My experience: I haven’t shared any real public-facing writing yet (maybe some combination of [an AoPS blog that was active for ~1.5 years in middle school, college application essays, and this comment] counts?) and my private writing is not polished or particularly focused, although I enjoy the process of polishing so I’m not sure why that is. I’ve wanted to write publicly for a little while but I’m not sure why— probably because I read a lot of writing like this and want to imitate it. But I haven’t really done so because of a combination of inertia, confusion about what I actually want to share, and 50% other reasons. What made you begin to write publicly? Does your private writing look similar?
- I think one cool goal of writing is something like sharing one’s own identity and way of thinking over time.
- What does ‘narrative’ mean in the caveat?
- I think this thesis is kind of confused. Yes, writing can be dangerous (meaning, can cause one to mislead themselves or others) because language doesn’t map onto everything and there are incentives (including unconscious ones) that pull the writer in multiple directions. But that danger isn’t *why* people should write. People should write because writing helps with memory and information processing, and is a useful tool for introspection and communication.
- re: what you call Caricaturizing. I think I just don’t think quite the same way about this process (which is not writing specific for me): I definitely experience it—for example I don’t like mentioning my interest in math in conversations with most people, which has distanced me from that interest—but I don’t really have an idealized (non-caricatured?) version of myself that I feel like I’m straying from. I accept that I have an interest that isn’t socially rewarded and mostly keep it to myself, although it’s definitely fun when I have the opportunity to share it.
- My ‘map’ is mostly in my head; it’s not explicitly written and doesn’t need to be, imo. I think there are many pitfalls that come up when one writes with the main purpose of finding ‘Truth’, but writing is also a way to get a lot closer to Truth, it just can’t take you all the way there.
- ‘Zooming in’ is not exactly how I’d put it; it’s more like ‘blurring’, maybe? I lose most details and can only remember the summary. In addition to writing more, one can also take pictures if they want to remember experiences. (If the goal here is improved recollection of emotions/memories, I think there’s more that one can do than just write more.)
- Strong agree that being aware of these dangers is useful in mitigating them.
- Writing with intentionality is a great way to frame that idea. Why did you choose to share this piece? I definitely agree with the buckets of writing to be judged for an external purpose, journaling to examine/preserve thoughts, and creating a work of art. I’d add something like a ‘personal update’ to share with the people around me, or a ‘tutorial’ that’s expository writing to show other people. I’m sure there are plenty of other buckets.
Thanks for writing this; it was very thought-provoking :)
> What made you begin to write publicly? Does your private writing look similar?
I don't know why I began writing publicly! Didn't put much thought into why back then.
Why I write publicly now: I think my ideas can hopefully be useful for some people, I want to share some parts about myself with the world and think it's cool that I have a platform for that, & I don't mind being legible online.
My private writing: I do some journaling where I mostly write fragments / don't do much Construction, which I think is good. I also keep a bunch of unpublished / never-to-be-published drafts on Substack so I can tease out some ideas and see how they are. I also write a lot & run it through various friends of mine sometimes if I have ideas I'm experimenting with.
> What does ‘narrative’ mean in the caveat?
It's close enough to "telling stories about yourself" : )
> People should write because writing helps with memory and information processing, and is a useful tool for introspection and communication.
Yes! To be clear I entirely endorse this reason too, a more accurate version of the thesis is "this is one reason why you should write" not "this is the only reason you should write"
> I think I just don’t think quite the same way about this process [caricaturizing]
Yeah, only 0-70% should actually resonate : )
> ‘Zooming in’ is not exactly how I’d put it; it’s more like ‘blurring’, maybe?
also a reasonable handle for the thing, though I prefer "zooming in." i think there are tons of reasonable metaphors (writing is casting light, writing is zooming in, writing is blurring, writing is dimension reduction, etc.)
> Why did you choose to share this piece?
they're class notes! wanted to write them up for WARP students who didn't get to go to my class for whatever reason. also thought that some people might gain a lot from reading this.
i think trying to produce writing on a schedule exacerbates these issues for me, as does trying to write about things from the distant past. in both cases it's easy to reach for things that aren't there
on the other hand i think i've found a way to write regularly without distorting the truth / myself very much? which includes things like: embracing contradictions / ambiguity, explicitly avoiding self-help / advice, being open to backtracking. but this also means i'm not getting as much clout from writing as i could be :P
Relevant other posts: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tE9jdYC82RocquqX5/personal-blogging-as-self-imposed-oppression, https://blog.evanchen.cc/2015/03/14/writing/
My experience: I haven’t shared any real public-facing writing yet (maybe some combination of [an AoPS blog that was active for ~1.5 years in middle school, college application essays, and this comment] counts?) and my private writing is not polished or particularly focused, although I enjoy the process of polishing so I’m not sure why that is. I’ve wanted to write publicly for a little while but I’m not sure why— probably because I read a lot of writing like this and want to imitate it. But I haven’t really done so because of a combination of inertia, confusion about what I actually want to share, and 50% other reasons. What made you begin to write publicly? Does your private writing look similar?
- I think one cool goal of writing is something like sharing one’s own identity and way of thinking over time.
- What does ‘narrative’ mean in the caveat?
- I think this thesis is kind of confused. Yes, writing can be dangerous (meaning, can cause one to mislead themselves or others) because language doesn’t map onto everything and there are incentives (including unconscious ones) that pull the writer in multiple directions. But that danger isn’t *why* people should write. People should write because writing helps with memory and information processing, and is a useful tool for introspection and communication.
- re: what you call Caricaturizing. I think I just don’t think quite the same way about this process (which is not writing specific for me): I definitely experience it—for example I don’t like mentioning my interest in math in conversations with most people, which has distanced me from that interest—but I don’t really have an idealized (non-caricatured?) version of myself that I feel like I’m straying from. I accept that I have an interest that isn’t socially rewarded and mostly keep it to myself, although it’s definitely fun when I have the opportunity to share it.
- My ‘map’ is mostly in my head; it’s not explicitly written and doesn’t need to be, imo. I think there are many pitfalls that come up when one writes with the main purpose of finding ‘Truth’, but writing is also a way to get a lot closer to Truth, it just can’t take you all the way there.
- ‘Zooming in’ is not exactly how I’d put it; it’s more like ‘blurring’, maybe? I lose most details and can only remember the summary. In addition to writing more, one can also take pictures if they want to remember experiences. (If the goal here is improved recollection of emotions/memories, I think there’s more that one can do than just write more.)
- Strong agree that being aware of these dangers is useful in mitigating them.
- Writing with intentionality is a great way to frame that idea. Why did you choose to share this piece? I definitely agree with the buckets of writing to be judged for an external purpose, journaling to examine/preserve thoughts, and creating a work of art. I’d add something like a ‘personal update’ to share with the people around me, or a ‘tutorial’ that’s expository writing to show other people. I’m sure there are plenty of other buckets.
Thanks for writing this; it was very thought-provoking :)
> What made you begin to write publicly? Does your private writing look similar?
I don't know why I began writing publicly! Didn't put much thought into why back then.
Why I write publicly now: I think my ideas can hopefully be useful for some people, I want to share some parts about myself with the world and think it's cool that I have a platform for that, & I don't mind being legible online.
My private writing: I do some journaling where I mostly write fragments / don't do much Construction, which I think is good. I also keep a bunch of unpublished / never-to-be-published drafts on Substack so I can tease out some ideas and see how they are. I also write a lot & run it through various friends of mine sometimes if I have ideas I'm experimenting with.
> What does ‘narrative’ mean in the caveat?
It's close enough to "telling stories about yourself" : )
> People should write because writing helps with memory and information processing, and is a useful tool for introspection and communication.
Yes! To be clear I entirely endorse this reason too, a more accurate version of the thesis is "this is one reason why you should write" not "this is the only reason you should write"
> I think I just don’t think quite the same way about this process [caricaturizing]
Yeah, only 0-70% should actually resonate : )
> ‘Zooming in’ is not exactly how I’d put it; it’s more like ‘blurring’, maybe?
also a reasonable handle for the thing, though I prefer "zooming in." i think there are tons of reasonable metaphors (writing is casting light, writing is zooming in, writing is blurring, writing is dimension reduction, etc.)
> Why did you choose to share this piece?
they're class notes! wanted to write them up for WARP students who didn't get to go to my class for whatever reason. also thought that some people might gain a lot from reading this.
and thanks for reading!
an adherence to truth is misguided, because as you say the purpose of (this kind of) writing is (mostly) not to deliver or record truth, imo
maybe cf three in https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/at-least-im-not-as-sad-as-i-used-to-be/ i guess
anyway wow wish i was there for this class so i could yell at you!!!
you can yell at me when I teach it again some other time!! : )
also just bc the purpose of what you regard as “this type of writing” may not be to deliver or record truth doesn’t mean that it’s not dangerous
i.e. purpose & effects are closer to orthogonal than scalar multiples of one another
yeah, idk, it's definitely tricky
i think trying to produce writing on a schedule exacerbates these issues for me, as does trying to write about things from the distant past. in both cases it's easy to reach for things that aren't there
on the other hand i think i've found a way to write regularly without distorting the truth / myself very much? which includes things like: embracing contradictions / ambiguity, explicitly avoiding self-help / advice, being open to backtracking. but this also means i'm not getting as much clout from writing as i could be :P
> it's easy to reach for things that aren't there
i like the way you put this : )
> embracing contradictions / ambiguity, explicitly avoiding self-help / advice, being open to backtracking
seems correct : D