If there is a comedian that I appreciate the most, it is Jerry Seinfeld. So naturally, his writing advice would be something I always look forward too. Why writing? He is a comedian. Every comedian is a writer first, comedian later. The craft of writing takes ages to practice. The most comedians start with writing, rewriting their jokes. In this post, I cover how to write by Jerry Seinfeld.
This will be another post on the craft of writing.
Target Flow State
Jerry says when he is in initial writing phase, he targets a flow state. Basically, this is a similar advice as Ray Bradbury who used to have “Don’t think” on his type-writer..
Write your initial draft without overthinking, just write. Write as many words as you can write without judging what you have written.
Seinfeld arranges his physical environment in such a way that it will help him to get in that state faster. He plays music while writing. Music helps him calm down the judgement part.
This advice is also similar to the advice of write by quantity first, quality later. Write as much as you can.
Quantity first, quality second
Once you have written enough, give it a rest. Don’t look at it for few days and then come back to it. With fresh eyes, you will look at what you have written with a different angle. Jerry has a three-step editing process.
Structure – He organizes all that he has written. He organizes those logical ideas using a technique called islands and bridges strategy.
Clarity – He will read what he has written and remove any of it if it causes friction while reading. If any of the ideas are confusing, he will re-organize those. Remove any unnecessary words.
Style – Lastly, he will focus on style in such a way to give the writing a rhythm.
As most writers, Jerry found out his writing process by writing a lot. There is no other way, you can find your writing exciting till you have written a lot.
Quantity produces quality.
Jerry Seinfeld makes sure that he gives an ample time for writing and editing. Both stages are crucial to write better. Both phases go hand in hand. Initial flow state phase of creation is letting it out on the paper while editing is when you start to remove the stuff that is unnecessary.
Irrespective of what style or process you adapt for writing, it is important that you give yourself freedom to write what you want to write, but also be your own critic. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be a writer.
Writer has one job and that is to tell a story. Hope this post on how to write by Jerry Seinfeld inspires you to write more.