Pre-Writing

When you write a blog post, a short speech or an article, it’s possible you’re missing one critical step that will make your finished piece a lot better.

That step is “pre-writing.”

What is pre-writing? Well, it’s just what it says it is. It’s a few notes that you make before you actually start to write your first draft.

For instance, my pre-writing notes for this article look something like this:

• pre-writing
• what is it?
• how does it work?
• why is it necessary?
• is it an outline of your piece?
• when should you use it and when does it not matter?
• blogs / articles / speeches / longer articles / e-books / query letters
• summation

So now that we’ve seen my initial notes, let me follow them:

How does it work? The process of pre-writing is to sit down at your keyboard or with a notepad before you actually start writing cold. By making some notes on what you’re going to write about, you’re warming up your writing muscles and drawing a skeleton of your full piece. It’s a mini-road map of where you want to go with your article.

Why is it necessary? Well, perhaps it’s NOT necessary. But to my experience, by pre-writing you’re gathering your thoughts and putting them in a coherent and cohesive order.

Is it an outline? Essentially it’s the informal elements of an outline, but it’s not an outline. I think an outline of something would be more formal. No, it’s just a way of gathering your thoughts and putting them in front of you. For some reason I tend to think an outline of a piece is created after the piece is finished.

When should you use it? And are there times when it doesn’t matter? Of course there are times when pre-writing is superfluous. And for longer pieces, such as a 20-minute presentation, pre-writing may not be necessary, as you’ll be doing a much more thorough job of writing, including first draft, rehearsal, editing, etc. before it is done.

Pre-writing comes into play in pieces that are of moderate length. It wouldn’t work on a short blog post, nor on a long speech. But it may be a useful step for a mid-length blog post or online article as a way of gathering a smattering of your thoughts before you start the actual writing of the piece.

As mentioned in my ‘pre-writing’ notes, I think it’s a helpful step in many creative pieces you might approach: blog posts, articles, mid-length speeches such as a short luncheon presentation, or even an e-book or query letter.

Bottom line: while ‘pre-writing’ may not be necessary in all creative writing you do, try it a few times in your next few pieces and see how it works. It may not be the cure-all, but it’s definitely a useful element in much of my writings.

photo credit: helenadagmar