David Perell · Video summary
How to Write Unapologetically Well — Tom Junod
Tom Junod discusses how to write unapologetically, emphasizing the importance of honesty and tackling taboo topics in writing.
Watch on YouTube ↗Key takeaways
- 🎯The goal of writing is to create sentences that evoke emotional responses like chills or hair standing up.01:03
- 📊Engage with other writers and share your work to receive constructive feedback.01:50
- 🚀He encourages writers to commit to their unique voices and challenge the status quo in their writing.03:00
- 🔍Junod emphasizes the contradiction in the 'Falling Man' photo, representing both surrender and acceptance of fate.04:42
- 🚀Challenge yourself to write about taboo topics you are passionate about.06:50
- 💡He writes to challenge taboos, saying if someone tells him he can't write about something, he wants to write about it even more.06:53
Chapters
- 0:00✍️ Introduction to Tom Junod
- 0:42📚 The Writing Process
- 0:56📝 Guiding Principles in Writing
- 1:41🌍 Witnessing History
- 4:24📸 The Falling Man
- 7:05🔍 Exploring Taboo Topics
- 7:38⚖️ Contradiction in Writing
- 9:56💬 Long Sentences and Rhythm
- 15:20😇 Meeting Fred Rogers
- 21:40🕊️ Goodness and Evil
- 26:20🎤 The Art of Interviewing
- 26:46🧠 Writing as a Reflection of Self
- 33:20🤔 Writing Stages and Process
The digest
High Level Overview
Tom Junod, a celebrated essayist known for deeply defining momentous events and people through his writing, shares his approach to writing with clarity, emotional depth, and moral complexity. From his iconic 9/11 essay The Falling Man to his intimate portrait of Fred Rogers, Junod reveals how tension, contradiction, and emotional honesty fuel his prose. This detailed conversation explores his creative process, the spiritual dimension of writing, and the balance between objectivity and poetic metaphor. Writers and readers interested in elevating nonfiction storytelling will find practical wisdom on embracing discomfort, finding narrative friction, and writing with unapologetic vulnerability.
Keep reading in The Digest
The full 6-minute article, 12 more sections, and every new episode from David Perell and the creators you follow.
- The Signature of a Sentence: Seeking the Hair-Raising Moment [00:40–02:00]
- Writing About Taboo and the Unsayable: The Falling Man Case Study [02:00–11:00]
- The Paragraph as Music: Rhythm, Balance, and Metaphor [11:00–14:00]
- Embracing Contradiction: Tectonic Plates in Narrative [14:00–19:40]
- Writing as Reconciliation: Personal Roots and Language Style [19:40–23:00]
- The Power of Longform Narrative Journalism [23:00–28:00]
- The Fred Rogers Profile: Spirituality Meets Compassion in Writing [28:00–37:20]
- Writing the Difficult: Compassion, Objectivity, and Ethical Boundaries [37:20–39:00]
- Writing as Methodical Thought: Finding the “Tonic Chord” [39:00–41:30]
- Framework: The Essential Elements of Tom Junod’s Writing Approach
- Practical Implications & Takeaways
- Action-Oriented Summary
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