Good Writing Starts Before You Start Writing

If you’re like most people, writing doesn’t come natural to you. It’s likely that you have more experience with copy and paste than you do with adjectives and nouns. But let’s face it, writing is a powerful medium to express thoughts and ideas that can seem overwhelming if you aren’t good at it

But like anything in life, just because something isn’t easy for you doesn’t mean that you can’t become good at it. If you can’t naturally produce great graphic design work, you go to school, learn more about it, and work hard at it. I’m no expert, but during my time writing at Blueprint I have learned several tips and tricks that make the writing process a little easier. Here are 2 things that you can do before you begin writing to help maximize the writing process.

Think With The End In Mind

Do you sit down at your computer and begin writing with hopes of figuring out what you want to say as you write? If so, after a few paragraphs you probably get frustrated and just give up. That’s like driving your car with no idea where you want to go, then complaining because you never get there. If you don’t know what you want to say, chances are that you won’t say it well. Before you ever begin writing, ask yourself, “What’s the One Big Idea that I want my reader to understand?” The One Big Idea specifically answers the “What” question.

If you want to write about Lebron James, your One Big Idea would be a specific angle or aspect about him that you want to communicate. So let’s choose “Lebron James is the best basketball player on the planet” as our angle. Once you have your One Big Idea, all that’s left is to decide the answer to the “Why” question.

Think In Paragraphs

The “Why” question is easy to answer because you already have opinions about your topic. You answer the “Why” question by finishing the sentence, “I think Lebron James is the best basketball player on the planet because…” How you finish the sentence will organize your article and make up the meat of your writing. As you finish the sentence you will begin to see an outline formed:

Lebron James is the best basketball player on the planet because…

• – He’s a great leader
• – He can score inside and outside
• – He’s a great defender
• – He can play all 5 positions

You can now see how, with a good outline, the article will be simple to write. Each of the reasons that Lebron is the best basketball player on the planet can be a different paragraph that supports the One Big Idea.

It’s not rocket science but it does take some work. Don’t get frustrated, stay positive, and keep working at it. If you learn to ask the right questions, you can become a great writer before you ever start writing.