Do you want to learn how to write with structure? Read on, and I'll explain how to go from a head buzzing with related yet disorderly ideas to a clear structure that would make your teachers and professors weep with joy.
Recently the Daily Kos community has been discussing when and how and why people write — or don't write — diaries, such as Please Write Your Diaries. Then, in A Disturbing Trend. "Please Write", Part Two, some commenters mentioned that they weren't taught good writing skills, and would like to learn more. One foundation of good writing is structure. I may not be able to make you a poet, but I can teach you to how to structure your writing.
The biggest mistakes most beginning writers make are to start with the title and/or opening and write through to the end, and to overdo the intended style (such as jargon, rare words, and complex sentence structures in academia). Here, we will start by laying out the structure, then writing and revising.
For all the steps below, it's normal, and usually beneficial, to start out with a rough or draft version, then come back and refine it later if needed. You can't get all the way from raw materials to polished perfection in one go.
You need some kind of a scratchpad — pen and paper, text editor, word processor, special software — whatever works for you. If it's a toss-up between paper and software, pick software. As things evolve, there tends to be a lot of cut-and-paste, and saving progress versions, which is easy in software and hard on paper. I like text editors with outlining features for rough writing because they're meant for writing but don't let you get distracted with formatting.
Table of Contents:
- Purpose
- Thesis (or body points first method)
- Sequencing
- Body (headings first and points first methods, what to do about tangents)
- Introduction and Conclusion
- Save Outline, Write, and Revise
- Title
1. Purpose
The purpose can be defined by you, or another entity, such as being given an essay question in school. What is this piece of writing intended to do? Roughly how long should it be? Who is the audience and why should they trust you? Are you trying to inform? Entertain? Convince or persuade? Call readers to action? Probably you are trying to inform and one of the other options.
The purpose creates boundaries on what the final product should look and feel like.
2. Thesis
"Thesis" is the formal term for the one-sentence summary of what you want to say. Typically this is your opinion on the topic you are writing about. If you already know what that is, wonderful! Put the heading "Thesis" on your scratchpad and your draft thesis statement below it.
For writing practice, pick something fairly simple. Here, we will pick "Special Counsel Jack Smith is killing Donald J. Trump with kindness in the classified documents case."
2a. Developing a Thesis
If you aren't sure what your thesis is yet, don't worry. I developed this process when writing research essays for university: every time, my head was buzzing with ideas, but I didn't know yet what I wanted to say. Follow the process and your thesis will emerge. Write a bulleted list of all the cool stuff you want to talk about. Don't get too detailed and don't worry about what order for now. Feel free to use point form and placeholders for facts that you know exist but don't have handy.
3. Sequencing
You may not know yet how you want to sequence your material. There are plenty of possible organizing principles. The list below is borrowed from the excellent work of Craig Senior, a Toastmaster in another Toastmasters club in my city.
- Chronological (past, present, future)
- Sequential (first, second, third)
- Proposal (problem, cause, solution)
- Geographical (e.g., Asia, Canada, USA)
- Categorical (e.g., sales, delivery, finance)
- Compare and contrast (each body paragraph on a topic or theme in Work A vs. Work B)
- Problem / Solution
- Hierarchical (top, middle, bottom)
- Increasing detail (general to specific)
- Building requisite knowledge (learn item A, then B, then C...)
- Options (e.g., plan A, plan B, plan C)
- Expanding radius (e.g., city, country, world)
- Priority (e.g., critical, important, optional)
- Pixar pitch structure (see descriptions online)
- Dip (success, not always, until, journey to success)
4. Body
You may have been taught that an essay must have three body paragraphs. That's an oversimplification. You will have as many body paragraphs as you have key ideas that support your thesis. Most of the time there will be two to four key ideas. However, sometimes, you'll have more complex chains of thought. Then you might have several body sections (primary key ideas) broken into paragraphs (secondary key ideas).
As you work through this long section, if you are having trouble coming up with body headings or collecting points into body headings, check out the sequencing ideas above. One of those organizing principles is likely to be appropriate. However, you're not locked into any of those ideas. Let your material speak to you. It knows which structures are best for it. If the structure feels forced, or bits are sticking out weirdly, stop telling your material what shape it has to be, and let it tell you what shape it wants to be.
4a. Body Headings First
If you can, write out those key ideas as body headings on your scratchpad at this point. These headings should be a word or short phrase, and they briefly describe the body points you will collect under them.
Now, under each heading, jot down the body points that support it. You can see examples below under the body-points-first version of the process. Feel free to use point form and placeholders for facts that you know exist but don't have handy.
THESIS: Special Counsel Jack Smith is killing Donald J. Trump with kindness in the classified documents case.
Body Headings:
- Venue and Judge
- Discovery
- Trial Date
You might be distracted or confused because your brain, having come up with one idea for a post or diary, is still coming up with more such ideas — often closely related or overlapping ones. Tame your monkey mind by pulling out another scratchpad file or page, and jotting down those ideas there. Once they are safely written down for the future, put them aside, and return to fleshing out this idea.
4b. Body Points First
If the key ideas are not coming naturally, and you didn't already make the big bulleted list of all the cool stuff you want to say in step 2a above, make it now. Then we’re going to sort it in stages. Using our example thesis:
- What might Nauta do once aware of how strong JS's case is?
- DT's legal team is learning exactly how bad DT's situation is — how will they react?
- JS knows that DT's usual tools are delay, obstruction, and vague/shifting language
- JS is being very quick and thorough in supplying discovery materials to prevent delays and obstruction from DT, and demonstrate how strong his case is
- DT will be very tempted to say/do stupid or incriminating things on the record in response
- Details about what security clearance is necessary and how long it takes to get that
- JS gave DT his preferred venue (Florida) and judge (Cannon) to prevent delays and obstruction from DT
- DT's ability to whine that the venue or judge are biased against him is curtailed
- JS is sending a message that his case is strong
- Quite possible that JS will play DT like a violin
- Jack Smith (JS) has Donald Trump (DT) figured out — methods, psychology
- What will DT do to avoid or reduce penalties if found guilty?
- When Cannon proposed an unrealistically quick trial date which might permit delays and obstruction from DT, JS proposed a realistic trial date considering security clearance procedures
Let's start grouping points that have something in common. Keep in mind that some of these points might really belong in the introduction (opening) or conclusion (closing) that we haven't discussed yet. We'll put those aside in their own bucket.
- Venue and Judge
- DT's ability to whine that the venue or judge are biased against him is curtailed
- JS gave DT his preferred venue (Florida) and judge (Cannon) to prevent delays and obstruction from DT
- JS is sending a message that his case is strong
- Discovery
- DT's legal team is learning exactly how bad DT's situation is — how will they react?
- JS is being very quick and thorough in supplying discovery materials to prevent delays and obstruction from DT, and demonstrate how strong his case is
- DT will be very tempted to say/do stupid or incriminating things on the record in response
- Trial Date
- Details about what security clearance is necessary and how long it takes to get that
- JS proposed a realistic trial date considering security clearance procedures
- Cannon proposed an unrealistically quick trial date which might permit delays and obstruction from DT
- Introduction/Conclusion
- What might Nauta do once aware of how strong JS's case is?
- What will DT do to avoid or reduce penalties if found guilty?
- JS knows that DT's usual tools are delay, obstruction, and vague/shifting language
- Jack Smith (JS) has Donald Trump (DT) figured out — methods, psychology
- Quite possible that JS will play DT like a violin
Looking more closely, some of these body points are in the wrong order. Let's fix that too:
- Venue and Judge
- JS gave DT his preferred venue (Florida) and judge (Cannon) to prevent delays and obstruction from DT
- JS is sending a message that his case is strong
- DT's ability to whine that the venue or judge are biased against him is curtailed
- Discovery
- JS is being very quick and thorough in supplying discovery materials to prevent delays and obstruction from DT, and demonstrate how strong his case is
- DT's legal team is learning exactly how bad DT's situation is — how will they react?
- DT will be very tempted to say/do stupid or incriminating things on the record in response
- Trial Date
- Cannon proposed an unrealistically quick trial date which might permit delays and obstruction from DT
- JS proposed a realistic trial date considering security clearance procedures
- Details about what security clearance is necessary and how long it takes to get that
- Introduction/Conclusion (not yet reordered)
- What might Nauta do once aware of how strong JS's case is?
- What will DT do to avoid or reduce penalties if found guilty?
- JS knows that DT's usual tools are delay, obstruction, and vague/shifting language
- Jack Smith (JS) has Donald Trump (DT) figured out — methods, psychology
- Quite possible that JS will play DT like a violin
4c. Tangents
As I mentioned when talking about theses (plural of thesis), our brains love to get distracted by stuff that is related but not in the current focus. These are often called tangents. As you work on your piece, you will probably find that some of the stuff you wanted to say is tangential, and ought to be removed. If you have the luxury of deciding how long your piece can be, maybe you can include some of them as body text or footnotes...but normally, you'll have to put some of your darlings on ice for later.
If you know that the piece should be tightly focused, or that you have too much material to include all the tangents or extra stories or details you want to use, it's time to tame the monkey mind. Pull out another scratchpad file or page, and put those tangential ideas or details there. You can be ruthless now because you're saving them for a later sequel or expanded version. Once they are safely written down for the future, put them aside, and return to organizing this piece of writing.
5. Introduction and Conclusion
You may have heard that the trick in a good piece of writing is that you say what you're going to say, you say in detail, and then you say it again. This is true. That's why it's such a mistake to write from beginning to end: it sucks you into writing your introduction, body, and conclusion at the same time as a wall of text.
Before trying to write your introduction and conclusion, you should understand what each of them should do for the reader, and how they relate to each other and the body of the piece.
As a reminder, here is our draft thesis, and the points that we saved for our introduction and conclusion:
- THESIS: Special Counsel Jack Smith is killing Donald J. Trump with kindness in the classified documents case.
- What might Nauta do once aware of how strong JS's case is?
- What will DT do to avoid or reduce penalties if found guilty?
- JS knows that DT's usual tools are delay, obstruction, and vague/shifting language
- Jack Smith (JS) has Donald Trump (DT) figured out — methods, psychology
- Quite possible that JS will play DT like a violin
If you still weren't 100% sure of your thesis statement, it should emerge while writing the introduction and conclusion. The point your piece starts with, ends with, and spends all its time supporting? That's your thesis, whether it's one sentence or several in your final wording.
5a. Introduction
A good introduction (usually 1-2 paragraphs unless it's a very long piece) begins with a hook, states the thesis, and then provides a map to the body. The hook's job is to make the reader interested in what you have to say. It might be a really engaging way to state your thesis, or a lead-in to your thesis. Note also that your thesis statement here could be one or several sentences, depending on which version is clearer and better writing. Lastly, the map is one or more sentences explaining how the body will go, and providing a transition to the body.
One trick that experienced writers use is to hold back a little on the introduction's version of the thesis statement. You don't want your introduction to be so hard-hitting that you have no extra bang left when you reach your conclusion.
Using our example thesis and points, an introduction would go something like this:
Special Counsel Jack Smith understands very well the psychology and methods of his target, Donald Trump. Trump relies on delay, obstruction, and bad faith. In the Florida classified documents case against Trump, Smith has chosen to cooperate with Trump in ways that prevent such opportunities. To date these include the venue and judge, provision of discovery, and the trial schedule.
5b. Conclusion
A conclusion should include a reminder of where we have been (the map) and restate the thesis with full firepower. If suitable for your piece, finish by calling the reader to action. Similar to the introduction, your thesis statement here could be one or several sentences, depending on which version is clearer and better writing, but make sure it has punch while still being well-grounded. Earlier, we held back to keep the reader reading! But now, the reader has read the whole piece. Our material has been laid out before them in an appropriate sequence. They have seen our logic, our anecdotes, our facts, our figures. This is the place to go big and wrap it all up in a neat bow — or put in a cliff-hanger for the next installment.
Using our example thesis and points, a conclusion would go something like this:
Jack Smith's moves thus far have not only greatly reduced Trump's opportunities for plausible delay, obstruction, and bad faith, but also demonstrate the strength of his case and his confidence in it. Trump has been provided with advantages such as the venue and judge he would have preferred, a quick and full provision of discovery material, and a later trial date than originally scheduled. This is all accomplished by giving Trump what he claims to want, but not what Trump actually wants, leaving Trump with few opportunities to object without revealing his intent to behave badly. By understanding the psychology of his target so well, Smith has good odds of tempting Trump into publicly disclosing further evidence or even a confession, which must keep Trump's legal team awake at night. Trump's team must contend with the question of what will co-defendant Waltine Nauta do once fully informed of his legal jeopardy and the possible penalties. Perhaps most importantly, Trump's as-yet unindicted co-conspirators must contend with the question of who might Trump throw to the wolves in order to reduce his sentence if found guilty, and whether their best option is to remain loyally silent, or to betray Trump before he betrays them.
6. Save Outline, Write, and Revise
You now have a good outline of your intended piece. Save it and make a backup right now, before you start turning it into sentences and paragraphs! Our example outline would go like this:
- Introduction
- Jack Smith (JS) has Donald Trump (DT) figured out — methods, psychology
- JS knows that DT's usual tools are delay, obstruction, and bad faith
- JS cooperating with Trump in ways that prevent those opportunities for Trump
- Map of body points
- Venue and Judge
- JS gave DT his preferred venue (Florida) and judge (Cannon) to prevent delays and obstruction from DT
- JS is sending a message that his case is strong
- DT's ability to whine that the venue or judge are biased against him is curtailed
- Discovery
- JS is being very quick and thorough in supplying discovery materials to prevent delays and obstruction from DT, and demonstrate how strong his case is
- DT's legal team is learning exactly how bad DT's situation is — how will they react?
- DT will be very tempted to say/do stupid or incriminating things on the record in response
- Trial Date
- Cannon proposed an unrealistically quick trial date which might permit delays and obstruction from DT
- JS proposed a realistic trial date considering security clearance procedures
- Details about what security clearance is necessary and how long it takes to get that
- Conclusion
- JS reduced DT's opportunities for favourite moves
- JS demonstrated strength of his case
- Map of body points
- JS giving DT what DT claims to want while withholding what DT actually wants
- Maybe JS will freak DT out
- What might Nauta do once aware of how strong JS's case is?
- Who might DT betray to reduce penalties if found guilty and will they betray him first?
See how that is already most of the way to being a post or diary? The skeleton and muscles are there already. It just needs to be put in full sentences with paragraph breaks, stories, facts, and sources. You have already removed most of the opportunities for writer's block.
Sometimes you will find that as you write them, some points want to move around, particularly ones related to transition sentences. (As the name suggests, they are the transitions between paragraphs.) If you're not sure or still new to this, then better to stick with your original solid structure. But if those points work as well or better in their new location, let them move.
It's a very good idea to save and backup your writing at various stages of progress, especially when there are chunks you're very happy with the exact wording of. Later, you may end up moving or deleting them, then changing your mind and going back to the original version or a variation of it.
7. Title
Yes, the title is best written when you're done writing! Normally, a title should be clear and short, or short and catchy. The ideal title is clear, short, and catchy.
In our example, a good title might be "Convicting Trump With Kindness". Titles are often hard to write, even once you know what you wanted to say. That is why trying to start with the title is the #1 method to get writer's block!
