The List of N Things
paulgraham.com
The List of N Things
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Re: The List of N Things
#2You seem to be leaning towards the idea that these list type articles are inferior to the essay format. When reading an article I consider the clarity with which the author has expressed himself to be most important - if he can express ideas more clearly in a list than otherwise then I am all for it.
I do tend to think this format is abused when people wish to write quick and dirty articles online though. For me, an article titled 'N things...' tends to be reason enough to ignore it in most cases.
Also, I will admit to preferring the essay format overall. You cannot lose yourself in a list like you can in a good essay regardless of how good the content is. An essay is more like a story which sucks you in.
Re: The List of N Things
#3I think PG is missing something in his comparison of "list of N things" to "beginner" 5-paragraph essays: Cohesion matters.
Even if they cover the same points, a good essay is far more informative than a "list of N things" article / powerpoint presenation: An essay has to tie the points together, pointing out the connections and drawing conclusions. When I was in school, my English teachers often returned essays (but not mine!) to students with "a list is not an essay" (or similar words) written in red ink.
Sure, poorly written essays, in the limiting case, end up being simply a list of disconnected statements -- but students are asked to write essays in order to develop their ability to write cohesive essays, not in order to demonstrate their knowledge of the underlying facts, so PG's suggestion to 'let them write lists of n things like the pros, with numbers and no transitions or "conclusion"' utterly misses the point.
Re: The List of N Things
#4I remember Guy Kawasaki saying he tries to follow this list of N things tactic for all his speeches so that people don't have a problem of following him. They won't doze off.
Two other quick formats of writing essays:
1.
"The secrets of telling a story well are three:
i. How to end
ii. Where to begin
iii. What to leave out."
- Roy H. Williams.
In that order. Determine the end first. And you can take your readers on to a journey. Surprise and delight them by connecting seemingly unrelated stories. Malcolm Gladwell uses this format very well.
2.
Another format is answering 3 questions:
i. What is the problem?
ii. Why is it the problem?
iii. How to solve it?
Makes writing easier, quicker and more comprehensive.
Re: The List of N Things
#5I think PG is missing something in his comparison of "list of N things" to "beginner" 5-paragraph essays: Cohesion matters. Even if they cover the same points, a good essay is far more informative than a "list of N things" article / powerpoint presenation: An essay has to tie the points together, pointing out the connections and drawing conclusions. When I was in school, my English teachers often returned essays (but…
Essays are planned; papers are stream-of-consciousness. Readers can't follow the internal machinations of a particular writer's psyche; while you can have a revelatory essay, you still need to plan it.
My best example: Woolf reads like stream of consciousness, but she was a meticulous planner: she obsessed over every word - her daily output was a mere 75-150 words.
Re: The List of N Things
#6I don't know-- I've eaten some pretty bad cheeseburgers at good restaurants.
Re: The List of N Things
#7I don't know-- I've eaten some pretty bad cheeseburgers at good restaurants.
The simplest dishes are usually the hardest to make; they're least forgiving of errors or compromises. I read that in the essay and wondered whether that was really the case with top-N-list essays as well.
Re: The List of N Things
#8I think PG is missing something in his comparison of "list of N things" to "beginner" 5-paragraph essays: Cohesion matters. Even if they cover the same points, a good essay is far more informative than a "list of N things" article / powerpoint presenation: An essay has to tie the points together, pointing out the connections and drawing conclusions. When I was in school, my English teachers often returned essays (but…
Essays are planned; papers are stream-of-consciousness. Readers can't follow the internal machinations of a particular writer's psyche; while you can have a revelatory essay, you still need to plan it. My best example: Woolf reads like stream of consciousness, but she was a meticulous planner: she obsessed over every word - her daily output was a mere 75-150 words.
I think it's the opposite, isn't it? Essays are "tentative"; they're a written document of the writer's grappling with their subject, which is why you get so many ideas while writing them.
Re: The List of N Things
#9Sorry for nitpicking, but first sentence should be I'll bet you, not I bet you.
Re: The List of N Things
#10Lists are just writing devices. There are lots of other writing devices, and they all serve the same purpose: as scaffolding for building up ideas and communicating effectively. Some of the popular ones:
* Socratic dialog (ie, the openings of G.E.B. chapters)
* Extended metaphor (ie, mechanical_fish's zoo comment)
* Anthopomorphism (ie, Gruber's adventures of the washed-up brushed metal theme)
* F.A.Q.
* Narrative (ie, Ivan Krstic's Porsche story --- which, again, who knew Ivan had that in him? Wow!)
And my point is just, all these devices can be abused, and all of them can serve a purpose. There's no profound reason Top-N is popular; the reason it's there is straightforward: every "how to have a popular blog" post lists it as a key technique for engaging A.D.D. Internet readers.