Read This if You Ever Wrote a “X Things That Y” Piece
Because the writing was stolen from you, and now we need to reclaim it from the pawnshop
My problem with today’s short-form writers is their genuine belief that writing is about writing. That is, creating the text. The better they manage the reader’s attention, the more catchy subheadings they write, and the stronger their CTA is, the better writers they are.
That is so wicked I cannot handle it anymore.
I mean, they really believe that writing is about text production. Read this article, for instance, as a glittering example of the trend. The author unironically rants that to earn money writing, you need to sell your text where they pay more.
To help you understand the irony, it’s like saying: “If you don’t earn enough selling milk right at your farm, try getting on the shelves of your town or supplying a cheese factory.” Except the milk is your writing.
Sounds legit, right? But writing is not milking a cow. It’s about something other than getting quality milk at optimal cost. It’s not about resource creation; a resource you can spend, trade, or accumulate.
The writing is about problem-solving. And, ultimately, changing the world. It’s about learning how to dive into the deeper realities behind the façades of texts, narratives, morality, and ethics. What’s even more crucial about diving is being able to return unharmed, mentally and physically, to the surface — to share your hard-earned truth with others.
Writing is about finding the truth. And then, telling stories about the miracles and horrors you saw to make-believe those who live with eyes wide shut.
Writing text, in this paradigm, is the last skill on the writer’s toolbelt, as research, reasoning, and communication skills are much more mission-critical. You can be a writer without writing, but by drawing, singing, rapping, game developing — today, even generating.
(I wrote it before GenAI got big enough to replace copywriters, but it was obvious from the beginning that it was just a beginning. The story, however, is not about AI but you.)
If the writing differs from this, we have a big problem to talk about.
I mean, hardly anyone has dreamed of becoming a writer to write “4 Hobbies Emotionally Mature People Avoid”. No, writing trespasses people’s lives differently.
You might have read the book, and it fascinated you so much you craved reading it the first time again. But you couldn’t, so you began writing your own to relive the ecstasy of exploration.
You read a newspaper article, and it made you feel — anger, glee, or remorse; it opened your eyes — and you realized that you want nothing but to help others to see, too.
You read about people who change lives and epochs with their writing, be it Russo, Marx, Rand, or Hemingway — and you wanted to live a life as meaningful and significant as theirs.
You read a Reddit creepy story about the rules of surviving the stay at Grandma’s house, and it was at first fun, but then you were trembling with sheer fear. You laughed it off — to suddenly realize that the rules of surviving the cottage stay with college friends would be even creepier.
Or there was this school essay that struck you too deeply. Even though no one noticed and you got a B, writing it changed you forever.
No story of becoming a writer is shameful, or boring, or even usual. You’ve managed to see the beauty, ugliness, fearsomeness, and curiosity of the world — be it the world outside or within your body. This experience transformed you into the one who wants to seek, and tell, and prove, and change the world. Or make it crispy clear the world’s fine the way it is.
And look at you now, writing “20 Fascinating Uses of ChatGPT You Never Imagined” or “3 Habits That Undermine Your Career,” with ChatGPT being your unironic competitor in the market. Feeling guilty every time you insert a CTA to your Substack newsletter, where you allow being a fraction of yourself for a $5 subscription.
Feeling envious of solo entrepreneurs and coursebros on Twitter who make six-figure on crap anyone (but you) could do. And maybe even buying their course on how they make six-figure on anything their hand reaches, including you.
I cannot believe you dreamed of this. I did not; neither did you. And I feel so bad and sorry for us, and I wish we could now hug and cry.
It’s not our fault, though; we both know it.
We live in a society. Pursuing our real dream, we learned how to write — but did not unlearn how to need food and shelter. Or you found your love, then kids, and they must not struggle as much as you did. You would literally die so that people you love live a happy life.
Compared to any of these, penning “3 Habits of Successful People” isn’t a sin anymore but a virtuous self-sacrifice.
But you are the Chosen One. Yes, you can learn to unsee the truth in the name of the greater good, as the truth always lies alone on the track of the trolley problem. But it always comes back to you in nightmares, more gory and mutilated each time.
That is your great gift, seeing it no matter how hard you try.
So let’s finally face it.
The joy of writing is stolen from you because now it’s milking your brain for meaningless clickbait stuff to grab people’s attention and steal their time.
You are doing this because you deserve to earn. The publication platforms, in turn, are built to catch and hold people’s attention and time; that’s how they earn. That’s why you are here.
It’s all possible because people are conditioned to have their attention wandering and time slipping through their fingers. And you are conditioned to need, lack, and want — so that the economy can function.
It happened because the world is fundamentally broken, and it works to keep you unhappy, be by it mistake or design. And if you say it aloud, you are political, and conspiratorial, and boring, and toxic, and not welcome anymore. Because people do know the truth, and are afraid it would turn their lives into lies.
But that’s the truth, and it’s the reason why you have to finish that “How I Tripled My Passive Income Doing Nothing.” That is why while finishing it, you dream of making something big™ and quitting.
Because you’ve known everything you’ve read on this page long before.
As your writing exists to seek the truth, to delve into the very gut of the world, and expose it — using your wealth of writing tips, tricks, and devices.
It’s not that you know how to fix the world; neither do I. Nor will deleting the “10 Best Tools for Writers” draft help, or quitting the job. Even writing a revelation, as I did, won’t change the world.
But if we keep our eyes and minds open to whatever dreadful or daring things come our way and keep writing about them, we will eventually find the way to turn world a better place — for all of us.
Because all the good things we have — such as civil rights, free elementary education, human rights, healthcare, and women’s rights — only exist because someone chose to skip writing for their job. And wrote what they really thought and felt instead.
Like I’ve just did. And you’ll do. And we’ll try our best to keep our relationships with writing this way.