The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Weird

Last night I started to write a post about POV, but I decided against it. It was just railing at the world anyway, and no one needs to hear it. (And I certainly don't need to do it.)

So I thought I'd post a little bit about the bits of advice we writers get via the internet. It seems like every Tom, Dick or Mary has a tips for being a successful writer. Some of this information is very good (like Miss Snark, or Lit Agent X, or Agent Kristin at PubRants). And some of this information is crap. (See Bad Advice.) Sometimes the information we find, however, is just so damn weird you can't help but sit there slack-jawed staring at the screen with a blank look in your eyes.

I ran across this very thing this morning. While reading my daily Snark, I saw a mention of another site where an author I've never heard of talks about how to write a query letter. (I'm not linking to it and I won't mention any names--the chick isn't getting any free advertising here.) A statement this person makes completely cornfuzzled my brain. She said that writing a query letter in standard business letter format makes a writer appear to be illiterate.

Umm... Okay.

Did we miss the meaning of illiterate somewhere along the way? She can't seriously believe any agent/editor/publisher receives a query letter in business format and thinks to themselves "My god, this person can't read!" Puleeze. And even if she misspoke and didn't really mean illiterate, the whole idea that a business letter format on a query letter means you've killed any chance at representation/publication is just plain silly. I know the industry is a bit different sometimes, but come on...

Thank you, Miss Snark for putting the kybosh on that crap before it spread.

This person has done one wonderful thing though. (I mean aside from giving people fodder for their blogs this morning.) She has proved a point I've made repeatedly here at Musings. Before you accept any advice about anything... Consider the source. Think for yourself. And for godsakes, don't believe everyone on the internet knows what they're talking about.

That includes me. ;o)