Answers that are off-topic

Question

I have noticed this problem occur repeatedly within Writers. Whether it extends to other SE sites, I don't know (I would guess it does, but I haven't watched them closely).

This problem concerns chiefly certain members in Writers, whose names I will not mention. It should be noted that I have seen certain people doing this repeatedly. It should also be noted that these are highly respected members of the community.

I have asked, viewed, and answered several questions concerning the three-act-structure. On nearly every one of those questions, at least one of the mentioned users will have an answer, explaining why you should not use the three-act structure. This answer does not help the question. Not only does it not answer it, but it invites discussion and arguments in the form of comments. These answers have been posted repeatedly (I am not providing links to protect the identity of the users, but can do so if necessary).

This problem does not extend to the three-act structure. Just today I asked a question, and the first answer was one explaining why the writing tool I had a question about was a bad idea and should not be used. It did nothing to answer the question. This is the second of my questions alone that has received answers like this.

I believe these answers detract from the user experience (they have from mine, anyway), and are in general harmful to the question. What can/should we do to prevent them?

Examples:

This question is an extreme example. There were multiple answers that did not address the question. Only after comments on quite a few of them, asking the question again, was I able to get an answer.

This question is the one I mentioned, which I asked only recently.

I feel there was another question asked by someone else which I saw recently, but I now cannot find it.

EDIT: After reading what's answer, I realize now what the problem is. I know everyone who replies is just trying to help. They mean well, and I value their opinions. My problem is when those opinions surface as answers.

I believe the purpose of an answer is to answer the question. Explaining why the format the question is using is wrong does not answer the question. However, these opinions are of course valuable, so I feel they should be posted as comments, not answers.

Answer 1

I guess you are mostly talking about me. You are welcome to mention me in your question. I'm not sure I'm "respected" by the other users, I've been known to post offensive comments. Reputation is not equal to respect.

As to your question here:

I have explained how I came to my conclusions about how you can best learn to write in this recent answer: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17719/5645 In short: I used to believe in how-to books, but have found that they don't work for beginners. That is both my personal experience and what I gleaned from reading what other, professional writers wrote or said about their career.

I am absolutely convinced that you can only learn writing by writing a lot, and that trying to learn writing from books is in fact detrimental to your goal of mastering writing. You have read many fiction books (I guess), so you know what a book must be like, and all you need to do is try to write such a book. You will most likely fail the first time, but every time you try it, you will get better, until you have finally mastered the craft. Writing is like riding a bike in this respect. It is the repetition that teaches you, not the explanation. You cannot explain how to write.

The mistake that almost all beginning writers make is that they want the first book they write to be perfect. They are perfectionists and afraid of failure. So they read how-to books and follow those instructions and struggle with their first book for years and still their book does not get published because it is flat and lifeless and stereotyped and eventually most beginners give up – instead of carlessly writing ten increasingly better failures and one masterpiece that gets published in the same time. If you do not read how-to books but write ten books, one after the other, the tenth will get published.

This is my conviction. It may be wrong for you. But it has certainly worked for me and every other writer or artist I know.

As for the "bridging conflict", it is never good to introduce a secondary storyline only to cover up a boring part of your book. If you want to do that, don't expect me to help you, because I want to help you write a great book, not one that I would be disappointed to read.

My answers here are meant to help you with your ultimate goal: that of writing a book that readers will love. You may have minor goals that you think will lead you there, but I would be a bad person if I did not tell you that I thought that you were on the wrong track.

But I have said what I wanted to tell you, and I'll try not to answer any other of your questions. But I usually don't read the names of who asks a question, and if I mistakenly answer one of yours, please just ignore my answer or downvote it. I won't take it personally.

I do wish you luck with your writing and hope that one day I will find a book you wrote in a bookstore. And if, after publishing your first novel, you find that I was wrong, please come back here and help other beginners not to get fooled by my false advice.