David Perell
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How I Write · Malcolm Gladwell: The Most Useful Hour You'll Ever Spend on…
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What Would Malcolm Gladwell Teach First in a Writing Class?
Malcolm Gladwell would start a writing class by teaching students how to ask questions. Everything begins with knowing what a question is for, where it comes from, and what is interesting in the other person. The work is to be generous. The interview is about them, not the writer.
David Perell asked what Gladwell would teach in a semester on writing. Gladwell would send students home to interview their parents, record about 45 minutes, bring back a transcript, and turn that transcript into a short article. An article about someone is a version of the interview, with the blanks filled in. A 14-year-old freezes because they think the story has to come from them. Other people already have the
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Why Does Malcolm Gladwell Give Readers a Framework?
Malcolm Gladwell says writers who do his kind of writing have an obligation to give people tools to organize their experience. An overarching why makes the material much more powerful. It helps people make sense of the world and retain the information. He does less of that superstructure now than he used to, because he overused some of it.
David Perell asked how specificity should sit with general observations and broad points. A writer who is nervous that a viewer, listener, or reader will abandon them should try harder to offer something to hold on to, a place to file the information. The superstructure that explains the larger shape is a crucial part of ensuring the work is heard.