it is to be patient enough to find the ideas.

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David and Goliath is a concept we all know--

an arrogant big dude who thinks he's fighting a sword fight,

and David changed the rules.

But then I stumbled across this paper

that had been written by an Israeli endocrinologist, who

had suggested Goliath has this really

rare medical condition which causes

you to lose your eyesight.

Why do giants lose?

Because they can't see.

They're so big and strong and powerful,

they lose the ability to kind of properly

appreciate the world around them.

It's not just a story about David's courage and greatness.

It's a story about Goliath's blindness.

You can find gold in the smallest of details

if you're willing to be patient.

We're going to talk about suspense, structure, research,

humility, characters, puzzles, and semicolons.

One of the mistakes I think writers make

is they spend a lot of time thinking

about how to start their stories and not a lot of time thinking

about how to end them.

Knowing my ending makes the beginning super easy, right?

It's totally clear what I have to do and totally clear

what I shouldn't do.

Your first goal is to be pure and simple,

to write at an eighth grade level,

but with ideas that are super sophisticated.

All good nonfiction writing is about going out and finding

someone else and inhabiting their world

and representing it to readers.

It is giving us a window into other people's hearts and souls

and minds.

I'm Malcolm Gladwell, and this is my MasterClass.

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