Hacker News with Generative AI: Writing

NaNoWriMo shut down after AI, content moderation scandals (techcrunch.com)
NaNoWriMo, a 25-year-old online writing community-turned-nonprofit, announced on Monday evening that it is shutting down.
Writing, Nonprofits, AI, Content Moderation, Scandals
7 points by healsdata 8 hours ago | 3 comments
NaNoWriMo Officially Shutting Down (reddit.com)
We come to you today with sad news. After six years of struggling to sustain itself financially, NaNoWriMo (the nonprofit) will begin the process of shutting down.
Nonprofit Organizations, Writing, NaNoWriMo
10 points by empressplay 17 hours ago | 1 comments
The Prevention of Literature (1947) (theatlantic.com)
To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.
Literature, Politics, Censorship, Writing
9 points by petethomas 1 day ago | 2 comments
My Book's Pre-Sale Just Barely Succeeded (mtlynch.io)
For the past few months, I’ve been working on a book called Refactoring English: Effective Writing for Software Developers.
Writing, Books, Software Development
15 points by hyperbrainer 1 day ago | 7 comments
Open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it's time to write (nature.com)
Let me begin with a hard truth. As scientists, writing is our chief activity. It can be argued that it is the only thing we do that matters. It is the singular activity that you as a young scientist partake in that will raise your salary.
Science, Graduate School, Writing, Academia
8 points by indogooner 3 days ago | 0 comments
How to write blog posts that developers read (refactoringenglish.com)
I recently spoke to a developer who tried blogging but gave up because nobody was reading his posts. I checked out his blog, and it was immediately obvious why he didn’t have any readers.
Writing, Blogging, Developers, Content Creation
587 points by rbanffy 5 days ago | 153 comments
'We use them every day': the clack of typewriter keys can still be heard (bbc.com)
Computers and smartphones might be where most writing is done these days, but typewriters still have work to do in the US.
Typewriters, Technology, Writing, History, Culture
3 points by admp 5 days ago | 0 comments
George Orwell and me: Richard Blair on life with his extraordinary father (theguardian.com)
Richard Blair didn’t have the easiest start in life. At three weeks old, he was adopted. Nine months later, his adoptive mother, Eileen, died at 39, after an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic she was given for a hysterectomy. Family and friends expected Blair’s father, Eric, to un-adopt him. Fortunately, Eric, better known as George Orwell, was an unusually hands-on dad for the 1940s.
Biography, Family, History, Writing
72 points by lermontov 5 days ago | 24 comments
How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-) (merriam-webster.com)
Be dashing—and do it well
Writing, Grammar, Punctuation
641 points by Stratoscope 5 days ago | 461 comments
How to Write Blog Posts That Developers Read (refactoringenglish.com)
I recently spoke to a developer who tried blogging but gave up because nobody was reading his posts. I checked out his blog, and it was immediately obvious why he didn’t have any readers.
Writing, Blogging, Developers, Content Creation
8 points by mtlynch 5 days ago | 6 comments
A practical guide to writing on the iPad (2023) (billbennett.co.nz)
Apple didn't design the original iPad for writing. It was a device for reading or viewing media, not creating it. Over the years it has become a great portable writing tool. Many writers find it is better than a laptop.
Writing, iPad, Apple, Technology, Productivity
7 points by billybuckwheat 7 days ago | 0 comments
Ungovernable, Capricious Life (nybooks.com)
The sense of vulnerability is crushing, but it is also one of the characteristics Kureishi reveals about himself that makes him so likable here, and the writing so intimate.
Vulnerability, Writing, Biography, Literature, Personal Essays
6 points by mitchbob 8 days ago | 7 comments
Sorry, Sam Altman, A.I. Is Not Good at Real Writing (nytimes.com)
I was grading assignments for an undergraduate course in memoir writing when I experienced a severe crisis of faith regarding the future — of academia, of writing, of thinking.
Generative AI, Writing, Education
10 points by paulpauper 9 days ago | 2 comments
In some parts of the US, the clack of typewriter keys can still be heard (bbc.com)
Computers and smartphones might be where most writing is done these days, but typewriters still have work to do in the US.
Typewriters, Writing, Technology, Culture, United States
20 points by tigerlily 10 days ago | 10 comments
Rest Easy (commentary.org)
The Russian novelist Ivan Goncharov once said of writers, “And to write and write, like a wheel or a machine, tomorrow, the day after, on holidays; summer will come—and he must still be writing. When is he to stop and rest? Unfortunate man?”
Writing, Literature, Russia
51 points by lermontov 10 days ago | 21 comments
In some parts of the US, the clack of typewriter keys can still be heard (bbc.com)
Computers and smartphones might be where most writing is done these days, but typewriters still have work to do in the US.
Writing, Technology, History, Culture
7 points by Geekette 10 days ago | 0 comments
How to use an en-dash and em-dash correctly? (BrE) (lighthouseproofreading.co.uk)
There are hyphens. Then there are dashes. There’s the en dash. Then there’s the em dash.
Writing, Grammar, Punctuation
38 points by susam 10 days ago | 43 comments
When writing, don't mention people who've criticized you (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Writing, Criticism, Social Media, Twitter
13 points by amrrs 13 days ago | 18 comments
"Have Quotes About Salieri" (contingentmagazine.org)
Besides joking with friends that “HAVE QUOTES ABOUT SALIERI” would be a good title for my current project, Weiss’s note to himself demonstrates the balance of fact, claim, and outright fiction in the project of writing historical crime fiction.
Writing, History, Fiction, Crime
46 points by tintinnabula 19 days ago | 12 comments
Write a metafictional story about AI and grief (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Artificial Intelligence, Grief, Writing, Metafiction
3 points by nmca 21 days ago | 2 comments
Short Conversations with Poets: Dong Li (mcsweeneys.net)
There is so much beyond words. There are actually no adequate words for the full complexity of human feeling, for the arcane details of a distant memory, or the colors of the sky. Blue doesn’t really cut it, but most often it’s the best we have. Poems, then, are the last stop before silence. After that, the train goes beyond words, and often beyond any form of representation.
Poetry, Literature, Writing, Interviews
43 points by mooreds 21 days ago | 4 comments
A succinct email in just a subject line (rubenerd.com)
I love going through old 43 Folders posts when I either need inspiration, or am stuck on something. In a post about email, he introduces the concept of the End of Message marker:
Email, Productivity, Writing
44 points by Tomte 22 days ago | 49 comments
What My Father's Emails Taught Me About the Craft of Writing (lithub.com)
The computer lab where I checked my email was in the basement of Cornell’s Electrical and Computer Engineering building. A windowless room with thin, industrial carpet that felt like a second home. There was a vending machine outside the doors where, for under a dollar, I could buy a strawberry Pop-tart for dinner.
Writing, Personal Essays, Family, Education
50 points by PaulHoule 23 days ago | 4 comments
This blog post passed unit tests (sealambda.com)
I’m reading a book called “Writing for Developers”,1 which has some great advice on writing blog posts that get read.
Writing, Blogging, Software Development
57 points by gioazzi 24 days ago | 17 comments
Writing small docs is a game changer (bufferbuffer.com)
In software development, there has been multiple instances of people advocating or discussing opting for small commits. This makes sense for a number of reasons, but there are also writers in my company advocating for small docs. And it makes sense.
Software Development, Documentation, Writing
73 points by taubek 29 days ago | 73 comments
Youth and what happens when it's gone (tolstoyan.substack.com)
When he was in his early-20s, he hung a timeline above his desk. He had drawn it himself, meticulously, with a ruler and professional illustration pen. It spanned from 18 to 30, and he glue-sticked little pictures of his favorite authors next to the age at which they’d published their first novels. At 21, Bret Easton Ellis. At 24, Martin Amis. At 25, Michael Chabon and Zadie Smith. At 26, Philip Roth. At 27, John Updike.
Writing, Literature, Age, Creativity, Authors
339 points by mattgreenrocks 29 days ago | 229 comments
The Empty Promise of AI-Generated Creativity (hey.paris)
“Are you going to add AI writing to Yarn Spinner?” It’s a question I hear almost weekly these days. Whether at game development conferences, online, or during meetings, there’s an assumption that every tool is racing to implement some form of generative AI. I understand the curiosity—we’re living through an unprecedented wave of AI hype, and there’s genuine confusion about where these technologies might fit into creative processes.
Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Software, Writing
13 points by parisidau 30 days ago | 1 comments
The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce by Tom Wolfe (1983) (esquire.com)
IN 1948 THERE WERE seven thousand people in Grinnell, Iowa, including more than one who didn’t dare take a drink in his own house without pulling the shades down first.
Biography, Technology, History, Writing, Culture
13 points by whoisstan 30 days ago | 1 comments
Jane Austen Used Pins to Edit Her Manuscripts:Before Word Processor and Wite-Out (openculture.com)
Writing, Literature, History, Jane Austen
8 points by bookofjoe 32 days ago | 0 comments
Write to Escape Your Default Setting (kupajo.com)
For those of us with woefully average gray matter, our minds have limited reach. For the past, they are enthusiastic but incompetent archivists. In the present, they reach for the most provocative fragments of ideas, often preferring distraction over clarity.
Writing, Creativity, Thought Processes, Cognition
407 points by kolyder 32 days ago | 93 comments