KK Persuasion 5: The Art of Writing

Kevin Kelly made his name writing. Some of the most brilliant new ideas of our time, such as the “Internet of Everything,” the “Sharing Economy,” and “Technology as a New Form of Life,” were first proposed by Kelly. His books not only have ideas but also make you feel very smooth reading, even if the content is particularly long you will not get tired of reading. So we’re curious to know what advice Kelly has for writing, for research, and even for creative and expressive endeavors in general.

Kelly doesn’t say it explicitly, but I think the premise of these suggestions is that * your creative work, is a service to others. * Books are for readers, speeches are for listeners, products are for users. Of course since we dare to come out and create, we’re trusting that we know what users need better than they do; and you can’t expect users to like this thing you’re making if you don’t even like it yourself - but at the heart of it, it’s about what users want, not about being cool with yourself.

Otherwise you might as well be talking to AI. As there are more and more creators, users are becoming more demanding. For example, if you examine the articles of decades ago, you will find that there are a large number of wordy, narcissistic, moaning things, some of which are deliberately literary cavity, some of which is a copy of the big words, the more ridiculous is to pose a superior posture to carry out the “proclamation”, to put it bluntly, is the lack of sense of service. The readers of this era require you to have things to say things, calm and straight to.

Kelly says:“To be interesting, simply tell your own story with uncommon honesty.”

If you’ve just witnessed a murder involving a celebrity, you don’t need any literary skills to tell it honestly, we’re definitely interested. If there’s material, there’s bound to be traffic, which is why certain short videos from surveillance cameras are more appealing than well-crafted literary programs.

But the number of stories each person has experienced on his or her own is so limited that real writers must actively mine for material. Plus, readers do want something deeper than celebrity murders, and to produce that kind of content you have to be able to think. And if your material isn’t as fresh and exciting, and your ideas aren’t as accessible, then presentation matters.

So the creator’s kung fu is in the three areas of research, thinking and expression. Kelly has very solid advice on all three.

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First is research. Modern readers demand that your writing be informed. If you’re going to talk about history, you’d better be able to tell a piece of history that no one else knows; the value of fresh history definitely outweighs the interpretation of it. If you’re going to write a science column, you’ve got to have research that most readers aren’t familiar with, preferably the most recent. If you don’t have fresh slam dunks to simply make a bunch of sense, then we might as well be reading fiction.

That’s why creators have to search around like predators for material. The easiest way to do this is through dialog. Kelly says:“Everyone you meet has amazing knowledge about something you know almost nothing about. It’s not obvious, and it’s your job to discover what that is.”

It’s called a three-way street. The most important thing about talking to strangers about anything is to see what you can learn from them. Some scientists reach a certain age and jungle status, the most important way to learn new things is to chat with people. If you know how to talk, probably everyone is a treasure.

Kelly also says:“One superpower worth developing is learning from people you don’t like. It’s called humility. It’s the courage to let stupid, dumb, obnoxious, crazy, mean people teach you something, because despite their character flaws, they all know things you don’t.”
So how exactly does one talk? After all, most people can’t chat well in the face of a ChatGPT that doesn’t require any friendship or courtesy. The gist is to make the conversation go deeper. Kelly has a technique called ‘The Rule of Three in a Conversation’:“To find the real reason, get a person to go deeper and explain what he just said. Then ask again, then ask more. The third time the answer is closest to the truth.”

Another tip he has for greeting people is:“If you ask people “Did you sleep well?” Instead of “How are you?” You’ll learn more.”

Another way is to ask for advice directly from people. There’s a joke that says if you want the right answer, deliberately go online and say the wrong answer - countless people will angrily tell you what the right answer should be. But one piece of advice Kelly gives is to seek advice directly:“If you ask for someone’s feedback, you’ll get a critic. But if you ask for advice, you’ll get a partner.”

That’s probably because asking for advice is a friendly gesture in itself, and could even be considered a compliment. When Obama was a senator he was fond of asking the old-timers in the Senate to give him a few pointers, I don’t know how much wisdom he gained, but he certainly gained a lot of allies.

The most instinctive thing to do is to do your own research, but if you can find an expert in the field, it’s definitely more effective than reading papers and figuring it out on your own. Kelly, probably because he knows so many people, really loves the direct approach of finding people to ask. He also has a ‘rule of seven in research’:“If you’re willing to go seven levels deep, you can uncover anything. If the first source you ask doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next, and so on. If you’re willing to go to the seventh source, you can almost always get your answer.”
I’m afraid this is a difficult trick for Kelly to use in general; many times you know who has the information, but they may not be willing to talk about it. But the point here is that you have to be very diligent if you do research.

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Research is looking outward, thinking is looking inward. A person with low comprehension you let him go to the scene of a big event to follow the whole shooting he did not know who to shoot, but a person with high comprehension can find magic from the seemingly ordinary traces. Good things are in the details, the key you have to know where to look. Kelly says:“Revisiting the mundane is what art, literature and comedy do. You can elevate the mundane details into incredible miracles if you pay attention.”

You need to practice having an eye for the extraordinary in the ordinary. How do you practice? By doing it. Kelly says:“Discover what you see by drawing. Discover what you think by writing.”

Why do you have to do it? Because whenever you do it is a subjective interpretation of reality. There is an almost infinite amount of information that comes into your field of vision, so why do you choose to take that in and give up that? It’s all about vision. Every time you do it, you make a clear choice, a clear choice that allows you to see the results of your choice, and then you compare it over and over again, iteratively, and your vision is practiced.

The main point is iteration. Don’t trust your first choice, the good stuff comes later. Kelly says, “Occasionally your first idea is the best, but it’s usually the fifth best idea. You need to eliminate all the obvious ideas. Try to surprise yourself.”

You have to think over and over again to catch that best, generally unexpected, idea that surprises even you. So Kelly supposedly didn’t believe that inspiration could easily pop up on its own.

You need long, formal thinking. Kelly says:“Thinking expands your mind by either letting your feet walk or letting your hand write in a notebook. Let thinking overtake your brain.”

This phrase might make you think of “embodied intelligence” [1], since AI doesn’t have feet or hands. The point is to think seriously and engage your whole body and mind to get the most out of it. It’s fine to think while doing laundry and cooking, but that’s not thinking.

And once a good idea pops up, write it down specifically. Kelly said:“The biggest lie we tell ourselves is, “I don’t need to write this down, because I’ll remember it.””
I’ll tell you from personal experience, you won’t remember it. You’ll just remember that you had a great idea two hours ago, but you just can’t remember what it was - it’s like waking up and forgetting what you just dreamed. It’s actually pretty easy to jot down inspiration on your phone whenever you want, but people can be really lazy at times.

Getting good ideas is the most joyful thing a creator can have, and you want to have that surprise moment every day that the average person doesn’t get to experience. It’s almost a privilege.

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With the slam dunk and the thinking, all that’s left is the expression. Today’s nonfiction writers have done away with the term “writing”. To say someone is “well-written” is to say they’re an artsy-fartsy kid who’s all about rhetoric and moaning. One of the most extreme arguments I’ve heard is that adults should be banned from using idioms in their writing.

Yes, the point is that your material and ideas have to be good enough; the writing style is just the end of the line. But as a columnist who writes almost every day, I must say there is something to be said for writing style. The minimum requirement is logical clarity, and the more advanced requirement is that you have to manage to make what you say memorable for the reader.

There’s cognitive psychology here. Kelly said,“People can’t remember more than three points from a speech.”

So if you answer any question with at least five points like ChatGPT, you’re diluting the key message. To borrow a phrase we’ve talked about before, the first discipline of writing is “The key is to make sure the key message is key.” Kelly specifically said this:“To get your message across, follow this formula commonly used by ad writers: simplify, simplify, simplify, and then exaggerate.”

But you don’t need to consider this discipline as soon as you get started. Kelly says:“You can’t create and revise, sculpt and polish, produce and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor in your head will stop the creator. When you’re inventing, don’t choose. While you’re drafting, don’t review. While you’re writing the first draft, don’t reflect. In the beginning, the creator’s mind must be freed from judgment.”

All the writers I’ve heard give similar advice: writing and revising should be done separately. There’s even a saying in English about this, “Write drunk, edit sober.”

This way of working is also iterative. But don’t strive for perfection. It’s only perfect if you don’t do it, and what you do is definitely not perfect. Kelly says:“Only an idea stays in your head, it’s perfect. But perfection is never real. Immediately put an idea into words, or draw a sketch, or make a cardboard prototype. Now your idea is closer to reality because of its imperfection.”

Kelly also said:“Superheroes and saints never create art. Only imperfect beings create art, because art comes from a place of brokenness.”
None of it is perfect, but there is good in it. But it’s impossible for every piece of work to be good, and the reality is that most of your work isn’t good and shouldn’t even be published at all. Art has to be made in quantity at some point. Kelly says:“The main reason you have to produce something every day is that you have to give up a lot of good work to get to the great stuff. In order to give it up easily, you have to be sure that ‘more will come’. You get there by producing steadily.”
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These can be described as the sweet and sour of being a creator - sorry I used an idiom. You do reap a lot of joy from creating, and you feel accomplished if your work is popular, but the creative process is more of a painful one, whether it’s these insights from Kelly or my own personal experience.

Because you have to search, polish and weed out. You have to do it all day, over and over again. What isn’t painful is either a farce or you simply don’t know what good stuff is.

We certainly don’t write our articles out while drinking wine, listening to music, and enjoying the view out the window - I’ve never spent a day on those days.

Annotation

[1] AI Topic 9: People to be more like people

Highlight

Your creation is a service to others.
The creator’s kung fu is in the three areas of research, thought and expression.
“To be interesting, simply tell your own story with uncommon honesty.”

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