Ask HN: How to Get Better at Writing?

Re:Ask HN: How to Get Better at Writing? by sandworm101 on Sunday December 25, 2022 @11:10AM (#34128365)

You can only ever be as good as that which you read. Read only blog post and you will sound like a blogger. Read only classics and you will sound like a scholar. If you read enough you will become your own best critic. Stop trying to write better and spend that time reading the best material you can find.

The same is true for all aspects of language. If you want to speak better, don't watch TV news or LA sitcoms. Watch classic British comedy (Blackadder) or BBC science docs (Brian Cox) that will expand your practical vocabulary and sense of proper diction.

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Re:Ask HN: How to Get Better at Writing? by 1retep on Sunday December 25, 2022 @11:29AM (#34128526)

This is such a good point. After 3 years of writing and reading (mostly) math proofs, I wrote everything in proof-like fashion.

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Re:Ask HN: How to Get Better at Writing? by SapporoChris on Sunday December 25, 2022 @12:29PM (#34129078)

"You can only ever be as good as that which you read." I disagree. If your statement was true, progress would never occur. Obviously writers can learn by reading the writing of other good writers, but the are not bound by what they have read. The ability to exceed is always present.

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