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Write simply (2021)

paulgraham.com

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Re: Write simply (2021)

#151

Post by grvdrm »

dqv wrote: post #111
paulpauper wrote: post #10

This may be good advice for an instruction manual or children's books, but I think good prose is something of an art in and of itself. Some of the most successful writers do the opposite. Look at the articles that go viral ..you see that the prose is varied and even complicated, not just simple. The best prose is that which conveys the intended message for the intended audience in the best way possible. I think it's…

"Write simply" is given as advice because, well, it's good advice. Too many writers try to ball before they crawl. A memorable critique, from an English professor, of my writing: "stop trying to sound smart". He meant that I should stop trying to use big words and stop trying to construct complex sentences. >People state they want/like simple writing but revealed preferences show otherwise. Simplicity isn't what you…

Reminds me of a recent exchange during which someone sent me an email with the word anachronistic but then explained it with “updated in the past” later in the sentence.

Laughed at the use of extra words to explain a big word rather than just saying something like “out of date”

Re: Write simply (2021)

#152

Post by andy_ppp »

Isn’t the article making the case that pg shouldn’t be writing essays at all but making YouTube videos if he wants his ideas to be more widely absorbed?

Tangentially it makes me wonder how far we are away from being able to converse with a ChatGPT avatar of Paul Graham (PgGPT) with slightly worse (better?) jokes.

Finally if we’re going to discuss language I really love this Orwell Essay [1]. We are so lucky to live in a time when we can just look great pieces of work like this up.

[1] https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...

Re: Write simply (2021)

#153

Post by amadeuspagel »

tw102 wrote: post #139
dang wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's true, please count me as pseudo intellectual also, because pg is one of the smartest people I've met and I continue to be in awe of how his mind works. I know it's silly to post such a thing, as the bias/conflict of interest is obvious and it will inevitably come across wrong—but I've thought and said this long before I met pg or had any connection to YC, so if there's a causal arrow it goes the other way.…

I think you're right. This essay, like so many of PG's, has the exact hallmarks of a smart person thinking for themselves about a topic. If you "think for yourself" when confronted with a problem like this (a problem at least three millennia old! People have been arguing about effective writing for a long time), you'll inevitably retrace some steps—good steps—of smart thinkers that have gone before you. But you won't…

The essay is called write simply and it explains how and why to write simply. It's not a complete overview of all thought about writing. PG has hinted at the necessity of obscure writing in other essays, also without refering to generations of writers before him. Obscure writing is meaningful only if it as an exception, only then can it lead people to think about why the author is writing obscurely about a topic, and not that the author can't write. It's ironic to complain that PG doesn't simply tell people to write obscurely.

Re: Write simply (2021)

#154

Post by psychoslave »

>Plus it's more considerate to write simply. When you write in a fancy way to impress people, you're making them do extra work just so you can seem cool. It's like trailing a long train behind you that readers have to carry.

Or on the other hand, people might think that your essay was pure waste of their time as far as "bringing great new ideas/perspectives" goes. And it’s OK, most things that we utter is in that case, certainly. But if you don’t pay extra effort in removing every single asperities in your prose, at least they might have a few new fancy words to play with.

Re: Write simply (2021)

#155

Post by nine_k »

andy_ppp wrote: post #152

Isn’t the article making the case that pg shouldn’t be writing essays at all but making YouTube videos if he wants his ideas to be more widely absorbed? Tangentially it makes me wonder how far we are away from being able to converse with a ChatGPT avatar of Paul Graham (PgGPT) with slightly worse (better?) jokes. Finally if we’re going to discuss language I really love this Orwell Essay [1]. We are so lucky to live i…

I always wonder how a talking head video can be more accessible than a text.

A video dictates its consumption pace (to a degree), it can't be easily quoted, it requires both your eyes and ears.

I understand podcasts: they are for people who want to listen to something while driving. But you can't watch a video while driving.

Possibly a video of a talking head is more convincing and engaging if you are a great stage performer, and radiate emotion like a text cannot.

Possibly a video that turns an essay into a clip / movie with visuals conveying the point additionally to the text would be even.more convincing, but producing such a video is incomparably more work than writing a text, even if some magical AI produces any visuals you ask it for. It's just a much harder composition task, a symphony versus a single-voice melody.

Re: Write simply (2021)

#156

Post by nine_k »

dqv wrote: post #111
paulpauper wrote: post #10

This may be good advice for an instruction manual or children's books, but I think good prose is something of an art in and of itself. Some of the most successful writers do the opposite. Look at the articles that go viral ..you see that the prose is varied and even complicated, not just simple. The best prose is that which conveys the intended message for the intended audience in the best way possible. I think it's…

"Write simply" is given as advice because, well, it's good advice. Too many writers try to ball before they crawl. A memorable critique, from an English professor, of my writing: "stop trying to sound smart". He meant that I should stop trying to use big words and stop trying to construct complex sentences. >People state they want/like simple writing but revealed preferences show otherwise. Simplicity isn't what you…

I love this maxim: "As simple as possible, but not simpler".

Re: Write simply (2021)

#157

Post by torstenvl »

Uehreka wrote: post #108
WA wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know zero articles that went viral with varied and complicated prose. Care to share an example or two?

Try five: - https://www.thedailybeast.com/i-dropped-acid-and-saw-into-th... - https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin... - https://www.usenix.org/system/files/1311_05-08_mickens.pdf - https://aphyr.com/posts/341-hexing-the-technical-interview - https://mango.pdf.zone/finding-former-australian-prime-minis...

I wouldn't call "I can tolerate anything except the outgroup" complicated. The sentence structure and word choice are straightforward. The narrative structure is... deliberately meandering, if that's a thing. It takes the long way around, on purpose, to aid in reflection. But I feel very confident that it isn't the kind of prose that PG would find distasteful or a waste of readers' time.

Re: Write simply (2021)

#160

Post by robertlagrant »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #17

I get that this guy is like rich and famous and founded this website or something so people always post his stuff here but his writing always has this weird veneer of pseudo intellectual philosophy that I find very off putting.

> weird veneer of pseudo intellectual philosophy

I haven't recognised this in his writing. Can you quote some of the pseudo intellectual philosophy-veneered sections?

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