POP Writing
POP Writing
You can evaluate every piece of writing with three variables: personal, observational, and playful.
你可以通过 3 个要素来评估每一篇文章：个性化、洞察性和趣味性。
The pillars of my POP Writing methodology contrast traditional business writing education. In the office, people think they should use a heap of buzzwords and machine-gun fire of statistics, and dress it all up in an academic tone to make them “sound smart.” But these tricks are hollow. They won’t lead to readers who want to engage with your ideas or share them with friends.
我的 POP 写作方法论的重点有异于传统的商业写作教育。在职场写作中，他们认为必须使用一堆流行语和连篇累牍的统计数据，装扮成学术文的调调，才能显得自己很在行。但这些把戏都是空洞的。这没法让读者参与进来，或者让文章分享出去。
Find the balance of personal, observational, and playful writing instead. The proper weighting depends on what you’re trying to accomplish in your article. It’s like kitchen utensils where even though every home should have a spoon, you shouldn’t use it to cut a steak. In writing, what you need to graduate from Harvard Business School will be different from what you need to tell a funny story about your first startup.
取而代之的是在个性化、洞察性和趣味性写作之间找到这个平衡。三者的权重取决于你在文章中试图实现的效果。这就像厨房用具，即使每个家庭都有勺子，但你也不应该用它来切牛排吧。同样在写作上，从哈佛商学院毕业你需要写的东西，和讲述你第一次创业的有趣故事是截然不同的。
Personal writing builds upon stories and emotions. It orbits around experiences you’ve seen with your own eyes or ones your readers have seen with theirs. Through shared feelings, it establishes an emotional connection between you and your readers. But too much personal writing can be intellectual junk food. It’s entertainment without wisdom just like tabloids and beach read fiction. Or, it can be like an unedited personal diary where the reader has to ask “Why should I care?”
个性化写作建立在故事和情感的基础上。它围绕着你和读者的亲身经历展开。这种共通的情感，它在你和读者之间建立了一种情感联系。但是，充斥太多私人相关的内容，可能会让人觉得毫无营养。这种脱离了知识趣味的内容，就像八卦小报或者沙滩读物，或者像一本未经编辑的私人日记。读者不得不问 "我为什么要关心呢？"
Observational writing happens when you notice patterns other people miss. It leads to the “Aha” moments that only come when you read something you’ve always known, but have never been able to explain. In practice, sharp observations are born out of the Three B’s of Creativity and looking for things that don’t make sense. Adam Smith mastered the art of observational writing when he wrote about the “Invisible Hand” in 1776, which is made memorable by anecdotes and playful metaphors. But observational writing is dry without personalization or playfulness. Like Darwin’s field notes, even though it’s profound, it can be a slog to read.
当你能独具慧眼，发现常人忽略的东西，洞察性写作就会发生。洞察时刻往往发生于你突然领悟了以前无法解释清楚的某些事。在实际练习中，可以通过“创意 3B 法则（Bed Bath Bus）”以及“探索那些说不通的事情”来培养敏锐的洞察力。亚当·斯密(Adam Smith)在1776年写到「看不见的手Invisible hand」时，就掌握了洞察写作的艺术，趣闻轶事和诙谐的比喻使这部作品令人难忘。但是洞察性写作是枯燥的，没有个性化，也没有娱乐性。就像达尔文的田野笔记一样，尽管它有很意义深远，但读起来可能是一件苦差事。
Playful writing adds a shot of fun and enjoyment. It can come from analogies, thought experiments, or pop culture. Depending on the article, if you really want to be playful, you can use silly words like “slurp” or dad jokes like “Immanuel doesn’t pun—he Kant.” But too much playfulness will turn you into a clown. Richard Feynmann mastered the delicate balance in his physics lectures, where he lit up his students’ imaginations with concrete metaphors and examples that engaged all five senses. The playfulness of stick-figure drawings and goofy jokes is also why Tim Urban can make readers laugh while explaining artificial intelligence or the Fermi Paradox.
趣味写作能让你的文章多一份乐趣和享受。它可以来自类比、思维实验，亦或流行文化。根据文章的不同，如果你真的想要富有乐趣，你可以使用像「啧啧」这样的蠢萌、或者谐音梗等有点烂的笑话。但是太多这样的字眼会适得其反。理查德·费曼(Richard Feynmann)在他的物理课上掌握了微妙的平衡，他使用一些非常具体的隐喻和案例，来调动感官体验，也激发了学生的想象力。在解释人工智能和费米悖论这类概念时，提姆 · 厄本(Tim Urban)也能做到令人发笑，原因还在于他的火柴人插画和滑稽笑话。