Write Small
You've been told to do outlines and that sucks.
You don't want to do outlines nor hear about them.
That too, sucks. Because if you give me five minutes of your time I can make your life infinitely easier.
The Process
This way of outlining is so close to common sense you need to actively work against it to not do it.
And it works wonders for those so us who can't really write.
What you'll be doing is taking any of your ideas, type the main points hitting enter between each to create some blank space -- and then literally fill in the blank space.
Here we go.
Get The Idea
Create your idea or pick a question your visitors ask. About the basics we all want to know.
Remember, if you can talk about it, you can write it.
Describe It
Describe the idea, process, or answer.
High level you have this in your mind already. Simple and compact. Then list it out.
How to make coffee? Fill the machine with water, add ground coffee, switch it on. The basics.
Leave space between your points, between your steps.
Detail It
Now go back and say it in detail.
Under "Get referring keyword stats" you write that you have to log into your Google Analytics account, go to this menu, that submenu, select this segment for that timeframe and click export over here.
For the "fill machine with water" you explain to use the amount you need, to not make big pots of coffee ahead. You detail how fresh water is important.
Fill In The Blanks
Once you've done that for every point, go back.
Read each section over. Fill in the blanks between the sentences.
It's easy, you can do this.
Done
You just went from idea to outline to an article or post.
Repeat.
Conclusion
- An outline is a list of the compact basics you have in your head about something
- Once you have an idea what to write, list those basics and leave some space between them
- Go back and fill in the blanks with detailed info of what the basic point said or instructed
- Finally go back and fill in the blanks (if any!) between the sentences
(If you liked this you might enjoy The One Effective SEO Copywriting Tip You Shouldn't Ignore)
“Get The Idea” and “Describe it” its the important thing! Nice post, Great!
Going through the blog. Your posts on writing tips are very enlightening Ruud! Great blog and great information, cheers.
Thanks Dan! I like sharing what seems to work. Kind of like the life hacking of writing 🙂