Turn Half-Formed Ideas into Cohesive Writing (As If By Magic!)

The latest iteration of my six-week writing course, the Wondrous Writing Hub, is currently in full swing.

(Don’t worry: this isn’t a shameless plug for my course.  I’m only mentioning it because the story I’m about to tell you takes place within it.

Anyway, a plug wouldn’t be practical, because I’m not running that course again until next spring.  And you’ll have forgotten about this article by then, so why bother?)

After a few years of running the Hub, I’ve noticed that certain themes start to develop among the gorgeous group of budding writers.  Last time round, it was how to write deeply personal pieces, then share them with strangers… or worse, people who already know you.

In this one, it’s how to take sketchy half-thoughts and unopened idea-buds, then turn them into cohesive pieces of writing.

When this question was asked in the group last week, I did what I normally do, and searched my archives for an article I’d previously written on the subject.

Because I must have written an article on that subject.  Especially since all of my writing starts out as a jumble of half-baked ideas and random whispered thoughts.

But as it turns out, I hadn’t.

So I’m doing it now.

Make like 2 Unlimited…

…and put no limit on your writing.

By this I mean, get those thoughts out of your head and onto your laptop (or a piece of paper, if you insist on going old-school).

All of them.

They don’t have to make sense immediately.  Try not to edit yourself as you write, either.  Don’t start thinking “…how do I explain this bit properly?” “Where will that sentence go?”  “Hmmm, is it practice or practise?”

Just get everything down.

You might not need the next step.

You might not need it because during the process of writing down your thoughts and ideas, a clear theme or a purpose naturally emerged.

If you write regularly, that will happen often.

Don’t worry if none did.  All you have to do is ask yourself a few questions, like:

• What’s the mental itch I’m scratching here? (Otherwise known as: why am I sitting here writing all this?)
• What’s the most important thing I want readers to know?
• How do I guide them to that point?

Questions like these will help you structure your writing, as well as helping you decide on the right tone to use.  If you’re writing a more personal piece, for example, you might want to write as you speak, so readers feel as though you’re talking directly to them.

As you work through the question of “how do I guide them to that point?” it’s worth thinking about what Steven Pinker calls “the curse of knowledge”.  Bad writing, he says, happens when we forget that others often don’t know what we know.

In other words, share your obvious.

Some words won’t make the cut (but that’s OK).

I’ll warn you now: some of the writing you did right at the start will be ditched, because it doesn’t fit the tone or structure you’ve chosen for the piece.

Trust your instincts on this. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

But that doesn’t mean those words are useless.  You might find they’ve sparked new ideas for future pieces.  Or they could have simply helped to clear your head, thus making room for new thoughts to form.

(If it makes you feel any better, I’ve ditched over 90,000 words from the novel I’m currently writing.  That’s more than I’ve kept, which seems counter-productive.  But the process of writing those words helped the story get to where it is now, which is just the right place).

If you’ve lost heart, come back to it later.

You might get to a point where all your words start blending into one-another.

You might forget why you wanted to write this crap in the first place.  You might wonder why you’re even trying, when you’re obviously the worst writer who ever lived.

First, breathe.

Second, go and do something else.

Third, come back to your writing with fresh eyes.

(This really, really works).

You might decide to publish your writing.  You might not.  Either is fine, because either will surprise and reward you in different ways.

So if you’ve got some pesky half-ideas rattling around your head, why not do yourself a favour and set them free?

You never know, it might lead to something great.

(You’ve also got the option of setting your half-ideas free with targeted guidance from me.  I can even run with them for you… in a way that means I do the writing, but you get the glory).