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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• over 6 years ago

A person on Twitter, paraphrased: "I wish I was able to write as well X but despite going to school and doing everything right, I can't." Write a million words. "But they'll be not particularly great words." If anyone remembered X's first million that's true of theirs, too.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• over 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

A great deal of what people detect as "good writing" is not technical skill, which is taught in school and improves (somewhat) under a good editor. It is authorial voice: having something interesting to say and the capability to say it in an interesting and unique way.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• over 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

It is helpful but not required to have readers who can give you a feedback loop on the words you have written, but being cloistered in a windowless room and writing words that only you will ever see is more effective at creating a good writer than anything that isn't writing.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• over 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

One of the best things that the Internet did for society is that it created spaces which removed artificial constraints on how quickly you could write a million words and gave social permission for writing at any pace.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• over 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

A not so wonderful thing about school, and one reason why it produces rounds-to-zero good writers, is that it teaches you that work orders come in, words go out, and no words go out except in context of a work order.

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