sketerpot comments on Cheat codes - Less Wrong

36 Post author: sketerpot 01 December 2010 09:19PM

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Comment author: sketerpot 01 December 2010 09:25:35PM *  6 points [-]

For improving writing skills, the two most effective methods I know are:

  1. Participate in National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a 50,000 word work of fiction in 30 days, without fretting over quality too much. If you do this, you will learn a lot. It's unavoidable. (Plus, you get a book with your name on it. That's a great feeling.)

  2. Write blog entries, and post them somewhere people will see and discuss them. Less Wrong, for instance, or Hacker News. If you know you're writing for an audience, it forces you to clarify your thoughts, and put more effort into writing well. This is good practice, and you get feedback; commenters on the internet are usually pretty blunt.

Each of these techniques exercises a different type of writing, so they're complementary.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 02 December 2010 10:25:42PM 6 points [-]

Participate in National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a 50,000 word work of fiction in 30 days, without fretting over quality too much. If you do this, you will learn a lot. It's unavoidable.

I've done Nanowrimo on several occasions, beaten the goal twice. One can learn a lot that way, but for the most part I've only learnt "if I have to churn out 1,700 words a day, I write crap".

Comment author: ronnoch 04 December 2010 07:52:23AM 3 points [-]

I suspect the major benefit of finishing NaNoWriMo is realizing that writing a novel is actually possible, for you. That it's not some impossibly huge and daunting project that you could never really pull off--you can do it in a month, even.

Comment author: Gavin 04 December 2010 06:42:43PM 0 points [-]

With writing, I find that taking your time and getting it right will teach you much more than trying to get 50,000 words in a month. Deliberate practice is much more effective than simply trying to fill pages.

Comment author: jsalvatier 02 December 2010 04:27:38AM 0 points [-]

Not sure they're blunt about poor writing skills though. I think they mostly ignore poor writers.

Comment author: shokwave 02 December 2010 05:45:02AM 2 points [-]

I think they mostly ignore poor writers.

That's probably about as blunt as it can get, when an author wants feedback.

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