Bad Writing Advice (imo)
A list of mostly well-meaning claptrap you don't have to accept as gospel.
Yes, a feature that’s a list. Lazy? Maybe. Hell, it’s December and we’re all wintering, even if ‘society’ doesn’t allow our fields to lie fallow, so allow me this sense of ease, will you?
Anyway, as I near the end of book two’s first draft, I’m reminded yet again of what doesn’t work for me. I say me because there are plenty of writers who’ve found success doing the very things I’m about to condemn.
For example, a brilliant fellow 2026 debut told me she writes her first draft by hand, then types it up then deletes it and starts again. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of writers following in Gillian McAllister’s footsteps. If it works for a bestseller, who am I to say it’s madness? I still think it’s madness for the record, but only according to my brain’s blueprint, which I seemingly cannot veer away from.
Anyway, here they are, the ‘bad’ bits of writing advice I’ve thrown out over the years. Maybe you have too, or perhaps some of these are your ride and die. Let me know!
Delete your prologue.
Plan (or else).
Write every day.
Don’t show your work to anyone until it’s perfect.
Write the scenes you’re most excited about first.
Don’t you dare edit as you go!
The first draft should be draft 0 and thus shitty.
‘Kill your darlings.’
Let your work sit for a year before returning to edit it.
Don’t tell anyone you’re writing a book.
1* Both of my novels feature a prologue and editors unanimously loved the one that begins A Healthy Appetite so… maybe don’t?.
2* This really has people conflicted. Some people grip hold of their spreadsheets like without them the house of cards will topple, others straddle the line and adopt a quasi-outline which they feel free to depart from. Me? I know the beginning and the end and then it’s all car headlights at nighttime in-between.
3* Don’t shove this one down people’s throats. It’s ableist and breeds the kind of pressure that kills motivation - write when you can, when your mind and body are capable, and that’s good enough.
4* So… never?!
5* Tempting, but what happens when you run out of them and the rest’s just pulling teeth?
6* A novel takes as long as it takes. If you want to review the chapter before the one you’re about to write to find courage and/or save yourself some agony later, why not? The novel will get written either way.
7* This works for people who want to discover the story quickly and then start for ‘real’ afterwards, but the suggestion that a first draft is the ugly stepsister negates the hard work that goes into it. Sometimes, whole scenes or chapters survive from the first draft (some of mine did in A Healthy Appetite and survived all of the rounds of editing too!).
8* This one came up in my debut chat as a real bugbear. In translation: ‘be prepare to edit to serve the story,’ but when prose is wrenched from the gut or torn from the heart, can’t some of our favourite parts be good and true and thus worth saving?
9* This one appears in various iterations. Some times it’s a month, several months or even a year. Whilst I think a bit of space between you and your manuscript is healthy, don’t put a specific timeline on it. Go back when it calls to you again.
10* Writing a novel is not some dirty little secret. If you have pals who ‘get it’ and want to share grievances, or if you have a trusted critique partner, they can really make all the difference to your motivation and mental health.
I think what all of this proves is that there isn’t a single manual for being a writer. It takes an awful long time to find your rhythm and routine. I’m not sure I’ll ever find the magic formula and if anyone tells you they have it, walk the other way.
In other news…
I have a short story published in the brilliant literary mag
. The tenth issue is really something special, so do yourself a favour and go check it out. My story features a doppelganger on a dodgy cash-grab acting job he soon regrets…
Screen Saver 🎬
What I’m Watching
Sorry, Baby (Dr Eva Victor, 2025)
‘Do you miss me, even though you’re married?’
A24 presents the best kind of love story: the one between childhood friends.
The day before I watched Sorry, Baby I met up with a close friend from university. She’d driven four hours to see me (two hours each way), which was itself, a wonderful act of love. It had been more than a year, maybe two, since we last saw each other. I hate that life does this: tugs you by the hand through days and weeks and before you know it, you’ve neglected to make plans. Sorry, Baby opens with a reunion between two long-time best friends who are doing just this: making a conscious decision to seek each other out.
Time really does fly, and Victor’s self-staring directorial debut reminds us of this often. Blink and you’re married. Blink and you’re having a baby. Blink and you’re still in your hometown, never having really moved on.
When the duo head to dinner with their wider college friendship circle, it appears it’s been four years since they’ve all seen each other too. No one can quite believe it, and it seems the host has compensated for this lapse: the dinner table boasts a ridiculous floral centrepiece, tapered candles in shiny silver holders and the kind of wine that’s obviously very expensive. The conversation is stilted, its themes nostalgic. Old ground, well-trodden. Then a careless comment sends Agnes reeling, and it’s only Lydie that notices she’s been triggered. The one true confidant.
When the weekend’s over and Lydie leaves, I felt my heart ache with the same desperate longing Agnes articulates. Why can’t our friendships always stay close by and always tangible? God, it’s one of life’s greatest tragedies, isn’t it? The way adulthood leaves so little room for quality time with those who don’t cheat or lie or grow to gradually despise us. Lovers come and go, trysts fade into oblivion, but the real connections are those we share with friends.
Agnes and Eldie’s lives have taken them to different states but it’s their reunion which anchors the narrative in the present. Just when we’re warm and fuzzy, the feature’s non-linear style yanks us backwards into Agne’s traumatic past. During her and Eldie’s time as post-graduates she was sexually assaulted by her fawning professor. The movie makes no grand revelation of this – it happened and it lingers in the boots she can’t throw out but won’t wear ever again, or in the sickness attached to the word ‘extraordinary’, which she can’t hear without going back there.
There’s a lot to get lost in over the five years the story spans, but it’s the beauty of Agnes and Eldie’s friendship that reminds us which relationships are the ones that save us, time and time again.
Current Reads 📚
Three killer reads from October/November
Just a tad behind this year, owing to debut edits (eeek) and drafting book two.
These three all deserve a special shout out though because they were exactly what I needed at exactly the right time ♡
Dead Animals by Phoebe Stuckes was unputdownable; another deliciously dark female rage narrative, filled with fantasies of bloodlust and vengeance but also, an incredibly compelling relationship between two women which was both toxic and healing in equal measures. I read along with the audiobook which was also fantastic!
Absorbed by Kylie Whitehead is such a poignant tale of the disillusionment of a relationship, which, although rooted in reality, has a wonderfully executed dose of the supernatural. When Allison absorbs long-term boyfriend Owen, (Yes, you read that correctly!!) She facilitates the ultimate act of dependence. But as Owen begins to fade, she begins to question if he was really ever all she needed to complete herself...
Unquiet Guests a sexy little anthology brought to you by
via Dan Coxon was precisely want I wanted of late. Short, devilish tales all grounded in different versions of people’s homes. I loved all of them. No duds. No notes.
It has been lovely to publish you Katie!
I am in complete agreement with you on all of this!!! X