Figuring out how to begin is always tough for writers. It’s the first big hurdle in the writing process. But with a little help, it doesn’t have to stop your progress.
This series breaks down the steps to figuring out what to write or say. To read the first blog in our series with steps one, two and three, click here.
Step Four: Purpose
Writing demands a purpose. It defines what you are trying to accomplish with the piece. This is different from theme and content—it goes beyond those. Purpose is the answer to the questions: What does this blog, speech, article need to do or cover? Why are you writing it? What do you want your audience to take away from it?
Writers have a number of answers for these questions: to motivate change, to inspire action, to persuade people to buy, to share successes, to explain a specific thing, to highlight critical information, to raise funds, and so on and on and on. The answers are endless. But there should only be one answer for a short piece; possibly two if a client is involved. They often want to have speeches and other pieces do double duty. While this isn’t ideal, it is possible. Most of the time. Unless those purposes are incompatible.
If someone has hired you to write something, ask questions. Be sure you know the answers to these: Why me? Why did they think you were the right choice for this topic? What is the theme? What is the purpose? Who is the audience? How long should it be? What’s the venue (if a speech)? The answers should lead you to both your purpose and theme.
Step Five: Audience
I mentioned audience above. Audience is an essential part of writing for the ear or page. You need to know who is likely to read or hear your work if you are going to find the right style and tone. You wouldn’t write a political stump speech the same way you would write a speech for an annual stockholder meeting. You wouldn’t write an article for elementary students the same as you would for medical students. Your audience matters. You need to understand who they are, what type of writing or speeches or podcasts they typically read or listen to, and what interests them. This will help you figure out whether your work should be playful, serious, technical, explicit or rated G.
Audience changes tone, style, vocabulary, voice and approach.
Step Six: Brainstorming
Once you have your theme and an idea of what you want to say and why you are saying it and to whom, you are finally ready to begin brainstorming an outline. This is when you start organizing your ideas and add new ones. It’s where you figure out what you need to include to make your point and fulfill your purpose. Write it down. Don’t try to brainstorm in your head because you will miss key ideas and connections. Seeing your ideas on the page in whatever form works for you (note cards, sticky notes, handwritten notes, computer outline, brain map) will help you see gaps in your logic and knowledge, and highlight links between disparate bits of information. I like to use the notecards idea, whether scattered on my desk or a Scrivener cork board. This method allows me to add, delete, and move things around with ease. It’s also incredibly easy to put items into logical sequence as I work toward a final outline. I only do that once I’ve decided on the key points and approach.
Step Seven: Research
Once you’ve made your initial outline, look for the holes. What bits of information do you need to fill in the gaps or to make a stronger case? These may be as small as a missing statistic or as big as doing a deeper dive into a specific aspect of your speech. Whatever it may be, this is when you should find that bit of information, lock down your facts, prepare your fact check list for the publisher or client, and slide the new information into your outline.
I always store my research and notes in Scrivener or in a file on my computer (and in some rare cases in a physical file folder for items clients hand me instead of sending copies digitally). Keep your research together and organized. You will need this during edits and for fact checking on the back end. Source everything so you know where you found the information. Double source whenever possible and always if it is political or for a publisher or broadcast outlet.
Step Eight: Gather Anecdotes
Once you have your facts, you may want to look for anecdotal examples to bring your words to life. These are the stories about how people were affected by the subject of your speech. In political speeches these tend to be the bits about real people the politician met along the campaign trail. It takes an “insert a topic here” approach that most politicians love to include to make them seem more human and relatable.
Anecdotes work for other subjects though, and more effectively, I think. For example, if you are doing a speech about animal conservation, a story about a specific panda cub (which you name) that struggled to survive will help your audience see why pandas need continued help to increase their population in the wild. Stories are how you make people care. Facts can’t do that.
Our series will continue in the next blog with tips for writing blogs, articles, speeches, podcast scripts and more.