Question of the Day!

by S🤦‍♂️

Rated: 18+ · Message Forum · Community · #2142667

Come answer a question, share a laugh, encourage one another, and bring me a TimTam!

<< Previous • Message List • Next >>

Reply • Post New

Mar 17, 2026 at 12:38am

#3795316

Re: QOTD: Tuesday March 17, 2026

by Robert Waltz

I was gonna say: "Write what you know." The way I've been putting it: "Know what you write."

The second-worst piece of writing advice? "Be original." This one might take some explaining. I got into a discussion with a published author at a con, who kept on insisting that you needed to have new ideas for something to become a best-seller. At the time, the best-sellers were: Harry Potter (established genres of contemporary fantasy and British boarding school stories); Twilight (Vampires, 'nuff said); and Fifty Shades (Bad Twilight fanfiction porn). Oh, and I think Hunger games (the idea of which was anything but new). So, while all of those things certainly had original ideas (not all of them good (sparkly vampires)), they were not, on the whole, original.

Well, she won the argument, because she's a published writer and I'm not so I don't know what I'm talking about. Point is, I think if the goal is to be published and widely read, you're more likely to achieve that by retreading old ground than pulling a Ulysses.