Hacker News with Generative AI: Writing

As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook (hamatti.org)
After I signed my contract to join my new job a month ago, I was so excited. Not only that I would join the company but also because I got to buy a new notebook. The weekend before my first day I headed to the local bookstore and spent a good amount of time browsing through the notebooks available and ended up with this happy orange one.
Development, Productivity, Writing
468 points by ingve 31 days ago | 290 comments
Using Logic in Writing (owl.purdue.edu)
Understanding how to create logical syllogisms does not automatically mean that writers understand how to use logic to build an argument.
Writing, Logic, Argumentation
66 points by benjacksondev 31 days ago | 19 comments
Study finds a 50% decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades (theconversation.com)
A recent study has found a 50% decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades.
Language, Linguistics, Writing, Trends, Technology
27 points by lr0 32 days ago | 33 comments
Paper Is Good (dynomight.net)
Paper is good. Somehow, a blank page and a pen makes the universe open up before you. Why paper has this unique power is a mystery to me, but I think we should all stop trying to resist this reality and just accept it.
Writing, Productivity, Paper, Technology
10 points by homarp 34 days ago | 1 comments
Good Writing (paulgraham.com)
There are two senses in which writing can be good: it can sound good, and the ideas can be right.
Writing, Content Creation, Communication, Ideas
306 points by oli5679 34 days ago | 310 comments
Semicolons bring the drama; that's why I love them (ft.com)
Semicolons bring the drama; that’s why I love them
Writing, Grammar, Punctuation
120 points by bishopsmother 34 days ago | 116 comments
How to Make a Living as a Writer (thewalrus.ca)
When people ask what I do for a living, I’m faced with two choices: either I can lie or I can bore them with the truth, which is too complicated to explain succinctly.
Writing, Careers, Freelancing
176 points by pepys 35 days ago | 119 comments
Authors Are Accidentally Leaving AI Prompts in Their Novels (404media.co)
Fans reading through the romance novel Darkhollow Academy: Year 2 got a nasty surprise last week in chapter 3. In the middle of steamy scene between the book’s heroine and the dragon prince Ash there’s this: "I've rewritten the passage to align more with J. Bree's style, which features more tension, gritty undertones, and raw emotional subtext beneath the supernatural elements:"
Generative AI, Literature, Writing, Books
31 points by choult 35 days ago | 13 comments
Amdash – Human only punctuation mark (theamdash.com)
For generations before generative text, writers have used the em dash to hop between thoughts, emotions, and ideas. Dickens shaped his morality tales with it, Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness flowed through it, Kerouac let it drive his jazz-like prose. Today, Sally Rooney threads it through her quiet truths of the heart.
Writing, Literature, Punctuation, Language
41 points by wymerica 35 days ago | 35 comments
Marked decline in semicolons in English books (theguardian.com)
A study suggests UK authors are taking Vonnegut’s advice to heart; the semicolon seems to be in terminal decline, with its usage in English books plummeting by almost half in two decades – from one appearing in every 205 words in 2000 to one use in every 390 words today.
Language, Linguistics, Literature, Writing, Trends
6 points by jnord 35 days ago | 1 comments
ChatGPT Is a Gimmick (hedgehogreview.com)
I recently attended a workshop on teaching with artificial intelligence at the university where I teach writing as a part-time adjunct. I had low hopes for the workshop, but I was also desperate. My students keep turning in essays that were obviously generated by AI, and I need to figure out what to do.
Education, Artificial Intelligence, Writing
115 points by blueridge 37 days ago | 158 comments
Will Writing Survive A.I.? This Media Company Is Betting on It (nytimes.com)
Dan Shipper, the founder of the media start-up Every, says he gets asked a lot whether he thinks robots will replace writers. He swears they won’t, at least not at his company.
Artificial Intelligence, Media, Writing
6 points by rmason 37 days ago | 0 comments
How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method (advancedfictionwriting.com)
Writing a novel is easy. Writing a good novel is hard. That’s just life. If it were easy, we’d all be writing best-selling, prize-winning fiction.
Writing, Novel Writing, Storytelling, Creative Writing, Fiction
6 points by Tomte 37 days ago | 1 comments
How to Grow as a Technical Writer (passo.uno)
We all want to do a good job. Some of us also want to get better at our craft for a number of reasons, either practical or slightly delusional. Those include getting a raise, strengthening our résume, or simply ending the day with a fragile feeling of satisfaction after surviving failure for the nth time. They’re all good goals, though the ways of achieving them are not always straightforward.
Technical Writing, Career Development, Writing, Self-Improvement
11 points by theletterf 40 days ago | 1 comments
Methodical Banality (aeon.co)
The Renaissance scholar and educator Erasmus of Rotterdam opens his polemical treatise The Ciceronian (1528) by describing the utterly dysfunctional writing process of a character named Nosoponus.
Writing, Philosophy, History, Renaissance
42 points by CharlesW 42 days ago | 12 comments
Writing that changed how I think about programming languages (bernsteinbear.com)
Every so often I come across a paper, blog post, or (occasionally) video that completely changes how I think about a topic in programming languages and compilers. For some of these posts, I can’t even remember how I thought about the idea before reading it—it was that impactful.
Programming Languages, Compilers, Software Development, Writing
463 points by r4um 45 days ago | 60 comments
Writing that changed how I think about PL (bernsteinbear.com)
Every so often I come across a paper, blog post, or (occasionally) video that completely changes how I think about a topic in programming languages and compilers.
Programming Languages, Compilers, Software Development, Writing
8 points by surprisetalk 45 days ago | 0 comments
One hundred and one rules of effective living (mitchhorowitz.substack.com)
In more than thirty years as a writer, editor, and publisher, I have, to my best reckoning, introduced, abridged, issued or reissued, and read nearly every major work of inspirational literature produced or translated into English.
Writing, Self-Improvement, Literature, Philosophy
120 points by mathgenius 45 days ago | 109 comments
How to title your blog post or whatever (dynomight.net)
So you’ve made a thing. I’ll pretend it’s a blog post, though it doesn’t really matter. If people read your thing, some would like it, and some wouldn’t.
Content Creation, Blogging, Writing
96 points by cantaloupe 46 days ago | 33 comments
Alephic Writing Style Guide (alephic.com)
At Alephic, writing is our primary tool for clarity and persuasion.
Content Creation, Writing
52 points by otoolep 49 days ago | 46 comments
Reasons to Write More in an Age When Writing Means Less (miloandthecalf.substack.com)
The LLMs are here and they’ve already taken over large parts of the internet and of professional writing.
Writing, AI, Technology, Content Creation
4 points by paulpauper 50 days ago | 3 comments
Some novelists are becoming video game writers and vice-versa (theguardian.com)
While the novel remains a high-status cultural form, video game writing is still seen as a throwaway art – despite some of the biggest names in fiction being involved
Video Games, Novels, Writing, Culture
60 points by ilamont 51 days ago | 74 comments
Request for more articles on prompting techniques (simonwillison.net)
I'm disappointed at how little good writing there is out there about effective prompting.
Prompt Engineering, AI, Writing, Generative AI
10 points by quinncom 53 days ago | 2 comments
I'd rather read the prompt (claytonwramsey.com)
I write this article as a plea to everyone: not just my students, but the blog posters and Reddit commenters and weak-accept paper authors and Reviewer 2. Don’t let a computer write for you! I say this not for reasons of intellectual honesty, or for the spirit of fairness. I say this because I believe that your original thoughts are far more interesting, meaningful, and valuable than whatever a large language model can transform them into.
Writing, AI, Education, Creativity
1444 points by claytonwramsey 54 days ago | 840 comments
Signs You Used ChatGPT to Write That (seanjkernan.substack.com)
As a full-time writer and editor, friends and family often ask me to look over things they wrote.
ChatGPT, Writing, Editing, AI, Content Creation
10 points by klelatti 55 days ago | 3 comments
Ghosts and Dolls (thelampmagazine.com)
Sometimes, for some people, a piece of writing’s attribution alone suffices to taint or burnish it.
Literature, Art, Writing, Attribution
15 points by lermontov 57 days ago | 7 comments
Urtext: The Python plaintext library for people who've tried everything else (urtext.co)
Urtext /ˈʊrtekst/ is an open-source library for plaintext writing, research, documentation, knowledge bases, journaling, Zettelkasten, project/personal organization, note taking, a lightweight database substitute, or any other writing or information management that can be done in text format.
Python, Text Processing, Open Source, Knowledge Management, Writing
101 points by nbeversluis 57 days ago | 71 comments
AI suggestions make writing more generic, Western (news.cornell.edu)
Artificial intelligence-based writing assistants are popping up everywhere – from phones to email apps to social media platforms.
Artificial Intelligence, Writing, Generative AI, Language Models, Cultural Bias
55 points by gnabgib 58 days ago | 71 comments
AI is right about em-dashes (joeldueck.com)
There’s a notion going around that em-dashes signify AI authorship.
Artificial Intelligence, Writing, Grammar
12 points by freediver 61 days ago | 7 comments
The American Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation Makes No Sense (2021) (erichgrunewald.com)
There are different ways of combining quotation and punctuation marks. In the American style, you almost always put periods and commas inside the quotation marks:
Grammar, Punctuation, Writing, Style, Linguistics
14 points by colinprince 61 days ago | 0 comments