✍🏻 CCW #74 – Writing Well with Julian Shapiro

Julian Shapiro's guide to writing has 5 pages of densely packed insights that was tough to summarise, and I understand why! One of Julian's key writing goals is succinctness, and it shows. Every word has earned its place in his guide, making my job very hard!

Here are a few general tips before we get into Julian's step-by-step writing process:

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  Write in iterations
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  Write your first draft for novelty only—something new and worthwhile
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  Add stories, analogies, examples and an authentic voice to make your writing resonate

Choose a topic

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  Write about what you can't stop thinking about
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  Choose your objective and take note of what's motivating you—create conviction

Write an intro

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  Write your intro to introduce what readers are about to read + hook them into reading
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  Create a Curiosity Gap with an intriguing question, a half-told story or a surprising fact
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  Give readers enough context to care about your hook—make it resonate
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  Think about what people may be sceptical about—tackle those points in your intro
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  Ask people in your inner circle to score your intro before writing the rest—and iterate

Write your first draft

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  Pick an objective to focus your thinking and reveal what your writing must accomplish
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  Identify your key talking points (your outline), then brain dump partially formed ideas
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  Aim to write a messy first draft for YOU, and fast—just get garbage onto the page
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  Write for novelty first—interesting or surprising ideas that keep people reading
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  Skip anything that bores you—if it bores you, it probably bores your readers too
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  Use placeholders any time you're stuck—save the hard parts for future drafts
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  Imitate if you have to—optimise for speed over originality just to get the ball rolling
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  Don't be constrained by your outline—let your curiosity lead you to your best ideas

Rewrite your draft

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  Rewrite to turn your messy draft into a clear, concise, and intriguing piece of writing
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  Use simple language, with examples and counterexamples to make your writing clear
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  Rewrite sections from memory, then remove filler words and rephrase for succinctness
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  Deliberately mix in novel insights + frequent dopamine hits—use feedback to find them
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  Remember the peak-end rule: people will judge your writing by its peak, and its ending
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  Condense your most insightful/surprising points into a single section to build that peak

On getting feedback

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  Ask your audience for specific feedback on your drafts—ask them to score it from 1–10
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  Iterate your way to a "good enough" score—for Julian, it's 7.5–9 (10 is unrealistic)
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  Get feedback from your future self by revisiting after a break or in a new environment

On writing style

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  Write the way you talk to a friend—be authentic, not a copycat
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  Use metaphors and vivid imagery to engage your readers' imaginations
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  Add images, stories, and anecdotes to make your writing resonate

On becoming a writer

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  Write to fall in love with interesting ideas, not to build a writing habit
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  Start writing before you have a fully formed idea—let the dots connect while you write
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  Explore your own interests instead of trying to guess what your readers want
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  Learn to love REwriting—it's the only way to enjoy writing
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  Break the rules—there's no right way to write

Check out the full guide for more actionable steps, frameworks, examples, Julian's's own summaries, and a cheatsheet that I find more helpful than my own summary!