FireGod365
kiwifarms.net
Terrible Writing Advice does sarcastic writing advice on writing, mostly genre fiction. The creator is also an author himself.
What do you think of Terrible Writing Advice? -
- Thread starter FireGod365
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What do I think? I think it's kinda obvious he did the channel to advertise his books. Apparenly, from what I've heard, they are good. The problem with making "rules" and ironic advice about art, is that aside from entretainment value, for real people in the writing biz, it's useless. It's not a technical field and people should rather practice the art than hearing endlessly ironic critique. It's also more fun to do. And sadly, being too ironic will create you the reputation of being a bit of a jerk-ass.
From what I get from him from his Youtube videos, he seems like a decent guy. I do mean to read his book when I can, aside from that, he seems fairly self aware and his video's, while simple, are entertaining and are decent, though basic, writing advice for aspiring authors, and it seems like he's been around the block a few times. Overall; 7/10, a decent Youtuber, possibly worth subscribing to, especially if your into writing your own shit and are just starting out and looking for guidance. There's certainly far worse you can do.
Shoggoth
kiwifarms.net
Entertaining, somewhat repetitive. The fact he manages to write short entertaining videos consistently suggests he has some talent, at least.
"I don't have a muse, I have a mortgage" - Jim Butcher.
Listen to talks by guys have have published more than one hack series (aka George RR Martin) and they always talk about the insane amount of practice you have to put in, Brandon Sanderson's writing class is on youtube and pretty informative on that matter.
And the whole craft thing matters. To quote Butcher again, "What did she (his creative writing teacher) know about writing? She had merely published around 40 books, whereas I had a Masters degree in English ... So I wanted to prove to her how stupid her whole system was, so I did the character sheets and background and everything, and that was the first book of the Dresden Files".
The problem with writing is what you accidentally touched on, it is a technical field. It isn't only an art, but also a craft.
"I don't have a muse, I have a mortgage" - Jim Butcher.
Listen to talks by guys have have published more than one hack series (aka George RR Martin) and they always talk about the insane amount of practice you have to put in, Brandon Sanderson's writing class is on youtube and pretty informative on that matter.
And the whole craft thing matters. To quote Butcher again, "What did she (his creative writing teacher) know about writing? She had merely published around 40 books, whereas I had a Masters degree in English ... So I wanted to prove to her how stupid her whole system was, so I did the character sheets and background and everything, and that was the first book of the Dresden Files".
Non of us have read his stuff, so he remains untested. We need a volunteer to check it out.
Personally, if I see a nazi (even time traveling one) in one more piece of media I'm going to save Hitler gas bill expenses and just hang myself.
Do we really? Anyone who makes their name highlighting creative failure is not likely to produce anything revelatory.
If the kid could write, he wouldn't have an identity centered around highlighting people who can't. This is a fact of life in any field, and ties into the old adage - "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
Shoggoth
kiwifarms.net
I'll let you know how this theory holds up when I read Yahtzee's book
You need only look at his game design work to realize that he's both conceptually above average yet rather incompetent in practice (especially with regards to aesthetics and visual design).
Edit to add - ten bucks on that book being being a dollar store Douglas Adams novella
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Shoggoth
kiwifarms.net
I'll have a look, didn't know he worked on a game
He's dedicated, I think he'll make something good eventually.
He doesn't understand style and aesthetic as a broader concept, but that's my opinion.
Clop
kiwifarms.net
He has done a couple point-n-click adventure games years ago. Small bits of 'moon logic' aside, I didn't have a problem with them. Then there's the "hue hue jokey joke" game Hatfall which has gotten a chuckle or two out of me and it's casual as fuck. Nothing mind-blowing, but I'm not gonna piss on any of it just yet.
but seriously what if they DID win WWII guys???
I only watched their video about dystopias and thought it was actually terrible advice, but I watched it years ago so I probably missremembering things.
His videos are entertaining enough, nothing presented like that could/should be taken as professional analysis. At a basic level it functions as a primer on cliches.
Regarding his own publications, the usual rules apply: if you follow a creator for something, assume all their side-hustles are shit. Never expect any Youtuber's "art" pieces to be good. These aren't creative geniuses who could thrive in any medium, they're just spergs who are good at making pedantic commentary videos.
Regarding his own publications, the usual rules apply: if you follow a creator for something, assume all their side-hustles are shit. Never expect any Youtuber's "art" pieces to be good. These aren't creative geniuses who could thrive in any medium, they're just spergs who are good at making pedantic commentary videos.
Bonefi
kiwifarms.net
In my opinion, any writing is not an easy process and the authors really try to write something necessary. I write a little myself and often still have to use the help of professional writers. I read a Studymoose review on a great reviews site and with reviews on various writing services. And professional writers have told me such a thing that many writers have now stopped revealing the depth of the issue they are writing about, and so their texts don't look cool.
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Ughubughughughughughghlug
kiwifarms.net
I used to like him more but then he started turning away, over time, from criticizing genre cliches and badly handled stuff to thinly-veiled takedowns of specific works by criticizing things that are not necessarily flaws in the first place. Like, he would take something famous, rip on it, and call it a day.
Erwin Rotten
kiwifarms.net
I've been binging his videos for a bit recently and found that he usually targets several major titles without understanding the philosophy behind why they are the way they are. The major titles he targets are:
- Lord of the Rings
- Harry Potter
- Star Wars (original trilogy)
- Twilight
- Starship Troopers
These are 5 of the biggest influences in speculative fiction of the postmodernist era (after ww2). What he does though is indirectly say "in a vacuum, this trope is bad" but he fails to understand why the trope exists.
I study aesthetics and I study writing. I've been doing it for a decade. I understand why these stories sold so well and inspired so many. It's because they are written, not well, but in the most relatable way at a symbolic level for people to have it affect them to where they become fanatic about it and for companies to want more. There's money in it because people are buying, and people are buying because it's written so appropriately for that particular audience that it made them go crazy.
Twilight is written horribly and is stupid, that's a given. Love triangles are not considered "good" writing when abused. BUT the trope exists for a reason and people respond well to it when it's done appropriately. Twilight did it appropriately towards its directed audience. The problem for TWA is that he wants to mock it, even though it did well in that aspect, it's just that those who do it for the wrong reasons make it look bad.
A unicorn in Harry Potter fit well and was a great moment and a great thing to add. A unicorn in something like Citizen Kane doesn't make sense and would ruin the movie. For any trope, no matter what, it's how it's used and who it becomes directed at that ruins it, not that the trope exists.
As for his book being rather terrible itself (unironically) he failed to write a good book for the same reason any other authortuber fails: they don't follow their own advice and on top of that their advice is postmodernist. They have zero philosophy for their storytelling. They treat it as if everything is subjective, they must make everything "realistic"(which is their personal idea of realism), and they aim to not crash rather than establish a structure.
All of the classics have a structure, because the stories he attacks are not postmodernist, they are modernist and pre-modernist. That's how they become classics. And they do that by appealing to not only our entertainment value but to our very subconscious and unconscious. They strike us with symbolism and themes that go beyond our conscious take, which is why they stick with us for years on end. They follow a monomyth and that monomyth is important to us as readers.
TWA is sometimes on point with bad writing moments, but for the most part, following his "sarcasm" tends to make his channel name what's on the tin. He'll say something ironically, but the irony is that he's mocking something that isn't even bad.
- Lord of the Rings
- Harry Potter
- Star Wars (original trilogy)
- Twilight
- Starship Troopers
These are 5 of the biggest influences in speculative fiction of the postmodernist era (after ww2). What he does though is indirectly say "in a vacuum, this trope is bad" but he fails to understand why the trope exists.
I study aesthetics and I study writing. I've been doing it for a decade. I understand why these stories sold so well and inspired so many. It's because they are written, not well, but in the most relatable way at a symbolic level for people to have it affect them to where they become fanatic about it and for companies to want more. There's money in it because people are buying, and people are buying because it's written so appropriately for that particular audience that it made them go crazy.
Twilight is written horribly and is stupid, that's a given. Love triangles are not considered "good" writing when abused. BUT the trope exists for a reason and people respond well to it when it's done appropriately. Twilight did it appropriately towards its directed audience. The problem for TWA is that he wants to mock it, even though it did well in that aspect, it's just that those who do it for the wrong reasons make it look bad.
A unicorn in Harry Potter fit well and was a great moment and a great thing to add. A unicorn in something like Citizen Kane doesn't make sense and would ruin the movie. For any trope, no matter what, it's how it's used and who it becomes directed at that ruins it, not that the trope exists.
As for his book being rather terrible itself (unironically) he failed to write a good book for the same reason any other authortuber fails: they don't follow their own advice and on top of that their advice is postmodernist. They have zero philosophy for their storytelling. They treat it as if everything is subjective, they must make everything "realistic"(which is their personal idea of realism), and they aim to not crash rather than establish a structure.
All of the classics have a structure, because the stories he attacks are not postmodernist, they are modernist and pre-modernist. That's how they become classics. And they do that by appealing to not only our entertainment value but to our very subconscious and unconscious. They strike us with symbolism and themes that go beyond our conscious take, which is why they stick with us for years on end. They follow a monomyth and that monomyth is important to us as readers.
TWA is sometimes on point with bad writing moments, but for the most part, following his "sarcasm" tends to make his channel name what's on the tin. He'll say something ironically, but the irony is that he's mocking something that isn't even bad.
Fortunato Brown
kiwifarms.net
Do you think the craft of writing can be improved from just blunt force trying to write more and more as well as reading or do you really have to read books on how to write and whatnot to improve your craft?
