Hidden Articles are not sent out as newsletters. They are usually “different” in some way - either they aren’t big enough topics to sustain an entire article, retreads of older thinking, or just something weird I wanted to try. In a very particular sense, I don’t know how to write. It is generally known that I have a minimal-at-best level of education, the kind where “highest completed” pulldowns in my job applications generally get set to “GED/Didn’t Graduate”.
"The trick is to treat all writing advice as something to keep in mind. You want to think of writing advice as someone pointing out a possible failure mode to you, and examine your writing in the context of what you are trying to convey to a particular audience, and then adjust as needed to actually serve your audience in the particular context of your piece."
That's not writing advice, that's life advice that happens to be about writing.
> Imagine thinking this - that your reader is so committed to slogging through your impenetrable horror of pinky-out tea-drinker writing that they are both willing and happy to stop reading, open a dictionary, and find the definition of some college-word you learned so you could think you were winning at parties back before people stopped inviting you to them.
You mean, imagine being Mencius Moldbug with three zillion readers, a cult following, and your own wikipedia article?
Ultimately it just comes down to the readers you want to attract. You have a good strategy: write for your market, and readers will sort themselves out. I'm a case in point, here. I vastly prefer Lovecraft over Strunk & White, and your own blog feels a bit bread-and-buttery for my taste - check out my own articles and you'll see what I mean.
No need to to win 'em all to have a successful blog, RC!
This advice reminds me of my first music theory course, back in eigth grade. That's where I learnt that it's important to know the rules for composing music - not in order to follow them, but in order to be aware of when you're breaking them.
I can't like it because I'm not a paid subscriber, so you should know I liked it.
"The trick is to treat all writing advice as something to keep in mind. You want to think of writing advice as someone pointing out a possible failure mode to you, and examine your writing in the context of what you are trying to convey to a particular audience, and then adjust as needed to actually serve your audience in the particular context of your piece."
That's not writing advice, that's life advice that happens to be about writing.
Great piece.
> Imagine thinking this - that your reader is so committed to slogging through your impenetrable horror of pinky-out tea-drinker writing that they are both willing and happy to stop reading, open a dictionary, and find the definition of some college-word you learned so you could think you were winning at parties back before people stopped inviting you to them.
You mean, imagine being Mencius Moldbug with three zillion readers, a cult following, and your own wikipedia article?
Ultimately it just comes down to the readers you want to attract. You have a good strategy: write for your market, and readers will sort themselves out. I'm a case in point, here. I vastly prefer Lovecraft over Strunk & White, and your own blog feels a bit bread-and-buttery for my taste - check out my own articles and you'll see what I mean.
No need to to win 'em all to have a successful blog, RC!
This advice reminds me of my first music theory course, back in eigth grade. That's where I learnt that it's important to know the rules for composing music - not in order to follow them, but in order to be aware of when you're breaking them.