There's No Quick Hack To Writing Success

Yes yes, I get the irony — an advice article condemning advice articles, but this needs to be said.

Anyone who has made a buck in the writing game has written at least one article advising aspiring writers exactly how to do it.

Article headlines and subheadings with conviction garner more clicks, those are the simple facts. Something tentative, while more honest, will probably put off a casual reader looking for a quick answer to all their problems.

That means an article telling saying “You MUST do these 7 things NOW to succeed!” will perform better than something like “7 things that worked for me and might work for you”.

Problem? Too many convincing voices with conflicting information.

“It worked for me, and it can work for you too!” some will say, and we’ll take the bait, click, give it a read, and usually see the same sort of generic self-help that I often suspect is being written by AI as opposed to actual humans… I mean, how is it that all these people write basically the same article, almost word for word?

The less generic, to their credit, will give actionable steps based on their experience, and some might even genuinely be writing in the hopes of helping people out.

“Learn from my mistakes folks,” they’ll say, “we’re all in this together.”

Sure we are, but if it was that easy, every man and his dog would be making money with their writing, and there’d be no need for any other advice articles to be written. We’d become a writer economy, and the idea of a “struggling writer” would fade in to history forever.

Here’s the thing

This gig is hard. Damn hard.

If you read 10 articles today explaining how to succeed in writing (not the generic ones extolling you to “write every day” and “practice to improve your writing”), you’ll be pulled in 10 different directions all at once.

Everyone has their own story, their own way in to the game, their own experience of what does and doesn’t work for them. Everyone makes their own mistakes, and I’d argue, they need to make those mistakes.

A shortcut to success sounds great, and if you can find one, then be my guest. Failing sucks, but it creates tough skin and determination, things that you’ll need if you want to get anywhere with the words you smack on your keyboard.

But the point is that there is no real shortcut. Not really. Some might slog for years before they get anywhere, some might strike almost immediately. What does that teach us?

They got lucky.

It would be like if I won the lottery and told all my friends the secret to my success was the numbers I chose, and my friends played the same numbers the following weeks hoping to win themselves. It doesn’t work that way.

Walk your own path

Sometimes walking the well trodden path is tempting. Who are we to doubt those that came before us? We have this tendency to assume others are far more knowledgeable than us and that we’d be arrogant to assume we know better.

Often, that is absolutely correct. If I take tennis lessons and my instructor tells me how best to deliver a smooth backhand, I’m not going to tell her to bugger off and let me do it my own way. That will lead to a crap backhand.

But there’s a difference between seeking and paying for lessons to improve, and getting free advice on the internet.

I took a degree in English Literature which specialised in Creative Writing, and I can assure you, I didn’t sit at the back of the class rolling my eyes during workshops. There’s a difference between learning and advice: don’t be confused by the two.

Returning then to our well trodden path (and well trodden cliché, I appreciate): have you ever wondered, when looking at that path, that maybe everyone has gone the wrong way? Perhaps taking the other path will lead to some beautiful sights.

Or perhaps it’ll lead to your demise as you plummet off a cliff in to the great void beyond.

But maybe all those other people are missing out on something special. Maybe the well trodden path was once good, but is now so over populated that it is ruined, and the quieter path at least gives you some peace. Maybe the only reason the well trodden path is so well trodden is because one person chose that way and never shut up about how good it was and everyone ought to do the same.

Who knows, right? And that’s the thing: no one does.

Trying to find the best way to succeed as a writer is like trying to find the best way to win the lottery. There is no “best way.” Allowing yourself to be pulled from pillar to post by different writers all claiming that their way is the only way to succeed will only slow you down, demoralise you when you find what worked for them doesn’t work for you (“it’s because I’m not as talented as them, that’s why I failed”), and distract you from finding your own path.

Experiment with different strategies, styles, platforms, whatever. Sure, that’s always a good idea. Find what works for you. But if some successful person pens a 1000 word article tomorrow telling you that you must “do these 6 things to succeed”, either run for the hills or take it with a pinch of salt.

In fact no, make that a bucket. That’s my advice.

Take it or leave it, find what works for you.