The Worst Writing Advice Ever, “Just Write”

“Just write” is often parroted as gospel to learn writing. But write what? Anything as long as it’s something on the page. But that’s not writing. That’s typing. The advice to “just write” cripples learning the basic skill that underlies all writing. Let me explain.

One of the most vital writing skills to learn is training your conscious and subconscious mind to work together. This fundamental skill is learned by a writer having clear purposes. A conscious and exact intention best prompts the subconscious to create story elements for a writer to use on the page.

To be more explicit about this point:

The first stage of writing is thinking.

A writer must know what he wants to write about. When lacking a clear purpose and instead just typing, a “writer” is not building writing muscles (premises) between his conscious and subconscious. He is teaching his mind just to vomit anything.

A writer of short pieces might get away with little thinking and much “vomiting” of words -- for a short time. But a longer article or story especially demands thinking and outlining. Spewing will not work. Over time, a writer depending on luck from his subconscious will lose confidence because he knows he doesn’t have a trusted method to write. He will find himself deeper and deeper in the black vortex of believing that writing is something magical that he has no control over. Thus grows terror.

Actionable Writing Takeaway

So, please, be a writer, not a typer! Think about and plan your story! Use your conscious mind to prompt and organize all that valuable relevant material stored in your subconscious. Carefully devise your commands/questions to your subconscious and you will get stunning story material pop up, and you will build strong productive writing muscles. You will also be learning a key thinking method that underlies creativity while more confidently creating compelling stories.

In short, good writing comes from ideas and thinking. From having a clear purpose!  

To work together to learn a writing method reply INTENT.

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