amis's - success, which is why I suggested wannabe novelists should "Write about vampires, because it has never been done before and bloodsucking is a fresh, new metaphor for sexual penetration". Or simply: "Write a novel called 'Lionel Asbo'." And you suspect @EnoureUnReveur had Fifty Shades Of Grey in mind when she suggested "Write lots of fan fiction. Then change the names of your characters and sell it." Not bad advice – but then she is 16 and apparently already agented.
Full piece at The Guardian
Many of the tweets were clearly born out of frustration at bad writing that succeeds, disdain for bad writing that fails and sarcasm towards trends in the publishing business as a whole. Others offered sage words on the process of getting published – or why many writers are likely to be rejected. "Industry professionals who decline to read your work are puppets of The System. Tell them so, from their back garden at 3am" wrote @JasonArnopp. Or, as @PhilipArdagh put it: "Agents love it if you include a photocopy of your bottom with your introductory letter. It shows you're KOOKY!"
Personally, I (@benmyers1) am not at all jealous of Stephenie Meyer's – or indeed Martin Amis's - success, which is why I suggested wannabe novelists should "Write about vampires, because it has never been done before and bloodsucking is a fresh, new metaphor for sexual penetration". Or simply: "Write a novel called 'Lionel Asbo'." And you suspect @EnoureUnReveur had Fifty Shades Of Grey in mind when she suggested "Write lots of fan fiction. Then change the names of your characters and sell it." Not bad advice – but then she is 16 and apparently already agented.
Full piece at The Guardian