I was listening to a Sisters in Crime podcast the other day and it got me thinking about the best and the worst advice I'd ever received as a writer. What struck me at the time was the answer for the worst advice given to the featured guest writer. The interview was with Katherine Hall Page, and she said that it wasn't exactly advice that was given to her, but more like a catch-all phrase that she felt was terrible advice:
Write what you know.
It may be good advice in general, but her thought is that it's much more interesting to write what you don't know. I agree. As a writer of mysteries, I've never committed a murder, yet I write about them in all my books. I certainly didn't know how to do that before writing about it. And even now, I wouldn't be good at it in real life because it's something I really don't know about. I've also never been involved in a kidnapping, but I wrote about a judge being kidnapped in one of the short stories included in my book, The Razzman Chronicles.
Of course, that doesn't mean that including scenes from cities I've lived in or places I'm familiar with is a bad idea. Using those places in my stories enhance the enjoyment for myself and the reader because it's what I know. So, in some cases writing what you know, does actually work for me as a mystery writer.
As for good advice I've received, here are a few of my favorites that I've actually taken:
Join a writing community.
This can be in the form of a local critique group with some of your peers, an organization be it local or national, or one of several social media outlets.
I am somewhat active on a couple of the social media sites - X(Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the four where I spend most of my social media time. I've met some incredibly talented writers on these sites who also just happen to be wonderful people. I'm a member of the Charlotte Writers Club where I live, and I recently joined the national Sisters in Crime organization as well as the local chapter, Queen City Suspects (yes, men are welcome to join). I also listen to and occasionally interact with writing/writers/readers podcasts. My two favorites are Meet the Author Podcast, hosted by Rob and Joan Carter and The Charlotte Readers Podcast, hosted by Landis Wade, Sarah Archer, and Hannah Larrew. I've been a guest on Rob and Joan's show a few times and I've had a couple of blogposts posted on The Charlotte Readers Podcast website as well as being asked by the hosts to record them for playback on their show.
Do the research.
This is an important piece of advice. My mystery series takes place in Charlotte, NC and just because I live here doesn't mean I'm familiar with everything in the city and surrounding areas. For example, in my novel, Dirty Air, I had to spend hours researching the world of NASCAR and illegal street racing. Did I use everything I learned in the book? Of course not, but it gave me a sense of security and confidence that I could write the story without worrying about whether I was authentically portraying the characters and scenes. Another example was a short story I wrote where several of the scenes take place in Jamaica. I've never been to Jamaica, so research was a crucial part of making sure the story rang true for those scenes.
Carve out a writing schedule and stick to it.
It took me a while to get this one to work for me and I kind of combined it with another piece of advice which is to grow your network to help expand your marketing. Admittedly, since I am now semi-retired this advice has been much easier to make work to my advantage. I work a couple days a week and then have seven or eight days off in a row. The days I'm working my part time job are full eight-hour days and unless I'm against a writing deadline, I don't write on those days. The days off are where my writing schedule is setup. On those days I primarily spend time working on my WIP, and advertising and marketing my work. That includes setting up ads on social media, visiting local bookstores, and networking to get my name and books out there through podcasts, book clubs, the libraries, and anything else that may pop up depending on the month and time of year. I get up early and write a full day on most days and reserve at least two of the days for the advertising and marketing stuff.
I haven't had any really bad advice. But one piece that's not necessarily bad advice that's been mentioned to me that I haven't taken has to do with my method of writing. The advice was to just get the words on the page and go back later to edit and rewrite. The idea behind that is to not break the flow of writing so you can get that first draft finished. A sense of accomplishment if you will. I admit I've completely ignored that piece of advice. I write around two-thousand words a day - more if I'm really on a roll. The next day, I go back and edit and rewrite what I wrote the day before. I've been told I'm wrong for doing it this way... but I've also been told that there's no one way to write. I choose to go with the latter.
If there's one thing I've learned through all of this, it's that you need to listen to all the advice. And once you've listened and digested all the advice, do what works best for you. And remember to never stop listening when other writers talk about what advice they've received and what works for them, because you just might learn something new that will work for you too.
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