How I Write Henrik Karlsson: One of the world’s most under-rated writers | How I Write
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Aug 13, 2025 
Henrik Karlsson, a talented writer known for his blog Escaping Flatland, shares his innovative five-step writing method focused on authenticity and depth. He discusses why stepping away from the page can enhance creativity and how to protect fragile ideas from early criticism. Karlsson explains the power of sensory details, the joy of breaking grammar rules, and the need for writers to embrace their chaos. He also touches on the transformative potential of writing in connecting with oneself and the audience, making it a fascinating listen for aspiring writers.
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Use LLMs For Research And Editing
- Use LLMs sparingly for non-creative tasks like grammar checks, rare word-finding, or habit-spotting.
- Store personal style rules in prompts to automate spotting your overused words.
Write From Pre-Linguistic Feeling
- Practice entering pre-linguistic states: lie down, close your eyes, and speak or transcribe the felt piece before editing.
- Run experiments (handwriting, walking, music) to discover which body states produce your best writing.
Finding A Piece By Talking It Out
- Henrik lay on his sofa, talked into a recorder about a friend, and identified a coherent section that became the essay.
- He used spoken stream-of-consciousness to surface a bounded 'thing' from a larger flow.
