写作方法2020news.ycombinator.com编辑精选
Ask HN：我觉得写作很难，怎样才能写得轻松些？
Ask HN: I find writing difficult, how do I make it easy?
导读
一位开发者苦恼于写文档和提案时难以简洁清晰，反复修改多稿仍不满意，于是在 Hacker News 上求助。评论者普遍认为写作对所有人都很难，关键在刻意练习、动笔前先想清楚框架，以及借助时间距离审阅自己的文字。对写作者来说，这篇提醒我们：简洁不是天赋，而是框架思维和反复编辑的产物。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
动笔前先在脑中搭好整体框架，想清楚要说什么；写短文往往比写长文更费时间，功夫在概念梳理而非文字打磨。
- 02
用时间间隔审阅：写完先放几天到一两周再读，能切换到读者视角，发现自己当时看不到的问题。
- 03
只保留一个工作版本；改动若不能让句子更好就不改，在两个版本间犹豫时，选更简单、字数更少、更直接的那个。
- 04
接受写好需要大量时间和几十遍修改，并把日常邮件、短信当作刻意练习的场所。
HN 评论精选
写作难是常态，靠刻意练习和大量阅读高质量文本来提升。
引用托马斯·曼的话：“作家就是那些觉得写作比其他人更难的人。”刻意练习是唯一途径，可以从日常邮件和短信开始练。同时要接受写好需要惊人地多的时间，推荐读斯蒂芬·金的《写作这回事》和约翰·麦克菲的《Draft No. 4》。读高质量的文字也很有价值——如果你平时主要读网络内容，翻开一本写得好的书，对比会非常明显。他还推荐了一个非常规的高质量写作来源：美国最高法院的判决书，几乎每一篇都写得很好。
mattalbie查看英文原文
"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." -- Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades As others have mentioned, deliberate practice is really the only ticket. I bet you write a ton of email, start practicing there. Or your text messages. The more you do it the more you'll discover things that work for you. Also accept that it takes a preposterous amount of time to write well. Reading books on the subject of writing by writers can be comforting in that regard. I'm thinking particularly about Steven King's "On Writing" and "Draft No. 4" by John McPhee. Also, reading high quality writing is worthwhile. If you mostly read on the internet and you pick-up a really well written book the contrast can be startling. One unconventional source of great writing I recommend is US Supreme Court opinions [1]. I find almost every single one to be very well written. [1]: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/
从自己感兴趣的话题入手写作，更容易坚持并提升能力。
很多建议对我个人不管用——重写旧文档太无聊，读《The Elements of Style》也不会去做。不如专注写你真正感兴趣的东西，比如我喜欢 Apache Spark，所以写这方面的博客很容易。写自己感兴趣的内容能帮你提升水平，等需要写无聊的东西时也能写得好。
MrPowers查看英文原文
Most of the other suggestions wouldn't work for me personally. Reworking old documents is too boring. Reading The Elements of Style isn't going to happen. Focus on writing stuff you like to write about. I like writing about Apache Spark so that's an easy topic for me to write blogs: https://mungingdata.com/ Write about what you're interested in. That'll help you level up for when you need to write about boring stuff.
只保留单一版本，用“更简单更直接”的标准做取舍，并借时间距离来审阅。
写得清晰对所有人都难，就像“clean code”——没人能一次写出干净的代码，都是先写脏的再不断修改。看到别人第20稿觉得比不上，其实他们也是一样。至于“多次修改”是多少次？作家中改几十遍并不罕见，比如每天编辑持续一个月。纠结选哪一稿，不如只保留一个版本；改动若不能让句子更好就不要改。两个版本难以取舍时，选更简单、字数更少、更不炫耀、更直接的那个。放几天或一两周再读，选择会再次变得明显。
yesenadam查看英文原文
> I find it difficult to write in a lucid way. So does everyone. It's like with "clean code" - no-one can write clean code. You write dirty code and keep editing it until it's clean. It's easy to see someone else's 20th draft and think you can't write as good as them. Neither can they. It's like everything, you're bad when you start doing it, and you get better at it as you do more of it. > Even after rereading and editing my docs multiple times I am not happy with the outcome. How many times is "multiple times"? Doesn't sound like too many. A few dozen times wouldn't be unusual among writers. i.e. Editing every day for a month. > In fact I fall into dilemma on which of my edited drafts should I choose as final version. So just have one version. If a change doesn't make a sentence better, don't make that change. Sure, sometimes you can't decide which of 2 versions of (say) a sentence is better. So choose the simpler, the one with less words, the less show-offy one, the more direct. Also, put it aside for a few days or a week or two and read again. Choices like that will be obvious again after you get some time-distance.
先想清楚再动笔、推敲用词、隔时审阅、用真实读者反馈闭环。
(A) 动笔前先在脑中构建全貌（可借助思维导图）。有个故事：有人写了封长信给朋友，结尾说“抱歉，我没时间写更短的信”——写短往往需要更长时间，功夫在概念梳理而非写作本身。(B) 注意用词，甚至查字典确认你以为已经懂的词。(C) 自我审阅前先隔一段时间，因为写作时有确认偏误，几天后读能体会读者感受。(D) 与真实读者闭合反馈回路，观察相关讨论，看是否因写作方式不同而可避免，从而更快达成共识。另外，为什么不用单一工作副本呢？
alok-g查看英文原文
(A) Frame the full picture in your mind before you start to write [1, 2]. A short story: Someone once wrote a long letter to a friend, and finished it with something like "Sorry, I did not have the time to write a shorter one!" [3] I.e., it can take longer to write shorter! The reversal comes from conceptualization and framing of what you want to say, not from the actual writing itself. Use mind maps for this if that would help. (B) Be conscious of word choice. Check even those words out in a dictionary which you think you already understand. You may soon have a refined judgment on when to check. (C) Introduce time breaks before reading your creation for self reviews. Writing involves intense thinking which is a subject to confirmation bias. Reading your own writing a few days later will give you a flavor of what it feels like as a reader. (D) Close the feedback loop with the actual readers, whether live or offline. Watch for the discussions that happen on the subject and see if those discussions could have been avoided by writing differently, thereby driving consensus faster. >> which of my edited drafts should I choose as final version. Why not have only one draft, a single working copy of the doc? :-) See also: https://alokgovil.com/to-learn-to-write-well-read-a-lot-too/ (on my own blog) -- Footnotes -- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant [2] Improvisation also works but should be less preferable. [3] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/
同类还值得读
被低估的工程技能：把文章写好
Undervalued Engineering Skills: Writing Well
这篇文章讨论为什么“写得好”是被低估的工程能力，以及它如何在团队协作、系统设计和职业发展中持续带来回报。
写作方法2019 · 1,109 分 · 371 评4 条写作要点编辑精选每行只写一句话：让写作和修改都更轻松的排版法
Writing one sentence per line
这是 Derek Sivers 的一篇短文，主张写作时每行只放一个句子，而不是按段落排版。
写作方法2022 · 849 分 · 297 评4 条写作要点编辑精选书面沟通是远程工作的超级能力
Written communication is remote work super power
这篇文章讨论远程工作中书面沟通的价值，评论区则补充了异步与同步沟通的适用场景，并提醒读者：备忘录、结论先行、结构化命令格式等书面沟通传统早已有之。
写作方法2020 · 831 分 · 190 评4 条写作要点编辑精选如何写出有用的文字
How to Write Usefully
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。
写作方法2020 · 821 分 · 285 评4 条写作要点编辑精选如何写得更清楚、想得更清楚，并学会复杂材料（PDF）
How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]
这份 PDF 讨论如何把文章写清楚、把思路理清楚，并用写作来学习复杂材料。
写作方法2022 · 779 分 · 153 评4 条写作要点编辑精选