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Atomic Habits is BJ Fogg’s method written in a more bestsellery formula style.

by Swizec 4y ago

O__________O 4y ago
Curious, have you seen a breakdown of the format you’re referencing or able to identify major identifying characteristics of such a format?
- Swizec 4y ago
  Not sure I’ve seen a breakdown, been studying the format to try to replicate in my own writing. Currently applying to a technical book, we’ll see :) The format follows what I’ve seen called as the English Essay style (as opposed to European style) – you start with a personal story, yours or a character’s. You use that story as a narrative device to make your point. The character works as a sort of template of the reader. For books, using multiple stories – up to 2 per chapter - works best. Weaving the character stories in and out throughout the book creates a sense of continuity and makes it easier for people to follow. Whenever you want to make a point, you show the point or at least the situation with a character story. Real stories work best. You also lay out the point explicitly. The reader should never be made to guess. Setting it up as a punchline works, but use this sparingly because, again, readers don’t like to guess. The whole book should have one, at most two, key points you want to make. It should be reducible to a pithy tweet. The rest of the book is there to make the point sink in for the reader. The difference between making a point and conveying a point is crucial here. I have yet to write a bestseller so I am likely missing some ingredients. This format applied to blogs/emails has worked great. People love it.
  - O__________O 4y ago
    Thanks, not sure I agree, but familiar with the format; might be wrong, but believe these are notable examples of such a format: https://www.stevefenton.co.uk/blog/2022/09/the-difference-between-the-phoenix-project-and-the-unicorn-project/#summary https://www.stevefenton.co.uk/blog/2022/09/the-difference-be... If you’re aware of other notable examples, would be interested in links to them. As for my guess, it’s at a best seller format, it’s 100s of tiny chapters, which makes the readers feel like they’re rapidly discovering new information.
    - O__________O 4y ago
      Appears writing style you’re referring to might be called “Quest-based technical narrative” — where the author mixes in a topical plot to provide context and maintain read interest. While I am unable to recall the name of the book, recall a book on chaining hacking exploits that walks through a a fictional story while weaving in technical details. Another example would be this book: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Why%27s_(poignant)_Guide_to_Ruby https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Why%27s_(poignant)_Guide_to_Ruby
ethanbond 4y ago
It’s been a while since I read Atomic Habits but I came away with the view he was missing (or just not sufficiently emphasizing) something. IIRC Atomic was still making things too “big,” i.e. the habit should be so small it fetches accusations of insanity by bystanders and your celebration, accordingly, can be ridiculously small too (just physically smiling induces a tiny reward, which is all that’s necessary for a sufficiently small preceding habit). Also he allows the option of “time and place” to trigger habits which IMO is very bad advice. 100% of new habits should be placed directly behind an already-established habit, and specifically one that’s already resilient to variations in time-and-place. Takes a while to think of these habits (because they’re truly automatic) but you already have at least a dozen and identifying them is half the trick.

Atomic Habits is BJ Fogg’s method written in a more bestsellery formula style.

by Swizec 4y ago

Atomic Habits is BJ Fogg’s method written in a more bestsellery formula style.

Curious, have you seen a breakdown of the format you’re referencing or able to identify major identifying characteristics of such a format?

Swizec 4y ago
Not sure I’ve seen a breakdown, been studying the format to try to replicate in my own writing. Currently applying to a technical book, we’ll see :) The format follows what I’ve seen called as the English Essay style (as opposed to European style) – you start with a personal story, yours or a character’s. You use that story as a narrative device to make your point. The character works as a sort of template of the reader. For books, using multiple stories – up to 2 per chapter - works best. Weaving the character stories in and out throughout the book creates a sense of continuity and makes it easier for people to follow. Whenever you want to make a point, you show the point or at least the situation with a character story. Real stories work best. You also lay out the point explicitly. The reader should never be made to guess. Setting it up as a punchline works, but use this sparingly because, again, readers don’t like to guess. The whole book should have one, at most two, key points you want to make. It should be reducible to a pithy tweet. The rest of the book is there to make the point sink in for the reader. The difference between making a point and conveying a point is crucial here. I have yet to write a bestseller so I am likely missing some ingredients. This format applied to blogs/emails has worked great. People love it.
- O__________O 4y ago
  Thanks, not sure I agree, but familiar with the format; might be wrong, but believe these are notable examples of such a format: https://www.stevefenton.co.uk/blog/2022/09/the-difference-between-the-phoenix-project-and-the-unicorn-project/#summary https://www.stevefenton.co.uk/blog/2022/09/the-difference-be... If you’re aware of other notable examples, would be interested in links to them. As for my guess, it’s at a best seller format, it’s 100s of tiny chapters, which makes the readers feel like they’re rapidly discovering new information.
  - O__________O 4y ago
    Appears writing style you’re referring to might be called “Quest-based technical narrative” — where the author mixes in a topical plot to provide context and maintain read interest. While I am unable to recall the name of the book, recall a book on chaining hacking exploits that walks through a a fictional story while weaving in technical details. Another example would be this book: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Why%27s_(poignant)_Guide_to_Ruby https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Why%27s_(poignant)_Guide_to_Ruby

ethanbond 4y ago

It’s been a while since I read Atomic Habits but I came away with the view he was missing (or just not sufficiently emphasizing) something. IIRC Atomic was still making things too “big,” i.e. the habit should be so small it fetches accusations of insanity by bystanders and your celebration, accordingly, can be ridiculously small too (just physically smiling induces a tiny reward, which is all that’s necessary for a sufficiently small preceding habit). Also he allows the option of “time and place” to trigger habits which IMO is very bad advice. 100% of new habits should be placed directly behind an already-established habit, and specifically one that’s already resilient to variations in time-and-place. Takes a while to think of these habits (because they’re truly automatic) but you already have at least a dozen and identifying them is half the trick.