Warning: Writing coach at a workshop gave me advice that killed my story

I went to a creative writing workshop in Portland last month and this one guy in his 50s told me to cut out every adjective from my opening scene. He said it would make the writing cleaner and more professional. I took out like 30 words and the whole thing lost its voice and felt like a boring police report. Has anyone else had a bad experience following someone's editing rules too literally?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly_hill29d ago

Ugh yeah some writing advice is just plain bad if you follow it like a robot.

wesley13929d ago

Yeah but hold on, @kelly_hill, sometimes the blunt advice is the stuff that actually works if you give it a real shot. Cutting adjectives forces you to find stronger nouns and verbs instead of just piling on fluff, which can make a scene hit way harder. I've seen people's writing totally transform when they stop relying on fancy description and let the action do the talking.