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by mikewarot
1510 days ago
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Nobody writes well written prose. Everyone writes, then does a better or worse job of editing. Like code, prose tends to crystalize into smaller and higher quality pieces over time. --- Process --- Write all of your thoughts in a stream of consciousness flow, don't worry about how it looks, just get your thoughts out of your head, and into the storage medium of your choice. This frees up stack space in your brain. Next - Iterate. Strategies you can use to help include: Read it out loud to yourself. You'll immediately notice typos, grammatical and flow issues. Walk away from it to gain some distance in time and space. When you come back you'll notice gaps or repetitions. Repeat until you're happy. |
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Just toss down whatever you have. Once I realized you could start like this it was like the hurdles were all removed.
I work just like you say. Honestly, I think my beginnings are less a stream of consciousness and more a spew of garbage. Once you're done streaming or spewing, figure out what's next given the time you have.
Sometimes I stare at it. Sometimes I wander off and forget about it completely for a long time. Sometimes I do something else and come back to it. Sometimes I start a new document and try again.
Eventually it ends up something I can pass off sounding pretty decent. With some practice editing happens faster with fewer iterations. I've become better at knowing the audience too.
I won't admit to how much editing and rearranging and repeating the process this very comment took.
> I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.