写作方法2020paulgraham.com编辑精选
如何写出有用的文字
How to Write Usefully
导读
保罗·格雷厄姆在这篇文章里给"有用的写作"下了一个可操作的公式：有用≈重要×新颖×正确×清楚，任一项为零，整篇文章就等于零；他还主张敢下确定判断、删掉让自己心虚的句子。对写作者的价值在于它给了一套能直接用来改稿的自检清单；评论区也提醒这套标准偏严，可能压制试错与人味。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
动笔前先用"重要×新颖×正确×清楚"四项给选题和草稿打分，任一为零就重写而不是润色。
- 02
敢给出明确、可被反驳的判断，不要用免责声明把每个观点都磨平，否则文章会变得无用。
- 03
逐句排查：凡是自己心里有一丝怀疑、觉得可能说错的句子，直接删掉或改准。
- 04
把"让人挑不出错"当作目标，就会写出四平八稳的废话；要接受自己可能被批评，才能写出有用的东西。
HN 评论精选
读者常因语气确定而不适，但作者应守住自己真正确信的判断。
有意思的是，几天前我就在这个网站上见到这种"读者被文章的确定语气惹火"的现象：有人劝作者把观点说得更"客气"一点，仅仅因为那种确定让他不舒服。好在作者就在评论区，而且没有让步——他知道自己是对的，别人不喜欢他这种确信，他仍然坚持。
luord查看英文原文
Interestingly, I saw an example of the phenomenon of people getting mad at the certainty of an essay in this very site, a few days ago. Someone was telling the author that he would achieve more if he phrased his point in a more "polite" way, just because the certainty of the writing made the critic mad. Thankfully, the author was here in the comments responding, and he didn't budge. That interaction was very refreshing for that very reason: The author was right, knew he was right, someone didn't like that the author knew he was right, but the author remained steadfast.
"不许写错"的完美主义会让人不敢动笔，写作同样需要试错。
网上垃圾文字确实多，但告诉人们"没把握、不重要就别写"是完美主义，会扼杀探索、试验、犯错、学习和行动的能力。就像学外语，怕说错就永远不开口，也就永远学不会。而且写作的目的也不只是抛出精辟的新知，很多东西没法用那种形式传达。
osdiab查看英文原文
While the internet is full of garbage writing, I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right way to go. That's a perfectionist attitude that stifles people's ability to explore, experiment, be wrong, learn, improve, and act. Like learning a language, if you never speak it because you're afraid to say something wrong, you'll never learn. And separately, being enlightened with novel pithy facts isn't the only reason people write things. There's a lot that can't be transmitted in that form, and while I appreciate that style of writing for startup advice or a how-to guide, it's definitely not universally applicable.
以"能否改进沉默"为标准：删掉一切让自己心虚的部分。
这让我想起"除非能改进沉默，否则不要开口"（常被归给博尔赫斯）。社交焦虑往往来自"必须说对话"的压力，而这压力恰恰让你说不出有价值的话；不如先闭嘴，等放松下来自然想到真正有用的东西，想不到也无妨。同理，反复删改任何让你有一丝怀疑的地方，设计、文章乃至任何创作都会好很多。
danenania查看英文原文
This reminds me of the saying "don't speak unless you can improve upon the silence" (apparently attributed to many sources, but most commonly Jorge Luis Borges). The world would certainly be less noisy if we all followed that one. I've always found this idea helpful when anxious or unsure of myself in social situations. A lot of the nervousness comes from the pressure to "say the right thing" and make a good impression, but that very pressure tends to ensure that I won't say anything of value (often quite to the contrary!), so I'm better off keeping my mouth shut, or speaking very little, until I relax and start thinking of truly 'useful' things to say naturally. And if it doesn't happen, that's ok--I'm fine with being the quiet guy. It can be applied in many other areas as well. It's amazing how much you can usually improve a visual design, a piece of writing, or probably any other creative work just by repeatedly going through and removing or revising anything that you have even the slightest doubt about.
过度追求永远正确会牺牲脆弱与人性，而那恰恰是更有用的写作。
读完后我觉得，作者更在意"赢下辩论"式的正确，而不是有用，还带着点自我欣赏。最有用的写作往往愿意示弱、分享人的处境，而不是装一个永远正确的过滤器——讽刺的是，围绕"害怕说蠢话"这份恐惧本身写一篇，可能比这篇更有用。只盯"新颖观点"也过于狭窄，随笔写作的可能性大得多。作者给的公式或许能改进你的文章，但别忘了它有其局限，也可以少一点逞强、少一点自我表扬，甚至说点蠢话；灵感可看 David Foster Wallace 和 Dave Eggers。
tchaffee查看英文原文
The feeling I am left with after reading the essay is that the author is more interested in being right in an "I've won the debate" kind of way, than he is interested in being useful. And that the author admires his own writing. The most useful writing shows more of a willingness to be vulnerable and to share the human condition. As opposed to reaching for a filter that makes one always correct, motivated by "a horror of saying anything dumb". Ironically, a detailed essay around that horror - so strong it often silences you - might contain more useful truths than this essay. And useful essays are not limited to the novel ideas the author focuses on. Considering the author's background, it's predictable but also understandable to see a focus on novel ideas. But that's an unnecessarily restrictive focus. The art of writing essays has already demonstrated much wider possibilities. That's not to say the simplistic formula the author gives won't improve your writing. It's reasonable to briefly consider. Just that it has limitations, and a peculiar and very specific motivation when compared to writing that is more useful and lasting. So also consider less flex, less patting one's self on the back, and perhaps even saying something dumb. If you want inspiration, two concrete examples off the top of my head are David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers.
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