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« Just tell her how you feel, she’ll understand. »

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〖  Bad writing advice  〗

Bad writing advice

Bad writing advice

Writing advice is everywhere. Some of it might even be good! But we were interested in the bad. We asked seven writers for the worst writing advice they were ever given. Bad in general, or bad for them in particular. Bad advice about writing discipline, bad advice about self-expression and bad advice about the audience. For the authors we spoke to, the worst bad advice was given by established writers & rich people, while the best bad advice backfired into good advice.

☞ Mansoura Ez-Eldin: « You should always think of your readers while writing. »

 Ralph Tharayil: « Never listen to people’s opinions on your ongoing work »

☞ Ido Nahari: « Just tell her how you feel, she’ll understand. »

 Rebecca Rukeyser: « Humanity lies only in the details. »

 Sytske van Koeveringe: « People want a clear story, to be taken along. »

 Khaled Alesmael: « Write only in Swedish.»

 Samar Yazbek: « Let yourself be carried away by the madness of inspiration.»

We asked seven writers for the worst writing advice they were ever given. Bad in general, or bad for them in particular. Bad advice about writing discipline, bad advice about self-expression and bad advice about the audience.


Now, I have no recollection of who imparted me with this advice. Most likely, it was one of my parents, older sister, or a conniving classmate who aspired to witness the social demise of a freckled boy in first grade. But one thing was clear to me: I would not be able to attend another class of arithmetic without writing that girl with braided hair how much I really, really, really liked her.

What I wrote, alas, does not come to mind. The little that I do recall is passing her a little crinkly ball of paper, expressing therein how much I wanted us to play with the yellow toy truck over recess together. But the moment she concluded reading my declaration, she put the note on her desk and started crying. And let me tell you, those were not tears of joy. In all fairness, the bad writing advice turned out to be accurate. I did just tell her what I felt, and she did, in fact, understand it.


Ido Nahari is a sociologist, researcher and writer. He is currently serving as an editor for Arts of the Working Class.

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