What makes Paul Graham such a good writer? I read everything he's written about the craft, and here's what I learned: 1) Writing doesn't just communicate ideas. It generates them. 2) The goal isn't for everything you type to be great. The goal is for everything you publish to be great. Use your delete key more. 3) Expect 80% of the ideas you have about a topic to come after you start writing the piece. 4) Expect 50% of those ideas to be wrong though. 5) When he asks for editing help, he wants to know two things: which parts bore them and which seem unconvincing. 6) Look for provocative questions, and pursue them - especially if they're counterintuitive, overly ambitious, or heterodox (and ideally all three). 7) Talking to smart people will help you develop better ideas. But smarts isn't enough. You want to talk to people who help you discover new ideas. For PG, that was Robert Morris, one of the co-founders of YC. 8) Don’t try to develop a personal style. PG says: “If you just try to make good things, you'll inevitably do it in a distinctive way, just as each person walks in a distinctive way.” 9) "Essays should aim for maximum surprise." 10) The most valuable insights you can find are general and surprising. If you have surprise without being general, you have something like gossip. If you have something general without being surprising, you have a platitude. 11) Only copy things that you genuinely like, not what's popular or impressive. 12) How do you find what you genuinely like? Here's a trick: look into your guilty pleasures. 13) If you don't know what to write about, ask: “What’s interesting to you but boring to other people?” 14) Edit, edit, edit: PG will sometimes read an essay 50 times before hitting publish. 15) The books you read will profoundly change you even though you'll forget the vast majority of what you read (I call this The Paradox of Reading). 16) Avoid prestige. If you find yourself wanting to write about something that isn't prestigious, it's a sign that you're genuinely interested in it. 17) Great essays begin with great questions. How do you get more questions? Well... that is the most important question of all. 18) When you've made your point and an ending appears, grab it.
It costs many months of mine as well brother, but i am saving up for it. I think for me David is among the top 5 people that I have learned from enormously. And that's just out of the free stuff that he puts out.
I remember back in the days when i saw your photo with Jim oShaugnessy i tought this guy is fake. just a twitter/blog groupie. I want to say to you that I was so wrong. You did such a huge improvement. Congrats and I was so happy to see you enjoying recording this. David, keep this fire.
So many good takeaways here. I was reflecting on the succinctness in software vs writing… Shorter code is generally more correct, but sometimes it gets too clever for it’s own good. The intent of the code is hard to see when expressiveness is traded for concision. And that can lead to bugs and all sort of fun. I think writing is similar! Succinct writing is probably clearer writing, but when too much compression is applied, the piece might lose context and fly over the reader’s head. Loved this episode!
This video is amazing. The content, the delivery, and the production quality. All 10 out of 10. One thing I noticed is that David doesn't rush into explaining his arguments. There are pauses here and there in each of the lessons. Which I absolutely love. This enables me to digest the ideas better. And it's like having a real conversation with a friend. And not like being taught in a classroom by a teacher. The way he explains his arguments is also very articulate. Super crystal clear. Perhaps this is a byproduct of how great of a writer he is. Great writers are great thinkers. And thus great explainers/teachers. Just my theory. Anyway, thank you as always David for the amazing writing insights!
8:59 I first heard of you through Andrew Wilkson email list where you were a sponsor. So weird that I’m listening to this video now. RUclips serve this video to me. Either case and interesting anecdote.
David, do one long format like this for Warren Buffet, Peter Thiel and Sam Altman please. I would love to see your perspective on the work of these three. Best wishes from Brazil!
I love this and hate it at the same time... Love it as its all true. Hate it as its so obvious to me.... why isn't it to everyone else? On a journey to crystalise my writing / editing prowess... probably can cut it short if I just rip this off... (But I won't.... ) Keen to learn more...
It's the variability of volume and sometimes tone in your voice. If I had to guess, I'd say your editor used Descript's studio sound or adobe sound enhancement. If editor insists on using it, I'd reduce it from 100% to 30%ish. Or i might just be way to sensitive to it since it's what i do, in which case ignore me and keep it moving 👊🏼. @@DavidPerellChannel
What makes Paul Graham such a good writer?
I read everything he's written about the craft, and here's what I learned:
1) Writing doesn't just communicate ideas. It generates them.
2) The goal isn't for everything you type to be great. The goal is for everything you publish to be great. Use your delete key more.
3) Expect 80% of the ideas you have about a topic to come after you start writing the piece.
4) Expect 50% of those ideas to be wrong though.
5) When he asks for editing help, he wants to know two things: which parts bore them and which seem unconvincing.
6) Look for provocative questions, and pursue them - especially if they're counterintuitive, overly ambitious, or heterodox (and ideally all three).
7) Talking to smart people will help you develop better ideas. But smarts isn't enough. You want to talk to people who help you discover new ideas. For PG, that was Robert Morris, one of the co-founders of YC.
8) Don’t try to develop a personal style. PG says: “If you just try to make good things, you'll inevitably do it in a distinctive way, just as each person walks in a distinctive way.”
9) "Essays should aim for maximum surprise."
10) The most valuable insights you can find are general and surprising. If you have surprise without being general, you have something like gossip. If you have something general without being surprising, you have a platitude.
11) Only copy things that you genuinely like, not what's popular or impressive.
12) How do you find what you genuinely like? Here's a trick: look into your guilty pleasures.
13) If you don't know what to write about, ask: “What’s interesting to you but boring to other people?”
14) Edit, edit, edit: PG will sometimes read an essay 50 times before hitting publish.
15) The books you read will profoundly change you even though you'll forget the vast majority of what you read (I call this The Paradox of Reading).
16) Avoid prestige. If you find yourself wanting to write about something that isn't prestigious, it's a sign that you're genuinely interested in it.
17) Great essays begin with great questions. How do you get more questions? Well... that is the most important question of all.
18) When you've made your point and an ending appears, grab it.
Your course costs my 16 months salary. India. Just another day in the Universe.
It costs many months of mine as well brother, but i am saving up for it. I think for me David is among the top 5 people that I have learned from enormously. And that's just out of the free stuff that he puts out.
Message him if a reasonable price can be done for you.
I can't believe this has 4k views and 12 comments after 3 days.
This channel is Gold - people are yet to discover.
Keep Going David.
Ya it’s the monopoly of social media, we should have web3 social media
Gotta get this off my chest before I can fully focus on paul's genius: NICE JACKET mate! ..
I remember back in the days when i saw your photo with Jim oShaugnessy i tought this guy is fake. just a twitter/blog groupie. I want to say to you that I was so wrong. You did such a huge improvement. Congrats and I was so happy to see you enjoying recording this. David, keep this fire.
Please bring him on your pod and talk about writing. That’d be dope!
So many good takeaways here. I was reflecting on the succinctness in software vs writing…
Shorter code is generally more correct, but sometimes it gets too clever for it’s own good. The intent of the code is hard to see when expressiveness is traded for concision. And that can lead to bugs and all sort of fun.
I think writing is similar! Succinct writing is probably clearer writing, but when too much compression is applied, the piece might lose context and fly over the reader’s head.
Loved this episode!
This video is amazing. The content, the delivery, and the production quality. All 10 out of 10.
One thing I noticed is that David doesn't rush into explaining his arguments. There are pauses here and there in each of the lessons. Which I absolutely love.
This enables me to digest the ideas better. And it's like having a real conversation with a friend. And not like being taught in a classroom by a teacher.
The way he explains his arguments is also very articulate. Super crystal clear. Perhaps this is a byproduct of how great of a writer he is. Great writers are great thinkers. And thus great explainers/teachers.
Just my theory.
Anyway, thank you as always David for the amazing writing insights!
8:59 I first heard of you through Andrew Wilkson email list where you were a sponsor. So weird that I’m listening to this video now. RUclips serve this video to me. Either case and interesting anecdote.
David, do one long format like this for Warren Buffet, Peter Thiel and Sam Altman please. I would love to see your perspective on the work of these three. Best wishes from Brazil!
I love this and hate it at the same time...
Love it as its all true.
Hate it as its so obvious to me.... why isn't it to everyone else?
On a journey to crystalise my writing / editing prowess... probably can cut it short if I just rip this off... (But I won't.... )
Keen to learn more...
❤🫡
Wow that’s super interesting, that he started YC from blog post
Simplicity is my mantra. This masterclass is incredible. Thanks for putting this out. Big fan of your works David.
There aren't many treasure troves of non-fiction writing that compare to Paul Graham's collection of essays!
This is absolute treasure of information. Have learnt a lot and will work on applying in my writing. Thanks David!
Paul is great! Excited for this... watching now :-)
this video helped me a lot .you did a fascinating thing!
David LOVE your content. But brother ease up on the AI Enhanced audio. I would takethe raw untreated audio over this AI edit. It's tough to listen to.
Wait… explain! There’s no AI enhancement. Can you explain what seems off to you?
It's the variability of volume and sometimes tone in your voice. If I had to guess, I'd say your editor used Descript's studio sound or adobe sound enhancement. If editor insists on using it, I'd reduce it from 100% to 30%ish.
Or i might just be way to sensitive to it since it's what i do, in which case ignore me and keep it moving 👊🏼.
@@DavidPerellChannel
@@DavidPerellChannel there is nothing wrong with the audio quality. It was perfect.
finally
Nooowayyyyyyy