Before you can write, you have to have something to say. It’s a pretty simple concept of putting ideas before words. Still it’s funny how often people sit down at their computer and expect to write a flawless article or speech without first considering how to develop their idea.
Now I get the whole “pantsing” it idea, but when it comes to writing short form pieces, it pays to get the idea clear in your head before you begin.
This blog series will cover how to approach writing an article, blog, podcast, speech or any other manner of short form writing. The final blog will address writing for the ear specifically—podcasts, speeches, narration scripts and more.
Whether you are charged with an assignment or choose to write a piece yourself, you should start by defining the basics—the who, what, where, when how of it.
Here is a step-by-step guide for beginning:
Step One: What Are You Going to Say?
Begin by figuring out what you want to say, not how you want to say it. This sounds simple, but it often isn’t. The problem is there is always a lot to say. We writers are full of wonderful phrases we want to use and arguments we want to leverage. The problem is most short forms of writing (blogs, articles, speeches, podcast scripts, etc.) can’t hold everything we want to include in them.
The first step is to winnow down your ideas to one—one main idea that provides the structure for what follows.
For example, if you were asked to write about water conservation, you couldn’t possibly include everything about the subject or even everything in every aspect of water conservation. You would have to narrow your focus. Ask what part of water conservation you want to focus on? Saltwater or freshwater? Do you want to talk about the future of water shortages or ways to conserve water? Do you want to talk about new innovations or ideas in water conservation or focus on ways we are wasting water? You can’t do it all—it’s too much and, unless you’re writing a book, you will lose your audience before you finish.
Step Two: Pick a Theme
After choosing your topic and focus, write your thematic sentence (yes, just like in school). Every article, essay, blog, speech and other forms of writing need a topic sentence. You probably won’t put it in the piece as initially written, but writing it out will help guide your outlining efforts.
The theme could be as simple as “I want to talk about how speeches should be about one thing.” If you are speaking to a corporate audience, it might sound more like, “I am thrilled to be promoted to Vice President and intend to improve upon our successes and initiate new opportunities.” This clearly shows the focus of your speech—current successes, how they can be improved upon, and new endeavors you want to launch. If you stick to this, and you should, you won’t be tempted to get sidetracked by other ideas or anecdotes. Everything should be focused on those two categories and relate back to the promotion and how you are the one to do the job right.
Themes should be circular. They should go in all directions. The improvements and new initiatives are part of the promotion and a result of it. They are interconnected, which is the goal of every outline. Everything supports everything else. Think of your theme as a headline in a newspaper. How would the press report on your speech? What would the review be of your article or blog? What blurb would appear on the site to describe your piece?
Step Three: Timing
Speeches should never be more than twenty minutes. That’s about the outer limit for holding an audience’s attention. Even the best speakers will lose their audience if they yammer on and on. The best speeches are those that are direct, on topic, and focused. The longer a speech tends to be, the more disordered it often is.
This holds true for articles and blogs too. You can’t wander too long without losing your reader, which is why this is the end of part one. In the next blog, we’ll cover audience, brainstorming, research and more.