So why do you want to write?
Writing comes easily to some, whilst others battle to put a few words together in a coherent sentence. For those who enjoy the challenge of putting words down on paper in order to communicate an idea, thoughts, plans, actions, etc. clearly and concisely, writing is an enjoyable task. It kicks the brain into gear, organises your thoughts into coherence, and opens up the mind to new possibilities. Seeing something written down in black and white (or whatever colour appeals to you) refines its meaning in a constructive way and allows for new possibilities to present themselves. This may sound strange, but writing is a very constructive form of communication, and allows you to think more clearly than just rolling thoughts around in your head. If you are like most people, thoughts tend to remain scattered, and are often lost in the process of working your way around a problem. Jotting down thoughts, even just words, keeps you on track and on top of the issue. Some of the best ideas have come from random thoughts scribbled down on the nearest piece of paper to hand – even serviettes – with crossings-out, some things circled and linked to other ideas somewhere else on the paper, inspirational ‘light-bulb’ moments and often decorated with doodles, incredibly disproportional stick-men, smiley- or frowny-faces, and occasionally, even hangmen. All these things point to the inner workings of a very active or frustrated thought process, and give a clear indication of how random ideas can lead to clear solutions and answers to problems.
Writing brings different things to different people
When I was at school, assignments in which the class was asked to write spontaneous essays in class was, for me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of learning. We were given a subject or the start of a sentence with no clear ending, such as “Every day, there is a …” or “If I was able to …”, and told to carry on with a two-page essay. Oh, this was SO much fun! I would be off and scribbling madly whilst the rest of my classmates twiddled their pens and passed surreptitious notes to one another. I could never understand why their imaginations did not simply carry them along, as mine did with me. I was, more often than not, asked to read my essays to the class, bringing them – for a while at least – into my “Alice in Wonderland” world of make-believe. Anything was possible in my imagination, and I was lucky enough to share some wonderful personal adventures with my classmates.
Keep your writing interesting and readable
Adult life is a little different, though, in that imagination has to take a back-seat to practical considerations such as earning a living and conveying factual information to others in one form or another. It helps that articles can be created around any subject, no matter how dry and serious this might be. If you HAVE to write on a subject which you find of little interest or even outright dull, do not pass this negativity onto your reading audience, but rather try and draw them into a new world in which they are absorbing facts which will enhance their lives in some way, either for work purposes or personal reasons. Training material, for instance, can be fun and humorous to some extent, whilst still getting those facts and figures into the heads of its readers. I think that is why the various books whose titles end in “ … for Dummies” have been so popular. I bought the book, “Cooking for Dummies” and have, both consciously and unconsciously, absorbed so much information from it because of the humour and clever writing skills of its authors. Apart from technical, scientific, medical and academic writing, where one has to stringently stick to facts, there is always a little wiggle room for a touch of lightness. Facts can be shared just as well in different ways. One thing I learned from writing training manuals is that they have to be user-friendly and usable. I realised that mistakes I made myself whilst learning the subject matter would doubtless also be stumbling blocks for the students working from those manuals, so these mistakes were covered in the manuals, saving time, frustration and many frantic phone calls to the training department when they inevitably cropped up after the course was complete. The main thing when writing any training manual is not to take yourself – or your intended audience – too seriously. Whilst the subject matter might be vital, your approach to it should not deter your reading audience from feeling comfortable whilst learning. The best teachers I know are those who add humour, practical lessons and a touch of lightheartedness to their lessons, and this should carry through to any teaching media where possible. After all, you don’t want to frighten off your audience before they have even started learning, do you?
Got the writing formula? Then get writing …
If you are planning on earning your living through writing either fictional or factual articles, it is clear that you have to love writing for writing itself. If you are comfortable and at home with words and putting them together, you already have a good start to your endeavours. Writing encompasses imagination, fact, presentation, style and ties it all together with good grammar and thorough knowledge and love of the English language. It’s a complex formula which produces an amazing result and it it worth every ounce of frustration, heartache, joy and accomplishment which comes with it.
