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How to Write Usefully

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Write Usefully

#11

Post by dugditches »

While the Internet provides a platform for Essays, as he says, I think maybe a bigger point is it allowing the rise of 'Video Essays'.

Where now content creators are turning out 30+ minute videos on a single subject. While in the past it used to be more 'dry' things like History and the like it seems more mainstream subjects are being covered. Movies, cars, current social issues, etc.

And just how much you actually get from them. They're often spoken from positions of authority on a subject. And slick editing and video may reinforce their credibility to the viewer. But often they just feel like empty stitched together wikipedia clippings with nice effects and humor sprinkled in to keep the viewer interested.

Compared to crafting words and language like this Author tried to convey, you just rely on balance between entertainment & information.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#12

Post by osdiab »

While the internet is full of garbage writing, I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right way to go. That's a perfectionist attitude that stifles people's ability to explore, experiment, be wrong, learn, improve, and act. Like learning a language, if you never speak it because you're afraid to say something wrong, you'll never learn.

And separately, being enlightened with novel pithy facts isn't the only reason people write things. There's a lot that can't be transmitted in that form, and while I appreciate that style of writing for startup advice or a how-to guide, it's definitely not universally applicable.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#13

Post by keiferski »

As a counterpoint, I'd argue that the "mathematical" approach to good writing is inherently flawed. That is, trying to arrive at the formula for the "best" essay via dialectic (argument) is to miss the forest for the trees. Writing is an art, not a science. Formal logic was developed to display arguments, so if you are trying to be as precise and mathematical as possible, use that instead.

Instead, I'd suggest reading the great writers of the past and present (but focus more on the past). Study what works, what speaks to you, what stylistic approach you favor, and so on. As a bonus, you'll learn more about what has been said by other intelligent people and subsequently avoid writing over-confident, ill-informed essays...

If you're looking for stellar examples of essay-writing, I personally recommend Jorge Luis Borges and David Foster Wallace. Both manage to write in a manner both erudite and coherent, without seeming too florid or too simplistic. Here are a few samples:

- A New Refutation of Time, Borges: https://www.gwern.net/docs/borges/1947-borges-anewrefutation...

- The Analytical Language of John Wilkins, Borges: http://www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.htm...

- David Lynch and Lost Highway, Wallace: http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html

- Laughing with Kafka, Wallace: https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/HarpersMagazine-1998-...

- Consider the Lobster, Wallace: http://www.columbia.edu/~col8/lobsterarticle.pdf

Edit: added some more essay links.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#14

Post by gandutraveler »

The other day I was helping friend with an essay and i realized how 12 years in software programming has changed my writing style. Now it seems very awkward to think and write in long paragraphs. It feels more natural to use bullet points for everything.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#15

Post by _Nat_ »

> What should an essay be? Many people would say persuasive. That's what a lot of us were taught essays should be.

Yeah, essays written for a class on persuasive writing should be persuasive. Because that's what the class is about -- students are supposed to be learning how to express their ideas about how things should be done to, e.g., their boss, coworkers, clients, potential investors, etc..

However, I hope no one's under the misimpression that all writing should be persuasive writing. Schools also teach classes on other types of writing, e.g. creative writing and technical writing.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#16

Post by meekstro »

hnhg wrote: post #3

I'll say it again, it's a piece of writing that wouldn't warrant any attention if it weren't for the author's status here. I'm halfway through and my brain is stunned by the effort of forcing it down. PG needs a break from writing for a while. I enjoyed his early stuff and I hope he gets a return to form. [edit: it's like he's the George Lucas of writing useful articles for hackers: the early ones were classics but h…

Would you be kind enough to share any links to your own writing and some of the key factors that improved it.

I wish to improve my communication and appreciate that Paul Graham thought hard then freely shared his insights on such a difficult topic for a great deal of people.

I've always wondered how and why Geoff Bezos ran Amazon with six page essays and now I think I'm a bit closer to understanding.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#17

Post by mosselman »

I tried enabling reader mode in Firefox to read this page properly, but Firefox didn't offer it in the address bar. So I checked the source of the page and I was surprised to find that this still uses table layouts!

Re: How to Write Usefully

#18

Post by quantumwoke »

I think there's a well-trodden aphorism that seems apt here: perfection is the enemy of good. The perfectionism that 'pg discusses here seems orthogonal to the goal of useful writing which to an extent has an associated time pressure. I would rather publish often and usefully to achieve the maximum impact on my readers.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#19

Post by mesaframe »

hnhg wrote: post #3

I'll say it again, it's a piece of writing that wouldn't warrant any attention if it weren't for the author's status here. I'm halfway through and my brain is stunned by the effort of forcing it down. PG needs a break from writing for a while. I enjoyed his early stuff and I hope he gets a return to form. [edit: it's like he's the George Lucas of writing useful articles for hackers: the early ones were classics but h…

Glad I'm not the only one. First few paragraphs lead to a good buildup but going on it fell apart.

Further, It's hard to criticise Graham on HN.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#20

Post by dragonwriter »

_Nat_ wrote: post #15

> What should an essay be? Many people would say persuasive. That's what a lot of us were taught essays should be. Yeah, essays written for a class on persuasive writing should be persuasive. Because that's what the class is about -- students are supposed to be learning how to express their ideas about how things should be done to, e.g., their boss, coworkers, clients, potential investors, etc.. However, I hope no on…

> Yeah, essays written in a class that's focusing on persuasive writing should be persuasive. Because that's what the class is about

The five paragraph essay which is typically taught as a foundational expository/analytical writing tool is actually quite poor for analytical writing, and not great for expository writing, but heavily leans on the rule of threes which is a guideline for persuasive communication.

> Schools also teach classes on other types of writing, e.g. creative writing and technical writing.

K-12 often has creative writing as an elective, and often includes assignments which are superficially intended to be something other than persuasive writing on other contexts, but rarely does much to teach techniques appropriate to writing other than persuasive.

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