I’ve read couple of articles at Paul Graham’s site today, and found this older article quite useful. In the article, “Writing, Briefly”, Paul emphases the importance of writing well is to communicate and generate ideas. He suggests many writing tips on cutting, removing, and triming. The initial step is write everything down on first bad version, and then revise it:
…expect 80% of the ideas in an essay to happen after you start writing it, and 50% of those you start with to be wrong; be confident enough to cut; have friends you trust read your stuff and tell you which bits are confusing or drag; don’t (always) make detailed outlines; mull ideas over for a few days before writing; carry a small notebook or scrap paper with you; start writing when you think of the first sentence…
Should I go on and write more? Maybe I should stop.
Writing, Briefly – [Paul Graham]
