the art of writing
advice from writers, and more on writing
Brie Wolfson and
the art of writing
Putting aside the need to earn a living, I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose. They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are:
(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be... See more
(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be... See more
Animal Farm • Why I Write | the Orwell Foundation
i can’t believe this is the first time i read this.
When I sit down to write, the meadow is still sunk in darkness, and above it, satellites pass by, one after the other. My thoughts are flighty and shapeless; they morph as I approach them. But when I type, it is as if I pin my thoughts to the table. I can examine them. They feel porous to the touch and crumble. But among the fragments, I discover... See more
Henrik Karlsson • How to Think in Writing
If what you want is a content-marketing blog post that serves more to incrementally improve Google search results than to be read by an actual human, AI might help. If you want to think deeply through a subject and synthesize knowledge, then communicate that knowledge to others, it’s going to be better if you just struggle through the painful... See more
Kyle Chayka • My writing robot
i think this will change over time, but agree this sums up the current state of AI writing tools.
You might experience this as a writer, where it’s doing you instead of you doing it. That’s the sweet spot, isn’t it? […] You’ve got to let the ego just go sit on the bench, and just hear what wants to be done through you…. See what wants to be born…. You’re not doing it, it’s doing you.”
Jeff Bridges is digging it.
Beautiful, on writing
BALDWIN: When you are standing in the pulpit, you must sound as though you know what you’re talking about. When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway.
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Updated): Proven Professional Techniques for Writing with Style and Power
amazon.com
But the future is not a self-fulfilling prophecy - 8 billion people on this planet have a voice and that carries far more weight than one person with 8 billion dollars. We just forgot how to exercise it.