3 ms·
Andy Weir once gave a great bit of writing advice: never tell people what you're working on before it's done. His reasoning was that it prevents you from seekin
by madrox 3y ago
Andy Weir once gave a great bit of writing advice: never tell people what you're working on before it's done. His reasoning was that it prevents you from seeking the dopamine hit of telling someone your idea and having them like the idea. Instead, it forced you to keep asking yourself if you think this story is really done. This avoids the trap many aspiring craftsmen fall into that makes them want to bypass the hard work and developing your inner critic.
Andy also had a great strategy to start writing: put it on the internet. Nothing is better for brutally honest feedback than the internet. The Martian was certainly way better for it.
- ivraatiems 3y agoAndy Weir's advice is really good and something that honestly, as a writer, I should stick to more. I wouldn't post my work on the Internet, though. The problem with the internet is that there's a lot of, frankly, very poor quality feedback that might be brutally honest, but also isn't useful. People will tell you loudly and intently that you must do something in way X, but the reality is that the professional advice would be way Y, and for your situation, way Z is also OK. Everyone (myself included) has a tendency to sound super certain of things they should actually be maybe 50-60% certain about. And heaven help you if you happen to talk about anything political or otherwise controversial. Then you either end up in a room of yes-men who agree with and love everything you do, or a chamber of endless hate and rage at your existence.
- kadoban 3y ago> People will tell you loudly and intently that you must do something in way X, but the reality is that the professional advice would be way Y, and for your situation, way Z is also OK. The way I've heard it (I _think_ from Sanderson), people are generally quite good at telling you where something is wrong but _awful_ at telling you how to fix it.
- ivraatiems 3y agoYes! That's a great way of putting it.
- dharmab 3y agoIn game development I believe developers should listen to their players complaints but never to how the players would fix the problems.
- raybb 3y agoI think they're sometimes called identity goals https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ulterior-motives/200905/if-you-want-to-succeed-dont-tell-anyone https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ulterior-motives/200... Though I wonder how far can this idea can be traced.
- 8bitsrule 3y agoA developing idea has a level of pressure/energy that drives its realization. Relieving that pressure for that hit can be -so- tempting ... and fatal.