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

61–70 of 88 posts

Re: More people should write (2012)

#61

Post by jyunwai »

mrcsd wrote: post #47

I've recently started writing daily, since September. Setting a daily word target was what worked for me, I do at least 1600 a day and try not to write too much more. If you're writing a first draft of around 90k words then it will take only 56 days to get there at 1.6k a day. My realisation that this was actually a pretty small time commitment really helped me finally take the plunge. This is obviously an old idea,…

Related to writing, I also high recommend Murakami's "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running." He wrote this as a memoir centred along running, and he often writes about how his habits of running carries over to other habits in his life, such as writing. I liked this excerpt from the memoir in particular:

"Right now I’m aiming at increasing the distance I run, so speed is less of an issue. As long as I can run a certain distance, that’s all I care about. Sometimes I run fast when I feel like it, but if I increase the pace I shorten the amount of time I run, the point being to let the exhilaration I feel at the end of each run carry over to the next day. This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed—and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can manage."

Re: More people should write (2012)

#62

Post by 2-718-281-828 »

jodrellblank wrote: post #50
jerrre wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you you do this in practice?

You just gave me a sad idea where there are people who exist to adulthood who have never burned paper or seen it burn first-hand. Like city children who have never seen animals, or lakes or seas or oceans, or never seen the stars, deprived of some deeply human experiences. (I grew up with a log fireplace at home, but I also played with friends using a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight and ignite paper out on t…

of course, s/he means how to burn a piece of paper without setting the apartment on fire or set off an alarm. it's really funny that your first thought was that they doesn't know how to burn something technically and connect that to children who think a chicken has four legs or cacao milk is produced by brown cows. had me chuckle.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#63

Post by jyunwai »

OliveMate wrote: post #33
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…

I second the recommendation for "On Writing Well." I read this many years ago, and the book had a strong positive influence on my writing (serving me very well when later doing editorial work, writing articles, and writing summaries, emails, and reports week-to-week).

George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" essay is a short essay that shares many of the pieces of advice [1]. The main principle that I've taken from both is that you will be more effective at getting your points across to the reader, if you optimize your writing for ease of comprehension, instead of attempting to sound sophisticated with unnecessarily fancy words. This is especially helpful in work environments, where getting your points across clearly can save yourself from delays due to confusion.

I would also strongly recommend reading good writing often. Becoming a regular reader of a well-written newspaper or magazine is great for learning new ways to write down observations or advance a point of argumentation, and I've also personally found it enjoyable to have a broader awareness of what's going on in the world.

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

Re: More people should write (2012)

#64

Post by financltravsty »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #62
jodrellblank wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just gave me a sad idea where there are people who exist to adulthood who have never burned paper or seen it burn first-hand. Like city children who have never seen animals, or lakes or seas or oceans, or never seen the stars, deprived of some deeply human experiences. (I grew up with a log fireplace at home, but I also played with friends using a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight and ignite paper out on t…

of course, s/he means how to burn a piece of paper without setting the apartment on fire or set off an alarm. it's really funny that your first thought was that they doesn't know how to burn something technically and connect that to children who think a chicken has four legs or cacao milk is produced by brown cows. had me chuckle.

Step 1. Take batteries out of fire alarm.

Step 2. Find two fire-resistant vessels like sink, bathtub, metal bowl, frying pan, sauce pan, etc.

Step 3. Fill first vessel with water, second vessel with the paper.

Step 4. Light paper on fire.

Step 4.1 If fire spreads dump water on fire.

Done

Re: More people should write (2012)

#65

Post by privong »

jodrellblank wrote: post #56

> " It’s like what happens to a room during a game of “I Spy”: if your friend spies something red, the red stuff glows. " The only I Spy I know is "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...". Is there another common version where people describe the appearance of the thing instead of the spelling of the name?

Growing up, my brothers and I would play "I spy" by identifying a color. E.g., "I spy with my little eye something that is orange".

Re: More people should write (2012)

#66

Post by anon012012 »

kingkongjaffa wrote: post #9

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

I actually composed a free ebook about writing advice from many major writers.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSMJ_VIYylRcKIpb...

Hopefully this should help.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#68

Post by Tomte »

jyunwai wrote: post #59
ravenstine wrote: post #49

The reason I don't write is that I'm unconvinced that a worthwhile number of people will find my writings and actually read them in 2023. I'm fine with doing all my writing on HN. If you look at the comments section of my profile, it might as well be a microblog.

I wonder if there is a way to easily export one's own Hacker News comments. It might be useful for you to back your comments up one day, as there can be value in searching through your past writing and also having a backup (which never hurts).

https://github.com/dogsheep/hacker-news-to-sqlite

Re: More people should write (2012)

#69

Post by Tomte »

jodrellblank wrote: post #50
jerrre wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you you do this in practice?

You just gave me a sad idea where there are people who exist to adulthood who have never burned paper or seen it burn first-hand. Like city children who have never seen animals, or lakes or seas or oceans, or never seen the stars, deprived of some deeply human experiences. (I grew up with a log fireplace at home, but I also played with friends using a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight and ignite paper out on t…

> You just gave me a sad idea where there are people who exist to adulthood who have never burned paper or seen it burn first-hand.

Done that, never again. I thought it would be cool to burn my paper print of some key material. Opened the door, put a lighter to the paper on the landing just a step from the door.

The paper did not burn cleanly as I imagined, and I had soon rather large pieces of burned paper flying inside my apartment. Not burning, luckily, but brittle and becoming ash wherever I tried to catch them or pick them up.

Learned my lesson: Put paper into a fireproof container, then burn it.

Re: More people should write (2012)

#70

Post by youcantcook »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #62
jodrellblank wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just gave me a sad idea where there are people who exist to adulthood who have never burned paper or seen it burn first-hand. Like city children who have never seen animals, or lakes or seas or oceans, or never seen the stars, deprived of some deeply human experiences. (I grew up with a log fireplace at home, but I also played with friends using a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight and ignite paper out on t…

of course, s/he means how to burn a piece of paper without setting the apartment on fire or set off an alarm. it's really funny that your first thought was that they doesn't know how to burn something technically and connect that to children who think a chicken has four legs or cacao milk is produced by brown cows. had me chuckle.

[flagged]
Post reply on HN