On Writing

Writing is hard, and it’s not surprising that the promise of removing that friction from the writing process is appealing. But we need to be able to recognize when removing the friction from the process might mean losing something important.

To him - and again, he is not alone in this - the benefit of generative AI is in streamlining the production of a text product.

Putting ideas into words is a severe test. The first words you choose are usually wrong; you have to rewrite sentences over and over to get them exactly right. And your ideas won't just be imprecise, but incomplete too. Half the ideas that end up in an essay will be ones you thought of while you were writing it. Indeed, that's why I write them.

"In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts."

"Who cares if the first draft is good? It doesn’t need to be good, it just needs to be, so you can revise it. You don’t need an idea to start a story. You just need a sentence" - George Saunders (good advice in general)

The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career: Whenever you’re at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, “What would make a better story?”

"You won’t write well until you understand that writing is an evolving process, not a finished product. Nobody expects you to get it right the first time, or even the second time."