ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Writing A Book Tips You Do Not Want To Follow

Updated on February 13, 2013

MY TARGET AUDIENCE

This article is dedicated to those out there who have no desire to succeed in writing a novel. This is not a “Help Me Write A Book” article but rather a “Help Me To Fail Miserably In Writing A Book” article.

Big difference!

I have compiled a list of handy dandy suggestions you might want to follow if you are absolutely terrified of succeeding in this writing world. I know, it sounds unbelievable that there might be writers out there who search for failure, but we can only assume that it is true. Why else would they do the unthinkable? Why else would they be so hell-bent on finding the quickest way to dismal defeat?

So this article is for them

Conversely, if your goal is to write a quality novel, then these tips are ones you might want to avoid like the plague. Call them “Writing Tips In Reverse” or the “Antithesis of Writing A Book Tips.” Hell, call them anything you want; just don’t follow them.

Now that I have you all settled in with an explanation, let us move forward and take a look at tips for writing a book that should or should not be followed, depending on your level of commitment to succeed.

Looking for inspiration
Looking for inspiration | Source

IN SEARCH OF INSPIRATION

I have known quite a few writers, and had contact with many others, who insist on searching for inspiration. Quite often they also talk to me about the current onslaught of “writer’s block” they are experiencing, that strange disease that hits writers and literally freezes them in their tracks, rendering them incapable of writing an intelligent sentence.

They will sit in their garden waiting for inspiration to overcome them. They will trek to Nepal or marry a Sherpa, and they will read self-help books and chant in tongues, all with the worthy goal of finding inspiration. The one thing they don’t do is write.

If you are determined not to succeed, then by all means sit and wait for inspiration. However, if your goal is to write a novel, then may I suggest that you sit your butt down at the computer and start writing. Inspiration is highly overrated; working hard is not!

Set a quota for a certain number of words that you will write each day and then stick to the quota come hell or high water. A funny thing will happen when you do this: inspiration shows up whether you invited it or not.

LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE….OR NOT!

We are talking about self-doubt, and if you allow it to infest you then you are doomed as a writer.

There are and have been millions of writers in this world, and each and every one of them, in the final analysis, writes alone. Writing is an incredibly lonely existence. Writers spend a great deal of time inside their own heads, and that is a dangerous place to reside.

If you want to fail at writing, then by all means listen to those voices in your head that say you are not talented, or that you have no business in this business. Once you start listening to those voices it will not be very long before you give up writing that novel.

If, however, you are serious about writing a book, then kick those voices to the curb and write. If you have an overwhelming desire to hear negative words about your book, then wait patiently until it is time to find an agent or publisher. You will get your fill of reasons from them why your book is inadequate. There is no reason to add to that misery by telling yourself how bad your book is. Be your own number one fan and say goodbye to negativity.

PAY ZERO ATTENTION TO THE CRAFT OF WRITING

This is a sure-fire approach if you seek failure. All of those grammar rules? Don’t use them! All of those rules and techniques that have been passed down for generations? Ignore them now!

Go your own way and blaze your own trail in the literary world. You will be embraced by few readers and your book will fail miserably, but you will feel so good that you followed Frank Sinatra’s advice and did it your way.

These are the people who read e.e. cummings and thought it meant that no technique or talent was necessary to make it in the writing world. These are the people who have been rebels all of their lives, and refuse to follow the advice of incredibly successful authors. These are the people who will….fail!

There is a reason why successful writers are successful. If you would like to be successful too, then study the good ones and see what they have done. Ask yourselves what it is about those great writers that made you want to keep reading their words? How did they construct their tale? How did they develop their characters? Study the masters and learn, and remember that there are no shortcuts in writing.

LET EMOTIONS DEFEAT YOUR CAREER

I suspect that besides being creative people, writers are also rather emotional. I think emotions and creativity go hand in hand, and that is all well and good unless our emotions rule the show and then trouble arrives.

If you are tired of chasing the dream, and you want to insure that failure wraps its arms around you, then allow your emotions to dominate your psychological profile.

You know all those rejection slips that you have received from agents and publishers? Get mad and decide they are out to get you, that they have a vendetta against you and you have no chance.

You know that negative comment you received on an article you recently wrote? Take it to heart and let it crush you. Surely the reader knew more than you know in your heart, so just throw in the towel and give up.

If, on the other hand, you are determined to succeed with that novel of yours, then turn off the emotions and realize this is a tough business that requires a thick skin and determination. Rejections are simply a way to motivate you more if you have willingness. Negative comments are a wake-up call that leads to self-reflection and that is never a bad thing.

If you do not like negatives then get out of writing immediately. Give up on that book and take up cooking as a hobby.

Did these suggestions help you?

See results

WRITE FOR THE LATEST TREND

It has been said, and I am a firm believer in it, that by the time you spot a current trend and write about it, the trend will have ended and a new one will have taken its place.

I know a few writers who constantly write to the latest trend. Number one, that must be exhausting, and number two, you are a day late and a dollar short in doing so.

Here’s an idea if you really want to see your novel take off: be a trend-setter rather than a trend-follower.

If you give me enough time, I can write an opening chapter that will sound very much like Hemingway or Michener or Steinbeck. All it requires is an eye for style and the patience to choose the right words.

If you give me enough time, I can write any number of “how to” books that will sound just like the tens of thousands of how to books currently on the market.

You can also give me enough time and I can write a book about a unique subject that is in my unique voice and will have no competition. That is my goal as a writer and that should be your goal as well.

Quit following the crowd and start following your heart….or….just be one of millions of followers and then wonder why your book is not successful. You’ll have a lot of company if that is the route you want to take.

Enjoy the scenic tour of life
Enjoy the scenic tour of life | Source

TAKE SHORTCUTS

This method is guaranteed to garner you failure at the speed of light. Writing is a craft. If you want to make sure your book fails, treat writing like a part-time hobby and take as many shortcuts as you can. Don’t do an outline! Don’t do re-writes and for heaven’s sake do not edit your work. Do not experiment with different styles and do not put your work out there for critique. If you do not do all these things then I feel safe in saying you are well on your way to experiencing the darkest of holes in the writing business.

Hell, folks, with the advent of ebooks, you can write and publish a book in one day. Why go to the bother of making sure it is quality?

Or, you can treat writing like the art that it is, and spend the time that is required to produce the best possible book. Take a look at some of the giants of the industry and you will find that they spend countless hours, days, months and years perfecting their craft. They took no shortcuts. They understood that anything worth doing is worth doing well.

GIVE UP

Just throw in the towel for God’s sake, and accept the fact that you will never be a good writer and you were delusional in even trying to be one. Writing is for the strong of will and spirit, and you might as well give it up now. The competition is too tough, the markets are drying up, the publishers don’t want new authors and you will never see success.

There are hundreds of reasons why your new book will not make it. There is only a handful of reasons why it might make it, and they include your determination, your love of writing and your self-esteem. There is no guarantee that if you keep at it you will be successful and have a bestselling novel, but there is most definitely a guarantee that if you give up you will have nothing.

No regrets, no excuses

DID THOSE HELP YOU?

I was being a bit facetious perhaps, but I do believe that my readers and followers can see the truth tucked into my tongue-in-cheek approach.

Writing a book is not for the lazy and it is not for the weak-of-heart. Writing a book is not for those who get discouraged easily and it is not for those who crumble at the first signs of adversity.

Writing a book takes a dedication to the craft of writing and a passion for that craft. In a very real sense writing a book is a job, but it is a labor of love, or at least it should be.

I wish you well as you follow your passion and begin to write the next bestseller.

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)