4 ms·

For anyone who writes (and these days who doesn't?) I highly recommend the classic "Elements of Style" by William Strunk. If you only read one book about writin

For anyone who writes (and these days who doesn't?) I highly recommend the classic "Elements of Style" by William Strunk. If you only read one book about writing this should be it. http://www.bartleby.com/141/ http://www.bartleby.com/141/ Btw, I think it's more efficent to first write a "braindump" and then start editing, rather than reiterating a sentence a time. You'll remove and rework a lot of what you write but it's easier to get in the flow and just "get things done" before you start rewriting it.

alabut 15y ago
re: the braindump on the first draft - Ernest Hemingway said he'd "write drunk, edit sober". Steven King wrote a rant on the same topic, about throwing away dictionaries and spell checkers while in the zone, otherwise you risk getting sucked into editing too early and derailing the creation process.
- mattiask 15y ago
  I've found that it works well even with programming. Braindump code to get things working as quickly as possibly, then refactor mercilessly. Stephen Kings "On Writing" is pretty good read in general and useful not only for fiction but other writing and the creative process as well.
  - alabut 15y ago
    A design equivalent for me would be to start with low fidelity mocks (quick paper sketches, gray boxy wireframes, whiteboarding) before going for higher fidelity and adding visual polish. Like how this: http://dribbble.com/shots/230767-Stats-Page-For-iOS-App http://dribbble.com/shots/230767-Stats-Page-For-iOS-App Turns into this: http://dribbble.com/shots/246763-Appstores-Analytics-Main-Stats-Page http://dribbble.com/shots/246763-Appstores-Analytics-Main-St... Often when I find myself running into creative blocks, it's because I started working on the window dressing too early in the process and need to scale it back to rougher designs.
twfarland 15y ago
I can absolutely second this. I read it once a year. Many of its techniques are readily applicable to programming or design, after a tiny bit of abstraction.

alabut 15y ago

re: the braindump on the first draft - Ernest Hemingway said he'd "write drunk, edit sober". Steven King wrote a rant on the same topic, about throwing away dictionaries and spell checkers while in the zone, otherwise you risk getting sucked into editing too early and derailing the creation process.

mattiask 15y ago
I've found that it works well even with programming. Braindump code to get things working as quickly as possibly, then refactor mercilessly. Stephen Kings "On Writing" is pretty good read in general and useful not only for fiction but other writing and the creative process as well.
- alabut 15y ago
  A design equivalent for me would be to start with low fidelity mocks (quick paper sketches, gray boxy wireframes, whiteboarding) before going for higher fidelity and adding visual polish. Like how this: http://dribbble.com/shots/230767-Stats-Page-For-iOS-App http://dribbble.com/shots/230767-Stats-Page-For-iOS-App Turns into this: http://dribbble.com/shots/246763-Appstores-Analytics-Main-Stats-Page http://dribbble.com/shots/246763-Appstores-Analytics-Main-St... Often when I find myself running into creative blocks, it's because I started working on the window dressing too early in the process and need to scale it back to rougher designs.

twfarland 15y ago

I can absolutely second this. I read it once a year. Many of its techniques are readily applicable to programming or design, after a tiny bit of abstraction.