151 - Taking Writing Advice 🖊️✍️
Hey there, !
I’m trying something different today, and I’m busy so let’s get to it!
I read an article from Derek Sivers - Writing One Sentence Per Line - which gave the advice for writing that you should write everything on one line, for clarity, purpose and probably clickbait.
Does it actually work?
I know that in a lot of my pieces, I have one-liners between paragraphs that give a bit of a break, or a joke, or a slight comment off to one side.
I worry that trying this kind of form makes it a bit too jittery, or jumpy, or hard to understand.
In a lot of Medium posts that I read, I feel like writers use this format so that people can scan and read through things ‘quicker’.
In newspapers (like the Herald Sun) they do this too, thinking that the general public aren’t going to be able to read a whole paragraph of content unless it’s short and sharp…one sentence only.
My writing style is more thoughtful, stream of consciousness, developed (I hope) thoughts, and longer-form arguments.
The rhythm and melody of the words just don’t work in this format.
But I get it though.
One sentence per paragraph means that the sentence is the paragraph.
Every line has to stand on its own, rather than be buoyed by the scaffolding or supporting clauses in other sentences.
It’s all laid out bare.
Stark.
Naked.
Sentences.
It’s like a long form poem.
I’ve found it pretty easy to write, and yes - easy to edit as well.
It’s simple to identify what’s wrong with a sentence, or a paragraph, or an idea.
And the melody is different - more staccato, clipped, decisive.
But it misses the longer melodies that blend themselves to an overarching point or idea.
The rhythm of a well formed paragraph.
The harmony of thoughtful ideas…
Anyway, regularly scheduled programming returns next week!
Chat soon :)
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✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Three Thousand Years of Longing - The Melbourne International Film Festival strikes again! This one starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton tells the story of a storyteller who encounters a genie, and is then told the story about how the genie got trapped in the bottle. A really fun romp of a movie, definitely weird vibes in terms of a fantasy world, but I loved the atmosphere and world George Miller created (who, by the way, also did Mad Max: Fury Road?!). Highly recommended!
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Kori Ice Cream - here’s a simpler one - new ice cream shop has opened on Glenferrie Rd and I tried it on opening (because it has a swathe of Asian-inspired flavours) - you have to try the Fuji Apple ice cream it was a REVELATION. They also have some curious flavours like Hojicha, Sake, Black Sesame and the like. But just eating that ice cream and feeling like it was a nice sweet apple - what a ~ vibe ~. Another highly recommended place!
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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How I used DALL-E 2 to generate a Logo - great breakdown of how DALL-E can be used for actual real-life value-add stuff! Fascinating to see these designs being rapidly made and iterated - probably something that will be used in a variety of ways as usage becomes more widespread.
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How a Cooling Vest made by a Furry made its way into the US Military - I’ve always been excited and interested in subcultures - not necessarily participating myself, but watching and observing the different things that happen within them non-judgementally - there’s always going to be something cool you find! This one’s no exception - the cooling vests in furry costumes are apparently better than ones issued by the military, so soldiers are ordering them to wear under their body armor.
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Why didn’t Gandalf own a Colt .45? - Sometimes it’s just fun to read extremely detailed breakdowns of niche topics - for example, what would have helped accelerate an Industrial Revolution in Middle-Earth? (apparently, high labour costs (hobbits that are lazy and elves that don’t want to get their hands dirty) and unknown availability of coal muddies the waters). Part 2 - Why didn’t Frodo Baggins have a PhD? just got uploaded too, which contends that Middle-Earth was just shit at science which meant no innovation would occur. Be warned - long but fun reads!