Lenny Rachitsky: preference

Transcript context

…The flip side I'll point out is that I think writing quality overall is... Again, these are all me being hand wavy and these are not rules. There's no right way to write, just like there's no right way to paint. These are just frameworks I've developed, that when I use them, I'm more frequently arriving at success as far as I define it. The thing I want to point out though is that very closely tied to everything I'm talking about is my framework or my equation for determining how good any piece of writing is, is novelty times resonance. Writing quality equals novelty times resonance. Novelty is like we discussed, here are all these things that are giving you dopamine hits where I'm opening your eyes about how the world really works and shocking you and elegantly synthesizing things, times resonance and resonance means I can tell you the most novel thing on the planet. But if I don't wrap it in a way that resonates and really lifts off the page and into your mind and is something you remember, then it's fairly ineffective novelty. It's more like just trivia. It's bland, dry trivia. When you add resonance to the novelty, now it becomes a beautifully written piece. Resonance is a matter of including examples, analogies, metaphors, stories. Really writing quality is novelty times the storytelling power you have to make the novelty resonate in the back of people's minds. The way that I structure my writing process is draft one, I'm just focused on finding my novelty, just the backbone of what makes anything interesting. And then draft two, I come back and try to increase the resonance by embedding story and analogy and examples. That's basically my process there. I like that a lot. Just to add real quick, something I've learned is that if your stuff is really useful, it doesn't have to be written beautifully. A lot of people I think are afraid of writing because they think they have to write really well, like be real good writers. What I've learned is it's okay if you're not like. You just be good enough and you'll get better the more you do it. The most important thing is the content is valuable and interesting, which I think you're describing as novelty. I just want to make sure people don't get scared away and be like, "Oh my god, I need stories and metaphors and all these beautiful writing." Initially you don't is my experience, but it helps in a big way. I agree. In fact, the biggest criticism of my writing is that it is too dry, it's too novelty focused, and there's a lack of the resonance, but I do that purposely because oftentimes people can over-indulge in resonance and then it really bloats the piece. As a reader myself, I like reading super concise pieces, like reference manuals almost. I'm looking for the length from personal anecdotes, personal stories of people's lives or life lessons they've learned that they want to share with me, or actual fiction. To each their own. You're spot on. Do what you would want to read to me is the golden rule.…

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