now, no signup required!
Writing an effective, conversational, and engaging piece of content is no easy feat. Has it ever happened that you feel ready to write, but all you do is stare at the blank screen for an hour?
It happens to most of us, including professional, experienced writers. Though you are completely in your creative zone coming up with innovative ideas, presenting adequate information in an organized format, and backing up your points with facts and research can become an uphill task sometimes.
And it doesn’t stop there. You also have to be careful about the choice of words, sentence structure, writing style, and spelling and grammar. What if there was a process you could follow for effective writing? Well, you can!
While every writer follows a few writing rituals and a personally derived process of writing, these three basic steps always do the work: pre-writing, drafting, and editing.
Most writers know what they want to say. But by following this process, you will also learn how to convert your thoughts into compelling words.
Process of writing
1. Pre-writing
It is essential to have pre-writing skills to help you identify everything you need to do before you start writing.
Here’s what you need to do to build your pre-writing skills:
- Find your ideas: Ideas are everywhere. You can even get inspired by an everyday situation or a childhood memory. Alternatively, you can keep a notebook specifically to jot down your ideas as they pop up. Remember, your observation and imagination is the only limit to finding new inspiration.
- Work on your idea: The two most practical methods you can try out to develop your ideas are brainstorming and free writing. Free writing, as the name suggests, is writing every idea that comes to your mind. Just let your ideas flow. Don’t stop to revise or edit your mistakes.
- Brainstorm: You can also try brainstorming. Visualize your narrative. Write down your ideas at the center of the page and work outwards in all directions. Think about the possibilities of how you can take your story into different directions.
-
Plan and structure: Once you find and brainstorm your ideas, bringing these ideas together comes next. Sort through your ideas and choose the one you want to use to create your content. Don’t rush to delete these notes as you may find inspiration for your next writing.
2. Drafting
The next step in the writing process steps is the time you are ready to sit down and write. Start using your pre-writing skills as a checklist and develop your content as you write. As you are writing, make sure you are using proper paragraph and sentence structures.
Explain your thoughts and ideas clearly so your readers can understand the message you are trying to convey. Use your research, facts, and details as corroborations to accomplish your goal. During the phase of drafting in the writing process, you should just focus on getting the content down. When you get to the editing phase, you can revise and edit your mistakes.
3. Editing
Once you completed the draft, take a short break before you sit down for editing the draft. In the editing process, you approach the content with fresh eyes and a clear mind. Start reading the content as if you are a reader or client.
Review the draft meticulously and check if you have managed to complete your checklist. Does your content maintain the logical flow? Does it achieve the desired goal? Also, check if the content follows the proper formatting, citation, and writing style to make it more engaging and readable.
Once you have gone through the content, edit, delete and rewrite what seems necessary. Check for transitions, choice of words, sentence and paragraph structure. Try to get a peer-review from your colleague or friend before you finalize the content.
Congrats! You have finished writing your content! Follow these writing process steps every time you write. And with regular practice, you will notice an improvement in your writing. The more you stick to these writing steps, the easier and quicker writing will be for you.
Effective writing has immense importance in every profession today and Harappa’s courses help you refine all your skills, including writing skills.
Explore topics such as the Importance of Writing Skills, English Writing Skills and Business Email Writing from our Harappa Diaries blog section to build your skills for workplace success.
