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brevity

on writing
last updated 4/5/20

Brevity is dope. You get to pretend like you're Paul Graham and save some (digital) paper at the same time. I get it.

But so is circuitous prose. So is scattershot stream-of-consciousness which blossoms into our more coherent, socially acceptable ideas. So is the freedom to write like how we think, not just talk.

Similar to fashion, unique writing styles stand out. I love Shea Serrano's because it makes you feel like you're downloading his brain, not just eavesdropping on a lunchroom convo at The Ringer.

Writing is thinking, I agree. I also feel like the world doesn't need another blog post hitched to this bandwagon. The second order effect is that we turn our thoughts into words which influence future thoughts.

What I worry is that if too many of us write in the same way, we'll end up thinking in and recycling homogenized, Brave New World platitudes.

The world is big and diverse enough that this will (hopefully) never happen on a global scale, even though it already does with subreddits, Twitter niches, and other corners of the internet.

In startup land, conciseness is king. It cuts through overflowing inboxes and overextended attention spans. Brevity matters where public sentiment can 180 (exit right, Adam Neumann) just as quickly as unicorns are anointed. Employees jump around, VCs place plenty of bets, and everything feels transient.

Any ad agency can attest: language manipulates perception. It drives our identity, beliefs, and most importantly, our actions.

That's why not everybody needs to write like Hemingway. Sharing online introduces accountability but it doesn't require outsourcing our personality.

Content is for an audience. Art is for ourselves. I feel like the vulnerability required to make truly great art — essays, poems, songs, what have you — inspires creation. It gives others permission to share too. This vulnerability is increasingly rare and Nick Foles' words here explain it a lot better than I can:

I think in our society today, Instagram, Twitter, it's a highlight reel. It's all the good things. And then... when you have a rough day... you think you're failing.

So avoid groupspeak, doublespeak, and if you don't want to, writing like how you speak. Think for yourself and write like yourself, even if that's mostly half-baked thoughts. Even if your goal is not to win subscribers, customers, followers, or investors but instead, simply to think. Even if it's not brief.