These are my unstructured notes from the workshop. Read with caution (they're biased to my own interpretation).
1,000,000 Julian.com visitors
Part 1: What's your objective for your article?
Part 2: pair it with an objective
objective + motivation
good nonfiction = 70% novelty + 25% story + 5% style
novelty is key
amateur writing is boring when it focuses on story + personality
NOVELTY <- he keeps saying this
writing quality = novelty x resonance
resonance = examples + analogies + story
novelty = draft 1
resonance = draft 2
NOVELTY
4 types: counter-intuitive, counter-narrative, elegant articulation (synthesis, poetry), shock and awe.
format doesn't matter (tweets, emails, blogs)
Novelty is not "luck" but can be produced using these patterns
The point is these are examples of novelty. Writing quality = novelty x resonance. audience building comes from high quality writing.
significance = personal important x empowering
empowering -> there is a spectrum
3 gossip -> intel (Neil writs at 2am-5am)
2 tactical breakdown (best time to write is at 2am because X)
1 framework (here's a system for doing your best writing)
how do we take a simple idea (which already exists) and make it "feel" novel?
get ideas by noting what interests you and surprises you.
get ideas based on what you react to: "that wasn't obvious"
"people have this SO wrong" <- good reaction
use Tweetdeck -> rank highest engagmenets (based on like/replies). then see which one where you think "this is way wrong" -> write about that.
"surprise" is always an indicator of something interesting/novel. Whenever I'm reading and something surprises me, I make note of it.
something surprises you or interests you -> write it down with a score.
Over time, ideas become non-novel (your mind adjusts) -> this way you still know what's novel after years of doing this.
novelty = new information that resonates with people
score -> log book over time of things that feel novel and how novel they feel 1-10.
Draft 1: find the novelty
Draft 2: find what resonates
use story to introduce significance before you share the idea
example: https://www.julian.com/blog/creativity-faucet (the intro in this post from "last year" -> "I get curious")
use analogies to make new ideas familiar.
"Expecting a first draft to be good is like rolling ten dice and expecting ten sixes."
*1 dopamine intros -> share intro, ask others what you want to cover next *
2 dopamine linecounts -> ask others which parts of your writing are novel
Hook = half-told story
- questions - ask, don't give answre
- narratives - tease with intro to story, don't give rest.
- discoveries - highlight only new findings
- arguments - bold claim, but don't explain how you got there. (read to find out)
excerpt on "how to generate hooks" from here: https://www.julian.com/guide/write/ideas
If someone else wrote my intro, what are the most captivating questions they could pose to make me excited to read this?
"If your goal is to discover novel ideas, your motto should not be 'do what you love' so much as 'do what you're curious about'" ~ Paul Graham
use feedback for directionality
- write for you AND someone else
ask people to rate intro 1-10 how interested they are in reading more (easy to do over a DM on Twitter, Discord, text message, etc)
how many people to ask for feedback? 10 on the low-side.
maybe 20 if it's a hard-post.
Julian -> built an army of feedbackers
Writing Well: https://www.julian.com/guide/write/intro
researched writing heavily -> 100 novel things -> turned into guide.
Reviewing a piece:
- ask people to mark (add comment with DH "dopamine hit") sentences that make them go "holy shit!"
- white gaps between dopamine hits -> condense those so you minimize the boring stuff
- don't delete
- critically necessary (sometimes) for getting to the dopamine hits
What if what I want to write already exists out there?
"We've had water a while, yet each year some company discovers a new way to package and sell the same thing" — @jsjoeio
most popular stuff he has written -> slammed out in 1-8hrs stuff that hasn't gone crazy? more of a slog.
- choose obj. + mot.
- write introduction
- write a terrible first draft
- it will be garbage
- iterate, iterate until good
- iterate with dopamine
- have friend read
- ask them to summarize over phone
- delete draft, start form summary
- add words as needed
Writing feedback groups link: https://airtable.com/shrSLsy5kIJz1IWHH
Excerpts shared from these links:
- https://www.julian.com/blog/creativity-faucet
- https://www.julian.com/guide/write/ideas
- https://www.julian.com/guide/write/ideas
fav non-fiction book: https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-People-Stuff-persuasion/dp/0321884507
condense and categorize novelty in your tool of choice.
use gaps to identify what to research next.
Great browser extension for seeing someone's best tweets https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/twemex-sidebar-for-twitte/amoldiondpmjdnllknhklocndiibkcoe?hl=en