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Niven's First Law of Writing: Writers who write for other writers should write letters. - Larry Niven, science fiction author (1989) Blind monkey at the typewr
by contingencies 7y ago
Niven's First Law of Writing: Writers who write for other writers should write letters. - Larry Niven, science fiction author (1989)
Blind monkey at the typewriter. - Robert Burnham Jr., Astronomer (1983)
We'll need writers who can remember freedom - poets, visionaries - realists of a larger reality. - Ursula K. Le Guin
The writer is that person who, embarking upon her task, does not know what to do. - Donald Barthelme
There can be no reliable biography of a writer, 'because a writer is too many people if he is any good'. - Andrew O'Hagan
Summary of advice from writers: Advice from writers is useful, and not only about naming. Writers have been at it for centuries; programming is merely decades old. Also, their advice is better written. And funnier. - Peter Hilton
... from https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup
(Edit: One of PG's main points here is succinctly summarized by this other pithy taoup quote: Lest men suspect your tale untrue, keep probability in view. - John Gay (1727))
- soneca 7y agoAren't these quotes about fiction writing? Do you think they apply to essay writing as well? I don't think I got your point with this selection of quotes, if you don't mind explaining.
- contingencies 7y agoThe article, nominally on 'good (essay format) writing', was an example of #1. We here illustrate #2 wonderfully (a quip on both communicative fallacy and the human condition). #3 is aspirational, but also puts purely functional writing (without art) in its place. #4 concerns perhaps pathfinding as purpose, in creative intellectual work. #5 suggests monodimensionality as a defining quality of poor writers. #6 ties all of the above in its application to programming.
- soneca 7y agoThanks for taking the time to explain. I think I do understand it now, but I do disagree. I don't think #1 is talking about the same type of writing that the OP, I don't think it applies at all actually. #3 seems to imply that there functional and art are competing types of writing, which I also disagree. They are different things, for different purposes, for different reading experiences, created differently. The same with the general idea of your comment.