the art of writing
advice from writers, and more on writing
Brie Wolfson and
the art of writing
When used properly, metaphors enhance speech. But correctly dosing the metaphorical spice in the dish of language is no easy task. They ‘must not be far-fetched, or they will be difficult to grasp, nor obvious, or they will have no effect’, as Aristotle already noted nearly 2,500 years ago.
Benjamin Santos Genta • How changing the metaphors we use can change the way we think | Aeon Essays
Maya Angelou // "When I’m writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I’m trying for that. But I’m also trying for the language. I’m trying to see how it can really sound. I really love language. I love it for what it does for us, how it... See more
instagram.comDP: Writing now has to be really, really good to stand out. People got really upset last December when I tweeted that AI’s writing is already better than the majority of Write of Passage students would be with a day’s worth of work. It made a lot of people upset, but I think it’s true. AI’s writing is great with a good prompt, which is why people... See more
How we traded beauty for efficiency
If you write to please others, you are selling out. You are in the process of audience capture. This way of talking, which is how the fear in me talks, is common—as if writing for an audience and writing for yourself are at odds with each other. I really used to feel like that.
But I no longer think that it is quite right. The relationship between... See more
But I no longer think that it is quite right. The relationship between... See more
Henrik Karlsson • Writing as Communion
this is beautiful: “people interested not in a particular version of you, but in the process of you.” this is why building in public gets so much love.
Creating a collection of my favorite writing is so satisfying. It's like saving links, but I'm saving the objects themselves. There's some physicality to it, more like a bookshelf of sorts.
Crazy to think how this could evolve (1/x)
On writing about what you know, via Robert Pirsig (1974 interview):
... See moreWrite about what you know. And he said, if you write about what you know and you do it carefully and sincerely and make sure it's really what you know, that'll be plenty exotic to everybody else in this book. I've really tried to do that, and I've tried to justify what I've done to
Constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Then ask: have I said it?
Derek Sivers • On Writing Well - by William Zinsser | Derek Sivers
247 You will know that you’re done with something when you can’t imagine making it better. For some writers that’s a state of exhilaration: They’ve done everything they can. This beautiful accomplishment! Nothing can improve it. Others of us arrive at the same place, despondent: This ramshackle thing. I’ve reached the end of my powers. Nothing can
... See more