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As the old quip goes: people don’t want to be writers, they want to have published a book. You can turn this around as well: people don’t want to read, they wa

As the old quip goes: people don’t want to be writers, they want to have published a book. You can turn this around as well: people don’t want to read, they want to be well read. The difference is “effort and process” versus a status. People want the label, but don’t want to do the work to get there.

bluebarbet 25d ago
Nicely put. When I read, "I always knew I wanted to be a writer", I always think to myself, "Oh yeah? But did you know what you wanted to write?" Anecdotally, it feels like I've seen that line in a whole bunch of early-20th-century biographies and journalism - back at height of the profession's prestige, perhaps not coincidentally.
- caseyohara 25d ago
  It's perfectly normal to be drawn to a field without knowing exactly what you want to do in it. "I always knew I wanted to be a doctor" ... "Oh yeah? But did you know what medical discipline you wanted to practice?"
cousin_it 25d ago
Yeah. I've seen the same puzzling thing in game development. People don't seem to want to make good games! They want a hat that says "I made a game". That done, they want a hat that says "my game is successful", so they go on subreddits asking for promotion advice. Honest comparison with existing state of the art is seen as annoying; advancing the state of the art isn't seen as a goal at all.
- tatjam 25d ago
  I'm a bit of a victim to this mindset. I don't particularly play many video games, except the occasional one that clicks, but love making small game experiences and similar. I find that gamedev programming is very fun and engaging. Nonetheless, I don't think that I have the combination of skills and creativity (nor game knowledge) to make a game as great as those that have clicked for me in the past ;)
- PaulRobinson 24d ago
  I read somewhere that there are more game engines in dev at any now point in time than there are games. I can believe that. I think it's OK to do something for the fun of doing it. It's expecting to a) be successful without doing the thing at all and/or b) doing it because you want the success that's the problem. Go make games that make you smile, share them see if others smile too. Then think about the success thing.
jebarker 25d ago
I love reading, do it a lot of and per my Goodreads I’m “well read”. I’m less convinced how much I’ve learned from all the reading that would make me a better writer though. I definitely fell into the trap of wanting to have written a book myself. I grew out of that but still felt/feel like I want to write. The issue that remains is that I’m just not sure I have anything to say!
- pitched 24d ago
  > not sure I have anything to say You wrote something here and I read it. If you really feel it had such low value, why put it here for me to waste time reading it? The best way I’ve found to start writing is to time box yourself. Set aside 15 minutes and just don’t let yourself do anything else. I feel very accomplished now that I’ve wasted just as much of your time back lol
- PaulRobinson 24d ago
  This requires a little effort. Finding your voice, finding your themes and all that. Also, the Taste Gap, as it's sometimes called, is a real thing - plenty written about it online, but Ira Glass is considered the first person to really nail it [0]. As this is HN, worth noting Paul Graham also had something to say about taste [1]. This means you're going to have to put some work in to figure out how to write and to get good at it, but it's normally worthwhile. I've been trying to get myself into this groove for a while, but just not getting there for all sorts of reasons, so I can relate to everyone who is struggling, but I also know this is not a problem specific to me, it's specific to the art, in fact all art. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to-people-who-are-beginners-i-wish https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to... [1] https://paulgraham.com/taste.html https://paulgraham.com/taste.html
frenchtoast8 23d ago
From Chapter 1 of Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird": > The problem that comes up over and over again is that these people want to be published. They kind of want to write, but they really want to be published. You’ll never get to where you want to be that way, I tell them. There is a door we all want to walk through, and writing can help you find it and open it. Writing can give you what having a baby can give you: it can get you to start paying attention, can help you soften, can wake you up. But publishing won’t do any of those things; you’ll never get in that way.

bluebarbet 25d ago

Nicely put. When I read, "I always knew I wanted to be a writer", I always think to myself, "Oh yeah? But did you know what you wanted to write?" Anecdotally, it feels like I've seen that line in a whole bunch of early-20th-century biographies and journalism - back at height of the profession's prestige, perhaps not coincidentally.

caseyohara 25d ago
It's perfectly normal to be drawn to a field without knowing exactly what you want to do in it. "I always knew I wanted to be a doctor" ... "Oh yeah? But did you know what medical discipline you wanted to practice?"

cousin_it 25d ago

Yeah. I've seen the same puzzling thing in game development. People don't seem to want to make good games! They want a hat that says "I made a game". That done, they want a hat that says "my game is successful", so they go on subreddits asking for promotion advice. Honest comparison with existing state of the art is seen as annoying; advancing the state of the art isn't seen as a goal at all.

tatjam 25d ago
I'm a bit of a victim to this mindset. I don't particularly play many video games, except the occasional one that clicks, but love making small game experiences and similar. I find that gamedev programming is very fun and engaging. Nonetheless, I don't think that I have the combination of skills and creativity (nor game knowledge) to make a game as great as those that have clicked for me in the past ;)
PaulRobinson 24d ago
I read somewhere that there are more game engines in dev at any now point in time than there are games. I can believe that. I think it's OK to do something for the fun of doing it. It's expecting to a) be successful without doing the thing at all and/or b) doing it because you want the success that's the problem. Go make games that make you smile, share them see if others smile too. Then think about the success thing.

jebarker 25d ago

I love reading, do it a lot of and per my Goodreads I’m “well read”. I’m less convinced how much I’ve learned from all the reading that would make me a better writer though. I definitely fell into the trap of wanting to have written a book myself. I grew out of that but still felt/feel like I want to write. The issue that remains is that I’m just not sure I have anything to say!

pitched 24d ago
> not sure I have anything to say You wrote something here and I read it. If you really feel it had such low value, why put it here for me to waste time reading it? The best way I’ve found to start writing is to time box yourself. Set aside 15 minutes and just don’t let yourself do anything else. I feel very accomplished now that I’ve wasted just as much of your time back lol
PaulRobinson 24d ago
This requires a little effort. Finding your voice, finding your themes and all that. Also, the Taste Gap, as it's sometimes called, is a real thing - plenty written about it online, but Ira Glass is considered the first person to really nail it [0]. As this is HN, worth noting Paul Graham also had something to say about taste [1]. This means you're going to have to put some work in to figure out how to write and to get good at it, but it's normally worthwhile. I've been trying to get myself into this groove for a while, but just not getting there for all sorts of reasons, so I can relate to everyone who is struggling, but I also know this is not a problem specific to me, it's specific to the art, in fact all art. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to-people-who-are-beginners-i-wish https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to... [1] https://paulgraham.com/taste.html https://paulgraham.com/taste.html

frenchtoast8 23d ago

From Chapter 1 of Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird": > The problem that comes up over and over again is that these people want to be published. They kind of want to write, but they really want to be published. You’ll never get to where you want to be that way, I tell them. There is a door we all want to walk through, and writing can help you find it and open it. Writing can give you what having a baby can give you: it can get you to start paying attention, can help you soften, can wake you up. But publishing won’t do any of those things; you’ll never get in that way.