Tips That Makes Your Writing Stand Out
Often enough we as writers, embark on a journey of writing without too much adherence to the process of building content. A step-based structure can logically take you from one stage to the next and make your writing educative and entertaining. Let us see what they are and how it impacts your writing:
ASK:
“First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!”- Ray Bradbury
Do not shy away from asking questions before you commit to or commence writing. Who over your client is, internal or external, ask uninhibitedly why they want this article or piece of literature to do. Clearly understand what their need is behind crafting this documentation. Do they seek to share information, are they wanting to initiate a call to action, or are they demonstrating their mastery over a topic or theme. So, ascertain what the client needs to accomplish with this document. Often enough, writers jump into the exercise of writing causing heartburn towards the deliverable stage for both parties.
ALIGN:
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
Armed with this information align your topics to the client requirements. Preparing a Table of Contents, that meets desired outcomes is the next crucial step in creating convincing literature that your clients will love. It demonstrates your precision and when you work hand in glove with the client, the sign off and deliverable stage is seamless. More importantly the Table of Contents sets the tone for the entire scope of work and steer you in the correct writing direction. Consider the Table of Contents for any piece of literature as the skeleton, on which you will pile the content flesh.
DRAFT:
The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Terry Pratchett
Not everyone is able to come up with brilliant literature overnight. The challenge always lies in creating first drafts, which is the most laborious, time consuming and effort intensive. And this is where you must pin your creativity and research work. Do the spadework, and get your facts right, and write meticulously and avoid distractions during the first copy creation. The second and third drafts will rely solely on what you create during the first draft stage, so ideate well and generate quality content without working about word limits. You can always modify it later to suit the ideal length.
EDIT:
You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page” Jodi Picoult
Consider the editing activity the oxygen of your writing. Now that the documentation has come to life, ruthlessly edit, and make your writing sharp and succinct. Every alphabet, every word, every sentence must earn its place and be pieced together. Remove redundancies, and do not get attached to phrases and words, instead look at the piece of writing outside in and ask yourself if it will convince your client. And answer honestly by taking an objective view of your writing. Getting an external view before you present does a world of good, as this may highlight aspects you have missed.
EMBELLISH:
“Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.” – J. K. Rowling
This is the penultimate stage where you have done all your homework, and the documentation is ready for departure and delivery. At this stage, you have a brilliant opportunity to beautify your writing through multiple methods. Some of them being, adding a relevant quote, show an example, share an anecdote or story, get a viewpoint, add a picture, highlight key words, play with fonts, select bold, italics, underline. The options are endless, and the internet affords us a plethora of resources, using them judiciously by acknowledging duly the sources is sure to make your literature an interesting and informative read.
CONCLUSION:
All this said, we do not live in an ideal world where you will have the luxury of following this process to write. If you have, great, but be flexible and open to jump steps and create content based on timelines that the client has in mind.
