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First, Make Me Care, by Gwern · Gwern.net

gwern.net · 1,782 words · saved by 5 readers

Writing advice: some nonfiction fails because it opens with background instead of a hook—readers leave before reaching the good material. Find the single anomaly or question that makes your topic interesting, lead with that, and let the background follow once you’ve earned attention.

--- title: 'First, Make Me Care' author: Gwern description: "Writing advice: some nonfiction fails because it opens with background instead of a hook—readers leave before reaching the good material. Find the single anomaly or question that makes your topic interesting, lead with that, and let the background follow once you’ve earned attention." thumbnail: /doc/ai/nn/diffusion/imagen/2026-02-07-gwern-nanobananapro-thinkingfaceemoji-grayscalepencilsketch.jpg thumbnail-text: "Thinking-face emoji (🤔) as a hand-drawn-style grayscale pencil sketch on textured paper. Generated by Gwern Branwen using

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