Writing Tips or just Fluff?. Much writing advice on Medium lacks…
By: Frankie Faunet
Tags: Advice, Writing Tips, Culture, Coffee, Writing

Writing Tips or just Fluff?

Photo by Kwame Anim on Unsplash

I have to be honest — I see so much fluff here on Medium, and never more than when it comes to writing tips and advice. I don’t mean any disrespect to the writers I’ve interacted with since joining the platform, but sometimes the cycle gets so meta that the rules of physics seem to stop applying.

“You, too, can be a successful writer!”

“Talent is less important than hard work.”

“Consistency is what matters — ”

“I used to struggle, but then I learned to trust myself…”

“Finding your voice requires practice.”

“Every writer needs cupcakes if they are serious about entering the gumdrop kingdom!”

Photo by carolyn christine on Unsplash

Okay, I’m having a little bit of a laugh here, but the behind the joke I am starting to feel like the content of the writing is either being stripped away or it never existed. Surely things happen to these writing advice writers, yes? Surely they have earlobes and allergies and cousins suggest camping trips and unusual views on sex involving trampolines and pets and spouses wondering why they spend more time commenting on Medium than on having conversations with people in the room. Right?

I live in a boring part of a boring country — dull even in these most interesting times (ps. how are there so many people happily advising away as if there isn’t a global pandemic killing tens of thousands of people a day?) — and every day there are real, concrete, eccentric things that I could at least mention in a piece about writing advice, at worst by way of analogy.

Photo by Andrea Tummons on Unsplash

Last night I was trying to cook dinner in a hurry, and was busy chopping herbs faster than my mobile prep station could take it, so the whole thing started shaking and shifting. Before I knew it, I had tipped over a can of ground coffee (we use real beans daily, but have a can of decaf on hand in case of a rare emergency in which we need coffee taste without the jolt!) spilling the stuff everywhere. Instead of saving time by cooking quickly, I made a mess by rushing and ended up spending more time in the cleanup than if I had just kept a normal pace. My advice? Don’t spill coffee grounds everywhere when you’re writing!

See? That’s not so hard. And I didn’t even mention my partner asking me why I am spending more time commenting on Medium than on having conversations with people in the room. Right-o!

Photo by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash

I think the very sad truth of all this metawriting is that it reveals people’s need to make money in a very wintry economic context. Write write write writing in an attempt to build a business, even if it’s not selling much of substance, with the hope of escaping some terrible economic circumstances. Either that or they are AI bots funding cyber espionnage campaigns. My empathy, whatever the case. I’ll clap for you, if that helps, but the advice isn’t helping much.

I wonder if I’m just too French to be able to learn from people who are both so opaque and so earnest? Maybe if these writers would just complain a bit more and I’d feel more at home. Like, you’re broke? Me too. We’re broke! Together!

But I can still offer you a coffee. You can get the next one.