Bad Writing Advice

Official Twitter of Horace Throne, acclaimed author of the novels And So We Beat On, Memory Street, Ice on the Rocks, The Dirigible, She Devastates, and others.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

I don’t like to give away my hardest-learned secrets of the craft, but I’m feeling kind this evening: adverbs.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

Is any form more less inspiring and revealing that the trilogy?

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

The Bard wrote King Lear under quarantine, but 36 plays when free. Let that sink in.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

“The Scotch stains and chip-worn mahogany of his desk glowed under the tinny light of his lamp... the manuscripts he’d graded there, the Pulitzers he’d won... the students he’d loved ...” Excerpt from, “The Dinosaur of Harvard,” appearing in next month’s @NewYorker 12,000 words.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

I get so frustrated when students complain about writer’s block. First, you aren’t writers yet. Second, the cure is as simple as reading one of my books. #kidstoday #newlostgeneration

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

If you aren’t allowed to talk during your critique, how will your classmates know what you meant?

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

The best writing advice I ever received was this: “Even if you have nothing to say, write.”

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

Dream journal every night before bed.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

I tell my students at the start of each trimester, “‘Artist,’ stands for ‘Art is T.’” The T, wise students already know, stands for Torture.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

Your character’s name says NOTHING about your character and EVERYTHING about your character’s parents... and mostly about the dad.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

If a sad scene you wrote makes you cry you wrote it wrong. Toss it, start over. Your job is manipulating the world’s emotions, not your own.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

No breaks.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

“His long-dormant member thrombosed at her touch, alive for the first time since Magdelina’s suicide.” From #thecuckhold’sportion, out soon.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

My latest out soon: "The Cuckhold's Portion." Was gathering dust for decades, then had a sudden bidding war. NEVER GIVE UP. #mentorlessons

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

A story you can tell simply is not writing, it is conversation. Do the work. Do the work. Do the work.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

When writing from personal experience, change no detail. You already wrote the scene --when you LIVED it. You don't need to write it again.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

From my novel, She Devastates: "I could tell by her hungry look of surprise, she'd never seen a member as large as mine." #writewhatyouknow

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

Always look for ways to put a fresh spin on the old. Example from my latest short story in the @NewYorker : "It was a dark and stormy day."

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

Don't write from a messy home. Do those dishes, clean that closet, make that Goodwill run -- there will ALWAYS be time to write afterwards.

[Bad Writing Advice @writeitbad]

Always read your description lines aloud, but NEVER your dialogue.