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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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Is it just a different type of writing suited to a different context? His approach is probably right for most like internal memo/biz writing situations where you are just trying to get people on the same page?
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I think you just insulted him 😂 that’s definitely a kind of writing (a sort of white-collar vocational writing) but I think he aspires to public discourse of a high philosophical order, not… corporate memos (though at least his startup notes are like memos to YC founders)