Sharpen Your Writing With Structure
Sharpen Your Writing With Structure
At some point, every serious writer is forced to sit down and conclude that there is something seriously wrong with their work. It wanders; it is pretty in some spots and horribly ugly in others. It doesn't always make sense, and is uneven in places. Even though every sentence is grammatically correct, there is something fundamentally broken about the piece.It lacks structure.Structure is what holds a good piece of writing together, the material reflection of the reader's psychological need for order. It is the quality that makes the best writing appear seamless, conjured whole from heaven itself. Structure is the logical mind's contribution to a creative process, and a primary difference between professional writing and amateur scribbling: a conscious decision and a learned skill.Being in many ways the very essence of writing, structure isn't mastered overnight. But here are a few rules of thumb that can help you improve the organizational readability of your work:Establish a logical order to your presentation.Ignore all the popular advice to "write like you talk"; that's a misguided appeal to conversational tone usage and a shortsighted encouragement for people who are terrified to put pen to page. In order to master structure, you must learn to write deliberately and with forethought. Plan what you're going to write and how you're going to write it: don't make it up as you go along, particularly when you are writing nonfiction of any kind.In nonfiction writing (which means anything that isn't fiction), the room for art is small. Don't set out to create art - build a sturdy framework, as a skilled attorney would build a legal argument. Make your supporting points early and establish the logical flow to consequences and conclusions. Don't loop back and make points at word 800 that you should have made at word five.Make your points quickly - write in 300-word chunks.That's the magic number: 300. Books are typically printed with about 300 words to a page; magazine articles will usually be structured into roughly 300-word segments. An effective press release, page of website copy or newsletter article won't run much above 300 words. Any longer and your reader will notice that something is off about your piece. Too much longer and your reader will get bored. For some reason, the human mind seems to be most comfortable reading at the 300-word length.That does not mean that everything you write must be short, only that long pieces should be built out of short pieces put in order. If you can't make your point in 300 words or less, then you are trying to make more than one point. Simplify the whole piece: break the manuscript down into single-point segments no longer than 300 words in length, and then put your points into a logical order that builds towards your final conclusions. The final product will seem to flow with a gentle rhythm that your readers might notice, probably won't be able to identify, and so will most likely attribute it to your talents.Try it: you'll be amazed.Take the entire piece down to a single thought, expressed in a single sentence, and then rebuild it from the ground up.When in doubt, strip the piece down and rebuild it from its primary components. The greatest threat to structure is diffusion; rather than trying to communicate one thing well, you end up saying lots of things badly. Good structure requires that you have a very clear idea of what you are writing, how you are doing it and why. Do one thing, and do it very well.Set the piece aside and attempt to make your final point in a single sentence, losing as little important detail as possible. Do not use compound sentences; keep it simple and limit it to a single direct thought. If you can't do it, then you do not have a clear enough idea of what it is that you're trying to accomplish - reorganize the piece or split it into several separate ones.An English sentence has a natural internal structure all its own. Look at your one-sentence summary and use its structure to inform yourself on how the overall piece should be structured. Once you've reduced your writing to its bare essence, you can reconstruct it on a much more solid foundation.In the end, professional writing is all about understanding the psychological needs of the reader. If you are writing purely for your own pleasure, with no intention of ever letting anyone else read it (and what a boring life that would be), then it doesn't matter because you're not really writing: you're keeping a diary.But if instead you want your writing to be appreciated by readers, structure is one concept that you can't live without.About The AuthorRobert Warren (www.rswarren.com) is a Florida-based freelance copywriter specializing in the unique marketing needs of independent professionals.writer@rswarren.com
Why Every Freelance Writer Needs A Website
Why Every Freelance Writer Needs A Website
What do you mean, you don't have a website yet? Websites these days aren't just for businesses and people who want to share their obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the world. These days, websites are one of the most important tools for writers...Why get a writer's website?First of all, ask yourself why you write in the first place. If you can honestly put your hand on your heart and say that you write only for yourself, and you don't care if no one ever reads your work, then I'll concede the point: you probably don't really need a website.If you're like the vast majority of aspiring writers, though, and you'd secretly (or even not-so-secretly) love to see your name in print, or to actually make a living from your writing, then I'll say it again: you need a website.But why?Well, if you're serious about carving out a career for yourself in writing, the first thing you need to know is that a successful writing career isn't just about writing. If you're really serious about selling your writing, you need to get serious about marketing it.Here's an interesting fact for you: the most successful freelance writers aren't necessarily the best writers. In fact, some of them aren't even all that great at writing in the first place. They're good at marketing. Selling themselves ? and their writing. And what's one of the easiest ways to start marketing your writing? By getting a website.Promoting your writing with your own writer's websiteLet's face it ? selling ourselves isn't always something that comes naturally. As writer's (and often just as people) we're used to self-effacement. Some of the best writer's I know are the most modest. They know how to write: they just don't know how to sell themselves.If you fall into this category, a website can be a fabulous work-around for the problem of how to sell yourself effectively. In simple terms, once you have your own writer's website, you don't have to worry about selling yourself ? your website will do it for you.A writer's website allows you to:* Post samples of your writing so that prospective clients can see for themselves how well equipped you are to write for them.* Give potential publishers, employers and fellow writers a means of contacting you to offer you work and ask for quotes.
* Position yourself as an expert in the field of writing, thus making it more likely that people will actually want to make use of your service.* Display testimonials from your satisfied clients.* Take advantage of the fact that the web is where employers are looking for their writers.It's the last of these points which is possibly the most significant. Let's look at why: The number one reason why writers need websitesWhen an employer is searching for a freelance writer, editor or proofreader, where do you think they look? Well, they may look in their local yellow pages or business directory, or they may go by word of mouth, but for most people, the very first place they'll look is online. Trust me, when you run an online agency for freelance writers, you find out very quickly just how many employers there are who use the internet to find a writer!If you don't have a presence on the internet (i.e. a website), how will these employers ever find you? Yes, you can rely on using an agency like my own, but with a little bit of hard work, and a well-designed website, you could be bringing in clients yourself.Still think you don't need a writer's website?Hot Igloo Productions Ltd., offers bespoke websites for writers starting at only