--- title: Good writing is obvious, not original | daily.dev description: The author argues that good writing comes from articulating obvious, fundamental truths rather than chasing originality, since most important ideas have... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Good writing is obvious, not original | daily.dev og:description: The author argues that good writing comes from articulating obvious, fundamental truths rather than chasing originality, since most important ideas have... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/h9XUfRGAr.png og:image:alt: Good writing is obvious, not original og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Good writing is obvious, not original **[sean goedecke](https://daily.dev/sources/seangoedecke)** · 5 min read · 8 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary The author argues that good writing comes from articulating obvious, fundamental truths rather than chasing originality, since most important ideas have already been explored by generations of thinkers. Trying too hard to be original tends to produce boring, generic results, as illustrated by a quote from Keith Johnstone's Impro about improv actors defaulting to clichés when forced to be original. Genuine originality emerges naturally when writers reflect deeply on their own obvious, taken-for-granted beliefs, which are hard to articulate precisely because they're so fundamental. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@elmarchavez** · 0 upvotes > I'm a starting technical writer in the tech industry. Reading this post gave me a lot of confidence. I am adamant that if I did not come up with an original take, then it is not worth writing at all. But now, you just assured me that speaking of something obvious from experience is far better than trying to be different. Thank you for this. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Saying the obvious thing](https://daily.dev/posts/saying-the-obvious-thing-azn1suyjp) · sean goedecke · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Come Up With Great Ideas](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-come-up-with-great-ideas-iil2c13gd) · Ibrahim Diallo · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Do Great Work](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-do-great-work-czuzuqvvn) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Post your Prompts](https://daily.dev/posts/post-your-prompts-il25p9gz2) · RUBYLAND · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Good writing is obvious, not original","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar"},"datePublished":"2026-08-20T10:22:05.174Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:17:59.044Z","description":"The author argues that good writing comes from articulating obvious, fundamental truths rather than chasing originality, since most important ideas have...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"sean goedecke","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"sean goedecke","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--WNgiZyDx--/f_auto,q_auto/v1765713419/logos/seangoedecke","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/seangoedecke"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":8},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"sean goedecke","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/seangoedecke"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Good writing is obvious, not original"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-writing-is-obvious-not-original-h9xufrgar","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"I’m a starting technical writer in the tech industry. Reading this post gave me a lot of confidence. I am adamant that if I did not come up with an original take, then it is not worth writing at all. But now, you just assured me that speaking of something obvious from experience is far better than trying to be different. Thank you for this.","datePublished":"2026-08-21T11:11:27.819Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/h9XUfRGAr#c-TbyECq598","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Elmar Chavez","url":"https://daily.dev/elmarchavez","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--7PjH979T--/f_auto/v1780994221/avatars/avatar_bK85rJb2OXXID2LX2wi5y?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"}}]} ```