Things You'll Need:
- Pen
- Paper
- Patience
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Step 1
The first step of writing e-how articles is to think about the potential subjects that you can write about. List all the potential subjects.
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Step 2
Next consider how well you know each subject. Think about if you know the subject well enough to explain it to someone who does not understand the subject. Delete from your potential list all subjects that you do not know very well.
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Step 3
The next step of writing e-how 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 ready 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. Look at the most popular articles, listed on the side of the e-how main screen, to get an idea of how to answer these questions. Delete any subjects from the list that appear that they do not match the interests of e-how readers.
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Step 4
The next step for the e-how article writing process is to think about yourself. You job is to create organization out of chaos. Write as a person not as a detached professional or fake that is only writing what you think your should be. 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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Step 5
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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Step 6
Now begin by just writing ideas of what you want to write.
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Step 7
If you are having trouble writing get some 3x5 cards and write a thought on each. Then your can lay them out in different ways to see what organization works best and what order works best.
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Step 8
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, write on a white board, etc.
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Step 9
If you still have trouble getting ideas try mind mapping. In the middle of a blank piece of paper write the topic you want to write about. Draw a circle around it. Now write people products, services, ideas, etc. about the topic all around it. Don’t worry about logic, just write. Once you have everything down look at it and organize it getting rid of anything that does not fit.
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Step 10
The next things is free writing. Write for 5 to 10 minutes without stopping as quickly as you can. It does not matter if it is logical, grammatically correct, etc. Your only goal is to get stuff on paper. This way you are no longer just looking at a blank paper.
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Step 11
Now that you have everything on paper start editing.
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Step 12
Don’t worry about anything, just focus on writing. 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.
Comments
lighthouse1958 said
on 10/29/2009 I have alot of good ideals to write about but don't know how to put them down on paper. My mind runs faster than my pen. Then I forget half of what I want to say. Great aritcle. 5*
jull14 said
on 7/12/2009 Excellent article and very helpful for many here at ehow. Thanks for sharing with us, keep up the good work. I really love your articles, they are very helpful and provide easy steps to follow.
langleycornwell said
on 5/13/2009 This is a wonderful article. I especially like the free writing suggestion and the reminder to smile. Very good, 5*s.
cygnetbrown said
on 5/11/2009 Thanks for the great article. Another thing we can do is read other writer's articles. Sometimes the articles others have written can spark ideas. Not the exact ideas of course, that's plagiarism! Another great article with good tips! Thanks!