Writing Is Magic
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Writing Is Magic
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Re: Writing Is Magic
#2That’s why they call it spelling
Re: Writing Is Magic
#3That’s why they call it spelling
took me a while to understand, then it clicked and I was left writ(h)ing...
Re: Writing Is Magic
#4I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager).
In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and folks who really care for the details will get what they need.
But it's a tough balance, which is why it's critical to a) know your audience and b) have a clear understanding of what you're expecting when you're communicating. Are you sharing information? Communicating a decision? Seeking feedback or approval? All of those may require flexing into a different style to be most effective, particularly when taking audience into account.
Re: Writing Is Magic
#5Hey! South Africa made it to hacker news! Nice!
Re: Writing Is Magic
#6I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager). In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and fo…
An option if you don't wanna write the main document as a pyramid is to write a brief version as an email/DM/What have you but include a link saying for anyone who wants the in depth version it is available for you to read. That way you can structure the document in the way people who expressly want it will find it useful (which might still be pyramid but you aren't constrained to it) while giving the original person what they might need in the shorter form.
Re: Writing Is Magic
#7I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager). In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and fo…
Addressing a counterargument in your writing is also extremely useful, and often the hallmark of very convincing writing. You don't need to address every counterargument, but addressing the strongest counterargument to whatever you are proposing or saying is a very powerful rhetorical move that communicates "mastery" of the subject matter, as well as introduces a dash of humility and shelters the writing from the accusation of pure opinion.
Re: Writing Is Magic
#8I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager). In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and fo…
I agree a wall of text will often not be read. But I think often the problem is with the author for having written it in the first place, rather than the reader for not being bothered. It's like that famous Pascal quote, "if I had more time, this letter would be shorter".
One part of that is about redundancy and verbosity: with some effort it's usually possible to say the same thing with a lot less text.
The other part, as you say, is about knowing your audience: an executive didn't read your massive email because they genuinely don't need to. If you can pick out the few bits of information that they actually need to know then that's better for everyone.
Re: Writing Is Magic
#9I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager). In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and fo…
I find that the process of writing text is similar to writing code.
You can't just keep piling lines upon lines, at some point you have to stop, re-read everything you've wrote, refactor it, make it simpler, more concise, remove the outdated text/code, etc. etc.
Documentation should always have one global "root" document, which contains links to everything else, and the documentation graph should be regularly reviewed and pruned.
Re: Writing Is Magic
#10I'm always conflicted about long-form writing. Particularly when dealing with senior management and executives, the "wall of text" is a great way to ensure no one actually reads what you have to say (edit: unless, like the OP, you work at Amazon where Bezos established the notion of the 6-pager). In those circumstances I tend to opt for inverted pyramid writing, in the hopes that the skimmers will get the gist and fo…
An option if you don't wanna write the main document as a pyramid is to write a brief version as an email/DM/What have you but include a link saying for anyone who wants the in depth version it is available for you to read. That way you can structure the document in the way people who expressly want it will find it useful (which might still be pyramid but you aren't constrained to it) while giving the original person…
This is where a short abstract or executive summary upfront can make all the difference. If the main points are summarized, they will (hopefully) be read; the rest of the document, no matter the format, can then be read for context or with references from summary.