Do
you have something you’d like to share with others in form of writing, but
you’re at a loss on how to do it well? Or probably, you have a pressing
inspiration to write something on a particular interest of yours but don’t know
where to start?
Could it be that you occupy a position and an article is needed from you to
show or share your expertise and experience, and of course, you are
knowledgeable in the field but you’re still confused as to how to go about
writing?
Or maybe still, you’re a writer and wish to improve your writing efficacy and
prowess and make people get magneted to, and anticipate your articles with an
eager interest and actually benefit tremendously from them?
If you fit into any of the above cases, then permit me to congratulate you in advance;
for what you’re currently feeding your eyes with is exactly what you need to
write that superb article. Read, re-read and apply these tips and soon enough,
people can’t wait to see your next article.
Now
to the main stuff:
In article writing, the following steps are involved:
1. THE INSPIRATION
2. THE NEED
3. THE TITLE
4. THE RESEARCH
5. THE DRAFT
6. THE ORGANIZATION
7. THE WRITING &
8. THE PROOFREADING
9. THE PRESENTATION OR PACKAGING
1. THE INSPIRATION
This, I
guess, is not hard to figure out. An inspiration is an idea; an urge to do
something; a desire that comes to your mind about something; a passion to air
your views and ideas about a subject. Ideas which you believe will be of
benefit to others in some way if they get to know about them.
It is very important that you are inspired before you write for this is what
will give you the needed momentum to create a good work. Everyone is inspired
in one form or the other about different things, so it’ be to your benefit to
find out that thing that inspires you. When doing this, do not mind if this
desire of yours seems absurd. Just take note of it. Make sure it is an
obsession.
2. THE NEED
How
needful is this inspiration of yours? I think this really is a situation of,
who your article should be directed to. You must have a target group. Any group
you are targeting must see the necessity to feed on your work. People, by
default, are self-centered. Whatever they go for, they must seed a need for it
in their lives first. It’s like a ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’ kind of approach. So
have this in mind.
You would achieve close to nothing if you, for example, write an article on
parenting to secondary school students; that’s not their concern or primary
need. There may be a chance of them direction your article to their parents,
but you shouldn’t bank your article on chance. Make sure your article meets the
right people at the right time and in the right circumstances, as much as
possible.
3. THE TITLE
What gets readers first interest to your article is the title. How alluring
is your title? Readers are attracted to an article above all other reasons by a
captivating title; however, they continue in it and ask for more by the
content.
So, if you have a great content but a poor or uninteresting title, you will,
most probably, have few readers.
Readers are most attracted by article titles that possess the following
formats:
a. Titles that seem to stand
against a popular opinion, e.g., ‘school makes you a dummy’.
b. Titles that asks a vague but
intriguing kind of question, e.g., ‘Whose mother is Ugly?
c. Titles that use incomplete
statements; e.g., “Be thankful for this”.
d. Titles that uses a blunt
retort; e.g.,’ STOP eating Chocolates’.
e. Titles that begins with a ‘How
to’. E.g., ‘How to find the perfect spouse’.
f. Titles that gives a
defined number of steps or tips to follow’, e.g. ‘5 vital tips to an effective
marriage’
There are more, but the above 6 are the most significant. Try to coin your
article topic to suit any of them.
For attracting your reader’s attention, your title is your best shot.
The opening paragraph of your article also plays a role almost as vital as the
title. If perhaps, your title isn’t attractive enough, your opening paragraph
can still get your readers attention.
Most great opening paragraphs also take the same formats as great titles.
4. THE RESEARCH
This is
the time to find out more information about your subject. Whatever it is that
your inspiration is, it is very likely that some other person or people must
have thought about and written something about it.
This is the time to find out what others have done in that topic. Various
avenues exist to do this: You may visit the library, the internet, experts,
etc. but be sure you find and document valuable information about your article.
Get stuff from your own ‘creative well’ first; create something first.
Personally, I like to write down in my draft all the ideas I have about the
topic I intend writing on before going to research for more information. I take
whatever ideas I have as novel and anything I research as an addition to my
original novel ideas.
A lot of times, of course, my assertions on a topic may be incorrect; but in
all cases, I always work from inside, out. As a matter of fact, this article is
a product of this method. It increases creativity and style.
5. THE DRAFT
I
suggest you make two different drafts. Make the first draft based solely on
your own ideas. Then make the second draft after the research making
corrections and additions where necessary.
In the draft, you give your work a skeleton; a plan; from the beginning to the
end of the article. Figure out how the article will look like all through and
make a draft.
Draft making is very essential in any article or write-up because it makes you
start and finish your article without any hitches seeing that you have a table
of content for your article.
In forming your draft, make use of bullets to note down your important points
in any heading or section of the article. This helps you to later develop those
points with as much ease as possible.
6. THE ORGANIZATION
To
really ensure that your prospective readers follow your point of view with
ease, your article must be arranged in a definite order; a chronological order
which can be easily understood and applied. If your article, for example, has
four points: A,B,C and D, the order of their appearance should be A,B,C and D
according to the action steps or sets of information you wish your prospective
reader to know.
There has to be a sequence. A disorganized article makes readers confused in
understanding and most importantly applying the information your article gives.
7. THE WRITING
Now is
the time to start moving the pen across the pages of your writing material.
This is the core of the article writing process. Here, you represent your ideas
in words and sentences following your preformed draft.
In writing, depending on the size or volume of your proposed article, set out a
definite time to do the job. If you’d like to do it on just one sitting, fine;
but if you’d like to write in different batches of time over some days or
weeks, also fine. The most important thing to note is that you have to set out
a specific time frame for writing your article.
For example, if you want to write your article once, and you estimate the time
it would take you to complete it to be one hour, then make that one hour free
of any distractions or activities.
You can use the (10+2) × 5 formula. This means working, completely focused
on
your article for 10 minutes, after which you take a 2 minute break where you
can do anything else apart from writing. Repeat the procedure 5 times and if
you estimated correctly, your article should be ready.
Taking breaks is very essential in creative writing as you may get additional
ideas on your article. Breaks also give your brain a chance to relax and return
more energized with creativity, efficiency and ideas.
The writing process requires a lot of discipline to successfully complete. You
have to make the decision to give it all it takes. Sometimes, you may fail to
allocate correctly, the required time for the article. If this occurs, schedule
another time, there and then and discipline yourself to keep to it.
Make certain that every material that you need is available within reach before
you commence the writing process: dictionaries, thesaurus, pens, pencils,
pieces of papers, rulers, etc.
The most difficult aspect of the writing process is the beginning. If you
begin, you’ll find out that the process will not be as difficult as you thought
and permit me to say that nothing you write is engraved in stone.
Mistakes are inevitable and you are not under any obligation to maintain that
particular phrase or clause or sentence. You cannot be flawless just on your
fist attempt or first line of thought; so be ready for errors and permit me
also to say that it is your ability to identify and correct these errors that
makes you an excellent writer.
8. THE PROOFREADING
When
you’re through with writing, you’ve gone through an important step in the
process, but there are also other vital steps which will either make or mar
your article.
Proof-reading is one of such steps. It is compulsory for you to proofread your
article. No exceptions at all. As a matter of fact, you should proofread your
article not less than twice after writing; the more, the better.
Proof reading will expose to you errors both minute and large, which you would
never have noticed ordinarily. You might even get surprised that someone like
you would even write something like that. It happens, so don’t bother much.
It’s part of the process.
In your article, some sentences need to be deleted while others need to be
added. Some words which were misspelled need to be spelled correctly to make
your article as close to perfect as possible. Sometimes you may even need to
add a whole new lot of ideas; other times, you remove irrelevant sentences. All
these you do during proofreading.
Proof reading makes your article coherent, precise, interesting, educating,
informing and fun.
9. THE
PRESENTATION OR PACKAGING
In this step, you make your article pleasing to the eyes. What I mean is
that you don’t make your readers burden themselves in reading your article.
Let’s look at the factors that could make reading your article a burden, and of
course, how to fix them.
a. Font Size and Style
Make sure that the font size and style for your article is good and attractive.
Let it be easy to read and understand. Don’t choose over-artistic fonts. The
size? Not too large, not too small. You won’t have your readers using a hand lens
or a microscope to read your article, would you?
b. Highlighting
Several important words, phrases or quotations need to be highlighted to mark
their importance and relevance. You should highlight important points, but not
too often or else the beauty of the highlighting process will be lost
altogether.
c. Text Arrangement
Your article must not be a long, text-filled one. This weakens readers. Rather
than large blocks of texts, split your texts into little digestible chunks,
preferably one to two paragraphs thick. This gives your readers time to pause,
rest their eyes and reflect on that particular point or sentence before
continuing the reading process.
You’ve probably seen several articles violate this fact and I know you
understand the experience (if there was ever any).
d. Animations & Pictures
Pictures and animations can convey your point faster and more effectively than
texts. But the rule is simplicity.
e. Lists & Headings
Using lists and headings conveys your points clearer and better. It also makes
for easy reading and reference. This also aids the writing process. As much as
you can, use lists and heading to make your points (just like I did in this
article).
OTHER
POINTS WORTHY OF NOTE
To further perfect your writing skills, take note of these salient points;
A. BE INTERACTIVE
Readers dwell on, and follow the writer’s points more when the article is as
interactive as it can possibly be. Try not to issue direct orders, chide,
condemn, scold or even criticize your reader in any way. Just connect with
them.
B. AVOID AMBIGUITY & BIG GRAMMAR
Most people think their articles would be better appreciated and their
‘expertise’ acknowledged when they use ambiguous expressions and complex
grammar. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Remember, you’re not trying to prove to anyone how smart you are. Your
intention is to inform your readers. If your readers cannot understand your
expressions and grammar, that aim is defeated. Use simple words. Be simple yet
clear and succinct.
C. AVOID UNNECESSARY REPETITION
Another thing that bores readers so much is repetition of ideas and
expressions. It bores. Make your points as clear and direct as possible once.
Long articles don’t necessarily mean good articles. So be short and clear. Also
try not to use the same words in different sentences too often. Find and use
alternative words which also convey the same meaning. That’s why you need a
thesaurus.
D. BE ORIGINAL
Readers get bored with writers who use cliches and common expressions. Try to
form you own style of writing. Be original. If you however, wish to quote the
works of others (and you should to make your word more interesting or
credible); it is important that you acknowledge the authors.
In conclusion, a good number of the instructions here are relative. They all depend on
the type of article in question. The most important is to know what is required
of you and how to deliver it efficiently.
At the end of your article, be sure to appreciate your readers for taking the
time to read your article.
With this, I wish to congratulate you for an anticipated superb article I see
you producing.
Hey, hope you weren't thinking I’d fail to thank you for reading this
article all to the end. Thanks and
SEE YOU AT THE TOP!
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