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I find it hard to take seriously any "prolific writer" who doesn't take the time to proofread their work for typos before publishing.
I find it hard to take seriously any "prolific writer" who doesn't take the time to proofread their work for typos before publishing.
Prolific, be definition, speaks to volume and not quality? How does proof-reading contradict? I would say that his lack of quality (dropped T on The ;] Yes I saw them too ) is perhaps supportive of his ability to be prolific "[...]make your first draft, your final draft." I understand that you are saying that quality of edit indicates quality of thought or insight to you.
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize."
Well, there is Muphry's law.[0] Which I notice you - but hopefully not I :-) - have here fallen afoul of. Although you wrote in defence of bad proofreading; maybe there's another law for that.
I had to write a weekly technology column for a number of years. The best method I found was to prepare a outline of the content you are going to write as a series of questions. For my column I used 5 questions in a logical progression. Example question might be "Why is this technology important to small businesses?" Once I defined the questions, I wrote in sprints without correcting grammar or spelling to answer eac…
I find it hard to take seriously any "prolific writer" who doesn't take the time to proofread their work for typos before publishing.
2. Have models to emulate.
3. Learn the rules.
4. Clearly structure your sentences, paragraphs, and larger semantic units (essay, short story, etc.).
5. Edit extensively.
6. Be kind to your reader: concise and clear will always be better than wordy and vague.
7. Vary your word use, sentence length, phrase structure, and in general, rhythm. A mumbling monotone is difficult to comprehend. Read your drafts out loud just to make sure you have FLOW.
8. Don't be a pompous ass. I am very smart, is not a great way to start. Avoid being cute, pretentious, precious, ponderous, and otherwise fake. Develop your voice, which is how you sound to other people.
9. Ermm... formatting is an art of its own.
Here's a common essay structure I've picked up on, from many sources(From Eliezer Yudkowsky's rationality articles to John Oliver's Last Week Tonight) 1. Introduce a problem/concept - can be a social issue, bias, or a useful cognitive tool. 2. Define/explain what it is. 3. Give several examples or studies. 4. Call to action - propose a solution, debiasing, or a practical real life application. Also add an intro that…
Define - Introduce and explain the concept
Illustrate - Give examples
Contrast - Give contrasting examples or alternative points of view.
Explain - Cover why the concept is interesting or significant or why we should care about it or why it is preferable to alternatives.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once watched an obscure online course by some Canadian lawyer with a similar method for writing books that way. Wasn't by any chance your inspiration?
Do you happen to know the name of the course? Very interested.
Argument, Explanation, Definition, Description
are not the only types of articles or essays. What's missing from the list is "Story". Story is something that is entertaining to read because it first creates some expectations, perhaps in the wrong direction on purpose like a good detective story. Then resolves the issues preferably in a non-obvious way.
Therefore I believe joewee is right, it is best to structure your article based on a set of questions which should pique the interest of the reader.
In my own experiences, the key to writing essays quickly and expertly is just writing a lot of essays and consciously trying to hone your craft. Writing is a complex skill that takes lots of time and attention in little incremental steps, and the further you go the faster/better you get. It's more than just practice though. It's also momentum. I find that the more I write, the more my brain passively seeks more mater…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you happen to know the name of the course? Very interested.
From the recording it looked like a rip from a video tape straight out of the 80s. To be honest I found it in the early 2000s on a now defunct torrent tracker when already all sales pages had gone and only some scam reports still existed. Had a super fluffy title something like 'write a book in 21 days guaranteed' but I gave it a chance because I was curious. It was actually just like OP described, only applied for n…
Edit: By the way, the tracker wasn't what.cd, was it?