To write better, develop a habit of writing • Hacker News Board

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#51

Post by triceratops » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:16 PM UTC

estrela wrote: post #7

chrismeller wrote: post #5

For anyone interested in writing “for real” (professionally or as a hobby) I highly recommend John Scalzi’s blog [1]. He’s cynical, he’s funny, and above all he’s practical. Among his advice over the years a few things have really stuck with me: 1) Don’t get an MFA, it’s a waste of money. If you need a grammar class, take one. If you need more of a basis in x literary genre because that’s what you want to write in, t…

Do you have experience as a professional writer? I'm curious, how you think a person without a degree on journalism, writing, etc, can get a job writing? I'm a software engineer, by the way. Not that I'm interested in changing my career or anything, but your comment was interesting and I do like writing, so I think it's worth knowing!

Writers, unlike most software engineers (save those who work on open source) can readily share work samples with potential employers. Other than that it should only be a matter of getting your resume past the filter that requires a writing or journalism degree. You also didn't specify what you meant by writing jobs, so it's hard to give more detail.

Writing seems like programming in one respect: if you can do the job you can be hired, regardless of your education.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#52

Post by MrLeap » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:18 PM UTC

ccvannorman wrote: post #48

MrLeap wrote: post #47

I'm furiously working on a project that I want to do a Show HN on at some point that's relevant to this. I'm basically making a Lovecraftian text editor / puzzle game / walking simulator(?) where progress is gated by writing. My goal has been to nudge players into being more prolific writers. There's little content aware changes to the environment based on what you write, and lots of little touches intended to spark…

I'm your target market. Twitter thread looked messy. How do I sign up?

Sorry about that. My marketing hat is my shabbiest hat. I've been posting nearly daily updates to twitter. If you follow me there you'll have almost as real time a view of development as my cats.

If that's anathema, what's your preferred method of hearing news? Mailing lists? My email address is in my profile, I'll write you personally when it's done if you email me there.

That goes for anyone.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#53

Post by dang » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:26 PM UTC

wholien wrote: post #15

Practice makes perfect! As William Faulkner says: “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” With writing (as with many things), there is this myth that you should only do it when inspiration compels you to write. But that is total rubbish. You need to create conditions so that inspiration will strike, and creating a habit of writing frequently will lay the groundwork for i…

Probably not Faulkner, unless he said it to Herman Wouk: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/30/inspire-nine/

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#54

Post by bambax » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:34 PM UTC

NewOrderNow wrote: post #8

I have been doing morning pages for 10 years and have been attempting to to force the habit of writing for longer. I don't like writing. You definitely get better at writing, but some things just don't get easier. Same for running. Daily runner. It is the best thing I have ever done. But it sucks and never gets easier. Is there anything to get rid of this feeling of suck?

There's this site that publishes "inspiring" quotes about writing, from writers; some are good, some less so. I really like this one:

> Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks — Mary Karr

https://advicetowriters.com/advice/three-writing-truths-1

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#55

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

bovermyer wrote: post #17

wsinks wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No pain, no gain? I think it's just learning to be uncomfortable and that it's 'part of the process'. Imagine how good you'll feel after. It's all I can come up with.

For me it's not that running is uncomfortable. It's that running is boring .

I use it as podcast or audiobook time. Which is good because with everyone working from home I've lost my commute listening time.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#56

Post by justicezyx » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:45 PM UTC

I practice in HN comments sections.

I evaluate my writing based on how much my comments were incorrectly perceived by the readers, based the replies of the comments.

So far works quite well. I have noticed my writing becomes more precise and accessible.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#57

Post by burntoutfire » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:48 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #54

NewOrderNow wrote: post #8

I have been doing morning pages for 10 years and have been attempting to to force the habit of writing for longer. I don't like writing. You definitely get better at writing, but some things just don't get easier. Same for running. Daily runner. It is the best thing I have ever done. But it sucks and never gets easier. Is there anything to get rid of this feeling of suck?

There's this site that publishes "inspiring" quotes about writing, from writers; some are good, some less so. I really like this one: > Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks — Mary Karr https://advicetowriters.com/advice/three-writing-truths-1

And for Bukowski. His advice for people who suffer when writing was "Don't try". In truth though, the guy was a complicated enough character that I'm not sure that he was saying that in earnest.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#58

Post by asdfman123 » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:50 PM UTC

You could generalize this to "to X better, develop a habit of X."

Consistency beats intensity 10 times out of 10.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#59

Post by lemonberry » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 7:54 PM UTC

wholien wrote: post #15

Practice makes perfect! As William Faulkner says: “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” With writing (as with many things), there is this myth that you should only do it when inspiration compels you to write. But that is total rubbish. You need to create conditions so that inspiration will strike, and creating a habit of writing frequently will lay the groundwork for i…

I was going to mention "The War of Art". Great read. At one point Pressman writes "inspiration is for amateurs". He's all about honing your craft so that you're ready when inspiration does strike. Great advice.

Re: To write better, develop a habit of writing

#60

Post by iainctduncan » Wed, Oct 21, 2020, 8:05 PM UTC

ApolloVonZ wrote: post #6

I'm a big fan of Scrivener (the mac version) for my writings. Not only fiction, but also academic writings, or organizing projects with custom templates. But besides that I think the post lacks a bit of information. For an article about writing, it's pretty basic and feels as if it's written and posted only to create some content and traffic for the website.

+1 to it. Sure you can tweak up something better with tons of work, but it gets like 80% right out of the box, plays well with git, and has good distraction-free modes.