4 ms·

Has anyone else tried writing under some arbitrary restrictions? In case you did not notice, the blog subtitle is 11 sentence essays. The post as well, unsurpri

by Jhsto 5y ago

Has anyone else tried writing under some arbitrary restrictions? In case you did not notice, the blog subtitle is 11 sentence essays. The post as well, unsurprisingly, is 11 sentences (... I guess, but it has a number of complicated ones).

version_five 5y ago
A month ago I wrote what I would call a professional post on a social media / networking site. I had drafted it in a text editor first, and when I pasted it to post, I found there was a character limit I'd run afoul of and was forced to edit. It was actually very helpful to be forced to clarify and shorten what I'd written. I'd like to find a way to recreate the forced restriction (especially when discovered only after I thought I'd made it concise already).
- bschne 5y ago
  Agreed! As much as nuance can get lost in short posts, these limits have saved me from putting many an overly convoluted, rambling mess out there.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
becquerel 5y ago
I used to write short stories that didn't contain the letter 'e', inspired by George Perec's book La Disparition (cracking novel, highly recommended -- all the translations from French keep it up as well). It's challenging, obviously, but also forces you to employ very unusual and unique language.
- simondotau 5y ago
  I concur. It's difficult, impractical and making my brain hurt. A grasp of (and availability of) synonym information is vitally important.
  - mdoms 5y ago
    Imprssiv.
k__ 5y ago
Went into a wikipedia rabbit hole about restricted writing after reading about E-Prime. It's a very intriguing topic.
- chippy 5y ago
  E-prime intrigues me too ;-) I just love E-Prime. I once, for a month, used social media where I would try to only use e-prime. I experienced a lot of difficulty, but I enjoyed the experience. For a week, I tried only speaking in e-prime and had to use a notepad to formulate my thoughts before speaking. I had more problems then, but also more fun explaining to people why.
  - k__ 5y ago
    Haha, sounds fun, yes. Do you have any good resources on how to get started?
drdavid 5y ago
I have been putting my Linux notes online in the form of a blog. I use a plugin that estimates the time it takes to read each article. I try to keep them all under five minutes, unless I specifically set out to write a longer article. Inside that, I also try to not use more than 300 words without a new sub-heading, avoid too much passive voice, don't use too many overly long sentences, and don't use the same first word for more than two sentences in a row.
mikro2nd 5y ago
The blog theme is 11-sentence essays, but then the author makes use of a semicolon where, tbh, I'd just have split the sentence. But that would have spoiled the structure/restriction, wouldn't it? Style thing, sure, but I'm with Vonnegut on the topic of semicolons...

by Jhsto 5y ago

version_five 5y ago

A month ago I wrote what I would call a professional post on a social media / networking site. I had drafted it in a text editor first, and when I pasted it to post, I found there was a character limit I'd run afoul of and was forced to edit. It was actually very helpful to be forced to clarify and shorten what I'd written. I'd like to find a way to recreate the forced restriction (especially when discovered only after I thought I'd made it concise already).

bschne 5y ago
Agreed! As much as nuance can get lost in short posts, these limits have saved me from putting many an overly convoluted, rambling mess out there.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

becquerel 5y ago

I used to write short stories that didn't contain the letter 'e', inspired by George Perec's book La Disparition (cracking novel, highly recommended -- all the translations from French keep it up as well). It's challenging, obviously, but also forces you to employ very unusual and unique language.

simondotau 5y ago
I concur. It's difficult, impractical and making my brain hurt. A grasp of (and availability of) synonym information is vitally important.
- mdoms 5y ago
  Imprssiv.

k__ 5y ago

Went into a wikipedia rabbit hole about restricted writing after reading about E-Prime. It's a very intriguing topic.

chippy 5y ago
E-prime intrigues me too ;-) I just love E-Prime. I once, for a month, used social media where I would try to only use e-prime. I experienced a lot of difficulty, but I enjoyed the experience. For a week, I tried only speaking in e-prime and had to use a notepad to formulate my thoughts before speaking. I had more problems then, but also more fun explaining to people why.
- k__ 5y ago
  Haha, sounds fun, yes. Do you have any good resources on how to get started?

drdavid 5y ago

I have been putting my Linux notes online in the form of a blog. I use a plugin that estimates the time it takes to read each article. I try to keep them all under five minutes, unless I specifically set out to write a longer article. Inside that, I also try to not use more than 300 words without a new sub-heading, avoid too much passive voice, don't use too many overly long sentences, and don't use the same first word for more than two sentences in a row.

mikro2nd 5y ago

The blog theme is 11-sentence essays, but then the author makes use of a semicolon where, tbh, I'd just have split the sentence. But that would have spoiled the structure/restriction, wouldn't it? Style thing, sure, but I'm with Vonnegut on the topic of semicolons...