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This is like the exact opposite of how I write. My basic premise is the polar opposite. There’s no such thing as a “fully formed idea.” Only a respectably polished one. There’s no such thing as “get it right,” at best you can “get it packaged.” paulgraham.com/words.html
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Pg is a good writer by his own criteria, and sometimes interesting, but in general reading a pg article to me feels like a visit to the morgue. There’s a certain anti-generative deadness to it that I never want in my writing. Makes me think “fully formed” = “dead.”
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I basically never solicit pre-publication reviews except in rare cases where specialized knowledge is involved. In my experience, unexpected readers have the most interesting comments that extend the idea most interestingly. An ill-posed goal under “fully formed” presumptions.
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If you think “fully formed” is possible, you’ll already have clear ideas about who can help you “finish” it. You’ll try to put out something that already includes the thoughts of anyone worth listening to, in your opinion. So post-pub comments can be more easily dismissed.
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Basically you form a gang of Straussian idea murderers and kill an idea to stuff and put on display. Writing as a kind of taxidermy. I don’t blame him. In his kind of hotspot extreme defensive writing is perhaps justified. But there’s a cost to it.
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To be clear — if any young writers are reading this, PG’s approach is the traditional one the entire literary-industrial complex expects in one form or the other. He’s also way richer and read by vastly more people than me. So you should probably listen to him, not me.
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Though I’m sometimes upset by the vastly lower level of hostility I get, I’d never try to tell people how to disagree. At best I might impose a code of honor on myself. If you’re going to fight, fight. If you’re going to walk away, walk away. Open play rules of engagement only.
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Thing is, if you pre-empt discourse by “finishing” ideas and then imposing a ceremonial set of rules on people, you gate out most of the toxicity, but you also gate out almost all possibility of discovering ways in which your ideas might not be fully formed.
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He’s written a bunch of other things about writing. Somebody should compile a list. If you’re starting out writing, you should read everything he’s written on writing. You’ll either get good at his style of writing, or discover your own via visceral reaction to it.
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It’s okay I guess. Not much to either agree or disagree with in it. Feels like he’s processing strong feelings about English-lit school essays more than getting at anything. The essay kinda fails it’s own test of surprise and interestingness.
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Replying to @vgr
What do you think of paulgraham.com/essay.html?
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You present a false choice: pre-publication reviews don't preclude you from learning from post-publication feedback and comments.