How to Write Consistently Well — Fareed Zakaria

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Fareed Zakaria is one of the world’s leading journalists. Maybe you’ve seen him on CNN. Maybe you’ve read his books. Or maybe you’ve read his articles in the Washington Post.

This conversation is a university-level seminar in the craft of writing, which builds upon the thousands of articles Fareed’s written over his career. It’s a guidepost for anybody who wants to write non-fiction. How do you develop expertise? How should you structure your days? What kinds of deadlines should you set?

We also talked about how The Great Gatsby shaped his perspective on America, when to rely on anecdotes vs. data, and the skills that’ll remain scarce as AI breaks through the Turing Test and becomes a hyper-competent writer.

The through-line of Fareed’s work is a philosophy of purposeful practice: watching all his TV performances to see how he can improve, reading great writing to absorb what excellence looks like, and using the deadlines of TV and newspaper columns to write consistently.

00:00:00 The importance of writing books
00:02:50 Building a writing routine
00:06:57 Does Fareed use AI?
00:11:07 The skill AI can't replicate
00:12:23 What makes for a good take?
00:14:10 Writing for TV vs. newspapers
00:22:18 Fareed's writing routine
00:31:34 Lessons from reading fiction
00:39:30 Building a unique point of view
00:59:33 Rapid fire: books, articles + TV
1:05:26 Fareed's best writing lessons

About the host
Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.

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