Hacker News with Generative AI: Writing

Typography in Ten Minutes (practicaltypography.com)
This is a bold claim, but I stand behind it: if you learn and follow these five typography rules, you will be a better typographer than nearly every writer—and even most graphic designers.

Typography, Writing, Design

13 points by lambrospetrou 3 days ago | 10 comments

Broken Belief (pastebin.com)

Beliefs, Philosophy, Writing

8 points by johnkhan 3 days ago | 1 comments

Usable DOS-based live USB media, for distraction-free writing (github.com/lproven)
This repo contains downloads of compressed disk images of bootable USB keys.

Operating Systems, Software, Writing, Productivity

10 points by todsacerdoti 4 days ago | 0 comments

The rise and fall of the English sentence (2017) (nautil.us)
The surprising forces influencing the complexity of the language we speak and write.

Language, Linguistics, History, Writing

97 points by cal85 4 days ago | 50 comments

Best Pens for 2025 (jetpens.com)
It’s almost impossible to pick a single best pen for everyone, because not everyone wants the same thing from their pens. Plus, different types of pens use different inks, so you can’t exactly compare a gel pen to a highlighter.

Writing, Pens, Reviews, 2025

167 points by beermonster 5 days ago | 106 comments

Ink Pen Records Handwriting and Creates Digital Copies (zdnet.com)
The Nuwa Pen utilizes three tiny cameras to capture what you write - on paper! - and save your notes in an accompanying app. I demoed the game-changing device at CES 2025.

Hardware, Technology, Writing, Productivity

10 points by marctuinier 6 days ago | 13 comments

Narcolepsy is weird but I didn't notice (fortressofdoors.com)
There are certain kinds of experiences that most human beings know very little about because a) they are rare, b) they can only be felt from the "inside", i.e., by the people who have them, and c) not all of those people choose to, or are good at, writing about it.

Narcolepsy, Personal Experiences, Writing

281 points by bfelbo 8 days ago | 104 comments

Keyboard for writers has word-count odometer, sprint timer (tomshardware.com)

Writing, Productivity, Hardware, Software, Peripherals

6 points by LorenDB 8 days ago | 1 comments

The latest fake literary agencies (writerbeware.blog)
Fake agencies mentioned in this post:

Writing, Scams, Publishing, Literary Agents

106 points by Tomte 12 days ago | 41 comments

Writing as Transformation (newyorker.com)
It seems to me that I have wanted to write for the whole of my life.

Writing, Transformation, Personal Growth

144 points by lermontov 13 days ago | 42 comments

"Life Without Stars? Request for feedback on a chapter of a non-fiction book (theeggandtherock.com)
Last year, the James Webb Space Telescope made a startling new discovery about how, and where, planets can form.

Space Exploration, Astronomy, Science, Writing, Feedback

12 points by JulianPGough 14 days ago | 6 comments

In 2025, blogs will be the last bastion of the Good Internet (theintrinsicperspective.com)
Late last year, The Intrinsic Perspective breezed past 50,000 subscribers. Given the scale of the internet, this website is no vast peak, but for a lone author, I deem it a success. The Paris Review, a literary magazine I grew up reading, has 50,000 subscribers. Running a marathon takes about 50,000 steps. Go 50,000 miles in a straight line and you will travel twice around the Earth.

Blogs, Internet, Online Content, Writing

20 points by paulpauper 15 days ago | 9 comments

Rules for writing software tutorials (refactoringenglish.com)
Most software tutorials are tragically flawed.

Software Development, Writing, Tutorials

376 points by mtlynch 16 days ago | 74 comments

Shallow Feedback Hollows You Out (nothinghuman.substack.com)
Thinking about Nassim Nicholas Taleb always makes me sad. My brother handed me a copy of The Black Swan twelve years ago and it was a revelation, it blew my intellectual world open - Taleb seemed the perfect embodiment of the gentleman-scholar I’d always hoped to become. He saw through the pseudo-intellectual bullshit drowning the world and was working on the most fundamental questions, working at whatever hours he felt like, flaneuring around cities, reading classics and proving math theorems.

Philosophy, Writing, Intellectualism

33 points by ivee 17 days ago | 18 comments

Walter Isaacson: My So-Called Writing Life (2014) (wordpress.com)
Walter Isaacson is the 2014 LEH Humanist of the Year. President and CEO of The Aspen Institute and the best-selling author of biographies of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Ben Franklin, Isaacson contributed this autobiographical article to the new issue of Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine. To read the full issue online and view more photos from this article, click here. To renew your subscription to LCV, click here. The LEH will honor Isaacson at the March 29th Humanities Awards.

Biography, Writing, Authors, Leadership, Humanities

50 points by nsoonhui 18 days ago | 14 comments

Acquiring My Work: A Primer (scalzi.com)
Several times a month I get an email or social media message from someone who wants to know what the “best” way to buy my work is so that I, the writer, get as much of their money as possible. I think this is lovely! Thank you for thinking about me, and also, in a larger sense, about writers in general.

Writing, Authors, E-books, Sales, Income

31 points by healsdata 18 days ago | 4 comments

The Rise of Post-Literate History (compactmag.com)
The English historian J.A. Froude was famously gloomy about the ultimate prospects for his chosen branch of literature. “To be entirely just in our estimate of other ages is not difficult,” he said. “It is impossible.” Froude’s words came to mind the other day when I encountered Tucker Carlson’s interview with the podcaster Darryl Cooper, whose opinions about World War II may politely be described as “controversial.”

History, Writing, Media, Politics

35 points by bertman 23 days ago | 71 comments

Ask HN: How do you improve your writing? (ycombinator.com)
I've been writing more and more on Substack. I started with simple Haikus and just expanded with longer posts before settling into this mix of poetry, mental health and my software career.<p>I finally did this by letting go of my perfectionism but I don't want to let go of improvement.<p>Are you a someone who writes on your own blog?

Writing, Blogging, Substack, Mental Health, Perfectionism

49 points by navs 27 days ago | 58 comments

Voices from the Dead Letter Office (harpers.org)
Who can deny that the letter—pen, paper, envelope, stamp—is dead, incontrovertibly, relentlessly, unforgivably, unmistakably dead?

Writing, Death, Communication, Technology

8 points by tintinnabula 27 days ago | 0 comments

Collections: On Bread and Circuses (acoup.blog)

Collections, Essays, Writing, Culture

57 points by Tomte 29 days ago | 5 comments

In praise of the hundred page idea (tracydurnell.com)
I prefer a lightweight nonfiction book to a detailed tome. I’m a dilettante of many interests, so my attention for any given topic is more likely to sustain 100 pages than 600. The sweet spot is longer than a longread internet article, but that doesn’t demand a months-long commitment: a 2-3 hour text.

Nonfiction, Books, Writing, Reading, Attention Span

165 points by surprisetalk 30 days ago | 62 comments

The One Hundred Pages Strategy (thelampmagazine.com)
Almost nothing I have written in the last few years has given rise to more correspondence than a throwaway column about reading, in which I alluded to what I call the “hundred pages strategy.”

Reading, Strategy, Writing

54 points by keiferski 31 days ago | 13 comments

Here at the End of All Things (2017) (longreads.com)

Culture, Essays, Writing, Longform Journalism

42 points by cocacola1 34 days ago | 1 comments

The One Hundred Pages Strategy (thelampmagazine.com)
Almost nothing I have written in the last few years has given rise to more correspondence than a throwaway column about reading, in which I alluded to what I call the “hundred pages strategy.”

Reading, Writing, Strategy, Personal Development

3 points by samclemens 38 days ago | 1 comments

Daring Fireball Style Guide (daringfireball.net)

Style Guides, Writing, Web Development

5 points by cwmartin 42 days ago | 0 comments

Melons and Melancholy: "Eating and Being" illuminates the dynamics of dietetics (lareviewofbooks.org)
WHAT IS GOUT that we are mindful of it? An extraordinarily painful condition, as some of us know from personal experience, gout can feel like your nerves are seeking sweet release through your skin. I had my first attack when I was 28 years old, cycled 20–50 miles a week, ate a mostly vegetarian diet, and rarely drank. A sudden pain in the large joint of my right big toe led me to the doctor.

Health, Diet, Writing, Food

13 points by crescit_eundo 42 days ago | 0 comments

Diátaxis – A systematic approach to technical documentation authoring (diataxis.fr)
A systematic approach to technical documentation authoring.

Technical Documentation, Writing, Software Development

514 points by OuterVale 44 days ago | 113 comments

How Typing Transformed Nietzsche's Consciousness (mitpress.mit.edu)
Friedrich Nietzsche has been described as — and accused of — many things, some of them strikingly contradictory.

Philosophy, Writing, Consciousness, Friedrich Nietzsche

70 points by bookofjoe 44 days ago | 44 comments

How to Tell Great Stories (julian.com)
Is it possible to turn anyone into a storyteller as good as Neil deGrasse Tyson?

Storytelling, Writing, Communication

13 points by t55 45 days ago | 0 comments

6 Lessons I learned working at an art gallery (henrikkarlsson.xyz)
A few days ago, I resigned from my job at the art gallery to write Escaping Flatland full time.

Art, Careers, Writing

6 points by lhoff 48 days ago | 1 comments