My Different Types of Writing
Guiding expectations of my writing
This is a meta article that goes over the categories that I generally put my writing into:
Important
Important writing is writing that may not be 100% polished, but is on such a key idea that I think I need to publish the writing, even if it’s not totally up to my standards.
You can read more about important writing here.
For examples of important writing, see: An Economic System Based On Helping People; Network Effects Are Software’s Defensible Moat
Meta
Meta pieces are pieces where I write about my own writing. For example, this piece is a meta piece.
Meta pieces help me to orient my readers and let them know what I’m trying to accomplish with my writing without distracting them from the main idea inside of the piece. Usually meta pieces are linked to from multiple different non-meta pieces.
For examples of meta pieces, see: Why I Write; A New Writing Phase, My Different Types of Writing
Polished
Polished pieces generally stand up to my standard of decent writing. They may not be the best or most important things I’ve ever written, but the grammar is usually decent, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking through the ideas and how to present them.
For examples of polished pieces, see: A Framework for Privacy; Comparing Infinities; An Argument Against Concrete Possible Worlds
Snippets
Snippets are short ideas that I think are important and I want to share right now, just to get the idea out and record that I was thinking about them.
These are mostly characterized by being short and not well-thought-through, meaning they will likely have many edits and grow in size over time. (After which, at some point, I will likely remove the “snippet” label from them.)
You can compare “snippets” to “important” writing, which is longer and more thought-through than a “snippet” (but still not polished).
For examples of snippet pieces, see: NFTs for Artists
Other
Sometimes pieces don’t clearly fit into any of these labels. Maybe they’re almost polished, but I didn’t quite finish. Or they’re polished, but badly structured. Or they’re too unimportant to be called important. Or too long to be a snippet. They just don’t fit a label.
That’s okay. Not all my writing needs to fit in the boxes I create. The boxes are merely a guide to help readers quickly understand the quality of the writing and set expectations for what they’re about to read. It’s alright if those expectations aren’t always set; people can be surprised.
For examples of other pieces, see: War Robots May Reduce Casualties; The Attention Economy — What’s Wrong and How to Fix It
Hopefully this helps you to understand what to expect from what you’re reading. No matter whether a writing is fully “polished” or merely a “snippet,” I would love to hear your thoughts on any of the ideas I write about.
