How to Brainstorm and Get Ideas on Paper for an Article
It can sometimes be tough coming up with article ideas, but it is often even tougher to translate the hundreds or thousands of things going through your head into something you can type out and publish. Here are some tips for getting started writing and organizing your ideas for your article.
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Instructions
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The first step of writing articles is to think about the potential subjects that you can write about. List all the potential subjects that interest you.
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Next, consider how well you know each subject. Think about if you know the subject well enough to explain it to someone who doesn't understand it. Delete from your potential list all subjects that you do not know very well.
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The next step of writing articles is thinking about your reader. You need to find subjects that the reader will be interested in, otherwise, regardless of how well written the article is, few will read it. Ask yourself what motivates your reader, what are your reader's biases, what does your reader need to know, what interests your reader and what will help you reader understand the subject?
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The next step for the article writing process is to think about yourself. Your job is to create organization out of chaos. Write as a person and not as a detached professional. Remember that your writing voice, personality and style is what got people to your articles to start with so stay true to that.
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The next thing is to prepare to write. This means finding a place, perhaps a room in your home behind a locked door, where you can write without interruptions.
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Now begin by just writing ideas of what you want to write.
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If you are having trouble writing, get some recipe cards and write a thought on each. Then you can lay them out in different ways to see how to organize them and what order works best to help tell your story.
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If you can not come up with ideas, try shaking things up by doing something different. Write on a yellow notepad first instead of the computer or mark your ideas on a a white board or other device to get your thoughts out of your head and in front of you.
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If you still have trouble getting ideas, try mind mapping. In the middle of a blank piece of paper list the topic you want to write about. Draw a circle around it. Now write people, products, services and whatever comes to mind that relates to this subject all around it. Don't worry about logic, just write. Once you have everything down, look at it and organize it by getting rid of anything that does not fit.
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The next thing is free writing. Write for five to 10 minutes as quickly as you can without stopping. It does not matter if it is logical, grammatically correct or if it doesn't make sense. Your only goal is to get stuff on paper. This way you are no longer just looking at blank paper.
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Now that you have everything on paper, start editing.
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Tips & Warnings
Smile periodically to remind yourself that this is fun, not just work. Give yourself a break and do not judge anything that you are writing until it's done and ready for review.
