Malcolm Gladwell’s Top 13 Writing Tips
I now read over 70 books per year, which I largely credit to Gladwell. Needless to say, I was excited when I found out that he had recorded a MasterClass on writing. (MasterClass is a subscription program where for $180/year, you can watch high-quality courses from experts in various fields.)
Here are the top 13 lessons I learned from Gladwell’s MasterClass:
1. Leave your little island
“A pattern is something that appears in different worlds simultaneously…In order to see the trend, you just need to spend a little bit of time in those different worlds (music, fashion, sports, etc.), so I always think part of what I need to do in order to kind of understand what’s going on is to make sure that I’m regularly leaving my own little island and visiting other islands.” -Gladwell
Have you noticed that many of the most creative people in the world have numerous passions and interests? They’re not isolated on a little island of music or dance or painting — they’re involved in numerous creative avenues that feed each other.
Think of Lin Manuel-Miranda applying his love of hip-hop beats to the Broadway smash-hit musical Hamilton. Or Claudio Sanchez, frontman of the band Coheed and Cambria, weaving his sci-fi graphic novel stories into concept albums that have sold over one million records. Or Kurt Vonnegut, weaving his fantastical drawings into his iconic novels.
You can’t become an exceptional writer without getting out and experiencing the world. Your knowledge of other domains will not only fuel your creative tank but also generate insights for your books, Medium stories, poetry, etc.
2. Give the reader an aftertaste
“The best kind of arguments are the arguments that are imperfect…You want it to be a little bit odd because that’s what attracts people’s attention and that’s what makes them want to talk about it…As a writer, you want that response. You want to kind of do something that irritates the reader — not in a serious way, but in a mild way…You want an aftertaste.” -Gladwell
Gladwell says that imperfect analogies are better than perfect ones. You won’t surprise anyone by analogizing Macintosh apples to Red Delicious apples because the two items are too close to each other. The analogy is too precise as to not be worthwhile or interesting.
But if you can find a way to compare apples to oranges…or elephants…or baseball players…your readers will perk up.
Imperfect comparisons draw people in. Surprise your readers with strange arguments and unexpected analogies.
3. Offer the reader some candy
“Once you understand that talking about something and thinking about something are different categories, then you say, ‘Oh, my task as a writer is to give you something to think about but also something to talk about, and they may not be the same.” -Gladwell
Gladwell shares that he was surprised when so many readers began talking about the “10,000-hour rule” concept from his book Outliers. That was a little tidbit he threw in to simplify the complex idea of deliberate practice.
He says that readers enjoy talking about things that are simple and easy to explain. But as a writer, you also want to convey nuanced, meaningful, complex truths about the world. These deeper topics give readers something to think about when they leave your piece.
Gladwell has learned to give his readers both candy (something fun to talk about) and a meal (something more substantial and heady) in his writing. The candy is easy for readers to share with their friends, and it also provides an entry point for others to learn about the story and sit down for the full meal.
Find ways to give your readers both something to think about and something to talk about in your work.
4. Put data in context
“I will use charts and graphs in my writing all the time, but only when I’ve told you a story as to why the chart and graph is meaningful and how to read the chart and graph.” -Gladwell
Writers often don’t see themselves as numbers people. The math hall and the journalism wing don’t fight over many students, and it’s normal for writers to feel a little hesitant about using statistics and graphs in their stories.
But numbers can be a powerful force in stories as long as you ascribe purpose to the data. Data isn’t compelling on its own, so you must give it meaning.
One of the best ways to put numbers into context is to compare them to other concepts that are familiar to your readers. Here are a couple of examples:
- “The company has been gaining new users at a rate of 30 million per year.” → “Every year, the company signs up 30 million new users. That’s the equivalent of the entire population of Texas.”
- “With a net worth of $120 billion, Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world.” → “Jeff Bezos makes $2,489 per second. His net worth of $120 billion means that whenever he spends $1.3 million, that feels similar to when an average American spends $1.”
5. Get an outside perspective
“I always have to be careful that the things that I find interesting and the things the world find interesting — I know from past experience — they overlap, but they do not overlap perfectly.” -Gladwell
Gladwell tests ideas with friends before putting concepts in his books. He says that people are more willing to share critical feedback in a conversation than they are on a written draft. Ideas that are already on paper have clearly taken a lot of time, so friends hesitate to share unfiltered feedback about something in print.
Pay attention to what resonates with your friends, family, and readers. Remember that each person experiences the world differently. Sometimes a concept that amazes you will do nothing for your readers, or vice versa.
Author Ryan Holiday advises, “A book should be an article before it’s a book, and a dinner conversation before it’s an article. See how things go before going all in.”
6. Reflect back to people how interesting they are
“The central problem that all people have — and particularly interesting people — is that they’re not always aware of why they’re interesting…[So the job of the interviewer/writer is] alerting people to those parts of their lives that may seem banal to them, but in fact are not.” -Gladwell
As a staff writer at The New Yorker, host of the Revisionist History podcast, and author of multiple bestselling books, Gladwell has had the opportunity to interview countless people.
Many of the people he interviews are so steeped in their field that they do not realize what others will find interesting about what they do. So Gladwell simply tells them what he finds interesting about their work. He sometimes stops people to interject comments like, “Wait, that’s fascinating.” Then he asks more questions about that topic to dive deeper.
Everyone falls prey to this type of “curse of knowledge” — forgetting what it’s like to not know about something. Baseball players forget that most people haven’t felt the shame of striking out with the bases loaded. Surgeons forget that their friends don’t cut people open.
If you’re interviewing someone, don’t let them forget what your audience will find interesting about them. Follow your curiosity. Ask questions. Expose the secrets of that world so your readers will gain understanding and empathy.
7. Describe your character’s room
“There is as much value in describing the world someone inhabits — the physical space they inhabit — as the person themself.” -Gladwell
Gladwell poses the question: If given the choice, would you prefer to describe your sibling’s personal traits or describe the contents of their bedroom?
He believes that describing their bedroom would likely give the reader a better perspective of that person’s life and what makes them tick:
- Is their room messy or tidy?
- What clothes are hanging in the closet?
- What books (if any) are on their nightstand?
Whether you’re describing the world of a real person or a fictional character, consider illustrating their physical space to show who they are. Use objects to tell stories of the person’s memories, priorities, dreams, and routines.
8. Interweave long and short sentences
“When you have lots of short sentences, when you do want to do a long one, it pops…It’s not that you should be scared of long sentences. It’s just use them sparingly. Your reader has a limited appetite for them, but they’ll enjoy them if they’ve been set up appropriately.” -Gladwell
Gladwell prides himself on writing at an eighth-grade level while still conveying sophisticated ideas.
Don’t underestimate the difficulty of the reader’s job. He or she must read your printed words, translate those words in their mind, and essentially construct their own mental movie of those events. Writing big words and long sentences makes those tasks that much harder for your readers.
Short sentences and paragraphs stand out. They’re memorable and more likely to catch the reader’s attention. Gladwell’s advice: “If you say something that you think is really pithy and great, then don’t bury it in a big sentence.”
9. Use punctuation to establish rhythm
“There’s a way in which you understand writing when you hear it (spoken aloud) that gives you insight that you don’t have when you just read it — particularly what you get is the musicality of writing…and what punctuation does is it establishes those rhythms. You’re instructing your reader when do you want them to pause, when do you want them to savor something.” -Gladwell
Many writers read their work out loud to identify sections that don’t flow smoothly. Reading your writing aloud can also help you identify places where you need to insert additional punctuation.
Use commas to create short pauses. Insert dashes or sentence breaks for longer pauses. Beyond punctuation, experiment with other devices like alliteration, euphony, and anaphora that will make your writing more poetic.
10. Trust the process
“If you write something that people find interesting, the system will find you. The system is pretty efficient…Not always, but the world’s pretty good at finding talent.” -Gladwell
The world is crowded with writers and creative professionals. Online tools like blogs, social media, and Medium have made it simultaneously easier and harder to stand out. When everyone has a microphone, the audience doesn’t know who they should listen to.
Gladwell’s opinion is that talented people who put in the work tend to win the battle for attention. He cites an example from his friend Bill Simmons, founder and CEO of the pop culture website The Ringer. Simmons finds talent in strange places and sometimes hires writers based upon what they’ve written in blog posts or even tweets.
Marketing your work is important, but it’s FAR more important to double-down on your efforts to write something worth noticing. Put your head down. Trust the process. Talent finds a way.
11. You don’t need to quit your day job
“My attitude in the beginning of my career was that there were two separate things that I needed to do. One was to establish myself as a writer and one was to make money, but they wouldn’t always overlap. In other words, for much of my early career, I had a job — a day job — that paid the bills, and then I freelanced at night. And if I’d waited for a writing job that paid my bills, I’d have waited forever, I think.” -Gladwell
Ahh, the age-old paradox: when should you quit your job to pursue your dream? Gladwell’s opinion is that well-paid writing opportunities are difficult to find, so it’s sometimes best to punch the clock during the day and gradually build your portfolio in the evenings.
No one has the authority to tell you how you should live your life. No one can tell you whether you should or shouldn’t quit your job. Only you know what is best, and there’s no magic 8-ball to guide you about when to make the leap.
But you can take comfort in the fact that Gladwell — arguably one of the world’s best writers — also had to freelance on the side until he broke through. There’s dignity in doing the work. Stay scrappy.
12. Surrender your work
“Once you’ve written something, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to your readers.” -Gladwell
Gladwell has seen his work misunderstood and misconstrued numerous times. He says those situations used to bother him, but he’s moved beyond that: “In order for your work to be misconstrued, your work must first be read, so it’s better than being ignored I suppose.”
He’s also learned that when readers misinterpret something in his work, he probably could have written the piece more clearly.
Turn over your work to your readers. If they misinterpret or disagree with something you’ve written, that is valuable feedback. Learn from those experiences and incorporate the lessons into your future writing.
13. Work out your problem on paper
“Just start writing and then work it out. You can always re-write it. You can change it. That’s the great luxury of being a writer. We’re not surgeons. The world does not hold us to our first pass. You know, if we kill the heart patient, we just get to operate again, ten times, before we get the operation right. So make use of that extraordinary freedom and just get stuff down and come back to it.” -Gladwell
It’s tempting to think that you need to have a fully-formed idea in your head before you sit down to write, but that’s often not how it works.
If you refuse to write down half-baked ideas, you will severely limit your potential as an author. Think of the writing process like an oven. The very act of writing is what helps bake the idea — creating a delightful final product.
Allow yourself to work out problems on paper. It’s easier to make connections on paper through the drafting process than it is to do it all in your head. As Gladwell says, you’re not a surgeon. Take advantage of the drafting process.
Gladwell’s storytelling ability is so strong that it helped me rediscover my love of reading.
Think about that for a second…the story that YOU write today could help someone regain their passion for reading. That’s a pretty incredible thought.
Use these 13 tips to spark your pen and ignite someone else’s imagination.
Happy writing!
