The mathematician Gauss said, "You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length."<p>This is what almost everyone on the internet gets wrong these days, especially writers on medium and other blogging platforms, but also writers on the BBC and the Guardian. Their articles are too long and padded.<p>I guess I can't fully blame them. Google prioritizes lengthy texts as a signal of being authoritative and comprehensive. Most texts these days are twice as long as they need to be.
> To show, not tell.<p>This is the biggest difference between poor writing and a masterpiece.<p>For example I just watched episode 2 of the new Star Wars series Ahsoka — where two characters literally tell each other the backstory… for ten minutes.<p>It’s like listening to two school students reading out the plot summary of a novel.
I’ve been experimenting recently with listening to my writing via a text-to-speech program as a part of the editing process. It’s great for noticing odd sentence patterns and overused words that are less obvious when reading.<p>This is different from merely reading it out loud by yourself, which doesn’t give you enough distance.
This whole process is ripe for "photoshop for writing" software that could help you assembly-line the process somewhat. Storyboarding – describing characteristics of the characters, planning the character evolution, who they meet when, how they change as a person etc, key plot elements – knowing all the well-known and famous plot "compositions" from greatest literature – and using them as templates to create your plot for your characters., checking for factual correctness within your universe, logical consistency etc. fixing your vocabulary – keeping your dictionary of words as small or as big as you want, writing style at a sentence/paragraph/chapter level – being descriptive, being easy to read from a paperback, being easy to listen as an audiobook etc. Software could help you do each of these steps – with AI – and just as a workflow that's split among many different specialized humans – and as process steps that's done in some sequential and iterative manner. I sure hope such a software already exists, if not, I wonder why nobody has already done it.
> A great way to see your own work afresh (to read it like a reader) is to deliberately reread your own stuff in slow motion; intensely aware of the order in which the words arrive, and of what they are making happen in your head.<p>And a great way to facilitate this (which I'm surprised the author didn't mention!) is to change the font in your word processor, or to paste your draft into a different text editing program, or anything else that physically transforms how your draft <i>looks.</i><p>When you're doing line edits, adding friction between your words and your eyeballs helps you review each sentence more deliberately; otherwise, it's too easy to glide past the same sentences you've already read a dozen times without considering how they actually sound.
Why is this obsession with “writing”? Every second technical blog post reads like a bad attempt at fiction. To get to the gist of the content which can be fitted in a couple of paragraphs, now we have to meander through pointless metaphors, semi-relevant anecdata and manipulative rhetorical methods.
I've started writing fiction (again for the first time in many years) as a side project cos I had an idea which I think is kind of cool. Reading this has filled me with joy and I will absolutely be using all of the techniques here, especially the big "SHITE" in red pen.<p>ETA: the funny thing is I'm a software engineer by trade, have been for 18 years, and I gotta say, there is nothing more satisfying than deleting code. Give me a PR filled with seas of red. I love it. Makes a tonne of sense writing would be the same.
On of the best editing tools in an editors toolbox is the reverse outline.<p>When you read a text try to make a way too detailed outline for it. In a good text this will still make sense, if you text has jumpy thoughts they will show up in that reverse outline and you can fix them by removing or reshuffling things or by reducing the interuption of the inserted text (by shortening the passage, by rephrasing the sentence, by moving it into a footnote, etc.)
The Stinging Fly is also a fantastic magazine of new short ficton and poetry that I highly reccomend. It's one of the few I've maintained a long-running subscription to. The quality of what they print, and their willingness to print challenging and unusual things, makes them well worth checking out.
Does anyone like the third version of the "flip it" episode?<p>Yes, has more details in it, but does it really matter she spit the gum in the gutter?<p>I feel the first version, was just the right amount of information, just put in the wrong order.
Whenever I have the chance, I put what I write through GPT or Claude with an appropriate prompt, something like "rewrite this to be to the point and engaging"<p>Then I edit the two together.