
Writing, Briefly (2005) - lihaciudaniel
http://www.paulgraham.com/writing44.html
======
lemonberry
One of my philosophy professors told me once, "Remember: you can't edit
nothing, but you can edit shit". Advice that's valuable beyond writing.

~~~
dlo
This is an excellent quote. I'd like to attribute it properly -- would you
mind naming this professor?

~~~
lemonberry
Out of respect for his privacy I'll reach out to him and ask.

~~~
dlo
That's very admirable behavior. If he assents, please do share his identity --
even if privately.

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ivan_ah
+1 about the need for rewriting. There's a really good quote about that:

    
    
        “There is no such thing as good writing,
         only good rewriting.”
                                    — Robert Graves
    
    

Unfortunately most of the writing we tend to do in the day-to-day is throwaway
one-off stuff like emails, which are not worth polishing that much. As soon as
you have a 1+ audience though, and especially for marketing and webcopy,
investing the time to cleanup the message becomes super worth it.

------
jasonshen
The tips in bullet form:

\- 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.

~~~
gurkendoktor
I think a numbered list works even better for rules. The German translation of
this article looks so much more satisfying to me.

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chrisseldo
A great book that helped me was "On Writing" by Stephen King.

[https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-
Craft...](https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-
Craft/dp/1439156816)

------
dang
A thread from 2008:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=188385](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=188385).

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carapace
(Re)read Strunk & White every few years.

~~~
zimpenfish
Although perhaps bear in mind that professional linguists and grammarians
consider S&W to be garbage advice.

e.g.
[https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=15509](https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=15509)

> Strunk's dreadful little book of drivel.

> Virtually nothing useful about English grammar can be learned from Strunk.

> the grammatical claims Strunk makes are foolish assertions

You can find many more examples with a quick search.

~~~
carapace
I'd find it more convincing if the writing there was better.

I don't say that S&W is or should be the end-all-be-all of English; by all
means, pick and choose.

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throwanem
Among the rules for good writing should also be, don't use four thousand
semicolons to weld your entire essay into a heaving sea of words which offers
the reader not even the life ring of a majuscule here and there.

~~~
saagarjha
I'm not sure I can agree; semicolons can come in handy occasionally.

~~~
throwanem
Oh, sure! _Occasionally._ In moderation and with care. _Not,_ in other words,
the way they're used in the linked farrago.

~~~
ulisesrmzroche
A what the hell? Farrago? That’s a bigger sin than semicolons

~~~
throwanem
In the days when dictionaries were not yet omnipresent, I heeded complaints
about the breadth of my lexicon. Now, when the meaning of every word in the
world is nigh instantaneously knowable from every Internet-connected device
including the one you used to fuss about "farrago", I no longer worry about
it. Congratulations! You learned a new word today.

~~~
ulisesrmzroche
This sounds like I’m on prank show. You talk like this in real life? Why are
you using all these big words? Why not keep it simple stupid?

It’s way worse to write like you do than to list stuff out with semicolons,

