Writing
Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft — you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft — you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third... See more
First drafts - Austin Kleon
After a while, you will have developed ideas far enough to decide on a topic to write about. Your topic is now based on what you have, not based on an unfounded idea about what the literature you are about to read might provide.
Sönke Ahrens • How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking
Lately, when I’m stuck on a piece, I will print everything I’ve written and re-read it with a pair of scissors in hand. As I go, I will cut out the pieces that feel like they’re working: a phrase here, a sentence there, entire paragraphs if I’m lucky. Then I’ll lay out all the cut-out pieces on my desk and move them around, trying to find the right... See more
Mason Currey • Seek funny leaps
Beware of all the slippery new fad words: paradigm and parameter, prioritize and potentialize.
William Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
The editor, then, is a connector—a conduit from writer to reader—but also a translator, improving the communication from each to the other.
Peter Ginna • What Editors Do: The Art, Craft & Business of Book Editing (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author’s voice.
William Zinsser • On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
A good editor is someone who uses deliberate subtraction to actually add life to the ideas, setting, plot, and characters
#084 ✰ are you an essentialist?
Good editing means taking away things that don't help the story so the important parts can shine and feel alive.
... See moreThere's also something humbling and awful about what's on the page is never as good as what's in your head and so if you keep it in your head it's safe and good and you're not going through this awful uncomfortable middle period … I think this is why people hang on to projects or write and rewrite them … there's a real ugliness to the early
Turn your notes into a rough draft. Don’t simply copy your notes into a manuscript. Translate them into something coherent and embed them into the context of your argument