The Best Writing Advice I've Heard

            During the past four years as I’ve been taking my writing more seriously, I have heard amazing advice from famous authors. This advice has helped me grow as a writer and has also taken some stress off my shoulders. I want to share these pieces of advice with you in hopes that you will find it as valuable as I do.

Brandon Sanderson

            If you enjoy sci-fi/fantasy, you have probably heard of Brandon Sanderson. His Mistborn series and Way of Kings series are popular fantasy books, and he is a master of worldbuilding (in my opinion). Back in 2020, he taught a creative writing course at Brigham Young University in Utah and posted the videos on YouTube (I’ll post the link to the first video at the end of this post. I highly suggest watching them). In the first video, Sanderson spends time discussing what a writer’s life may look like when we have family, a full-time job, and/or school. He suggests that when we don’t have time to sit down and write for hours, then we can “…start to look for moments when no one is asking you to do anything and you use those to work on your stories” (Lecture #1: Introduction, 38:44).

            When I first heard this piece of advice, I wrote it down but didn’t think too much about it. I was about to start either my junior or senior year of high school and still had a lot of time to write. I naïvely believed it would always be that way.

But once I hit college and started working part time, I discovered I rarely had the time and the energy to write. During my freshman year of college, I worked at the front desk for 3-4 hours a week, and sometimes had nothing to do. I suddenly remembered this quote and decided to use those times to write, whether it was outlining or writing a random thing that popped into my head. This really helped me keep my writing muscles warm during an exhausting year. It’s certainly something I should still apply!

            This next piece of advice is another Brandon Sanderson quote, but to be honest, I have no idea where it came from. I only labeled it in my notes as “Brandon Sanderson Lecture,” and I think it was a webinar I signed up for (since it was in a different notebook than the YouTube lecture notes). But I wrote down, “Write to satisfy yourself; you’re writing it because you want to read it, but nobody has written it.”

            That is a good point. Yes, we have a story idea that we really want to write, but let’s admit it, those ideas are composed of elements we are interested in. We’d most likely read a similar story or the same one if someone else wrote it. Think about your project or a story idea you have. Wouldn’t you want to read a book about that? I don’t know if we could be interested enough in our own writing ideas when we wouldn’t even want to read the story.

            So if our stories are composed of elements we like, we might as well satisfy ourselves when writing, especially in the first draft. Add that plot twist, add that character, do whatever you want. You or the editor may take away those things in the end, but you still wrote the kind of story you’d want to read. Even though we have to think about our audience when we write and follow certain rules, it doesn’t mean we can’t write the story we want.

            Brandon Sanderson is an amazing author. I suggest checking out his YouTube lectures and his website brandonsanderson.com for more writing advice and information about his writing.

Jerry B. Jenkins

            Jerry B. Jenkins (jerryjenkins.com) is a New York Times bestselling author who has written over 200 books, 21 of which were on the New York Times bestselling list. You may recognize him as the author of the Left Behind series, or you may know of his son Dallas, who co-writes and directs the ongoing The Chosen TV series. Most of my writing knowledge comes from Jenkins because he created the creative writing program at Colorado Christian University (my school), and I have attended many of his webinars.

            I have watched many of videos of his, and in a few, he talks about procrastination. I love procrastinating (I have already procrastinated twice today), but I always feel bad when I do. Instead of avoiding procrastination, Jenkins takes a new approach: “Schedule procrastination because even then, the brain is working.” This was in my notes, but I didn’t write what video it was. But on his website jerryjenkins.com, he has a blog post titled How to Overcome Writer’s Block Once and For All: My Surprising Solution (2020) where he talks about embracing procrastination.

            Hearing this quote was freeing. It reminded me that it’s okay to take a step back sometimes, especially if I feel overwhelmed or just need to brainstorm. Somedays I also just feel like procrastinating, either because I’m exhausted or had a long day.

            Jenkins has a rule though. He makes sure that his daily word and page count don’t get unattainable. If you read my post Lacking Motivation: It’s Okay to Take a Day Off, then you remember how much I stressed about paying attention to deadlines when you want to take a break. It’s easy to procrastinate when you aren’t really working toward a deadline, but when you know one is coming up, it’s a good idea to make sure your daily workload doesn’t get out of hand.

Les Edgerton

            One of the books I had to read for my creative writing classes was Les Edgerton’s (2007) Hooked: Write Fiction that Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go. This book discussed mainly how to begin a novel in a way that attracts readers. At the time I read this, I was thinking about changing the beginning of my current work in progress because I didn’t think what I currently had was enough. It drove me crazy as I brainstormed and came up with a couple of ideas that ended up not working.

            At the end of the book, Edgerton quotes multiple authors, publishers, and agents, who talk about the industry and beginning books. One person said, “When you write, don’t obsess about the beginning. Write the whole novel, then look at it in its entirety” (Edgerton, 2007, p. 228).

            The relief I felt when reading that was immense! In my final paper during that course, I emphasized how much that quote changed my view on writing beginnings. From that point on, I decided not to overthink the beginning. In fact, after trying a new beginning, I ended up returning to my original beginning (with a few tweaks) because I realized there were more conflict and stakes. So if you are struggling to figure out a good beginning, just write something and move on with the rest of the story. If that beginning works, great, but if not, look at the rest of the story and see what type of beginning fits. It’s not worth the stress.

            I know this blog post was shorter than some of my others, but I just wanted to share writing advice that has affected my writing and helped me relax a bit when it comes to the writing process. If you have any writing advice that has changed the way you write, then don’t be afraid to comment below. I’d love to hear as much advice as I can, and I’m sure others would too!

Bibliography

Sanderson, B. (2020). Lecture #1: Introduction – Brandon Sanderson on writing science fiction and fantasy. [Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6HOdHEeosc&list=PLSH_xM-KC3Zv-79sVZTTj-YA6IAqh8qeQ&index=2 (author website, brandonsanderson.com)

Jenkins, J. B. jerryjenkins.com

Edgerton, L. (2007). Hooked: Write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go. Penguin Publishing Group.