I’m here to express my interest in a deep dive! Since I’m not on TikTok, I’m always fascinated by what’s going on there. I also admit that I’m skeptical of the (for-profit) writing advice industry in general, but I don’t really have a great sense of the scope of it.
Hi! Thank you so much for the ask. Since I've been doing research on mainly pre-1800s styles so far, I don't have as much information as I'd like on this in terms of real citations. Though I do promise to update this post with more information through reblogs as time goes on (to fulfill the 'deep' part of the 'deep-dive')!
This will mainly be about my observations on this new attitude to writing I am seeing on tiktok, and through other people I've interacted with. It will be focusing on ideas, 'rules', and premises that I'm seeing occur, with my qualifications to write this being that I've been a proof reader, mainly for younger or newbie writers, for a few years now, study literature and linguistics, and generally find it a lot of fun to look at trends in writing and grammar over time.
Attitudes to Writing (as a whole)
Among the younger generations, I'm seeing the concept of a 'writer' being associated, in some subcultures, as being kind of cringe. And I think that's sad, honestly. I see a lot less readers about, too. Perhaps that's why.
I think that cringe culture has definitely done its damage in dissuading young writers and new writers alike. The demonisation of fanfiction and the mockery of anyone who's just trying things out is something I see everywhere. Personally, I see things such as fanfiction and the popularity of fanfiction among young people as great in terms of fostering new writers and encouraging the growth of new talent. Shaming people for experimentation, when it comes to art, will never be helpful. And yes, writing is an art!
Mocking artistic experimentation, however, seems to be something tiktok is very good at. Whether it be a 13 year old writing their first fanfiction or piece of poetry, or a seasoned professional with three degrees and a bestseller, the writing produced will not be perfect. Because writing is an art, and perfect doesn't exist.
This, actually, leads me into my next point.
Attitudes to Writing (in terms of learning)
This section will mainly be me talking from my experience of those who I have proof read for. Though I won't be naming any names (obviously).
As per my last point, I'm seeing a growing sense of a writing perfection, specifically in the younger writing community. In tandem to that, a sort of narcissism in terms of viewing whatever you've written as perfect, and not being open to the fact that it's genuinely impossible.
I've seen people get angry and defensive over corrections or recommendations for improvements, even if they've asked for them, and people request that I don't point out certain mistakes. Then whats the point? I hear you ask. The answer is likely either a certain shame in not being perfect, or a genuine view that whatever they've written must be flawless.
I understand being nervous. I understand confidence, and encourage it. But if someone refuses to acknowledge that writing is subjective, and that if you ask for criticism you will inevitably receive it, that someone is inevitably incompatible with writing. They will not improve, and that will stagnate them drastically. Those who have asked me honestly for criticism and have been glad to receive it were the ones whom I gave the least recommendations and corrections.
I note this here because it's something I'm seeing a lot among the younger people I'm proofreading for (below twenty). I feel like this goes hand in hand with the mockery of experimentation and imperfection I'm seeing on all sides of the art world online. Either that, or my before-mentioned observation that the average person doesn't seem to read that much; maybe people just think they're the best because they haven't read much else? Who knows. This is all speculation.
I'll also note the education system (in my experience) and it's approach to fiction writing. In my case, I found that it encouraged people to cater to mark schemes rather than quality; I can often see if someone is in high school doing creative writing, since there's often empty adverbs everywhere and a useless metaphor every second sentence. Not that there's anything wrong with adverbs or metaphors though— I'll get to that later.
Moreover, I sometimes see the idea that creativity can be taught. Personally, I disagree with that. Creativity, in my view, can't be taught—execution is what is taught. And that brings me onto my final point
Attitudes to Writing (execution)
Writing, again, is an art. There is very few ways you can write 'wrong'. To me, if it conveys what you want it to convey and is engaging, you've done well.
What I'm seeing, specifically through some tiktoks and some advice being thrown around online, is the rise of this nouveau-prescriptivism. As is with a decent amount of terms in this blog, don't Google that because I pulled it out of my ass.
Prescriptivism is real, however, and has been for hundreds of years. It refers to the idea that rules of how language should be written and spoken should be prescribed and adhered to; this idea has often been the basis for disagreements concerning AAVE, slang, and neopronouns (but that's for other asks or posts, if you want).
What I'd call this 'nouveau-prescriptivism' is the rise in unnecessary corrections and nonsense recommendations: make all your sentences short, never use adverbs, only use 'said', or never use 'said', and keep things simple at all costs. Oh, and don't forget the 'never start a sentence with a conjunction'—I've broken that rule quite a few times in this post alone. And I do it out of spite.
Beyond seeing these ideas and recommendations in advice etc online, I've also seen it through the recommendations of grammar bots and editor programs. For example, one I found being recommended on tiktok today: Hemingway.
Hemingway is an editor programme that seems to check for all the things I've seen bashed to all hell in some writing circles online. Adverbs, passive voice, complex sentences, you name it. It looks for those, marks your sentences if they are 'hard to read' or 'very hard to read', and rates your work according to readability so you can improve it.
But these sentences they flag up as hard to read are only hard to read to people who likely wouldn't get far in a book anyway. These sentences aren't incorrect, and they mostly don't need improvement. Moreover, the quality of your writing is NOT determined by how easy it is to read. If it was, those baby books with the pictures in would be top literature. All the time on some areas of the online writing world (particularly among the 'aspiring' writers), I see this view that complexity and high levels of detail are bad. I highly disagree. Sure, overdescribing can be an issue, but it has it's place. Adverbs and the passive voice also have their places in writing, and no AI or programme can determine where.
Here is an extract of my own writing put into Hemingway. I don't claim myself to be a great writer, but I like to see myself as average.
Sentences in yellow are labelled hard to read. In red, very hard to read. And the words in blue are those pesky adverbs. You can share your own opinions on readability.
Now, here are some extracts from extremely influential novels put into Hemingway:
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter
If these novels were so terrible, they wouldn't have had such a literary impact on the world. Complexity is not bad. As with everything in writing, its use is dependent on how it is utilised. Know the rules well and you'll know how to break them—I would say, if this was a rule to begin with.
I think the promotion of programmes such as these show what I'm seeing as a rise in this view that writing has to be simple and uber-understandable in order to be good. Sure, good writing is understandable, otherwise nobody would understand it enough to see it as good. But cutting out descriptions and complexity will just hinder the creative output of the writer. The less rules, the better. That's what I think.
Though, all of this is just my opinion. And I'd love to hear any friendly additions or views on the matter. I will also note that this post is NOT a commentary on the writing community as a whole. It's on specific subcultures I'm seeing brewing among the younger writers, particularly on tiktok.
Thank you again for the ask :D
