How to Write Well Online? - Lessons From Visakan
I was wandering in Twitter and bumped into this excellent thread by a prolific Tweeter, Visakan. It has been summarised in this blog as well. I want to highlight on few things and pen down my opinions.
Smart writing requires a dumb mentality
Dumb here means having a blank state of mind. Dumb is having a beginner’s mindset to be curious. The important thing is knowing what is smart writing. But the most important thing is to forget once we know what it is. How do you know what smart writing is? Read next.
Develop your taste
Taste is not some hifalutin thing. You can develop it consciously. You already like something. You have a vague idea about what you want too. Follow your curiosity, playfully and enjoy it. Read wide and weird things. Watch new films of different genre. Learn a craft. Travel. Be part of some interesting community. If you are going to force it upon you, it is not going to work. Important thing is to have fun.
Nothing is original
Remember everything is a remix. What we consider as classic or masterpiece now has been inspired or remixed. Bible or Mahabharatha were compiled and rewritten based on some other stories. There is no pressure from anyone to be original.
Produce a large volume of work. Write stupid, edit smart
You always have a unique angle in anything you read/watch/listen. The angle need not be smart or unique at all. What does that mean to you? How you ingest it? How it is applicable to your life? That alone is worth writing. Remember writing is cheap, almost free. Write things to empty your mind, clarify your thinking or just for fun. Tweet about it. Post it in your blog. Later, you can refine it, edit it.
(Visakan is just 29 years old and his writings are really interesting. He is wise as well as cool. Inspired by some of the threads, I am supporting him in Patreon. Highly recommend you to follow him on Twitter)