Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

More people should write (2012)

jsomers.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 88 posts

Re: More people should write (2012)

#31

Post by inglor_cz »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #9

I love reading and writing. Do you all have any advice for writing more and writing better?

At the risk of sounding smugly, just write. Perhaps ask someone to read your texts, but don't rely too much on random critics. Individual people have their own taste and pet peeves; what is unreadable for one may be enjoyable for others.

Writing is like hiking or skiing. While there are some important rules how not to kill yourself, you can only learn it by doing.

Also, read a lot, ESPECIALLY works by people who have a good command of your language (IDK if you are native English speaker; I am not). Writing style is a bit contagious. Don't worry if you occassionally sound like someone else, this kind of contagion is really unavoidable if you read a lot.

I would say that the optimal ratio of R:W time is about 5-6:1.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#33

Post by OliveMate »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #9

I love reading and writing. Do you all have any advice for writing more and writing better?

Earlier this week I picked up a copy of On Writing Well by William Zinsser, a style guide on what he believes makes for good informal writing. It's yet to reflect in any of my comments but I'd recommend it if you struggle with being concise.

It does have a heavy focus on American writing and it's akin to a longform opinion piece, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of what makes for an accessible and pleasant read.

edit: What also helps is to sit down and write. Make a blog and even if you don't have a specific topic to focus on, just write and keep at it. Take a note of how you write, the style that you naturally develop with all of your quirks; do you overuse commas, do you routinely break up sentences with a dash or a semicolon? Does it have a sense of flow?

Before long something will click in your head, you'll become more cognisant of the world around you, and your head will be screaming at you to write certain thoughts and ideas down.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#35

Post by broscillator »

BizarreByte wrote: post #34

I don’t write because writing is tied to some very bad memories. I’m terrified of people reading what I write and humiliating me, it wouldn’t be the first time. Me innermost thoughts remain mine alone as a result.

I find burning pages kinda therapeutic. Give it a try, write your least shareable thoughts and then watch them burn.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#36

Post by broscillator »

Apocryphon wrote: post #17

Is to post different from writing? Considering that so much of online user-generated content these days are posts, comments, replies. I’m not even talking about fluffy exhibitionist social media posts or incoherent comments on news articles. I mean supposedly more highbrow comments on special interest aggregator sites such as this. Forums and bulletin boards. Does that constitute writing? Or are we just creating more…

As someone who has been doing both daily for a while, yes, they're different.

It's kind of like comparing speaking at a meeting or giving a speech, to talking to a long time friend over coffee, or talking to yourself in the mirror. In the abstract you could say the action is the same, speaking, but the experience as lived is very different.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#37

Post by jerrre »

broscillator wrote: post #35
BizarreByte wrote: post #34

I don’t write because writing is tied to some very bad memories. I’m terrified of people reading what I write and humiliating me, it wouldn’t be the first time. Me innermost thoughts remain mine alone as a result.

I find burning pages kinda therapeutic. Give it a try, write your least shareable thoughts and then watch them burn.

How do you you do this in practice?

Re: More people should write (2012)

#38

Post by vonjuice »

hasoleju wrote: post #5

As someone who just started writing regularly a few weeks ago this piece is very encouraging! I'm very curious if I will be able to make writing a habit. In the past I often quit new behaviors after a few months. I discovered this quitting behavior a year ago and since I'm aware of it I found a lot of examples where this happened in my past. Now I see everything I start as part of a big experiment to test which thing…

Hello, I'm someone who's been through that and I'm "on the other side" in the sense that I did stick to it. I wrote this and I hope you find it helpful: https://medium.com/@vonjuice/4-important-words-for-writing-c...

> Now I see everything I start as part of a big experiment to test which things stick. So that I can learn which properties of a habit make it stick with me.

This is wise. In addition to watching the properties of the object, which could be considered static, be mindful of the properties in yourself and how these interact with the former, because yours are dynamic and can be developed as a skill, so you learn how to make beneficial habits stick more regardless of their perceived properties.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#39

Post by vonjuice »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #9

I love reading and writing. Do you all have any advice for writing more and writing better?

Allocate a time of the day, every day, for writing. You can spend the time writing whatever comes to mind, working on a story, or staring out the window, or reading about writing. For the latter, I recommend this list:

https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/

Post reply on HN