How to re-edit a ribbonfarm style essay for normies 1. Get rid of 80% of concepts that only do 20% of work 2. Unwind the 4 intertwined subplots and eliminate 3 3. Triple the number of examples 4. Invent a conclusion 5. Prune bunnytrails that don’t merge back into conclusion
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This is not a joke. This is literally what I do when I edit my drafts for other outlets. Does lead to 10x more readable work.
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Replying to @vgr
I think my mistake to date has been treating all my writing that way.
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Replying to @vgr
I’m not sure I have one. I have a strong, almost moral, belief that responsibility for failures to communicate rest with the speaker. I only take that belief ha-ha-only-seriously as a push to clarify my own thoughts.
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Why not do both? Perfectly reasonable for eg
@noUpside to write the more thinky version for Ribbonfarm and condensed version for Wired.1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
I do
One just takes way more effort and is not worth it in 90% of the cases
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