Unpopular Bookish Opinions
I’m so sorry to everyone I’m about to offend but I say this all with love. Cheers 😅
Writing cannot be your whole life
- I know there’s this aesthetic of the tortured, isolated writer, but in order to be a good writer, you actually have to LIVE. I have gotten my best and favorite ideas from shitty jobs, travelling, walks or just getting myself in weird, possibly risky, situations. And I would not have had ANY of those if I had just stayed rotting in my room like I want to do 99% of the time
- I know this world sucks sometimes, but it’s also full of beautiful things worth writing about. So GO. SEE. THEM.
- And before anyone comes at me because they don’t have the funds or energy to do certain things, adapt it to your reality!!! Go on walks in your neighborhood, do picnics, meet new people. The world is your oyster bro
Every unfinished draft is important to your craft
- but if you cannot even finish a first draft (after MANY attempts), you have to start changing some things in your process.
- Writing isn’t meant to be some instant gratification process where you start and finish in 3 months. It takes time and patience. You won’t always have inspiration or motivation to finish a first draft, but if you want to take writing seriously, you have to treat this like you would any other task or skill
Not publishing doesn’t invalidate you as a writer
- Not everyone wants to publish, and not everyone is meant to publish and that’s okay!!! hobbies are meant to be enjoyed. You don’t have to monetize it for it to be valid
Rules are meant to be broken only if you’re experienced
- This sounds SO bad, I know, but hear me out. We all know the typical writing rules of show and don’t tell, don’t start a story with a dream, etc. And so many amazing, published books have broken these rules and they work, so we think, “okay, if they can, I’ll do it too!” But you know why it DOES work? Because they’re authors with a bajillion years of experience who KNOW how to play with the do’s and don’ts of writing. They GET to break the mold because they created it. They know how to take that mold apart to make a new one.
- Obviously you can do whatever you want, but oftentimes it is best to master the rules before you break them
Reading classics is important
- if you’ve followed this account for some time, you know I’m a sucker for Wuthering Heights. My biggest dream in this life is to be a mother, but I would without a doubt sell my firstborn child to meet Emily Bronte (/j). And I will admit, reading classics sometimes makes me want to go to sleep because it feels so boring. But no books have taught me more about life and writing than Oliver Twist, Pride & Prejudice, Frankenstein, the Odyssey, etc. As much as I hate to admit, those books are classics for a reason. They may be “boring” but they are (usually) impeccably written books without whom we would not have today’s literature
- I fully believe that Dark Romance today is inspired by books like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. But if you were to compare the two, you’d want to go back in time to make sure the Bronte sisters were never even born. So many tropes of today are inspired by a mishandling of classical literature, and as a writers I truly believe it’s important to go back to the those roots.
Fast literature is rotting our brains
- y’all. I’m a romance writer. I would give my left lung to read at least 1000 romance books before I die from having only one lung. But the tiktok-fication of literature has ruined romance/fantasy books
- I know I’m not the only one with this issue, but ever since booktok went viral and I started reading all those books, I’ve noticed not only a degeneration of quality in them, but the way my brain receives them as well. If you compare newer books to books from even 5 years ago, it’s crazy how much books have changed to treat the reader as if they’re stupid—because they are.
- @liv.for.writing just made a post on this so better check out her account. I’m sure she said it better than I could 😂
I hope you don’t hate me after this 😂 comment below some of your unpopular opinions!
