Julia Evans on Writing for One Specific Person
Original: Quoting Julia Evans
Julia Evans advocates imagining a single specific reader — often your past self — when writing technical content.
Julia Evans shares a focused writing philosophy: instead of writing for a broad audience, picture one specific person and write for them alone. That person is often "me, but 3 years ago" or a close friend. Simon Willison quotes this advice on his blog, highlighting it as a principle worth amplifying for anyone who creates technical or educational content.
Simon Willison's weblog surfaces a short but resonant piece of writing advice from Julia Evans, the developer and educator best known for her zine series at Wizard Zines. The quote comes from a comic titled "write for 1 person," in which Evans describes her personal approach to producing clear, useful technical writing.
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