Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Actual Point

We have a sense of what we want to say, but typically work it out as we are saying it. In person, there is body language, and tone of voice to help tease out ideas. If you record a conversation, and transcribe it, it will often sound incoherent. Teasing out ideas requires space and time. We can't knock down each point. Normally the actual point is built tentatively with a bunch of other points - many of which may be unnecessary, or even things we disagree with. If we don't give each other a Bull Quota, and attack every point of an argument, we will never get to the actual point. Matt Haig, one of my favourite authors, believes writing is mostly editing. Get the actual point out in the first draft. Find it. Then remove words, criticise, and enhance the beauty.

Allow the space to finish

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