You know what people never told me about writing when I was younger? It's simple. You find a way to make other people feel what you feel, or what you felt.
It doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate. You don't need big words or long sentences. The longer I write, the simpler my writing gets. You just make people feel things. You keep editing until you land there.
Some of my work that's more like a college thesis, more like a mathematical proof that I'm smart, more like a tangled web of strong opinions? That work doesn't matter to me now.
If it makes you feel something, or notice something, or move through the world differently, it matters. That's all I want to read these days. Writing teachers really oversell how hard it is to write clearly. Just say what you mean. Make the reader feel things. The end.
Even if you can't tell wtf you're doing, if someone just said "Make this shorter and more vivid" to you, over and over again, your writing would improve.
On a related note, currently cutting about 40k words from my next book. Wish me luck!
You can follow @hhavrilesky.
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