 What's shaking my name's cam welcome back to another video if you like videos about writing well, this just might be the channel for you Okay, thanks for tuning in again guys today. I have a bit of a fun video for you very recently I put a message up on my YouTube community page and also on my Instagram Cam underscore wolf shot asking you all for your strongest writer slash writing opinion The more unpopular the better and today I'm gonna be reacting to all of them There is a lot if you don't see your answer in here. I really am sorry It's just I quite literally can't respond to all of them there is a lot But I will be doing my best so if you want to be involved in the next video like this where I Ask for your help make sure you subscribed and maybe check out my Instagram as well Like I said, I've got a long list of opinions to go through here and some of them are Hella spicy. I'm gonna have to be like careful or like I'm gonna have a hard time Responding to some of these because some of them are quite spicy, but we'll give it a shot We'll see how we go now I know what your first thought is when you click this video today. You were thinking now who is this handsome? Western cowboy. I see before my very eyes. Well, first of all Yeah, second of all, it's still me. It's still cam I'm just growing a mustache during November to raise money for the Movember foundation I do it every year in memory of my father and if you want to help as well if you have a few dollars to spare And you want to help to prevent suicide? You can find a link to my movember page in the description below It really is a great cause it means a lot to me And it means a lot to a lot of people around the world who have had to deal with Suicide having a big impact on their lives. Anyway, a huge thank you to everyone who has already donated We've already smashed that goal of $200 which is just It's amazing and I'm sure you're all devastated to consider the fact that the mustache will soon be going but um There's always there's always next year. Anyway, let's get on with the video They're all better than me. Well, I'm glad we're off to a Positive start. I got quite a few comments about writing advice and author tubers giving writing advice and the way that writing advice Really is different for everyone involved. First of all in regards to author tubers giving writing advice I don't really have a problem with it I actually said in a video a little while back and I'll leave a card for it up here that I don't have an issue with Author tubers giving writing advice and Actually kind of detest the idea that you have to be or you're expected to be an expert before you can pass on any of your knowledge however, if you are going to go on to a space like YouTube and make your whole thing giving people advice and specifically Educating people if you were taking on the role of an educator You can't complain when you are held to a higher standard People are going to be more critical of you if you spend all of your time telling people what they shouldn't shouldn't be doing and They have a right to be as for the advice being different for everyone involved Yes, that is absolutely true and especially on YouTube. I think that's something that is not considered nearly enough We got a lot of people not just creators But also a lot of people in the comments of videos saying this advice is wrong This advice is right and while there is some advice obviously that is objectively good and bad There is also a ton that is just going to vary depending on what type of a writer you are What type of a creative individual you are it is incredibly rare that a single piece of advice is going to be all good Or all bad for everyone who hears it I guess we're sticking with author tubers for now because the next one is another author tuba Opinion and this is a this is one of those spicy ones I was referring to before it says a lot of author tubers fake Their excitement for writing and only jumped in on it for a cash grab I really hope no one out there thinks thinks of me like that And if there is anyone that thinks that I'm doing author tube or writing or anything like that just for a cash grab Let me tell you right now the amount of stress and time involved with this is not worth the like Five dollar profit. I make a month. Obviously. I don't really have a book out just yet Nearly every single dollar that I make from Writing in YouTube at the moment pretty much goes straight back into paying for my adobe subscription So which is what I use to edit my videos myself personally. I can't really think of any author tubers that I think are in it Entirely for the money. I will say that maybe there are I just I don't know I haven't been convinced of that just yet However not to cause any drama or anything like that I have interacted with author tubers and even book tubers in the past over my like four years on YouTube. There are some creators unfortunately that I feel use other Author tubers or book tubers as a bit of a stepping stone not necessarily for money But I would say the currency in this instance is clout. It really isn't a big deal And it's not even me that's been burned in most cases that I've seen stuff like this happening Just as an example, I guess there's some creators that might be willing to Collaborate with you and you'll be like hell. Yeah, let's do that and then and then as soon as they are a bigger channel than you They're not so interested in Returning the favor so to speak stuff like that. You know what I mean? I don't want to sound mean But I've definitely clicked off a lot of author tubers videos because of the way they act It's just like any other job. You should be considerate to your audience So yeah, this one kind of ties in as well with everything I just said So I also got a bunch of answers about writer's block existing or not existing or people using writer's block as an excuse to be lazy Blah blah blah. I'm not gonna go into this too much because as you might know one of the most recent videos I did was like a 10-minute plus video of me specifically discussing Why I think writer's block does exist So if you want the full story on that again, I'll leave a card But I will summarize my opinion on this as best I can I guess some people feel that writer's block Doesn't exist because it is simply people saying I have writer's block and then going to procrastinate rather than just writing and and yes I think that definitely happens. I've done that before absolutely in that specific instance I think saying I have writer's block is a cop out absolutely But I also don't think that writer's block should be narrowed down to just I'm too lazy to write There are a lot of other factors There are like a hundred thousand reasons that you could be stuck with your writing and it doesn't always have to come Down to you're too lazy, or you're in a bad headspace. That's my general opinion Like I said in that video we can discuss the ways to avoid writer's block, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist You can avoid dehydration by drinking water, but that doesn't mean dehydration doesn't exist It's hard to not judge a book by its cover if it's got a really bad cover The funny thing is as great as that expression is for like everyday life and when it comes to people It's not really Applicable when it comes to books, you know what I mean? Like yes a book might have a bad cover But be a really great story But let's not pretend that having a great cover is not an important part of having a book that people are gonna want to pick up Nobody cares about a writer's book just because they wrote it Maybe I'm maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you mean by this but I guess I disagree I can tell you right now There are millions of people that will buy a Stephen King book just because Stephen King wrote it not to speak for all But many writers should actually write their story instead of spending a majority of that time Talking about their writing ouch first of all Surely I get a pass right Windex do I get a pass a Windex cleaning company because Personally, I think as an author tuba I kind of have to talk about my writing I'm gonna give myself a pass on that one if I can but yeah I think talking about your writing is a bit of a form of procrastination as well We just don't think of it as much because we feel like we're being productive if we're talking about our writing Even though we're not doing it romance doesn't have to be happily ever after it cheapens love when people make that a requirement Absolutely hundred percent. I absolutely agree with that some of my favorite romance stories. The ending has been Happy not because the love interests got together again or anything like that But more so because the protagonist has maybe Come to the realization that they're better off without that person I don't know if that's all counts as a happily ever after but That's kind of different to me because it's not the traditional romantic happily ever after if I can give an example Or two examples actually of romance stories that I feel were a little bit ruined by the last like Two minutes there were movies with very similar endings and bear with me because it's gonna sound a little bit odd ruby sparks and But dazzled both of those movies built towards a Ending or a climax of what is basically a catharsis for the protagonists in bedazzled He realizes he can't control his love life with this woman that he barely even knows through making a series of Wishes with the devil and then in ruby sparks He has pretty much the same realization that he has to release Control if he wants to be truly happy because the fictional character that he wrote about came to life and everything You wrote about her came true He realized it wasn't fair on her just like with bedazzled It also wasn't fair and I would have been happy if both of those movies just ended with their protagonists staying single Just because they realized their ideals of love don't have to be on that much of a pedestal But for whatever bloody reason in literally both of them it ends with those protagonists Finding a new romantic interest that is a doppelganger of the other one Why anyway long story short? Yes, I agree romance doesn't have to be happily ever after and in some of the best cases It's not so many writers compare themselves to other people's writing and think they're bad You don't need to write like Tolkien to be a good fantasy writer or king to be a good horror writer be you yeah Absolutely, I mean I think it's okay And in a lot of cases it's helpful to draw inspiration from your favorite artists But if you compare your writing to some of the literal all-time greats You're always gonna think very lowly of yourself and that's going to reflect in your writing I feel like really great authors sometimes recommend books They're comment printed on the book when the book is not good at all. This is something I've actually thought about before I'm not entirely sure how it works specifically because I know it would work differently with a lot of different publishers but you know when there's a new like debut book or a new big book or something and it has a bit of a Testimonial almost from another famous author like anytime a big horror comes out from a publisher They'll always get Stephen King to give it a little quip part of me does wonder How obliged they are to say good things even if it's not true Especially if the book is coming from the same publisher that they work with I don't know. It's just something I Something I think about let's just say Sexual themes being used as a plot device is awful writing and makes me want to kick the author who wrote it in the mouth Yeah, I mean yeah, I can I can agree with the sentiment that using That stuff the r word for pure shock value in a way that has really no Driving force on the story itself. I think that's pretty cheap and pretty inappropriate even however and talking about stuff like this And sensitive themes in general I never want to give the idea that I think we should be avoiding them entirely because I think that's also pretty harmful pretending like The r word doesn't exist and completely omitting it from stories whatsoever I think there should always be a place in fiction for it to go into really dark Dark and uncomfortable places like this But it has to be important to the story and it has to be handled With respect, you know or at the very least make sure your readers know what you're in for before they read the story If your author buyer in the back of the book in any way says that you're fueled by Cupcakes bacon and lots of coffee. I lose a little respect for you and don't have high expectations for the book That kind of reminds me on like, uh, you know and tinder how it's like a thing that guys will always put like Loves the office in their buyer, which I've I've done that before before I found out it was like a meme Or like girls will put in that bio that they love traveling like like no shit Everyone loves traveling. I also would rather be hiking through a rainforest instead of being stuck at work But it's not always an option for everyone Uh kelly, I think it's very important to write for yourself While you may have other things people in mind write something that you can be proud of sometimes you have to write from the heart Not the head. Yeah, I think that kind of ties in with uh, you know what we were talking about before in regards to Not trying to sound exactly like other authors It's not always a bad thing to stick to, uh, you know, like kind of traditional story arcs that kind of stuff Writers say they absolutely just have to be in a coffee shop or fancy schmancy cafe to write it We all know they secretly write in their underwear in bed. I can promise you I have no idea what you're talking about Writing can either make or break you. Yep I feel the popular world of published writing is becoming an ever clearer reflection of the instant gratification world We are living in most entertainment medias focus largely on simplified stories crammed with special effects rather than meaningful plot And characters. Yeah, I can see that. I mean a lot of the commercially successful stories now um I don't want to talk too much trash on them because obviously there are people that enjoy them and find value in them but I do agree in the sense that a lot of commercially popular stuff now Feels a bit more like a checklist rather than someone being creative. You know what I mean? Anyway, it doesn't bother me too much because if you want to read a good book They're always out there. You can always find them writers have to follow a specific guideline for their story three act Structure save the cat etc. This isn't always true. Yeah, for sure Like I said before it's okay to be a bit more experimental But also there's no issue with following these kind of story structures like Either three act or save the cat or the hero's journey They are a thing because they've been proven to work in most cases as long as you're trying your best to be like creative with Each step along that journey, you know opinion of myself as a writer I am too lazy with research Well, you're not meant to confess to it Whether it be coming up with ideas communicating them in the right way or just convincing yourself to sit down and dedicate time to the craft Writing is effing difficult. Yep. Complex realistic character doesn't necessarily mean interesting character. It's a tricky thing there I feel like there's a whole conversation there because you really can't just phone it in every time when it comes to the character But if your story is more story driven rather than character driven You can get away with having a bit more of a simple hero excusing rampant mistreatment of minorities women children people of color disabled people etc By claiming historical accuracy if someone is writing a fantasy epic with zombies dragons and pirates that have all of their teeth They've already thrown historical accuracy right out the window. Yeah. I 100% agree being historically accurate about a lot of things in like epic fantasies, especially ones written in like A european medieval setting is completely fine. I get that it makes it feel more authentic that kind of stuff Like with the language etc or maybe the lack of technology But having a like magical epic fantasy where every single woman involved is just getting slapped around for the whole story For the sake of historical accuracy is just stupid. Stop it There are too many people who know how to write but mistake the possession of that ability as also knowing how to tell a story Well, yes 100% knowing what makes good writing in the technical sense like grammatically and pacing wise etc etc Doesn't mean the story is interesting, but that's the beautiful thing about being a writer You know, it's not just about being able to write well. It's about being creative Show don't tell is way too overrated I think show don't tell is a very very important piece of advice that can make a mediocre story a good one However, I will agree with camille here and the fact that you don't always need to do it for the love of god You do not need to bloat your story out with like vivid detailed descriptions of every single little occurrence in the story Sometimes you can just say that the kettle finished boiling instead of describing the drips of moisture Coming down the kettle as the steam exploded from its mouth cliches are overrated I always love it when people think outside the box and either have a twist on a cliche or come up with a unique idea It's a breath of fresh air Agreed. There are too many rules about writing. There's just too many I think people come up with rules to create a sense of control Absolutely. I think that was one of the first things we talked about in the video is our rules and advice It's going to differ from person to person that it's the casual reader's fault for not liking a book or piece of work Because they would have liked it if they understood writing and the technicalities. Yeah, I can definitely see your point with this one There are two sides to that coin in my opinion if you find that the majority of your reader base isn't picking up on Let's say for example subtle symbolism in your story You might have to consider the fact that maybe you made it too subtle or that you didn't do it well However on the flip side of that I myself When I was doing a lot more booktube stuff I saw plenty of instances where people completely misunderstood the point of a story and Faulted it for that a point that in some cases was pretty on the nose I'm not saying people have to like books that they don't like But accusing a writer of trying to make a point that they weren't trying to make simply because you misunderstood it That does get under my skin watching reading learning more about the author detracts from the reading experience in my opinion It's like revealing the mysterious narrator behind the curtain to find bob from hr That's an interesting aspect. Um, okay, so it differs for me, right? so I would rather not know about the actual author behind the series of unfortunate events books because the author lemony snicket Is kind of a character in those books himself So I never looked into the author for that book because I didn't want to know I liked the fact that it was a mysterious character However learning more about authors in some cases gives me a much greater and deeper respect Not just for them, but for their books. For example, Paul Jennings An Australian author is a brilliant man who had an enormous impact On my childhood with his books and the more I learn about him the more I love the guy Outlining is not necessary Just because you are having trouble with your writing does not mean you need to turn to an outline to help you I have to imagine this is one of those things that's just depends on the writer me personally Me having trouble with my writing doesn't necessarily mean that I need to go to my outline But in a lot of cases it does help. I dislike writers that believe you must write every single day Or else I dislike how some writers put themselves on a pedestal because they published a single novel That in fact has many flaws that they advise others not to do. Yeah, I agree with writing every day thing I mean, I I disagree with doing that. I don't think that's realistic for like 90 percent of writers What I prefer to do is if I'm discussing that with anyone else usually say something like You should write when you know that you can because I feel like that More appropriately kind of shows the responsibility there If I know I have the time to write and I know I could be doing that But yet I choose to go and play video games the responsibility there is on me rather than saying write every day And then not being able to because I was at work all day and I was too tired I don't want to feel bad about not writing that day because then I'm just forcing myself to write When I'm not in a great place to which doesn't just create bad writing It's also really unhealthy as for the part about Writers publishing a novel with flaws that they tell other people to not do that feels like we're going back into shady author tube territory So no comment Writing is hella important more than people give it credit for it's also difficult But one of the best jobs hell. Yeah, absolutely. I agree I think people don't consider the fact that writing is involved in almost every form of Entertainment we have if you like watching television and movies In almost all cases there was a writer behind the scenes or writers There are writers involved in a lot of aspects of life that we don't usually consider They're all hermits that don't like adulting No, no, no popularity is what sells books not actual good writing when I read this I got a kind of like Defensive twitch and I was like, well, no, that's not true But the more I think about it, I mean It's it's kind of true It really is not to say that all popular authors or authors that were traditionally published Not to say that they aren't good writers But I mean it is provably true that having a big platform and being a popular person already Almost guarantees you a book deal if you were to do something like that I'm not trying to say that publishers have so little integrity that they will publish a steaming turd or anything like that But if they get given a turd by someone that they know can sell a lot of books They will polish the hell out of it until at the very least it doesn't look and smell like a turd You know, we have to consider that publishers are businesses like they have to make money learning to take criticism is hard Yes, uh, it is one of the most difficult but one of the most important hurdles when it comes to being a Creative individual. I don't even think I don't think I've completely learned how to Deal with getting harsh or negative criticism. It still hurts. Maybe it always will. Maybe there's no way to completely move past that But at the very least you can Learn how to look for the positives in a negative review or negative criticism I think I said this in my harsh truths for writers video, but Not everyone is going to be able to be An author or a writer purely because They can't handle criticism and I'm not saying that's their fault. It might just be how they are They might be a brilliant writer with great story ideas And they still don't find success simply because anytime they get a negative review. They melt down It's not their fault. Uh, how they move forward Is completely their responsibility But if you pull a cathleen hail or anything like that, that is your fault Pancing isn't real Even if you think you're a pancer as soon as you're done with your rambling first draft You'll figure out what story you are trying to tell and go back to fix it all. That's your outline Technically that's correct, right? I mean, I feel like that's getting into the semantics a bit too much. I I'm not sure it's that deep. I think pancing is just Unnamed people have given themselves if they choose to jump into the first draft without much planning, but I mean That's an interesting way of looking at it at the very least So a good few comments about like dialogue tags as well dialogue tags and you know dialogue in general grammar with dialogue Adjectives and adverbs I'm putting these together because I feel like my response to these is pretty much the same in every instance And that is that I disagree with the idea that there is any set rule for these, you know, you get some people who will say Uh, only use the word said and then you will get other people who will say Said is dead and like brook said said is not dead But at the same time, I do not have any issue whatsoever with uh using different dialogue tags I really do think in a lot of cases it can make the story more interesting One of my favorite ones, uh, is hissed that word just always like Gives me the perfect like a voice or emotion in my head for the character. I'll give you an example So, uh, let's say there is a character who has just found out something Devastating and they are just furious. They are fuming. Let's say they just found out that their wife Cheated on them. How could you do this to me? Said Barry. How could you do this to me? Hissed Barry with hissed. I just imagine he's like Uh, he's seething. He's so angry. He can't even say the words properly. It just comes out in a hiss That's just an example That's one of my favorite dialogue tags and uh, yeah, the same kind of goes for like adjectives that kind of stuff as well I think they're fine It's just obviously don't overuse it because if you throw in way too many dialogue tags and a lot of people will do this It just becomes distracting. I would probably not to give you advice or anything again I'm not an expert but personally if it was me I would probably try to limit myself to A different dialogue tag maybe once in every section of conversation Maybe twice and every other instance should be the word said or if we already know who's saying what Nothing at all Just have what they're saying. I also don't really have an issue with like a verbal nods that kind of stuff in In dialogue although I can agree with viscount gen Publishing here that it can be well overused and it can distract from what would be a good conversation I also got a bunch of answers essentially just agreeing on the fact that the first draft Should not be taken too seriously and I agree in fact if I can be Super dramatic for a minute I think focusing on finishing the first draft without worrying about the specifics and How good it is in the grammar and the editing just finishing it and saving that stuff for the second draft or the editing stage Is probably one of the best pieces of advice you can get it really is because I'm convinced This is why a lot of people never finish their book because they just They get stuck on the first draft. They keep rereading it. They go back. They try to fix stuff They try to make it perfect on the first go. They try to make it at least good on the first go That's a natural reaction. You don't want to be wasting your time on something You don't want to write a first draft knowing that you're going to like change or remove most of it You need to get past that you just do otherwise you'll never finish Learning to ignore your ego is the hardest part about writing It might be an ironically Pretentious thing to say or egotistical thing to say, but I don't think I have that much of an ego Um, if anything, I feel like I struggle with self-doubt Maybe a lot more than I should when it comes to my writing I know this isn't true for a lot of other writers God knows there's enough writers out there that uh, let's just say Very confident in themselves, but uh for me personally, um, if anything, I would love to be more confident I don't know. You guys are the ones that have to listen to me in these videos So I hope I don't come off egotistical or anything. I really do So we also got a few answers about people being political in their stories and Personally, I agree with the sentiment that uh, sometimes it can be very Obvious and obnoxious most times I've seen this happen It's when the author is injecting their entire political Uh compass or their entire political opinion Into the main character and then they make that character the perfect moral Paragon of the whole story. That's not interesting to me. That's not compelling No matter how correct you think you are politically if you are going to inject your political opinions into a character You need to challenge them still. You need to present them with Conflict and opposing opinions that aren't just presented as being Latently wrong. You need to have them question it. You need to have them be given Ideas and stuff that challenge them. Uh, but on the flip side of that I think we don't really consider just how political Most stories are in so many works of fiction That aren't overtly political You can definitely find a political subtext there Not just in adult books either and like kids books. I mean look at the hunger games That is one of the most scathing critiques of capitalism. You will find I don't think getting political in books Uh, no matter how fictional is a bad thing. It depends entirely on how it's approached A lot of people didn't sound too happy with extravagant pros in writing as well And I can definitely agree with that sentiment. Uh, for example in like j. Christoff's nevernight series I was not a huge fan of the purple pros in those books I just think it was too much But I can appreciate that it's a subjective thing because there are a lot of people that love those books Specifically for that reason. I don't think using a lot of pros Makes you a bad writer, but I think it does Alienate a large part of your potential audience Blurring the line between fiction and poetry Is just a very very risky game. It can pay off But it's risky a couple of people thought that uh Reading a lot won't necessarily make you a better writer. Um, I think it does I don't think it's like a guarantee like you can't just say to yourself Oh, if I if I read a lot of books, I will be a good writer because that's that's just not true There's way too many moving parts, but reading a lot Can absolutely help to make you a better writer in the sense that you will subconsciously soak up You know the grammar the pacing the way the story works Especially if you're reading within the genre that you're also writing in You are subconsciously going to get a lot of value from that get a sensitivity reader when you write something outside of your bubble Research will only take you so far. Yeah, I agree if a huge part of your story or if a large plot device of your story is uh tied up in Let's say a struggle that you personally are not privy to you absolutely should talk to someone who has experience there It's not that hard and your story will be a lot better for it I've noticed that a lot of writers of our generation I know play the sims either to envision their story or just have fun. You know why It's it's so you can play a game and procrastinate But pretend like you're doing research word count goals are counterproductive for the vast majority of writers Do your musicians have note goals to painters have brush stroke goals Do sculptors have chisel goals writing is art. Um, so I will say this I agree that Prioritizing your word count above everything else is a bad move. I think that's that's a very bad move All that's going to do is stress you the hell out and have a negative impact on your writing word count is one of the least important parts of Having a good book as long as the pacing is good. However in defense of Word count goals if I if I can play devil's advocate here for a minute, especially considering that we're finishing up Nanorimo now. I think this is a good time to talk about this I think of it less as word count goals and more as productivity goals by giving ourselves a word count goal Maybe just even for the one month for nanorimo and especially considering it's a big community event I personally have found it extremely helpful in Getting myself to sit down and just start writing once i'm actually doing the writing I'm not thinking about the word count in any capacity So it doesn't really affect me, but the word count goal is what is getting my ass in the seat So I think there is value in having a word count goal, but my hope would be That people don't put too much Pressure on themselves or prioritize it too highly last but not least, uh lord of the rings is a disappointment big That's it and uh crap looking at the time on the camera This is gonna be a long video. Holy crap with that in mind if you stuck around to the end Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it. Thank you. I do appreciate that. Um, let me know what you thought about any of the Countless opinions in this but you've got plenty to work with okay Don't tell me you don't know what to leave and comment because I gave you like a hundred examples here That you can weigh in on let me know what you think Let me know what you think of my opinions if you want disagree with me slap me kick me spit on me Whatever don't spit on me. That's gross as always. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video catch you