I don't know if starting with what the reader desires makes for great writing, though hackery definitely starts with what the writer expects or guesses the read

I don't know if starting with what the reader desires makes for great writing, though hackery definitely starts with what the writer expects or guesses the reader desires. Those are two different things. It reminds me of David Chang starting Momofuku and putting dumplings on the menu because he thought people wanted them. It turns out he guessed wrong—they didn't—and neither did he, so the dumplings didn't make anyone happy. More here: https://archive.md/twtqo#selection-1433.165-1433.384 https://archive.md/twtqo#selection-1433.165-1433.384 Perhaps one idea to unify this difference is: Who is "the reader," in this case? I remember reading Neil Strauss propose his idea on the Tim Ferriss podcast (https://tim.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/15-neil-strauss.pdf https://tim.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/15-neil-strauss....): > My reader is me, as a reader, probably. I can be reading a book and thinking, “Oh, my god, will this guy just get on with it?” If you're reading a book and thinking, “You know what? This guy is not even living up to what he's writing and saying that he's doing. He's a total hypocrite.” – Whatever I'm thinking when I'm reading. So, my reader is just me the way I would read a book critically. Average writers stop after typing what they want to say, and they don't consider what they, as a reader, would think (or even bother to read it themselves).