Write with stakes

The hardest class William ever took was a critical-theory seminar he was pulled into a year early — out of his depth, reading Derrida and Lacan with no map, before Wikipedia, before AI. Each week a student had to summarise a reading and argue against it, in front of everyone. He sat up until two in the morning to get it right. Why work that hard? Because there were stakes: people he respected, and wanted to be respected by, were going to read it. That's when real writing happens.

How it works

Give your writing an audience whose judgment you can feel. It's the logic behind Jeff Bezos banning PowerPoint at Amazon: every meeting opens with a written narrative memo, and for the first stretch nobody speaks — everyone reads, boss and colleagues included, every word evaluated. That accountability produces clarity, depth, and real writing. AI has none of it: no consequences for being mediocre, no embarrassment when it's wrong — it just says "you're absolutely right" and moves on. David Foster Wallace wouldn't let a student submit anything revised fewer than two or three times, because he knew stakes make the work. So supply your own: put something online, under your name, you wouldn't be embarrassed for anyone to read.

Why it matters

Remove the stakes and writing becomes a chore — a thing to get through, which is exactly when people hand it to a machine. Restore them and it becomes worth doing: the awareness that a specific, respected reader is on the other side is what makes you nail the idea instead of settling for the average. Accountability isn't pressure for its own sake; it's the engine that produces depth.

Try it

1. Name the real reader whose judgment you'd care about, and write as if they'll read every word.
2. Raise the stakes deliberately — publish under your name, send it to someone who'll push back, put it where it can be evaluated.
3. Don't submit the first pass. Revise it two or three times, the way you would if your reputation were on the line — because it is.

Common pitfalls

Confusing stakes with an anxiety spiral. The point is accountability to a reader you respect, not fear of a faceless crowd; the second freezes you, the first sharpens you. And beware fake stakes — a deadline with no reader behind it produces speed, not depth.

People I respected, and by whom I wanted to be respected, were going to read my paper. And that's when real writing happens.

WILLIAM · THE 5 WRITING SKILLS AI WILL NEVER REPLACE · 2026

There are no consequences for a machine being mediocre. Give yourself some.

Drawn from

• William, The 5 Writing Skills A.I. Will Never Replace (Writer Science, 2026).
• Related: Write with whimsy — play, not judgment, Out-human the machine, Write to think, not to report.