Ga offline met de app Player FM !
Podcasts die het beluisteren waard zijn
GESPONSORDE
Writing, Briefly - Concise and Effective Writing Techniques
Manage episode 383380140 series 3528180
"This article written by Paul Graham in 2005 discusses the importance of good writing and how to improve one's writing skills. It points out that writing not only conveys ideas but also generates them. It emphasizes that being a writer requires constantly rewriting your work, eliminating anything unnecessary, writing in a conversational style, and recognizing and correcting bad writing. It also provides tips on self-confidence, writing for the general reader rather than the careful reader, and correcting your mistakes. This is a valuable guide for anyone who enjoys writing or wants to improve their writing skills.
---
# Writing, Briefly (Concise and Effective Writing Techniques)
March 2005
_(In the process of answering an email, I accidentally wrote a tiny essay about writing. I usually spend weeks on an essay. This one took 67 minutes—23 of writing, and 44 of rewriting.)_
I think it's far more important to write well than most people realize. Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you're bad at writing and don't like to do it, you'll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated.
As for how to write well, here's the short version: Write a bad version 1 as fast as you can; rewrite it over and over; cut out everything unnecessary; write in a conversational tone; develop a nose for bad writing, so you can see and fix it in yours; imitate writers you like; if you can't get started, tell someone what you plan to write about, then write down what you said; expect 80% of the ideas in an essay to happen after you start writing it, and 50% of those you start with to be wrong; be confident enough to cut; have friends you trust read your stuff and tell you which bits are confusing or drag; don't(always) make detailed outlines; mull ideas over for a few days before writing; carry a small notebook or scrap paper with you; start writing when you think of the first sentence; if a deadline forces you to start before that, just say the most important sentence first; write about stuff you like; don't try to sound impressive; don't hesitate to change the topic on the fly; use footnotes to contain digressions; use anaphora to knit sentences together; read your essays out loud to see(a) where you stumble over awkward phrases and(b) which bits are boring(the paragraphs you dread reading); try to tell the reader something new and useful; work in fairly big quanta of time; when you restart, begin by rereading what you have so far; when you finish, leave yourself something easy to start with; accumulate notes for topics you plan to cover at the bottom of the file; don't feel obliged to cover any of them; write for a reader who won't read the essay as carefully as you do, just as pop songs are designed to sound ok on crappy car radios; if you say anything mistaken, fix it immediately; ask friends which sentence you'll regret most; go back and tone down harsh remarks; publish stuff online, because an audience makes you write more, and thus generate more ideas; print out drafts instead of just looking at them on the screen; use simple, germanic words; learn to distinguish surprises from digressions; learn to recognize the approach of an ending, and when one appears, grab it.
---
Relevant Keywords: writing tips, importance of writing, writing process, improving writing skills, writing for idea generation, conversational writing, rewriting and editing, writing and creativity, writing for an online audience, effective writing techniques"
215 afleveringen
Manage episode 383380140 series 3528180
"This article written by Paul Graham in 2005 discusses the importance of good writing and how to improve one's writing skills. It points out that writing not only conveys ideas but also generates them. It emphasizes that being a writer requires constantly rewriting your work, eliminating anything unnecessary, writing in a conversational style, and recognizing and correcting bad writing. It also provides tips on self-confidence, writing for the general reader rather than the careful reader, and correcting your mistakes. This is a valuable guide for anyone who enjoys writing or wants to improve their writing skills.
---
# Writing, Briefly (Concise and Effective Writing Techniques)
March 2005
_(In the process of answering an email, I accidentally wrote a tiny essay about writing. I usually spend weeks on an essay. This one took 67 minutes—23 of writing, and 44 of rewriting.)_
I think it's far more important to write well than most people realize. Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you're bad at writing and don't like to do it, you'll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated.
As for how to write well, here's the short version: Write a bad version 1 as fast as you can; rewrite it over and over; cut out everything unnecessary; write in a conversational tone; develop a nose for bad writing, so you can see and fix it in yours; imitate writers you like; if you can't get started, tell someone what you plan to write about, then write down what you said; expect 80% of the ideas in an essay to happen after you start writing it, and 50% of those you start with to be wrong; be confident enough to cut; have friends you trust read your stuff and tell you which bits are confusing or drag; don't(always) make detailed outlines; mull ideas over for a few days before writing; carry a small notebook or scrap paper with you; start writing when you think of the first sentence; if a deadline forces you to start before that, just say the most important sentence first; write about stuff you like; don't try to sound impressive; don't hesitate to change the topic on the fly; use footnotes to contain digressions; use anaphora to knit sentences together; read your essays out loud to see(a) where you stumble over awkward phrases and(b) which bits are boring(the paragraphs you dread reading); try to tell the reader something new and useful; work in fairly big quanta of time; when you restart, begin by rereading what you have so far; when you finish, leave yourself something easy to start with; accumulate notes for topics you plan to cover at the bottom of the file; don't feel obliged to cover any of them; write for a reader who won't read the essay as carefully as you do, just as pop songs are designed to sound ok on crappy car radios; if you say anything mistaken, fix it immediately; ask friends which sentence you'll regret most; go back and tone down harsh remarks; publish stuff online, because an audience makes you write more, and thus generate more ideas; print out drafts instead of just looking at them on the screen; use simple, germanic words; learn to distinguish surprises from digressions; learn to recognize the approach of an ending, and when one appears, grab it.
---
Relevant Keywords: writing tips, importance of writing, writing process, improving writing skills, writing for idea generation, conversational writing, rewriting and editing, writing and creativity, writing for an online audience, effective writing techniques"
215 afleveringen
All episodes
×1 You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss - The Notion of Having a Boss: The Unnaturalness of Working in Large Corporations 16:37
1 Writing and Speaking - The Art of Writing and Speaking: Exploring the Relationship Between Ideas and Communication 8:06
1 Write Like You Talk - Writing as You Speak: A Simple Method to Engage Your Audience in Your Writings 5:36
1 Why Twitter is a Big Deal - Understanding the Significant Influence and Importance of Twitter 2:09
1 Why TV Lost - Why Television Lost Its Dominance Over Computers and the Shift Towards New Media Concepts 10:41
1 Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy - The Logic Behind Establishing a Startup During Economic Downturns 7:44
1 Why to Not Not Start a Startup - Excuses for Not Starting a Business Venture and the Illogic Behind Them 37:27
1 Why There Aren't More Googles - The Reasons Behind the Lack of More Companies like Google: An Examination on Investors and Start-up Companies 9:31
1 Why Startups Condense in America - The Concentration of Startups in America and How Other Countries Can Emulate This Success 30:31
1 Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas - Exploring Why Intelligent Individuals Sometimes Possess Poor Ideas 20:17
Welkom op Player FM!
Player FM scant het web op podcasts van hoge kwaliteit waarvan u nu kunt genieten. Het is de beste podcast-app en werkt op Android, iPhone en internet. Aanmelden om abonnementen op verschillende apparaten te synchroniseren.