Nicolas Cole argues listicles are foundational to all writing, not filler. Describing anything is listing details. Skipping this skill to chase viral threads is actually the longer road, like learning guitar by jumping to songs instead of mastering chords first.
I don't wanna write listicles. That's not real writing. I don't wanna be a BuzzFeed writer. What you don't realize is that even high-grade literature is listicles. If I was to describe this room, what would I be doing? I would be listing the things in the room. If I was to describe a person, I would be listing the different things that I notice about you as a person. It's sort of like, in a very basic way, if you were to learn a musical instrument, everyone who isn't successful at learning a musical instrument, they start by going, "Let me just learn the pop song that I wanna play. Let me start by playing 'Freebird.'" But if you start by learning chords and scales, Well, then you can play anything. And writing is the same thing. Like, if you can't assemble a list, you're not going to be able to write a book. If you can't write an 800-word listicle, how are you going to write a great newsletter? The shortcut is the longer road in disguise. Everyone always just wants, how do I write a viral Twitter thread? How do I write something that gets a million views? But if you're not understanding the underlying components, okay, great, you write a viral Twitter thread. Now what?
What Every Writer Gets Wrong About Their Audience #writing #creator #writingtips
