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The style is getting in the way of the message. Did I finish the blog post? I did not. Will I read more from this author? Chances are very low. Sometimes style

The style is getting in the way of the message. Did I finish the blog post? I did not. Will I read more from this author? Chances are very low. Sometimes style is the message. I don't think this is a good example of that, as the author is trying communicate unrelated concepts. A better way to do that is, "clearly". What the writing reminds me of is myself, when I was nineteen, in art school. That is not an association you want to have made, as I thought I knew everything when in fact I didn't even know who I was myself. Clever just gets you so far. Show me that you are confident in your writing, rather than hiding behind a messy style that you so desperately want me to be impressed with.

ncr100 3y ago
I agree to an extent. I agree that for you style is getting in the way of the message. I don't agree that it's clear from the writing that the author is desperate, or wants to impress you. Instead I speculate that the author does not care what > you < think: I believe that the author is not writing for "you", at least not the you that is in your current state of mind. I speculate that they are writing for somebody who's in a more freeform kind of word poetry state of mind. I mean that's the only kind of conclusion I can come up with reading the article because it is clearly non-strunk & white english. So that leads me to think okay this is probably poetry or prose of some kind of whimsical or rhyming form. And then I reread it and I see the words are closer to a stream of consciousness, as is talked about in other comments here. They're a little bit more structured than a stream of consciousness, in my view because the words appear to evoke feelings like notes in music, to a degree. The overall point of the article, as it appears to be overtly stated in the footer, to help writers to be effective at writing for video games. And this post specifically is about pulling emotions from the writer into the video game that are appropriate to the meandering experience of a player. So I liken the presentation here to be less conventional technical structured writing and more a song or a tune. And that's how I find this article useful.
- justinator 3y ago
  I don't believe the author is writing for himself, or why would they put it on a blog, then ask people to subscribe to a newsletter? Making an outline is great. But I'm not going to make someone read my notes on something I want to actually write, nor publish my shitty first draft and then have all of us treat it like some exceptional creative product. This whole, "I'm beyond all that" is kinda navel gazing, narcissistic. If that's what you mean by "writing for oneself" than I guess I agree. I'm not actually convinced this person knows the fundamentals of clear communication or writing. If what you want to do is teach, teach. If what you want to do is perform, perform.

ncr100 3y ago

I agree to an extent. I agree that for you style is getting in the way of the message. I don't agree that it's clear from the writing that the author is desperate, or wants to impress you. Instead I speculate that the author does not care what > you < think: I believe that the author is not writing for "you", at least not the you that is in your current state of mind. I speculate that they are writing for somebody who's in a more freeform kind of word poetry state of mind. I mean that's the only kind of conclusion I can come up with reading the article because it is clearly non-strunk & white english. So that leads me to think okay this is probably poetry or prose of some kind of whimsical or rhyming form. And then I reread it and I see the words are closer to a stream of consciousness, as is talked about in other comments here. They're a little bit more structured than a stream of consciousness, in my view because the words appear to evoke feelings like notes in music, to a degree. The overall point of the article, as it appears to be overtly stated in the footer, to help writers to be effective at writing for video games. And this post specifically is about pulling emotions from the writer into the video game that are appropriate to the meandering experience of a player. So I liken the presentation here to be less conventional technical structured writing and more a song or a tune. And that's how I find this article useful.

justinator 3y ago
I don't believe the author is writing for himself, or why would they put it on a blog, then ask people to subscribe to a newsletter? Making an outline is great. But I'm not going to make someone read my notes on something I want to actually write, nor publish my shitty first draft and then have all of us treat it like some exceptional creative product. This whole, "I'm beyond all that" is kinda navel gazing, narcissistic. If that's what you mean by "writing for oneself" than I guess I agree. I'm not actually convinced this person knows the fundamentals of clear communication or writing. If what you want to do is teach, teach. If what you want to do is perform, perform.