Greetings,
Ya know, even writers like myself, who are brilliant, genius, and obviously kissed by the literary angels, need to occasionally humble ourselves and get some writing advice. Now, thanks to the interwebs, there are plenty of places that one can go to obtain very good doses of just that. But ironically, I've decided to spotlight a place where I found some - you guessed it - Terrible Writing Advice.
Okay, in all seriousness, I am talking about a YouTube channel called Terrible Writing Advice. I think I found it when I was just looking for videos about writing. I do that a lot, but I run the risk of coming across videos of arrogant and pretentious writers who are more looking to pat themselves on the back talking about how great they are, rather than to give any decent advice. Well, these videos are nothing like that. They are pretty unique, I must say. And even though the channel is clearly labeled as to what it is, I may have been taken aback a bit when I started listening and thinking, "Hey, wait. That's not right." But therein lies the point.
What the creator of this channel, J.P. Beaubien, does is make these hilarious and kinda adorable little animated videos where he gives really bad advice about writing. But the joke is that all that advice is framed as though it is good. Very good, in some cases. With each one, he chooses a topic, such as Urban Fantasy, Mary Sues, Writer's Block or the dreaded task of Taking Criticism, and proceeds to very amusingly tell us what (not) to do. And it's just glorious. Not to mention surprisingly beneficial.
See, that's the ironic thing. Even though I'm pretty sure this channel was created for entertainment purposes, if you pay close attention, you will actually end up getting some really valuable writing advice. I can't even tell you how many times I've watched one of these videos, heard him talking about something that I know I am sometimes guilty of doing and thought, "Oh, crap. Maybe I should stop doing that". It's almost like some form of reverse psychology or something. But whatever works, as they say.
And this works quite well. I often wonder if the best companion of education is entertainment. This channel sort of proves that might be true. I mean, anyone can make monotonous videos with boring lectures listing off all the rules of writing, but I doubt anyone would learn much from that. 'Cause they'd fall asleep! But if you can keep someone laughing whilst giving them some great info, said info will sink in a lot deeper and be easier to remember.
So, that is why Terrible Writing Advice is officially one of my favorites on YouTube. I even have it featured as such on my own channel, not that Mr. Beaubien needs my help. His channel is doing nicely and growing at a good rate, something that is much deserved. In fact, I hope it continues to grow, especially among young and new writers. Heck, I kind of hope that some English teacher finds these videos and shows them in class. They all have some excellent education for the craft.
And did I mention that I love how this guy talks?
Anyway, I always appreciate when people try to help others, and doing it this way, with so much effort put into it, makes me feel even more grateful. As a writer myself and one who wants to be the best that I can, I take all the advice I can get to achieve that goal. And if someone can make me smile at the same time, I welcome that even more. So, I am extremely happy that I have something like Terrible Writing Advice to go to for a laugh and a lesson.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
