Do writers need social media? Richard Osman thinks not. Here’s why that’s a problem

Richard Osman recently sat down with Guardian journalist Marina Hyde and offered a tidbit that has rippled across social media (or all places): writers, he said, don’t need to be on social media. 

It wasn't even a casual comment. It was something he had thought about. On the surface, it might sound comforting for those of us bone-tired of the algorithmic hamster wheel we have found ourselves on. But it’s also, frankly, bad advice for most writers trying to carve out a space in today’s publishing world.

Joan Didion and the art of emotional precision: What writers can learn from her style

Joan Didion never wasted a word. Her prose was as spare as it was surgical. It was a style that she forged as a journalist and later honed in her essays and fiction that cut to the heart of American life. For writers and readers alike, there's so much to learn from her technique, especially in a cultural moment saturated with overstatement and noise. If there was one takeaway from Didion’s writing, it’s that less is more.