Author and Editor (one of the best out there) Dario Ciriello wrote a nice guest post on the Hugo-nominated Castalia House blog this morning on writing advice:
The push to force everyone into a one-size-fits-all template began in Hollywood and is now rampant in the publishing industry. Don’t get me wrong: there are plenty of good people on the creative side of traditional publishing, readers and editors who really care about storytelling and discovering new authors. But they’ve been sipping the Kool-Aid too, right along with the authors of all the writing books, websites, and blogs which parrot the same, tired dogma to writers desperate to publish. And although there’s plenty of excellent advice out there, so much of it is buried among mountains of generalization, dross, and sheer nonsense that most writers learning their craft learn only to march in lockstep. Before long, they’re churning out the same cookie-cutter fiction as everyone else.
You can check out the whole thing here. I’ve read his whole book, Drown The Cat, which is available for preorder. It’s great advice for newer writers, espeically compared to all the books out there that tell you the same thing to make you write the same as everyone else. Be your own voice. That’s what Dario teaches and it’s about the most important thing you can learn.
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