Incremental writing
Incremental writing is a method of writing in which ideas are written down and assembled incrementally. Incremental writing requires no linearity. It adapts to your way of thinking. Many great writers and scientists of the past used a variant of incremental writing using their own systems of notes. In SuperMemo, incremental writing is integral with the creative process and learning itself. It is seamless with incremental reading. Nearly all texts at SuperMemo Guru have been written in SuperMemo using the incremental writing approach.
Incremental reading is essential for learning. To complement it, incremental writing is helpful in creative re-organization of knowledge for solid long-term retention, and high applicability.
For more see:
- Advantages of incremental writing
- Incremental writing in SuperMemo 17
- Incremental writing: Science of sleep
- Incremental writing: Problem of schooling
This glossary entry is used to explain SuperMemo, a pioneer of spaced repetition software since 1987
Figure: Incremental writing begins with an ascending creative phase that increases the count of elements, and ends with a descending consolidation phase, in which notes are combined into longer texts. In the example, the ideas for a book peak in 5 months of creative elaborations, only to consolidate into a 180-chapter Problem of Schooling, 10 months later
Figure: Science of sleep was written using incremental writing. Individual chapters have been compiled into a knowledge tree displayed here in Contents in SuperMemo. The main table of contents is separate from the TO DO branch (bottom) that keeps the material that is still to be processed (written, elaborated, or polished)