3 ms·

Is this a new writing style I'm unaware of or just plain laziness? Get to the point blog writers! Make your assertion clearly and right at the top, explain it

by HNJohnC 13y ago

Is this a new writing style I'm unaware of or just plain laziness? Get to the point blog writers! Make your assertion clearly and right at the top, explain it if it could be misconstrued so that we know what the hell is being discussed. Then go on to write about it. It seems like every second blog post linked to here is a long rambling missive that only reveals the point somewhere minutes into reading it long after my eyes have glazed over.

steveklabnik 13y ago
... reading blog posts doesn't scale? ;)
coldtea 13y ago
>Is this a new writing style I'm unaware of or just plain laziness? No, seems just regular plain laziness. On your part, that is, wanting the gist of the article to be spoon-fed to you.
- jonpaul 13y ago
  I read the book Practical Typography yesterday and this quote stands out: "Attention is the reader’s gift to you." http://practicaltypography.com/why-does-typography-matter.html http://practicaltypography.com/why-does-typography-matter.ht...
professorplumb 13y ago
This is true - yet I'm pleased to see that the 37signals blog posts which are starting make it to the top of HN are those with more depth. For a while, it seemed like all of the ones making the front page were simple platitudes with no concrete examples or solutions e.g. http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3513-when-empathy-becomes-insulting http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3513-when-empathy-becomes-ins... .
SkyMarshal 13y ago
Yes, assume your reader has just woken up and has 20+ tabs open they're trying to speed-read through before they finish their bagel and coffee and rush off to work. They want the firehose, not Dostoyevsky. Good rule of thumb for this kind of audience - invert your essay structure. Put the concluding paragraph first, then work backwards through the supporting paragraphs till you get to the original question. That style is much more engaging than traditional, overused, boring form of "Intro para -> 3x supporting para -> conclusion". Instead make a strong/counterintuitive/nonobvious/etc unsupported assertion right off the bat, then work backwards to support it. That initial assertion captures peoples attention much more effectively than a slow build up, b/c they then want to read on to find out if the author can actually support it, and are gratified when you do.
- rimantas 13y ago
  They sell books. Maybe they don't want this kind of tldr audience.
  - SkyMarshal 13y ago
    What I described isn't a TLDR, it's still a full essay, just with the most powerful/engaging content up front, instead of buried at the end. In fact I've recently found myself reading blog posts backward just to skip the rambling pre-amble and get straight to the meat of it, but I still backtrack from the end to the beginning, filling in the details. And, books != essays.
- thirdman 13y ago
  I agree with you, except that beginning a piece with an argument and then following that argument with supporting evidence isn't inverted -- it's Essay Writing 101.
  - SkyMarshal 13y ago
    That's not quite what I meant. I'm saying, start with the conclusion to the argument, then work backwards through the supporting evidence to the argument, and conclude by reviewing how the originally stated conclusion satisfies it. Can't think of a good example atm, but will try to find one and have it handy in case this topic ever comes up again.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Good rule of thumb for this kind of audience - invert your essay structure. Put the concluding paragraph first, then work backwards through the supporting paragraphs till you get to the original question. > That style is much more engaging than traditional, overused, boring form of "Intro para -> 3x supporting para -> conclusion". No, its not "more engaging" than the traditional 5 paragraph essay, because in the traditional 5-paragraph essay format, the first sentence (the thesis statement) is the unsupported (to that point!) position which the rest of the essay supports. You aren't arguing for "inverting" the "traditional, overused, boring" 5 paragraph essay format, you are arguing for using the "traditional, overused, boring" 5 paragraph essay format in exactly the manner it is traditionally taught.

by HNJohnC 13y ago

steveklabnik 13y ago

... reading blog posts doesn't scale? ;)

coldtea 13y ago

>Is this a new writing style I'm unaware of or just plain laziness? No, seems just regular plain laziness. On your part, that is, wanting the gist of the article to be spoon-fed to you.

jonpaul 13y ago
I read the book Practical Typography yesterday and this quote stands out: "Attention is the reader’s gift to you." http://practicaltypography.com/why-does-typography-matter.html http://practicaltypography.com/why-does-typography-matter.ht...

professorplumb 13y ago

This is true - yet I'm pleased to see that the 37signals blog posts which are starting make it to the top of HN are those with more depth. For a while, it seemed like all of the ones making the front page were simple platitudes with no concrete examples or solutions e.g. http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3513-when-empathy-becomes-insulting http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3513-when-empathy-becomes-ins... .

SkyMarshal 13y ago

Yes, assume your reader has just woken up and has 20+ tabs open they're trying to speed-read through before they finish their bagel and coffee and rush off to work. They want the firehose, not Dostoyevsky. Good rule of thumb for this kind of audience - invert your essay structure. Put the concluding paragraph first, then work backwards through the supporting paragraphs till you get to the original question. That style is much more engaging than traditional, overused, boring form of "Intro para -> 3x supporting para -> conclusion". Instead make a strong/counterintuitive/nonobvious/etc unsupported assertion right off the bat, then work backwards to support it. That initial assertion captures peoples attention much more effectively than a slow build up, b/c they then want to read on to find out if the author can actually support it, and are gratified when you do.

rimantas 13y ago
They sell books. Maybe they don't want this kind of tldr audience.
- SkyMarshal 13y ago
  What I described isn't a TLDR, it's still a full essay, just with the most powerful/engaging content up front, instead of buried at the end. In fact I've recently found myself reading blog posts backward just to skip the rambling pre-amble and get straight to the meat of it, but I still backtrack from the end to the beginning, filling in the details. And, books != essays.
thirdman 13y ago
I agree with you, except that beginning a piece with an argument and then following that argument with supporting evidence isn't inverted -- it's Essay Writing 101.
- SkyMarshal 13y ago
  That's not quite what I meant. I'm saying, start with the conclusion to the argument, then work backwards through the supporting evidence to the argument, and conclude by reviewing how the originally stated conclusion satisfies it. Can't think of a good example atm, but will try to find one and have it handy in case this topic ever comes up again.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> Good rule of thumb for this kind of audience - invert your essay structure. Put the concluding paragraph first, then work backwards through the supporting paragraphs till you get to the original question. > That style is much more engaging than traditional, overused, boring form of "Intro para -> 3x supporting para -> conclusion". No, its not "more engaging" than the traditional 5 paragraph essay, because in the traditional 5-paragraph essay format, the first sentence (the thesis statement) is the unsupported (to that point!) position which the rest of the essay supports. You aren't arguing for "inverting" the "traditional, overused, boring" 5 paragraph essay format, you are arguing for using the "traditional, overused, boring" 5 paragraph essay format in exactly the manner it is traditionally taught.