Useful writing tells people something true and important tha...

Useful writing tells people something true and important that they didn't already know, and tells them as unequivocally as possible.

Paul Graham • How to Write Usefully

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Instead of good writers, ok writers, and people who can't write, there will just be good writers and people who can't write.

Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: w... See more

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

When you try to develop style, you end up being artificial, and the artifice is obvious to anyone who reads the results. The purpose of writing is not to impress, but to be useful. Useful writing gets its subject or story across without drawing undue attention to itself. Style is not content but form, not what’s in the channel but the channel itsel

Kenneth Atchity • Write Time: Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision through Revision—and Beyond

Usually, we try to teach motive by asking: “Why should I, the reader, care about this?”

This is reasonable advice, but it’s also wrong. You, the writer, don’t know me. You don’t have a cluewhat I care about. The only reasons you can give me are the reasons you could give to literally anyone. “This issue is important because understanding it could in... See more

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

Kenneth Atchity • Write Time: Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision through Revision—and Beyond

Adam Mastroianni • 28 Slightly Rude Notes on Writing