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0 pointssanderjd2y ago0 comments

I think the division is along a different axis than this one (or probably it's along multiple axes).

I've always been more of a fastidious crafter than a "just get it built" person, but I also struggle with a blank page. I thrive on editing more than writing. Since forever, I like to get out something that works or mostly works, and then start carving on it until I like it.

LLMs have been helping me get some ink on the page, but very little of what they suggest ends up in the final product.

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jprete2y ago

I’ve observed for a long time that there’s a lot of value in making a seed, a starting point, for the thing a group needs to create. And that’s exactly the reason - new text is harder than criticism of the old.

sanderjdOP2y ago

Yep! But some people do seem to thrive more with a blank page.

Supposedly Tom Robbins writes books entirely by putting one word after another starting with the first one and finishing with the last one. I don't know if that's apocryphal, but I do think that's closer to the process for some people.

But if I were a writer, I'd be squarely in the "get out a first draft, it will be like pulling teeth, but just get something down; then you can do the fun part of revising and polishing".