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Comment by johndhi | Hacker News Reader

Hmm. I write daily, fiction and journaling, and spend a lot of time researching and thinking deeply about writing - and I have some reservations here.

I agree there is almost always some value in writing. However, for many people, when writing a really long work (a novel for instance) that you want to have some cohesiveness, it can pay to sit and have a think instead of writing. Similarly, doing research (for instance going to England if you're writing in that setting) can be valuable instead of writing.

Anyway.

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The definition of the "writer's block" is to "have a think instead of writing."

It may look like you need to think, but you need to write down what you are thinking. Thinking of an outline? Write down the outline. Thinking of a timeline? Write down the timeline. Thinking of the background of a character? Write it down. What do you do after you go to England? Write your experience down.

Just write.

Thanks for sharing, and I totally agree! I'd respond by defining writing in this case as merely putting words on the page. No backspacing (save to correct typos), almost as if we were writing by pen.

Writing is a very separate process from editing, and the two processes need to be kept very separate; the editing is where the cohesion is developed and tightened up. Naturally, research is also a separate process.

Susan Sontag said every writer is four people: 1) The nut, the obsédé 2) The moron 3) The stylist 4) The critic

Similarly, professor Betty Flowers would define a writer as “madman,” “architect,” “carpenter,” “judge.” More here: https://herbertlui.net/the-four-inner-beings-of-a-writer/

In this case, the act of writing and putting thoughts together can represent the idiot/the moron/the nut at work (although upon reflecting, those words are unnecessarily mean and harsh). In other words, our chaotic energy gets a chance to play. More here: https://herbertlui.net/insights-from-the-idiot/

I am a weird mixture of a developer and an author too, and "write to think" still helps me tremendously at least in the programming part of my career. I use Notepad++ or Word instead of paper, but whenever I try to solve something more complicated, I write the ideas down first.

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