"Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas" The irony in this sentence from the article is breathtaking.
Write like you talk
81–90 of 282 posts
Re: Write like you talk
#82The PG headline is really the first half of a larger sentence: Write like you talk, and try to talk in concise, plain language.
If you have trouble doing this, the Hemingway App might help. http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
There are a lot of problems with the way people write. Some writers are too writerly, some are trapped in journalese or legalese, most are too vague. But better than any -ese is being able to communicate complex ideas to intelligent outsiders in a shared, common language.
To do that, you have to think a lot about what your main points are, how they connect, and what your readers will probably misunderstand. Then you address that. You answer questions before they are asked.
Sure, there are other ways to write. I like a good dose of purple prose, or 19th-century Russian fiction. But it probably doesn't belong in a memo.
In the end, you shouldn't write like you talk, because as many others have said here, talking is messy. The real trick is to write in a way that makes people think you're talking to them. The writer finds tricks that make it seem like she's talking, even though speech has been translated to the page. Then the reader can hear your voice, and there's nothing getting in the way.
Re: Write like you talk
#83Most of the comments, here, are taking the statement too literally. What he means is to write sentences in a way you would in normal conversation and not try to be a writer of linguistic elocution. Don't use abbreviations, long words we may not know, pretending to be Hemingway. Too many pretend to be Hemingway when they should write like Brian Kernighan at least.
HN really jumps the shark best when it swaps definition of words to support whatever it wants to support.
Hemingway's writing style was far from being convoluted.
Re: Write like you talk
#84"Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas" The irony in this sentence from the article is breathtaking.
Do you mean because it's a great sentence in the context of this essay (maybe the best one in it), but you judge that you couldn't get away with saying it verbatim in conversation?
(If you were explaining the idea in this essay?) Or please explain.
Re: Write like you talk
#85If you've ever read a verbatim transcript of an interview or conversation, you'll know that actual speech is anything but clear. When talking off the cuff, even the most clear minded people tend to ramble, um and ahh, double back, talk across each other, and jump between points and subjects. When listening to someone in person, our brains seem to edit what they say on the fly to make it comprehendible, focusing on th…
> If you've ever read a verbatim transcript of an interview or conversation, you'll know that actual speech is anything but clear When I go to conferences and sit in the audience, I type transcripts in real-time. I somewhat agree with you, but I have some other evidence that I don't know what to do with: http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/ I have found that some people are amazingly well spoken. Absurdly well spoken,…
Have you never given a presentation in your life? They are practiced and prepared beforehand.
Re: Write like you talk
#86Rather than taking writing advice from a programmer/venture capitalist, I recommend Steering the Craft, by Ursula Le Guin, which will help ground any writing you might do in solid understanding of the "tools" you have available as a writer-- pace, grammar, the sound of words, and so forth
Re: Write like you talk
#87It just depends upon your aims. If you're trying to convey an idea in hopes of transferring knowledge then yes -- write like you would talk to ease the others' cognitive load. If you're a fantasy writer, it would get pretty drab pretty fast if you spoke to me like how most people speak to me. In fact, it'd be downright boring if you structured all dialogue between characters in such a manner. You need the pomp to mak…
Hemingway would disagree with you about novels.
Hemingway used simple language, not conversational style.
Re: Write like you talk
#88This x 10 for legal documents. Simplify them please.
I agree, simplifying would be great. You do realize, however, that a large part of the legal profession is to intentionally write broadly, imprecisely, and flexibly to avoid traps. Other kinds of legal writing are intentionally precise in some clauses so as to add complexity to deliberately avoid immediate comprehension.
In the manner of discourse such as you have exemplified with your comments under your current pseudonym, it is difficult to ascertain your intended trop, voice, or topic. Thus, I hereby request that you rephrase in a more course or colloquial or blunt manner.
Re: Write like you talk
#89Not one mention of Strunk and White: "Elements of Style" in a piece about writing ? Paul Graham does not know shit about writing.
If you keep making comments like this one, which is in a totally inappropriate style, you will end up being silently banned from HN (I mean that this sometimes happens, I didn't downvote you); which is a shame judging from your other brief and on-point comments. This really isn't reddit.
Re: Write like you talk
#90It's not exactly how you talk.
It's just not flowery and embellished and wandering.
People really don't read. They don't care. They don't have time.
Keep it simple and they might read part of it.