writing Advice
swyx 2020-01-18
Note: this was an unfinished draft, but i hit publish anyway. may revisit in future.
ann handley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYLVFK12ERY
- up goer five text editor
- whats in it for them
- skip the running start
- “screw and do” - one main point, one call to action, must be clear
https://twitter.com/nbashaw/status/1237131727635501056?s=20 When I sent people drafts of my posts for feedback, I never knew what to say if they asked “what kind of feedback would be helpful?”
Now I use the “ABCD” framework:
-
what’s Awesome?
-
what’s Boring?
-
what’s Confusing?
-
what Didn’t you believe?
https://danluu.com/corp-eng-blogs/ https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/1237871186752573442 terry tao
PG: writing usefully: http://paulgraham.com/useful.html, http://www.paulgraham.com/talk.html
Stephen King: on writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0SIM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Scott Adams: https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/the_day_you_bec.html
How to write well?
- Writing well
- AIDA - attention interest desire action
- get to the point, add rhythm https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1127348174404890625
- more tips: https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1116485842615377921
- talk like you write: http://www.paulgraham.com/talk.html
- rapid prototyping: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/advice-on-writing-papers/write-a-rapid-prototype-first/
- writing for work: https://danluu.com/corp-eng-blogs/
- better writer: https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/the_day_you_bec.html
- The Benefits of Writing A Lot For My Software Career
Writing
- brandon sanderson - have a group when writing
- https://twitter.com/dickiebush/status/1482350753691881473?s=21
- storytelling https://twitter.com/patriciamou_/status/1449897168316387329?s=21
@jeremywaite’s hand-illustrated 1-pagers on storytelling methods from:
- Harry Potter
- Pixar Studios
- Studio Ghibli
- Greek Orators
- https://thefrailestthing.com/2014/03/30/10-points-of-unsolicited-advice-for-technology-writers/
- Write funny https://copywritingcourse.com/writing-funny/
- summarize the top books in your field https://www.nateliason.com/notes
- better input
- build following with zero authority
- Writing Process
- Mise en Place :)
- Rapid Prototyping
- david perell - 2 forms of writing
- the 4 months of quiet
- Only 2 Things that matter
- Entertain
- Inform
- things that don’t matter if you have the above
- Perfect Grammar
- Perfect Structure
- Perfect Timing
- FCC writing guidelines https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/developer-news-style-guide/
- writing better
- Up Goer Five https://xkcd.com/1133/
- https://www.factoftheday1.com/facts/amazon-writing-style-tip
- https://twitter.com/destraynor/status/1258372157706510336?lang=en
- One Main Point
- One Call to Action
- Attention - first sentence https://twitter.com/bradwolverton/status/1246503536332099584
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
- Skip the running start
- What’s in it for them? Write Usefully
- Write Like You Talk
- Write Simply - PG writing process http://byronm.com/13sentences.html
- https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1251598088294158337
- https://jvns.ca/blog/2020/11/15/simple-explanations-without-sounding-condescending/
- Asking for feedback ABCD
- what’s Awesome?
- what’s Boring?
- what’s Confusing?
- what Didn’t you believe?
- writing for work
- Memos/Narratives https://slab.com/blog/jeff-bezos-writing-management-strategy/
- Design Docs https://www.industrialempathy.com/posts/design-docs-at-google/
- Corp Eng Blogs https://danluu.com/corp-eng-blogs/
- daily writing
- further inspo
- Ann Handley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYLVFK12ERY
- Scott Adams https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/the_day_you_bec.html
- Stephen King https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0SIM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
- Scott Hanselman https://www.hanselman.com/blog/BlogInteresting32WaysToKeepYourBlogFromSucking.aspx (talk)
- Ultimate Guide https://www.perell.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-writing-online
- Writing for Software Devs https://philipkiely.com/wfsd/
- editing https://blog.regehr.org/archives/1471
- https://adamfaliq.com/2020/10/28/write-well/
- punctuation and mood. https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1340150916109004800?s=20
- http://paulgraham.com/writing44.html
- https://medium.com/practicecomesfirst/dr-jordan-b-petersons-10-step-guide-to-clearer-thinking-through-essay-writing-1ab79a94937
- https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/why-everyone-should-write/
- write clearly https://gilest.org/2021/how-to-be-clear/
- writing https://twitter.com/Julian/status/1356979505475313665
- on writing well https://sive.rs/book/OnWritingWell
- the three genres of Julia Evans https://jvns.ca/blog/2020/12/05/how-i-write-useful-programming-comics/
- write in plain English http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/how-to-write-in-plain-english.html
- compendium https://arewordsjustwords.com/2021/02/12/la-creme-de-la-creme-of-writing-online
- https://theamericanscholar.org/writing-english-as-a-second-language/
- “I have four principles of writing good English. They are Clarity, Simplicity, Brevity, and Humanity.”
- Framing https://www.frameworksinstitute.org/tools-and-resources/framing-101/
- write drama writing advice https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan/status/1372061109461512193?s=20
- https://builtbywords.substack.com/p/writing-tools-i-learned-from-the
- writing short form
- write active verbs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3bQfP_2ALs
- do not use any form of “to be”
- be different - “step 1 drink a shot of tequila”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3bQfP_2ALs
- writing habit/process https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1462455011716202499?s=20
- writing motivation https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/writing-motivation/
- dan luu writing advice https://danluu.com/writing-non-advice/
- headlines https://twitter.com/amandanat/status/1473698351141036040
write something that could be rejected - get in the game