『转』Writing Well

这是前辈Julie Zhuo的最新关于写作的文章，昨天写下～进行总结和阅读思考

这是一篇关于提笔写作的文章，首发在The looking glass...前辈每周都会回答一个读者的问题耶--
This was first published on my mailing list The Looking Glass. Every week, I answer a reader’s question.

这一次，前辈总结了2点四年博客写作后的经验，总结如下：

1）Successful writing gets your point across to your reader

2）Hone your craft through writing goals based on quantity, not quality

下边是全文：

Mar 7

Do you have any tips for people who aspire to write well?

As many of long-time readers know, I’ve been blogging for over four years. Before that, I wrote a few unpublished novels that are sitting and collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. I’ve tried different styles of writing, different topics, different formats. Here are the two most important things I’ve learned about writing over the years:

Successful writing gets your point across to your reader

This, above all else, is probably the most important lesson I’ve learned about writing. It seems obvious, but it was actually a revelation for me.#n. 启示；揭露；出乎意料的事；被揭露的真相 You see, for years I had assumed that writing was all about me — how I wanted to come across, how I wanted to express my voice, how I could leave my unique and personal mark on the world. A great example of this was my college essay, which I happened upon not too long ago while doing some cleaning. I’m shocked I got into college at all because this essay was truly cringe-worthy. It was immediately apparent that I was trying to make myself sound smarter by swapping every sixth word with a thesaurus synonym that was longer and more impressive-sounding. That’s how I arrived at sentences like: “There exists in my life a somewhat lengthy list of haphazard things that cannot escape my notice in any normal given situation.” #活生生一个长难句...

Seriously, WTF is that sentence? It reeks of trying too hard. It’s twisted up to be longer and more confusing so it would make me seem more unique and intelligent and adult. Alas, it does the opposite. If I was thinking about the reader at all, I would have realized this sentence made it harder for them to understand my point. Which was, very simply, “There are a few random things I always happen to notice when I’m going about my day-to-day.”

Write for your reader. Know what you want to say and what you hope they take away. In those precious moments that they have given to you and your words, write so they might learn or feel something. Write so that it’s easy for them to remember your message in the days and weeks to come.

#讲的就是写作的第一点，首先必须明白写作或者写博客就是为了与读者交流...所以前辈的意思貌似是，文体句子要简洁易懂，直达读者，让读者可以很轻松的GET到点/店。

Hone # 用磨刀石磨 your craft through writing goals based on quantity, not quality

Writing is like design, or any other craft. It requires practice. In the beginning, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the basics — word choice, sentence structure, making a paragraph flow in a way that didn’t sound silted. It was frustrating but necessary in my path to becoming a better writer. As I improved, the mechanics of writing occupied less and less of my time, and I could spend more thought on the crafting of the message.

There is no shortcut to better writing, just as there is no shortcut to better design, or any other craft. You must simply do, and then it gets easier. The thing that has helped me the most is setting writing goals based on volume. In my first year of blogging, my goal was to post something every week. It could be short or long, good or shitty, but I just had to hit the “publish” button once every Tuesday. I realized that if I goaled on quality — “I should only publish posts that I feel are great” — then what ended up happening was that I’d rarely publish anything (because most of the stuff I wrote early on wasn’t great), which meant I became less and less motivated to write. Whereas the quantitive goals — 500 words a day, a blog post a week, a journal entry a month, a long post on Facebook every two weeks, etc. — were all about the doing, which meant they were achievable.

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#第二点讲..磨稿子的时候，是通过数量而非质量迭代的基于写作目的的训练....前辈说类比到设计也是一样，会有多巴胺的刺激，所以会更想HIT下那个发送的按钮..

貌似也有道理，这是一个过程。

Anyway,这一次真的三分钟读完了。攒攒啦～

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