097: When Writing Advice Isn't Helpful

 

There's an insane amount of writing-related content on the internet--including blogs, YouTube videos, TikToks, etc. giving writing advice. It's fantastic that there's so much free advice available to us, but here are times when writing advice might not be what you need. 

- Click here for ways to work with me + a free character profile template: www.thekatiewolf.com/info

- The last Tuesday of the month is a Q&A episode! Submit your questions for me HERE.


- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katiewolfwrites

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiewolfwrites


 

When writing advice isn’t helpful

Hello, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here, appreciate you listening. And I hope you're doing well. This topic might seem like a little bit of an odd one for a podcast that gives a lot of writing advice or talking about when writing advice isn't helpful. And again, it might might seem odd, a lot of the episodes that I have are writing advice episodes.

 

And I want to give you a little bit of context for why we're talking about this and why I got to a place myself recently where I realized this was an important conversation to have. And then we'll talk about so we'll talk about my perspective on this as someone who creates writing content and episodes podcast episodes. But then we're also going to talk about you if you are someone who creates or who consumes writing content, like if you're on the other end of it, here's some things for you to consider. And keep in mind as you are taking in all of this information and all of this writing advice and when it actually may not be beneficial for you.

 

So recently, I got to a place with my social media content where I was feeling burned out. And like I wasn't living up to my creative potential. The way that I do content is Tik Tok is my main social media platform, where I create videos and post videos initially, and then I will often repurpose some of those videos to Instagram on reels and then just started repurposing to YouTube shorts as well. And sometimes I will take a topic or a video that I've made a shorter video on maybe, you know 62nd Tik Tok, or whatever and decide that it needs to be a longer conversation and then bring it to the podcast where we can really get into it. We can we have more time to dive into a subject. So that's kind of my strategy that I've been doing.

 

And it got to a point where I realized that about, I don't know what felt like 98% of my videos, were writing tips, that I had become an account that was purely educational. And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm happy to be a resource for people. That's how a lot of people found me. That's how I, you know, have built this business to the point where it is. It's how I've gotten clients. And I'm very grateful for that. And that's not going to stop. I'm not planning to stop sharing writing advice or tips. But when I started doing this years ago, a few years ago, now, I think I started my Tik Tok account in the summer of 2021, maybe. So I think it's been a little over two years.

 

When I started it, there was definitely a big writing niche like Writing Tok, Writer Tok was was big, but it hadn't exploded to the same level that the app is today. And I had a lot of fun creating educational videos and sort of carving out this niche for myself. And sharing the things that I learned both from my own experience, and from my experience working with clients. And now, over two years later, I have this massive content library. Like I have two years, over  two years, worth of videos related to writing advice and tips. I also have this podcast and we're getting close to 100 episodes on the podcast. And there's just so much information that I've created, like so many tips and tricks.

 

And it got to a point recently where I was like, okay, what next? Like I again, I'm not going to stop doing advice and tips but like what else do I want to talk about? Because content creation for me including this podcast, including Tik, Tok, Instagram, all of that, it is a creative outlet for me. And I enjoy expressing myself through content. A lot of it is intuitive. I mean, I have some strategy involved in what I post, but a lot of it is like gut instinct, like what do I feel compelled to talk about and I love that. I love that I get to show up and help people and talk about things that are important, that matter. But I wasn't really doing that, because I was so focused on the like three tips for this, how to do this when you're this -- which just felt again, a little bit creatively stifling.

 

So I have been, I pinned a video to my top to the top of my Tik Tok that you can check out if you want, where I share, like, hey, I'm not going to stop doing this type of content, but I'm just expanding what I'm talking about. I want to talk also about my own writing journey a bit more, I want to talk about being an entrepreneur and being a business owner, and ambition. And I want to talk about creating content and living a creative life. And I want to talk about myself and my life more this pregnancy that I'm getting to the end of how I'm going to be balancing writing and being an entrepreneur, and being creative with having a new baby. Like, those are all things that I want to just get into.

 

So yeah, that's, I guess, some background and some context and what really got me thinking about writing advice and tips, at least my role in the types of tips that I'm putting out into the world. So again, tips are not going anywhere, it's just I'm adding in other types of content that I think are going to be really helpful for people and and I hope interesting to watch. But even if not, even if it takes me a while to find my footing with this new type of content, like that's okay, I'm gonna figure it out as I go and view it as a creative challenge for myself. And I'm excited about it, I've had a lot of fun already just creating some different types of videos.

 

So okay, so that brings me to you on the other end of this, if you're listening to this, and you are someone who consumes content, you watch Tik Tok videos related to writing, maybe you're on writing YouTube, you read blogs, you read books, listen to podcasts, et cetera, times when I don't think writing tips or advice are helpful, are as follows: number one, when you're doing all of those things that I just mentioned, consuming all of the content across all these different platforms, and consuming a lot of it, but you are not taking action.

 

The purpose of writing advice is to give you the knowledge and give you the information so that you can implement it in your writing. Right? That is the ultimate goal. So if you find yourself in a position where you are just consuming video, after video, after video, maybe somewhat mindlessly, and feeling this urge, like you have to get more information before you can start writing, then watching another writing tip video is not going to be helpful for you. Because again, the goal is to get you to implement it in your writing practice, whatever the thing, whatever the tip is.

 

A lot of writers and I was this way -- a lot of writers that I know and work with are this way where they feel this urge at the beginning to to gather all of the data and information and the tips and the knowledge and the training first, before they ever start writing or outlining or brainstorming or anything. And I understand that impulse. And I think it's actually it's a good thing to have that impulse because training and knowledge and all those things. That's so important. And I did the same thing. I mean, that's why I dove headfirst into learning about writing. But it's only beneficial and helpful to you up to a certain point. Because if you are not implementing anything if you are not actually starting to write your book, and you keep pushing that off into the distance and saying well, no, I just have to watch like some more videos on this and really wrap my head around characters. Or like really understand how to write a good first chapter and have to watch more videos, take classes and consume Tik Tok videos about it and everything and you keep pushing off the actual writing part, then that writing advice is no longer helpful to you. Our brain can only hold so much. And it gets to a point where when you're just consuming video after video after video after video, it's going to go one in one ear and out the other.

 

It's not going to stick in your brain. Only you know where this point is only you know where this line is. So be intentional and be honest about if this is you if you're just consuming this massive amount of content, but then not actually doing anything with it. And, you know I mentioned earlier I have now over two years worth of Tik Toks built up in this massive writing tips kind of content library in addition to the podcasts and things I've shared on Instagram. And it's like there's a massive amount of information out there.

 

But writers are still struggling to write their books, writers are still struggling with things like motivation and accountability and knowing what to do and what not to do, despite all of this information out there, because simply consuming this information is not going to always make you take action. Sometimes it will, sometimes you'll get motivated and inspired. And, you know, please don't misunderstand me, I'm not knocking any of that, again, I have, I've spoken before about how I'm a huge fan of classes and trainings and gathering knowledge about writing learning from other people, that's huge. But you have to actually write, you have to actually start writing your book, okay. So just pay attention, you know, be mindful of where that line is, because at a certain point, it's going to tip the scales are going to tip and all of that writing advice is just going to be noise, and it's not going to be helpful.

 

Another time -- another point -- where writing advice can not be helpful is when it's coming from someone who... have to be careful how I say this -- and this is why I wanted to do a podcast episode and not a video about it -- taking writing advice from someone who maybe isn't the best person to be taking writing advice from. Now, I love when writers, they're not editors, they're not coaches, they don't work with other writers in any capacity. They're just writers themselves. I love it when they share about their process, their own personal process, things that they've learned, mistakes that they've made, things that they're implementing strategies for characters, like I love that, I find that so inspiring. And I'm also nosy. And I want to know about everyone's writing practice and what they're doing. Because it's a way for me to try things out, you know, someone shares that they do this when they write, like, before they sit down to write, I'm like, ooh, I want to try that, you know.

 

So I'm definitely not saying that if you're just -- if you are a writer, and you don't work with other writers that you can't give writing tips or writing advice, that's not true at all. Where I think this gets tricky is when someone, let's say someone makes a Tik Tok that they're taking their own personal experience with something and applying it to writers as a whole. They're saying that, well, this thing works for me. So therefore, this is the only right way to do it. And you need to do it this way. Or, I like when characters do this so therefore, writers, make sure when you're writing characters that you do this.

 

That can get problematic, that can get tricky, especially when the people watching that video, or maybe new writers who don't know better and think, oh, shit, I'm not doing it that way. I must be doing it wrong. And I think it's, again, it's all about the framing. It's all about how you present it. And a lot of this has to do with black and white thinking. Now, I will be honest, some of the videos that I created at the beginning of my, when I was creating content on Tik Tok, were not quite like this. But they were I had a pretty black and white approach to some things like I really thought that there was a more correct way to do things and a less correct way to do certain things, only a few things. Even from the beginning, I've been very mindful of the fact that all of us have different processes. We're all coming to writing with different lived experiences, you know, etc, etc. But I feel like I've gotten more mindful of this over time, just as I've worked with more people, as I've gotten used to creating content. So you know, this is something I'm definitely mindful of myself.

 

There are very few things that are black and white. Like you have to do this. You have to do this. There's so much there's so much gray area when it comes to tips and even tips that are absolute, it's like, are like rules about writing. You could break those rules. So it's just mess, it gets messy. But yeah, I think it's important to be mindful of the person that you are consuming the content from the era that you are getting the writing trick or tip from and how they are presenting it, how they're framing it and if they're simply just basing it off of one person's experience. And then trying to to to apply it to all writers everywhere and saying this is the way to do things. You have to do this.

 

The third time that I think writing advice can be not so helpful is similar to what I just mentioned. But I want to take it a step further. Writing advice that assumes that we are all living the same lives and writing advice that assumes that we are all approaching writing with the same perspective and lived experience. I recognize okay, so I'm not, I don't have ADHD, I'm not autistic. Um, I'm not neurodivergent in in any way that I know of least, sometimes Tik Tok likes to convince me that maybe I am -- some of those videos make me question. But no, I'm not, as far as I know.

 

So I recognize that when I share a tip about, you know, something related to a writing routine, or something related to writing spreads, I know that that tip is not an absolute, and it's not going to work for every single person under the sun. I've worked with clients who have ADHD, but again, I don't have it. So I don't know what it's like to write as a person with ADHD, I just don't have that experience.

 

And of course, it gets tedious to say in every single video that I create, like, now take this as is if it's helpful, but if not, that's okay, too. This isn't going to work for everyone. So, you know, like to add that should be along to every video is just exhausting. And it waters down the content. So I don't do that in all of the videos. But I hope that it's implied. Like this is a tip and a strategy that I'm presenting to you. But it's not a rule. It's not saying that if you don't do this, you're doing it wrong. And I feel like for the most part, people are pretty receptive. And they understand like, I'm presenting this as a suggestion, but it's not a rule.

 

So if again, if you are consuming or piece of writing advice, or a tip, that doesn't feel like it rings true for you, because of your background, because of your lived experience, whatever it might be, then it's not going to be helpful for you and you don't have to listen to it. You can keep scrolling, you can ignore it, whatever. This is more... I think this applies more to tips that are like, or advice that's more related to routine and mindset and like the writing practice itself, but I suppose it could also apply to like characters and writing dialogue and all those craft things as well.

 

Yeah, so I think just being mindful of that, you know, is is important. This is sort of a bonus one, I don't think it's a full point on its own. But writing advice that makes you just feel shitty, and makes you feel guilty and like bad about yourself that that isn't helpful. It's not. Sometimes we need tough love as writers like sometimes we need someone to like yell at us and get us to like, put our ass in the chair, you know, and sit down and write. But but that's not always helpful. It's not always what we need. So, if you scroll across a video, if you come across a video when you're scrolling, that's like someone yelling at you and making you feel guilty. And being like, it's not that hard, why can't you just sit down and write you know, that's not helpful, that's not helpful. Or, unless you're in a situation where you're like, I need this, I need someone to tell me this to get me to do it. In that case, more power to you consume that type of content, that's great. But, you know, most of us, like, I don't want to feel shamed when I when I watch a video about writing.

 

So anyways, just yeah, feel free to not absorb the energy from those types of videos if it's if it's not helpful for you. Okay, so there's a lot that we talked about in this episode. And there's a lot of nuance with this. And, you know, obviously ever, it's going to be different in terms of like when writing advice is helpful when it's not helpful. A lot of it has to do with the phase that you're in the stage that you're in, but oftentimes, we think of, of consuming this type of content is a purely positive thing, but there are again, there are just times where it's like, is this really helping? Is this really beneficial? I don't know. Anyways, um, if you follow me on Tik Tok or Instagram, I'm sure that you've noticed some different kinds of content that I've been posting and, you know, playing around with and I'm going to keep doing it.

 

Doing that basically, what I what I did is I decided to set most of August when I implemented this, and September as a time for experimenting. I'm just experimenting with content, seeing what I liked, seeing what sticks, seeing what's helpful for people, et cetera, and then basically up until I go out on maternity leave in October. And then after that point, I'm obviously not going to be creating as much content while I'm on maternity leave, or any -- I don't know, I've given myself permission to feel it out.

 

But then I'll reassess and kind of decide what I want to do going forward. And that's the cool thing about creating content and even having this podcast and all of this stuff that I'm putting out into the world. It's like I can always pivot and I can always shift and, you know, the, one of the core like missions of my business is the core missions of my business are not changing. I'm still helping writers, I'm still I still want to be helping creatives polish their work and put their work out into the world, et cetera. It's just, I'm just adding in more types of content under kind of the umbrella of, if you will. Alright, well, thank you for listening. And I hope that this was a helpful episode. I hope that this was the time when writing advice was helpful, or advice was helpful. See you next week.

 

 

Katie Wolf