Readwise: Best Way to Be Write Creatively? Wear 4 Different Hats
Source URL: Best Way to Write Creatively - Wear 4 Different Hats
SUMMARY
Writer’s block usually comes from trying to do too many cognitive jobs at once. Generating ideas, organizing them, polishing sentences, and cutting ruthlessly should be seperate passes. The madman-architect-carpenter-judge framework breaks writing into four distinct mental modes, each with its own job. Do them in sequence, not simultaneously, and the blank page stops being paralyzing.
The Problem: Doing Everything at Once
Ever have writer’s block? Try using this simple process to breakdown your writing into the right process steps. It’s called madman, architect, carpenter, and judge.- From Best Way to Be Write Creatively Wear 4 Different Hats
I was introduced to this article by Nick McSpadden while I was at Facebook. This approach fundamentally transformed how I write. This works from everything to social media posts to long form blogs.
The Four Hats
The madman is coming up with great ideas all the time which might not be related to anything.
The architect is providing structure to the writing; moving paragraphs around and looking at the story-line.
The carpenter is crafting the sentences, phrases, and word choice.
The judge is deleting unnecessary parts.- From Best Way to Be Write Creatively Wear 4 Different Hats
Each role has a clear scope and should run without interference from the others:
Madman
Pure ideation, no filter. Dump everything, even the bad ideas. The goal is volume and momentum, not quality. Quantity is the quality here. The gems are when you can connect things that people haven’t connected before. And there’s a good chance that your perspective regardless of where you are in your career can connect the dots in new and interesting ways.
Architect
Structure and story arc. Rearrange ideas, find the through-line, figure out what goes where. Don’t touch the sentences yet. What’s the big picture idea you want the audience to take away. If you think about writing above the fold the idea is that you want certain ideas delivered. The architect cares most about what those ideas are. It can hlep identify the gaps you need to fill and sections that should just get dropped.
Carpenter
Craft the language. Now you care about word choice, rhythm, and how a sentence sounds. The overall structure is already locked in. You know the road you’re gonna travel, now you just gotta fill in some of the potholes.
Judge
This is when we finally start to cut. Anything that doesn’t earn its place comes out. This is the only mode where deletion is the primary tool.
The order matters. Letting the judge into the room while the madman is still talking kills the session.
LLM’s
While this article doesn’t talk about llms this was one of my first use cases. The thing that would often slow me down when writing was my fear of sounding stupid. God knows I love a good run on sentence and passive voice. I would often ask people to help review my articles, and while I was lucky to find friends like Steven Judd, I often let these articles go unposted. So my fear of perfection held me back.
LLM’s can help with each stage, but stay away from having the LLM write your content. You have a unique voice and the world should hear it! I created a Copy Editor skill that implements this posts roles to help me quickly take my vague idea, come up with the overall through-line, and get me started. Once I have my initial draft I take passes with the carpenter role and then finally with the judge. You would think that an LLM could do it all in one pass, but truthfully getting feedback is what will help you write better from the get go.