The most difficult part of writing is actively managing feedback loops.
Firstly, you need to get out of your own way. Most people start editing before they finish writing, which short-circuits the process of exploring ideas.
Getting feedback from other people is usually helpful but slow. And unless you have a professional editor, there are only so many requests you can comfortably make of friends and family.
AI completely changes the feedback landscape for writing. It is faster and has unlimited patience – not to mention being trained on the entirety of language. For the vast majority of people and circumstances, AI editing is superior to soliciting human feedback.
The challenge with AI editing – like getting words down initially – is not to short-circuit the exploration process. It is dangerously accessible to dump a paragraph into ChatGPT and ask “what do you think?” But seeking immediate feedback can crowd out the mental space needed to figure out what we are trying to say.
As with other deeply personal disciplines, the key to using AI in writing will be figuring out how to use it as a thought partner rather than an executor. We now have the tools to design infinitely better feedback loops, if we’re thoughtful about how we use them.
The most difficult part of writing is actively managing feedback loops. The more I write, the more I realize I want to invest in designing better loops. https://paragraph.xyz/@markfishman/writing-=-feedback-loops
im refraining from ai usage as a novice writer, feels like i have a lot of exploring to do before im comfortable with that, or more that idk yet in which ways i want to be influenced. is this the wrong approach?
No I think just getting in the writing habit yourself is the most important thing You can use AI to “optimize” later but would focus on the core habit first
I’ll never write with ai but I do enjoy how ai has taken away a bunch of dismal non writing that previously required, well, writing! I write not just for the content, but also style and voice, which for AI is a flaw meant to be expelled Thanks for sharing!
Yeah the way I like to think of it is AI helps me with *figuring out* what to write, not the actual writing I very much still want to be in control but it’s nice to have another set of eyes and opinions
kia has talked about using ai for this kind of discovery process. not something I've integrated, but makes a lot of sense!
Do you use AI to help with the feedback loops?
Yes wrote about this a bit! I have been using lex.page and loving it, but still figuring out what prompts work best for me
i wonder if there'd be a way to incentivise feedback/reading amidst firstdraftclub members
Definitely interested! Maybe a second Hypersub tier for those that want to do additional giving / getting feedback?
Struggling with writing feedback loops? In a new blog post, @markfishman explores how to navigate the challenges of editing and feedback, highlighting the advantages of AI versus traditional methods. Discover strategies to use AI as a thought partner while maintaining productive exploration in your writing process.