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  • So, the job of the writer is not to supply the ideas,

  • it is to be patient enough to find the ideas.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • David and Goliath is a concept we all know--

  • an arrogant big dude who thinks he's fighting a sword fight,

  • and David changed the rules.

  • But then I stumbled across this paper

  • that had been written by an Israeli endocrinologist, who

  • had suggested Goliath has this really

  • rare medical condition which causes

  • you to lose your eyesight.

  • Why do giants lose?

  • Because they can't see.

  • They're so big and strong and powerful,

  • they lose the ability to kind of properly

  • appreciate the world around them.

  • It's not just a story about David's courage and greatness.

  • It's a story about Goliath's blindness.

  • You can find gold in the smallest of details

  • if you're willing to be patient.

  • We're going to talk about suspense, structure, research,

  • humility, characters, puzzles, and semicolons.

  • One of the mistakes I think writers make

  • is they spend a lot of time thinking

  • about how to start their stories and not a lot of time thinking

  • about how to end them.

  • Knowing my ending makes the beginning super easy, right?

  • It's totally clear what I have to do and totally clear

  • what I shouldn't do.

  • Your first goal is to be pure and simple,

  • to write at an eighth grade level,

  • but with ideas that are super sophisticated.

  • All good nonfiction writing is about going out and finding

  • someone else and inhabiting their world

  • and representing it to readers.

  • It is giving us a window into other people's hearts and souls

  • and minds.

  • I'm Malcolm Gladwell, and this is my MasterClass.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

So, the job of the writer is not to supply the ideas,

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