Thread by @AJA_Cortes

I'll post one tip about writing for every like this tweet gets

(will cap at 100)

1. Write every day is generic advice and only directionally true

The struggle for many is WHAT to write about, as much it is the resistance to writing

2. Prolific writers are born, but great writers are made

Some people possess the instinct to write A LOT, they dont need to be made or trained to do this

-In contrast, writing as a SKILL is highly trainable

Quantity and quality are not the same

3. Everyone can write, but very few can write well

Writing is a skill with infinite leverage, it is always in demand somewhere, somehow, and there is never not a need for communication

4. If you want to make money from writing, you must view the world as a flow of information you can contribute to and make more clear

Good writing is worth its reading time in any currency of your choice

5. If you improve your speaking ability, your writing ability will correspondingly improve

6. If you read book, GOOD books, your writing will improve in proportion

7. You can make yourself a WORSE writer by what you read and who you listen to, be careful

8. Write for the audience you can respect, not for the audience that is the fastest to give you attention

9. The easiest writing comes from a subject you are passionate about and know well,

The hardest writing is what you find boring, but ironically this can improve your writing the most if you study it occasionally

10. Writing is the code for thinking,

When you can write, you see the world similar to how a programmer might see the internet

Or how Neo sees the matrix

Everything that EXISTS is in the form of words

11. To write well in a way that teaches people requires understanding HOW people think and perceive information

This almost always requires in person teaching experience

Its purely Luck if you write this way "by accident"

12. Poetic phrasing can make your writing more quotable, but its often the plain and "crude" sentences that people remember the most

Flowery language detracts from the message

13. The way that a block of marble can contain the possibility of a sculpture

A "good idea" is not fully brought to life until it is written about

Good writing does not only reveal truth, it enhances it to a level you'd never achieve otherwise

14. Attempting to sound smart through written word often backfires in that the dumb cannot understand it, the truly intelligent see through it

And the only people that will take to it are other midwits like yourself who are concerned with signaling their presumed intelligence

15. The faster you can read, the faster you can likely write

Strangely, trying to read faster wont improve your writing, but improving the ease that you write with will improve your reading

16. Writing exercises rarely are about writing, rather they are strategies to improve someones creative thinking abilities

The more of the world you can see, the more substance available to put into words

17. To write is to think.

This does not work in reverse though.

18. Writers block isnt real. Its boredom and fatigue

If you were asked to describe where you lived, you'd have no problem doing so

19. Its very very difficult to lie about yourself through writing

You can trie, but it comes out in what you write

Writing requires honesty, something that the self deceptive struggle with

20. Writers like to invent problems for themselves the same way many artists do

They romanticize their craft and want a story of struggle and hardship to go with it

Most writers are unsuccessful and full of shit for this reason

21. People avoid writing to avoid thinking

Writing is truth serum.

The best writers describe writing as "bleeding on the page" because its both a mirror and an outlet to ones inner universe

-This also why writing about ones self can scare the shit out of people

22. If there is any secret to writing A LOT

It is to become as high energy as possible

Writing IS energy, the more you have, the more you can translate into words.

23. The best writing comes from mastery of a single domain or subject

The best writing does not necessarily mean the most accessible

24. Writing can be goal oriented like anything else

Pick a subject of study, become better at writing about it

Don’t over mythologize the writing process

25. The more interesting you are as a person, the better you will be as a writer

Real talk, most people suck at writing because they are boring people

26. Writing is no different than music 🎼 in that there are many styles

But the same basic elements apply

Syntax, basic grammar, Comprehension must be there for it to be called writing

27. Bad writing is like bad thinking, it’s poorly articulated and while the overall idea may be there, it is too reliant on you “getting it”

28. Those difficult subjects that you can find NO good written explanation for,

They are either genuinely complex and require a form of intelligence (mathematical/logical) that you don’t possess

Or they might be bullshit

29. Copywriting is writing clearly what something does and why it will solve a specific problem

The challenge is writing in the way the particular audience thinks

30. Writing bootcamps "work" because you are around many people, you listen to a multiplicity of perspectives and here many stories, you get energy from

& this gives you the energy & creative impulse to "write"

The same thing can be accomplished by living an interesting life

31. Writing to sell is a series of lessons in understanding other people, what motivates them, who they are and why they are

Its psychological, and its why advertisement and sales are multi multi billion dollar industries

32. If you know what kind of writing someone responds to, you can convince of them anything, provided you can phrase it properly

Writing is the portal and programming for the mind

33. Do not be misled by the seductive power of words

Writing is a tool for self examination

But it is no substitute for taking Action

34. Writing is a tool for focus

One of the main reasons people struggle to write is the difficulty in focusing on only ONE thing, one thought, one idea

And then developing that in depth.

Our modern minds are train to multi task and be distracted, Pure focus is a challenge

35. If you set out to learn any complex skill, and you document your experience in writing,

You'll be a writer by the time you reach competency,

And you'll likely progress markedly faster

36. School turns people off to writing because of the limitations and restrictions it places on, which makes the whole experience of doing it unappealing.

Much like reading, forcing someone to do it turns them off to it entirely

37. If you are improving as a writer, you'll grimace when you read your old writing

Developing your writing voice takes time, and it will change with time

38. Dont judge what you write when you first begin writing regularly,

most of it will be sloppy and terrible

The secret to writing well most the time is All the time you spent being god awful

39. The discipline it takes to become successful writing is what breaks people

You will be writing, daily, for YEARS before there is a breakthrough opportunity,

If you need success to validate your writing, you will quit before you ever reach it

40. No one gets paid to write shitty emotional angst prose on a tumblr-esque blog

You'd be surprised at how many people think this will somehow turn into something,

It wont.

41. When you write regularly, you'll learn quickly that what people respond to, versus what you enjoyed writing and thought was quality

These can be very very different, they tend not to align at all

Once you realize this, you become far less of a perfectionist

42. Storytelling is the hardest kind of writing, as it requires you to know some truths about life, and bring them out in the characters and the narrative

Descriptive and instructional writing is vastly easier

43. If you are struggling to write a story, start with a situation,

Not an ending, not an beginning, start in the middle

Work forwards and backwards from there

44. When writing a character, the less overall description of their appearance the better,

A reader needs to know only one key feature, and little more than that

Their imagination will do the rest

45. Its easier to edit down than it is to write more

Better to overwrite than to under write

46. What you write in a flow state may either be brilliant and otherwordly,

or overwrought. You wont know until you go back and read it later

Dont ever stop a flow state though

47. A Flow state in writing is in the words come easy, fast and furiously, and it takes no effort, you can keep writing until you either become physically tired, or feel you've said all you can say

You can train yourself to enter this state, its not accidental

48. Ritualizing when and where and what you write with creates the necessary conditions to flow

If you're lazy, you can use alcohol and other drugs, but they come with a heavy cost

49. Writing to share what you have genuinely earned will lead to more useful insights than writing to sound "wise" ever will

50. If you "dont know what to write about", tell me in 5 sentences what you find so challenging about writing.

Be articulate.

51. True subject matter expertise writing will only be recognized and understood by other experts

If you write for a lay audience, you WILL need to simplify & "dumb down" so it can be understandable

52.When we say writing is a skill, there are MANY different kinds of writing

Expository, descriptive, narrative, technical, instructional, persuasive

No one is good at ALL of them. Identify your strengths

53. As there are different styles of writing, so too are their different styles of writers

What most people think of a writer is the person trying to write novel,

ironically, narrative stories are probably the smallest percentage of all writing that exists

54. Rather than wait for artistic inspiration to strike,

prioritize writing the way you would exercise, or any other kind of skill,

an hour a day, to practice, and whether its good or bad does not matter, so long as it gets done

This is how you become prolific

55. You will know your writing is improving as more and more people want to read it and express their enthusiasm for it

Its very unlikely the first thing you write will have this impact

56. The romantic vision of writing a great novel that is an immediate hit is highly deceiving

Most books are never read, only a minute percentage of writers are successful from a single book

Do not build your writing career on this idea