PG Essays How to write usefully
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Jul 28, 2023 This podcast discusses the essential elements of useful writing, how to navigate controversy in essays, starting small and releasing constraints in writing practice, the vulnerability of useful writing, and exploring the path to writing essays by practicing and selecting an area of expertise.
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Four Components Of Useful Writing
- Useful writing must be correct, important, novel, and stated as strongly as possible without being false.
- These four components combine multiplicatively to score an essay's usefulness.
Publish Only Your Best Sentences
- Avoid publishing bad sentences and delete anything that isn't worth hearing before releasing an essay.
- Write fast drafts, then rewrite carefully until no passages catch like briars on rereading.
Morris's Rule: Speak Only When Worthwhile
- Robert Morris rarely speaks unless he's sure it's worth hearing, which yields usually right opinions.
- That lesson translates to deleting weak writing and publishing only what passes strict self-review.