Organise, organise, organise
When you write anything - from a letter right through to a 90,000-word book - your utmost priority needs to be how you organise the content. Forget about pretty and accurate language for now - that can come later. You need to meticulously plan your structure before you even begin writing, and give a great deal of thought to how the reader will most easily access your information.
Unfortunately, many writers get the process topsy-turvy. If you're writing a stream of consciousness piece or highly creative poem then fine, let the muse take over and lead you wherever she likes. But for any other writing (and that's 99.9 per cent of your writing) you need to plan what you say before you say it. If you don't, your reader gives up on your beautifully worded piece after page one, because the material is chaotic and confusing.
Readers like organised, logical, coherent structures. They like to read your info in manageable chunks (not two-page paragraphs) and to know exactly where they are and where the text is moving to.
A writer who spends time creating a detailed plan for her writing and mapping out the structure of the piece is much more likely to create good writing. I am always happier to review a writer's initial plan and iron out any problems at that early stage than wade through the final piece and try to work out what the writer's haphazard structure should become.
If you want the best out of your writing, do the groundwork and you'll find everything else falls into place from there. If you want the best out of your writing and you don't do the groundwork, you may find yourself in the frustrating situation of having to go back and rewrite much of your beloved text.
Unfortunately, many writers get the process topsy-turvy. If you're writing a stream of consciousness piece or highly creative poem then fine, let the muse take over and lead you wherever she likes. But for any other writing (and that's 99.9 per cent of your writing) you need to plan what you say before you say it. If you don't, your reader gives up on your beautifully worded piece after page one, because the material is chaotic and confusing.
Readers like organised, logical, coherent structures. They like to read your info in manageable chunks (not two-page paragraphs) and to know exactly where they are and where the text is moving to.
A writer who spends time creating a detailed plan for her writing and mapping out the structure of the piece is much more likely to create good writing. I am always happier to review a writer's initial plan and iron out any problems at that early stage than wade through the final piece and try to work out what the writer's haphazard structure should become.
If you want the best out of your writing, do the groundwork and you'll find everything else falls into place from there. If you want the best out of your writing and you don't do the groundwork, you may find yourself in the frustrating situation of having to go back and rewrite much of your beloved text.
posted by Charlie at
08:35
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