How to say nothing in 500 words
apostate.com
apostate.com
Rule 2: Find subject matter that the reader doesn't already know about.
There. Your job just got 300% easier.
On the other hand, the linked essay gives the same advice you do. If you're given a topic you find boring, find something about it that's interesting. If you're writing for an informed reader, write something even the informed reader hasn't seen before.
I guess I'm of a class of people who disagree with this assertion. My counter-assertion is that all contrived writing is a waste of time, both for the writer and a reader.
Early in school, I had a tendency to procrastinate such assignments. What I found useful from these experiences was recognizing the fundamental distastefulness early and giving myself permission simply not to do it. One always has a choice.
I disagree with you in two ways.
First, what I described is not "contrived writing". Just because it's uninteresting doesn't mean it's not useful. Neither the report your boss wants, nor the descriptions of activities for the family reunion, are contrived. They're useful documents that are boring to write and unexciting to read. Your pleasure is not the final word on the value of an activity.
Second, contrived writing can be a great use of time. Contrived exercises are useful for improving your skills in many different fields. From soccer, to engineering, to martial arts, to penmanship, to mathematics, to knitting, contrived exercises perform a very useful function: they're controlled, limited exercises to practice a particular skill. They give you safety (because they're not dangerous to your health or reputation) and allow you to focus on a small part of the full skill set.
And finally, one always has a choice, but there are consequences for one's choices. If you refuse to write that boring report for your boss, you might lose your job. If you refuse to write the paper for class, you might fail the class, and not get to take the classes you are more interested in. If you don't do the soccer drills, you won't have the ball-handling skills during the game. Sometimes the trade-off between the temporary pain of boring work and the reward it brings is worth the pain.
Again, we disagree. The content itself may not contrived[1], but the writing assignment, the form, is contrived.
Your pleasure is not the final word on the value of an activity.
No disagreement here. However, pleasure[2] is the first word, and, for my philosophy, the most significant in decision making.
Contrived exercises are useful for improving your skills in many different fields.
No disagreement here, either. However, we do, perhaps, disagree in the relative usefulness of exercises versus learn-by-doing. Moreover, if the field in question is not of ultimate interest, either method of learning has its usefulness devalued.
They give you safety
This appears to imply a false dichotomy. Safety isn't an absolute. My philosophy, especially wrt reputation, has become much less risk-averse with experience. This is what has drawn me to the startups more and more.
If you refuse to write that boring report for your boss, you might lose your job. If you refuse to write the paper for class, you might fail the class, and not get to take the classes you are more interested in
...and good riddance. Despite the appearance of flippancy, it is exactly the early acceptance of such consequences that I have found to be the valuable skill.
Perhaps there is a converse to the "do what you love" meme: don't do what you hate.
Sometimes the trade-off between the temporary pain of boring work and the reward it brings is worth the pain.
We likely only disagree on how often "sometimes" is. For my own experience, it has been close enough to "never" that I prefer to err on that side.
Substitute "difficult" for "boring," and my conclusion reverses.
[1] In the case of the boss, it can easily become so.
[2] Perhaps "satisfaction" or "mental stimulation" would be a better description, since I don't believe we're talking about hedonism.
This is why standardized writing tests hold a special place in my bitter heart - they codify the fear of deviation and require you to spew mediocre crap - as long as it's mediocre crap spelled correctly with a topic sentence in each paragraph.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-legged_essay
The funny part is, it's invented about the same time as English language :)
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