Are you struggling to get your ideas on paper? 99.9% of the time it’s due to disorganization. If your thoughts aren’t organized, your paper will never reach its audience. Written below, I have broken down the five steps in the writing process. If you follow this format, your paper/story will not only have a better flow, but you as the writer will have a less stressful experience. When I first started writing, I completely ignored this process because just looking at the steps overwhelmed me. I would just throw my ideas on paper in whatever way or format I thought of at the time. This mindset however, will NEVER work. Just like every business, system, or scientific process, organization is the only sustainable option. I promise these steps will give you more confidence as a writer, and help you better reach your audience. If it’s too stressful right now, just try reading and working on one step at a time. Starting is the only way to finish.
- Prewriting:
Whether you are writing to a prompt or creating your own story, the prewriting stage is a crucial step. In this stage, you will need to define who your audience is and figure out how you can best reach them. However, sometimes it can be difficult to know who to target. Some questions you can ask yourself are:
- What topic am I writing about?
- Who else likes this topic?
- How does my topic apply to others?
These questions are great starting points when trying to discover your audience. Another part of the prewriting stage is brainstorming. Going straight into writing can be overwhelming. Make sure you thoroughly think over your topic so that you can better organize your thoughts and information. Writing your thoughts down on paper or in a document may also help you stay more focused on the main ideas of your topic. Doing this will also help guide you on what to research.
- Research:
Research is the second step in the writing process. Sometimes the only thing you need to do to overcome a writing block is more research. Reading articles or stories based around your topic can help give you more inspiration! After you feel more enlightened in your topic it’s time to create an outline. Organizing your research into intro, body, and conclusion paragraphs will make the writing process way less stressful. Definitely play around with your outline so that you find the best way to order your information.
- Drafting:
It is now time to write your draft! This stage is what I like to call “word vomiting.” Just let it all out! Your draft doesn’t need to be perfect. In fact, it shouldn’t be. This is not the time for you to be nit-picky. Just follow your basic outline and let your thoughts and research fall on the paper. After you have written a full, IMPERFECT paper, read through it and add more! It is important to read through what you have multiple times to gain more ideas! The more you read through your draft, the more ideas and changes you’ll want to make. Just keep exploring and changing things until you’re satisfied with the layout of your information. Once you’re happy with the organization of your paper, you can then start revising.
- Revising:
Once you have your thoughts and ideas organized on paper, you can begin revising! Now you may start being nit-picky. If words are repetitive, change them to new ones! If sentences flow weird, combine them, or change them up. If you feel that you need to do some more research, do it! In this stage you need to be thorough. It’s crazy how fixing your grammar and changing the layout of a few sentences can bring a whole new atmosphere to your paper. Make sure that you read over your paper slowly and carefully many times so that you can catch the smallest of errors. Remember! People only have your writing style to define you by. Your audience’s view could be skewed if you leave grammatical errors and mistakes in your paper!
- Editing & Proofreading:
We are now in the last stage of the writing process. This stage is like shining your shoes. You’re just digging a little deeper and making your work stand out even more! Read through your paper a few more times and fix any mistakes that are left. However, don’t forget that sometimes your mind needs a break. Take a few hours away from it before coming back and reading it over a few more times. Taking time away is important so that your mind can fully refresh and process errors easier. Once you feel that you have done everything you can to edit your paper, have someone else look over it. In the end it’s not about what you like, but your audience. Letting others proofread your paper and give you feedback will help you make crucial last minute changes.
In conclusion, following these steps are the only way that your paper/story will reach its audience. As you brainstorm ideas, research, draft, revise, and have proofreaders, your paper will be stronger and more organized. Ultimately, the way you write is how you will be viewed by your audience. Creating a nice flow and ridding your work of grammatical errors will cause others to take you more seriously. A low quality website could be producing a real product, however, it could be looked upon as a scam due to its low-quality appearance. People that read your work can’t see you and they don’t know you. Following the writing process is the only way that your work will be viewed as credible. In the end, writing is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Don’t lose sight of what it’s all about! Getting this process down will take time and that’s OKAY! If it’s too stressful then just take one step at a time and do your best to follow it. Pick a simple topic today and give it a shot! You got this!