Nicolas Cole argues that creative writing teachers give vague, feel-based advice like "just trust yourself" when students ask for specific help. He compares it to a golf instructor telling someone struggling with mid-range shots to rely on intuition alone, which would be ridiculous in sports but passes for normal in writing classes.
Imagine you going to your golf instructor and being like, I really want to work on going from a fairway wood to getting to the green. I don't want to work on the initial drive. I don't want to work on chipping. I don't want to work on putting. I just want to improve going from the midpoint to getting on the green. And imagine if your golf instructor said, okay, so here's the advice I can give you. When you go and the next time you hit the ball, you just got to really do what you feel. You just got to trust yourself. If you were playing golf, you would get upset by that. You would think that that is ridiculous. And yet, this is how storytelling and creative writing and fiction writing gets taught everywhere.
What Every Writer Gets Wrong About Their Audience #writing #creator #writingtips
