[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How to get better at writing?
___________________________________________________________________
Ask HN: How to get better at writing?
I've been writing for a while but I feel like I've stagnated for a
while. What have other people done?
Author : matthewfcarlson
Score : 130 points
Date : 2022-12-25 14:57 UTC (8 hours ago)
| pier25 wrote:
| Writing is really mostly editing and polishing.
|
| Try to read something out loud and you'll immediately hear if it
| works in terms of punctuation.
|
| Don't try to be smart and writerly. Find your natural voice. The
| point is to communicate something, not impressing with your
| skills.
|
| Listen to the music of your prose. Don't repeat the same length
| of sentences over and over again.
| eptcyka wrote:
| By writing more.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| What has really helped me is two things.
|
| 1. Condense. Much of good writing is simply signal/noise ratio!
|
| First write a draft that says all you want to say. Then go over
| it again and again, removing/rephrasing un-needed words and
| syllables. 20% compression is a decent result.
|
| 2. "Rubber ducking". Imagine showing the text to someone likely
| to read it. I've developed an "inner stranger" I show text or
| code to. He doesn't have my specialized knowledge, but is
| reasonably smart.
|
| Implied above is to always write a draft that you edit. Do NOT
| try to form a perfect text in your mind before writing!
| selfhifive wrote:
| Read books by Gary Provost on writing. Writing Tools by Roy Peter
| Clark. Draft number 4 by McPhee. They contain a variety of ideas.
| Writing Tools is great if you want to identify and drill
| techniques. Provost's books cover everything and are written
| well.
| lallysingh wrote:
| Two things:
|
| 1. Read about writing. The very tactical stuff like "On Writing
| Well" and "Writing Tools" and "The Craft of Scientific Writing"
|
| 2. Imitate writers you like. Try reading someone else's work,
| then reproducing it in their style.
| balderdash wrote:
| The Mountain Man's Field Guide to Grammar: A Fearless Adventure
| in Grammar, Style, and Usage
|
| https://a.co/d/40wyBTq
| gre wrote:
| Write 2x and cut 1/2
| yef wrote:
| Read more in order to identify the types of writing you admire,
| enjoy and perhaps wish to emulate on some level. I like William
| Zinsser's books, On Writing Well is the "flagship" I guess.
|
| If you're writing in public, like a blog, try giving yourself a
| deadline and permission for the post not to be perfect.
| tanticen wrote:
| Zinsser's On Writing Well was my game changer, can't recommend
| highly enough. And it's a fun read too.
|
| The main takeaway is to simplify text as much as possible. That
| doesn't mean dumbing it down, and it doesn't mean abandoning
| creativity. It's just the opposite: Once you get rid of all the
| excess junk, the reader will hear your genuine voice.
| denton-scratch wrote:
| I'd say that if you want to write well, read good writers.
|
| There's different styles of writing, for different purposes.
| Entertainment, intellectual debate, instruction etc. You didn't
| say what you wanted to write about.
|
| What's a good writer? Well, someone who writes well, to your
| taste, and in your domain. Or if you want to write commercially,
| someone who is commercially successful; whether or not they write
| well, I suppose.
|
| For many purposes, a knowledge of logic and rhetoric is probably
| going to help.
|
| It's hard to say - you haven't given much away.
| DantesKite wrote:
| Rewriting (by hand) the works of authors you admire is a great
| way to boost your writing skills.
|
| It'll give you an intuition and "taste" for the texture of
| writing; why you find it so compelling, even if you don't
| consciously know the rules they're applying.
|
| Highly recommend.
| suwicked1 wrote:
| [dead]
| glitchc wrote:
| Reading good writing is the first step towards improving your
| written output. Observe the techniques that resonate with you and
| incorporate them into your style. It will feel clunky at first,
| like any new exercise, but over time will become more fluid and
| seamless. Reading also builds a large vocabulary, which is
| essential to achieve fluid prose.
|
| Read the best authors for the intended style, be it story-
| writing, critical analysis or business communication. It all
| depends on the style of writing you would like to master. It's
| theor techniques that you want to emulate and make your own.
|
| Write to evoke an emotion. There must be a purpose to your
| writing. If to inform, guide the reader to an ah-ha moment. Your
| writing will be memorable if the reader feels something.
|
| Cut fluff. Every word must have a purpose. Less is more.
|
| Good writing is about refining your own voice. Write as you
| speak, speak as you write, and both will improve.
|
| Ultimately, have fun with it. Experiment with different styles.
| Writing is an art, it requires creativity. This must be
| cultivated and grown. In time, over many poorly crafted drafts, a
| unique voice, all your own, will emerge.
|
| Best of luck!
| tdhz77 wrote:
| A professor at Harvards entire course is dedicated to the
| refinement process. You start with what they call "write your
| best story". Every assignment afterward is the removal of
| something unnecessary from the original story. Each assignment
| is not adding to, but subtracting. Each word and sentence must
| matter. Painful but rewarding.
| nequo wrote:
| > Reading good writing is the first step towards improving your
| written output. Observe the techniques that resonate with you
| and incorporate them into your style.
|
| Do you have specific authors whose writing really resonated
| with you? How have they changed your writing?
| glitchc wrote:
| I would say Judt and Hemingway were strong influences: Judt
| for his clarity of thought, Hemingway for his emotional
| brevity.
| hamburglar wrote:
| Another important skill is being able to read your own writing
| as if you are different readers. Think about how much someone
| knows and how something will sound to someone who doesn't know
| as much. What's their mental picture as they start reading,
| what is it after they are one paragraph in, etc. Make sure you
| aren't making leaps they can't follow. Try this out while
| modeling people of various levels of familiarity with the
| subject so your writing isn't tedious to someone who already
| knows a bit. Make sure you aren't wasting their time. Make sure
| you've defined your terms before using them. Read it over and
| over trying to get yourself into other people's shoes every
| time. Have empathy for every reader you're writing for.
| mancerayder wrote:
| Read some fiction you might not normally read, sometimes you'll
| find phrases or sentences so interesting in the way they're
| constructed it's a learning experience. One example for me was
| reading Charles Dickens. Reading some of his stuff as a child in
| school was an inferior experience to reading it as an adult.
|
| Write a lot, and repeatedly re-read what you wrote (when it's
| done in its entirety). You'll naturally correct yourself or tune
| it.
| alexpetralia wrote:
| Despite what you may think of Jordan Peterson, he has a very
| useful guide for how to write better:
| https://jordanbpeterson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Essay...
| farleykr wrote:
| My personal experience has led me to believe that there's truly
| no substitute for reading a lot and writing a lot. But the funny
| thing is that you may not realize how true that is until you've
| gotten sick and tired of trying to find shortcuts and hacks. You
| can get burnt out on reading and watching material about _how_ to
| write well but it can be helpful in moderation. The best resource
| I've found is the Belief Agency YouTube channel. They have a lot
| of great interviews /shows about how command of the concept of
| storytelling can improve your communication, written or
| otherwise. Brian McDonald's books are great too---especially
| Invisible Ink. One more thing I've found helpful is to take up a
| practice that has nothing to do with writing---gardening in my
| case---and see if you can learn some things that shape the way
| you think about the writing process. All of these things should
| lead you back to a regular practice of reading and writing
| though. It's like an archaeological dig. Most of the time you're
| just throwing dirt over your shoulder but once in a while you
| find treasure.
| wpietri wrote:
| Lots of good advice here, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned
| is this:
|
| https://hemingwayapp.com/
|
| It can be fun to paste in some writing and see where you agree
| and disagree with it.
| invalidname wrote:
| I blogged every day for a while. That helped but it was grueling.
| With everything, practice makes perfect.
|
| Working with an editor is huge. I worked with several editors and
| reviewers both when submitting to other blogs and when writing my
| books. I learned a lot.
|
| There are great writer assistance tools such as Write Good, etc.
| They helped with avoiding weasel phrasing, etc.
| dr-neptune wrote:
| Some things that have helped me:
|
| - grammarly (mostly excellent, I ignore some suggestions)
|
| - reading books more with stylistic elements that push the
| boundaries of what you're used to. I write technical blogs, but
| I've found some inspiration reading very different writing. Some
| examples are Thomas Pynchon, James Joyce, Greg Egan
|
| - setting up constraints. Can you explain this in less sentences
| without making a long run-on sentence? How concise can you make
| this whole post? On the flipside, can you avoid all the most
| common adjectives when describing something? If you take a
| tokenized word count on your work, what words do you rely on? Can
| you delete them?
| rognjen wrote:
| One piece of advice I keep coming across over and over is to
| publicize it and get feedback as much as possible.
| rmk wrote:
| > I've been writing for a while but I feel like I've stagnated
| for a while.
|
| You could rewrite this to say "I have been writing for a while,
| but feel like I have stagnated for some time now."
|
| Be a ruthless editor of your own writing, to begin with. Read
| actual printed words that have been through rigorous editing.
| Examples include print magazines and newspapers.
|
| Read Strunk and White's Elements of Style and try to put it into
| practice in your writing. Read a variety of works, both fiction
| and nonfiction. Read classic writers such as Melville, Trollope,
| or Hemingway and pay attention to the plot devices and writing
| style (you will have to re-read individual pieces in isolation,
| again and again).
|
| Take every opportunity to write, including in this forum or other
| places where you can write and have an actual conversation with
| like-minded, intelligent people. I'm sure there are internet
| forums and subreddits for aspiring writers where you will find
| opportunities aplenty to write, critique and hone your craft.
| blockwriter wrote:
| Keeping a daily diary by hand is a good first step. When you're
| reading, look for sentences whose construction surprises you or
| is otherwise novel. If you can, try to pay attention to how the
| parts of speech are being used to form the sentence's structure.
| Rereading the diary once a month and making line edits will put
| into mind your own bad habits. In time, an intuitive set of
| reasoning about how to marry the idea to the structure of the
| sentence will develop. Continuing to express, articulate, and
| expand on that reasoning will make the act of writing more
| enjoyable and the writing itself better.
|
| Sentences should have a quality that makes them individually
| memorable.
| pricees wrote:
| Write often, about anything.
|
| Perhaps try nicheless.blog, I write there regularly. Given a 300
| word limit, I can write one or two thoughts. The word limit
| necessitates merciless editing, if i care to have a coherent
| message to say to the reader.
|
| I write about, literally, anything, at first. Writing is a muscle
| rarely used by anyone. It is a superpower that could be mastered,
| or at least harnessed, by everyone.
|
| Currently I write about boring ole everyday subjects. Putting in
| the work. However, I am getting ready to try flash fiction, then
| perhaps a short story.
|
| Good luck.
| buzzkill90 wrote:
| Yes, what was that Steven King advice; "...two shitty pages in
| a day"
| azhenley wrote:
| What I did: (1) start a blog, (2) force yourself to write at a
| specific frequency at all costs, like once a month, (3) plan and
| schedule future writing topics and times, (4) be very intentional
| with each sentence and paragraph, and (5) start with an outline
| for each post and iterate on it before filling in with details.
|
| #5 feels like a superpower to me. It has made writing so much
| easier. It forces me to really understand (and to realize what I
| don't understand) about the topic.
| hit8run wrote:
| Use chatgpt :)
| [deleted]
| pryelluw wrote:
| - Write more. Meaning output not length.
|
| - Rewrite more. Same as above.
|
| - Seek feedback from qualified sources.
|
| There really isn't that much more. If you want to write more yet
| you fail to write more, then maybe you should schedule periods of
| time for just writing. I do it and can't recommend it enough. 15
| minutes a day of pure writing time is better than an hour every
| other day.
| [deleted]
| WhitneyLand wrote:
| Having people read your writing who can give constructive
| criticism can be a huge help.
|
| It can be people you know, but there are also online writing
| communities that will give candid feedback in a safe environment.
| Usually the catch is you'll have to return the favor for someone
| else in the community, but that's not a bad thing.
| tacosbane wrote:
| Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.
| mbigras wrote:
| Do the Technical Writing One course [1] and consider Google
| developer technical documentation style guide highlights [2].
| Both those links are about technical writing which is primarily
| about clarity. Since I started focusing on clarity when writing,
| I find any writing fun and engaging.
|
| -[1] https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/one
|
| -[2] https://developers.google.com/style/highlights
| blondin wrote:
| many have already advised to read a lot, write a lot. allow me to
| add a 2022 piece of advice: ask ChatGPT to review what you write.
| or rewrite in the style you are trying to achieve.
|
| let us know how it goes :)
| jason-phillips wrote:
| 1. Read the Elements of Style by E.B. White. It describes how to
| write in active voice for positive effect.
|
| 2. Practice converting your thoughts to the written word so that
| they're clearly understood by anyone. That is the exercise at
| hand and it takes practice.
|
| 3. Once you've mastered clearly communicating your ideas, add
| some cleverness to your writing. Use double-entendre and practice
| economy of words. Leave something for the reader to guess,
| allowing one's imagination to fill the gaps with what you didn't
| say.
|
| 4. Finally, practice the art of showing versus telling, i.e., the
| art of story-telling versus an analytical accounting of facts.
| pjmorris wrote:
| Find people to read and critique your work. The time I spent in
| 'reading group' in grad school helped me curb some bad writing
| habits and develop other good ones. My mom used to participate in
| 'writers groups', in-person and online to get feedback on her
| poetry and prose.
| chiefalchemist wrote:
| Creative writing? Or improving the quality of your personal /
| professional comms?
| stared wrote:
| Write -> give other people for proofreading -> rewrite -> publish
| -> gather feedback.
|
| There is no other way than practice. Feedback speeds up this
| learning process a lot and improves the result significantly.
|
| Everything else varies from person to person. Some write daily;
| some don't for months - then dive into their writing modes. Some
| start with an outline, and some - pour a stream of thoughts into
| the computer.
|
| Nevertheless - what is your goal, and what blocks you in the
| process?
| ghaff wrote:
| I'd probably substitute editing for proofreading (which for me
| implies copyediting). Particularly starting out you may be
| looking for more structural feedback than a copyeditor will
| often provide.
|
| But other than that I agree. There are probably a few books
| worth reading but it's more about writing and getting good
| feedback. Past a certain point, you can probably dispense with
| some of that feedback depending on the nature of what you're
| writing. But it's essential to get started.
| jameshush wrote:
| I signed up for classes. A speech writing one, and even a joke
| writing one. I'm in a writing group too for comedy, but it's made
| my work writings excellent too. I'm an average-ish comedian but
| my work presentations are off the chart now.
| KerryJones wrote:
| 1. Write a lot
|
| I think much of the other advice on this page is very valid (and
| I'll repeat some below), but what I often find missing from
| advice like this is simply do the thing a lot with some sort of
| feedback/iteration loop. While this is true for most professions,
| it is specially true for writing: write a lot.
|
| Other useful things to help: 2. Define the purpose of your
| writing 3. Define who your target audience is (is this a novel,
| article writing, marketing, etc) 4. Define who you are as the
| author (are you a subject matter expert, the narrator of a story,
| a friend)
|
| Learn some of the basics: - Elements of Style is a good place to
| start - Use Grammarly - Read, a lot
| willhinsa wrote:
| By reading and writing
|
| Read "bad quality" works too. And know that you're going to write
| a lot of "bad quality" works too, before people to start to get
| what you're trying to say.
| s-xyz wrote:
| I am not an expert on this matter, but what works for me is to
| practice and write for a specific use case. In addition, reading
| helps.
| cbracketdash wrote:
| Jordan Peterson has written a great PDF on writing:
| https://archive.org/details/essay-writing-guide-jordan-peter...
| tmoertel wrote:
| If you want to get better at writing, _be deliberate_ : practice
| with the goal of learning and becoming better. (1) read good
| works and study their authors' choices and techniques, (2) write
| often to strengthen your writing muscles and develop your style,
| (3) practice rewriting and editing (your writing and others), and
| (4) get feedback on your writing.
|
| Books on writing can help, but there is no subsitute for doing
| the work. Being deliberate about learning from the work, however,
| will speed your improvement.
|
| With regular work, you'll be noticably better after a month or
| two, especially if you're getting feedback. After a year, you'll
| be a different person. Your writing will be faster, easier, and
| better.
|
| But don't stop then. You're just getting started :-)
| googletron wrote:
| By writing and editing.
| greggarious wrote:
| Shitty first drafts
|
| https://wrd.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/1-Shitty%20First%...
| grepLeigh wrote:
| What kind of writing do you enjoy most? What kind of writing are
| you trying to improve?
| signaru wrote:
| There's a video where Alan Moore recommends reading terrible
| books. Knowing what frustrates me in years of poorly presented
| university textbooks helps me in a way.
| brezelgoring wrote:
| A buddhist monk recommends reading D-tier detective books to
| drill patience and contemplation for others.
|
| Quite the exercise it is.
| WastingMyTime89 wrote:
| Writing is both an art and a craft but like every skill it
| improves with deliberate practice. It means having an idea of
| what good writing is - so most likely taking a course or being
| trained - actually writing a lot and having someone skilled
| criticise and correct.
| MrLeap wrote:
| If you have time and a gaming machine, maybe I can help? If
| nothing else, maybe you can help me help you ;)
|
| I'm making a game/text editor I'm hoping to help people write
| more prolifically / creatively. There's a free demo on steam. If
| anyone gives it a try please let me know what you think.
|
| https://store.steampowered.com/app/1537490/Tentacle_Typer/
| soferio wrote:
| Steven Pinker, "The Sense of Style", is a book about the science
| of how to write well. YouTube talk here:
| https://youtu.be/3ZKTmsgqi0U
| andsoitis wrote:
| Get people to critique your writing. Ultimately, writing is
| communication and recipients can give you a lot of actionable
| feedback. Without such a feedback loop it will be very hard to
| become meaningfully better at writing. Often the feedback will be
| relevant to a particular piece, though sometimes to writing in
| general.
| tkgally wrote:
| You can also find someone else who wants to become a better
| writer and offer advice to each other. Reading another person's
| writing while thinking about how it might be improved, and
| discussing your suggestions with the author, might benefit you
| as much as the advice you receive about your own writing.
| rpastuszak wrote:
| Check out The Fieldstone Method by G. M. Weinberg.
|
| I also made a web app to help develop my writing habit and
| improve fluency: https://enso.sonnet.io
|
| I've enjoyed it so far and have been writing consistently for
| almost 3 years so far (ca 800 words per day).
| tptacek wrote:
| I've read drafts from people who truly write well and have come
| to the conclusion that the biggest thing they're doing that I'm
| not is revising. I write straight through and maybe do a single
| pass after to punch things up and get rid of passive voice, and
| so everything I write reads like an HN comment (which, don't get
| me wrong, is a useful local optimum for me). The good writing
| I've watched happen was revised _a lot_. Besides not having the
| talent, I lack the patience, which is liberating.
|
| Also: this book is great: https://www.amazon.com/Style-Clarity-
| Chicago-Writing-Publish...
| kasey_junk wrote:
| The other thing the very good writers I know do that I don't is
| practice. That is they will write explicitly for no audience
| but in a form they'd want to present to a hypothetical audience
| for a hypothetical reason.
|
| This allows them all the benefits of practice in other
| endeavors. They can experiment, get faster, build "muscle
| memory" etc.
|
| I don't know why I keep being surprised that the answer to
| being good at things is working at it.
| 99failures wrote:
| Reading makes you a better writer.
|
| Writing makes you a better thinker.
|
| Better thinking leads to better everything.
|
| David Mamet's writings on writing are the best.
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| Hey, which Mamet's books on writing would you recommend? Thanks
| stets wrote:
| write more, read good writing. emulate good writing. read books
| on writing? Stephen King's "on writing" is recommended all the
| time
| drakonka wrote:
| To add to all of this, reading books in the same genre that you
| want to write in (whether fiction or nonfiction) helps a lot.
|
| For the longest time with my fiction I was just focusing on
| writing writing writing and reading about writing. I'd always
| loved to read, but surprisingly never really read that much in
| my target genre. When I started, it's like another gate of
| improvement was opened up: analyzing the beats and conflict
| points of successful books in my genre immediately helped me
| see what I was lacking in mine. And being exposed to the
| wording preferences and writing styles of other authors gave me
| so many "Aha!" moments when it comes to formulating enticing
| prose.
|
| I'm still not a good fiction writer by any stretch of the
| imagination, but the improvement has been steady when coupling
| reading in my genre with more writing.
| ducharmdev wrote:
| Writing a lot is important, but being able to get feedback on
| your writing can prevent you from developing bad habits you may
| not be aware of.
|
| When I was in college for English, getting regular feedback from
| professors and the writing center helped me learn things I
| wouldn't have figured out on my own.
|
| But of course, context matters: that was great for improving my
| general writing skills and my academic writing, but if you're
| doing creative writing, technical writing, etc., ideally you want
| feedback from people that are experts in the kind you're
| interested in.
| ianai wrote:
| Set aside what you wrote for about two weeks and read it. Reading
| aloud what you wrote, too. Emphasis on smaller sentences-less
| than 10 words on average. Never more than 20 words.
| [deleted]
| karaterobot wrote:
| Gene Wolfe, my favorite writer, said that the advice he gave
| people was to pick a short story they thought was perfect, and
| try to rewrite it word for word from memory.
|
| Presumably the idea is that you run into the same challenges the
| original author did -- how to get from one scene to the next, how
| to direct or misdirect the reader, etc. -- and by solving those
| challenges you understand the mechanics of storytelling at a
| deeper level. Since you've got the "perfect" version of the story
| as a key, you aren't just guessing, and there is a right and
| wrong answer.
|
| He also said that, to his knowledge, nobody had ever taken him up
| on this advice.
|
| But, Wolfe was a fantastic writer, and an engineer, so I assume
| his approach would be a practical and useful one for anyone
| willing to put in the work.
|
| I just spent about 30 minutes trying to find the source of the
| quote, but failed. /shrug
| clucas wrote:
| Stephen Fry has talked about trying to rewrite scenes from The
| Great Gatsby from memory, and the renewed appreciation he got
| for Fitzgerald's prose after that attempt.
|
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oSdLfPas8dw around around 10
| minutes. Good stuff!
| RBerenguel wrote:
| It's in _The Best of Gene Wolfe_, and is copied verbatim here
| in case anyone is curious:
| https://raymondwriteswrongs.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/writing...
|
| PS: I'm more of a fan of Zelazny, but I enjoyed quite a lot The
| Book of the New Sun
| karaterobot wrote:
| Wow, thanks. I never would have thought to look there.
|
| Zelazny was my first love. :)
| tdekken wrote:
| I truly struggled with writing for the longest time, but three
| practices helped tremendously. The practices are 1) writing with
| a piecemeal approach, 2) accumulating notes as fuel for
| tomorrow's writing, and 3) rewriting with keyword outlines.
|
| My most important shift was to start writing nonlinearly. Instead
| of writing a beginning, middle, and end, I instead gather
| together all the claims, facts, etc. and develop them
| individually without concern for the overall logical structure.
| Eventually, the pieces start fitting together and the linear
| structure emerges. It is so much easier to start with too much
| and whittle it down.
|
| Where do these claims, facts, etc. come from? This is what your
| note taking system should create. As I read a text, I highlight
| relevant sections and then go back through to paraphrase them.
| These notes are organized around topics and solve the daunting
| blank page problem.
|
| How should you paraphrase? Keyword outlining is the practice of
| picking a handful of _keywords_ from a source text, setting aside
| the original text, and then paraphrasing using the keyword
| outline and your recollection of the original text. This is a
| subtle shift from the typical approach of changing a few words of
| the source text to paraphrase it. This is also great practice for
| honing your sentence and paragraph writing skills.
| lowken wrote:
| This technique helped me become a better writer.
|
| Get a cheep spiral notebook and a nice pen.
|
| Then collect some example writings that represent the best
| writing style you aspire to. I prefer short stories and essays,
| but for larger examples (novels) you can focus on single
| chapters.
|
| Every day spend about 1/2 hour copying the example writing by
| hand into the spiral notebook. When you are done copying about
| two pages into your spiral notebook review the pages and identify
| different writing techniques. I used this technique to learn
| copywriting so I identified different persuasion techniques
| including what's the catch addresses or Promise.
|
| However, you could also use this same technique to become a
| better novelist. So maybe you identify alliteration, irony,
| foreshadowing, etc.
|
| Why does this work? This have been studies on the powerful
| learning effect of writing notes by hand. The technique I
| described follows the same principals. By copying great writing
| by hand you are engaging multiple senses at one time. You are
| feeding your conscious and subconscious mind rich example writing
| that will help you improve your own writing.
|
| Anyway, this worked for me. Good luck.
| thorncorona wrote:
| I am happy you found success copying others' writing but highly
| doubt that rote copying is what made the difference. It's more
| likely that you learned through analysis.
|
| Learning works through synthesis of material, which is the main
| takeaway from the writing studies you mentioned, however when
| copying writing no synthesis occurs. Also these studies were
| recently duplicated and results did not match the original
| conclusion.
| fedeb95 wrote:
| Read a lot. Write a lot. Repeat
| sandworm101 wrote:
| You can only ever be as good as that which you read. Read only
| blog post and you will sound like a blogger. Read only classics
| and you will sound like a scholar. If you read enough you will
| become your own best critic. Stop trying to write better and
| spend that time reading the best material you can find.
|
| The same is true for all aspects of language. If you want to
| speak better, don't watch TV news or LA sitcoms. Watch classic
| British comedy (Blackadder) or BBC science docs (Brian Cox) that
| will expand your practical vocabulary and sense of proper
| diction.
| 1retep wrote:
| This is such a good point. After 3 years of writing and reading
| (mostly) math proofs, I wrote everything in proof-like fashion.
| SapporoChris wrote:
| "You can only ever be as good as that which you read." I
| disagree. If your statement was true, progress would never
| occur. Obviously writers can learn by reading the writing of
| other good writers, but the are not bound by what they have
| read. The ability to exceed is always present.
| selykg wrote:
| A prior discussion that was helpful for me:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31060362
| sherilm wrote:
| "Have something to say". Everything else is secondary.
| tazoptica wrote:
| Read a lot and write a lot but also edit your own work a lot,
| putting intervals between editing passes. There is no shortcut. A
| million words and you'll be publishable. Three or for million and
| you might start to approach good. A third party editor might help
| but could also hurt and isn't worth it unless the project
| requires it. Beyond what grammarly can do, labelled data is going
| to be in short supply-- it's mostly an unsupervised problem. Your
| most important editor will be you.
| electrondood wrote:
| Read a ton. Write constantly. Write for the trash can. Writer's
| block is caused by the pressure of obligation. Write like you're
| speaking plainly to a friend. If you can remove words without
| losing meaning, do it.
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