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🥑 Q&A: bad writing advice

🥑 Q&A: bad writing advice

i asked. you answered. badly.

Addison Horner
June 16, 2025

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I asked Bookstagram about the worst writing advice they’ve ever received.

The responses were awful (which means they were great). Let’s highlight a couple.

You can’t write a character unless you look like them. Correct representation is, of course, incredibly helpful and wildly complex, but I struggled to write from male POVs for years because I worried I couldn’t “understand the male experience”. Turns out, I can write relatable male characters just fine—I simply had to treat them with the respect and thoughtfulness I gave female character[s]!

Emma Hill, author of And Maybe They Fall in Love

I love the nuance in this comment. As I write a heist fantasy series featuring multiple characters with Down syndrome, I have to reckon with the fact that I will never know what it’s like to have Down syndrome. Neither will I ever be a teenage girl like my protagonist.

People aren’t monoliths, but they’re all people. Treat them with respect, consider their perspectives, and open yourself up to learning where you may be wrong about them. That’s the key to writing like a human.

As for direct advice I have received that I deemed "bad" . . . some of my stories had stoic men cry too often, and I cannot stress enough about how much that annoyed me.

@nadezhdamiloshevska95

I have no context for whether this advice came from patriarchal ignorance or a misunderstanding of character—so first, let me say, men cry. Of course we do. We’re human.

Characters (like people) aren’t monoliths. When you establish a stoic character, you can use emotional outbursts as a sign of development or growth. Whether the reader believes you or not can definitely be informed by their own biases. It also depends on whether the journey leads us to that destination.

If you’re wondering whether your characters’ emotions are believable, you may need a developmental edit. It’s a good thing I’m in your inbox.

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