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How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

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Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#11

Post by gt_ »

mikkqu wrote: post #9

I personally have found the article pretty informative as I can relate to the topic very well. Takes me enormous amount of energy to write something that's more than a few random sentences together. There is a well-known fear of public speaking and in my case it's more like a fear of public writing. Still looking for an efficient way to break thoughts down into pieces and that's one way to approach it.

You're not alone. Public speaking is no problem for me, as it cuts out the middle man, or, the medium.

Another comment points to the typos in this article in devaluing the author, while I secretly admire him for letting them slide. My threshold for typos is small, don't get me wrong, but enough years of unfinished essays behind me and I'll seek to learn from these masters (of efficiency, if nothing else).

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#12

Post by joewee »

I had to write a weekly technology column for a number of years. The best method I found was to prepare a outline of the content you are going to write as a series of questions. For my column I used 5 questions in a logical progression. Example question might be "Why is this technology important to small businesses?"

Once I defined the questions, I wrote in sprints without correcting grammar or spelling to answer each of the questions. Sprints were a few minutes, not more than 5.

When I answered all of the questions I would go back and remove the questions and edit for flow and add references and supporting facts. Last would be a grammar check, but I relied on my editor to review that given that I was often writing on deadline.

I produced more than 200 articles of 800-1000 words. Week over week even when I had writers block or no desire to write at all.

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#13

Post by raldu »

joewee wrote: post #12

I had to write a weekly technology column for a number of years. The best method I found was to prepare a outline of the content you are going to write as a series of questions. For my column I used 5 questions in a logical progression. Example question might be "Why is this technology important to small businesses?" Once I defined the questions, I wrote in sprints without correcting grammar or spelling to answer eac…

The same approach works in presentations as well.

By framing your speech as a series of key questions to be answered, your presentation feels more like a real "conversation," rather than just dumping some encyclopedic information in a textbook-like order.

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#14

Post by munchbunny »

In my own experiences, the key to writing essays quickly and expertly is just writing a lot of essays and consciously trying to hone your craft. Writing is a complex skill that takes lots of time and attention in little incremental steps, and the further you go the faster/better you get.

It's more than just practice though. It's also momentum. I find that the more I write, the more my brain passively seeks more material to write, and so I get faster at generating ideas and putting them on paper. This happens with programming too - the more I do, the faster I get at coming up with ideas and prototyping them. Same with sports, gaming, really everything that combines skill and creativity. I get more creative by just doing it more.

Certainly there's real technique to writing quickly, but I've always found that my own biggest barrier was having something meaningful to say, and the fastest way to get into a rhythm of actually coming up with meaningful things to say was to just start putting words down in the first place. Which leads to the paradox: you become prolific by trying to be prolific.

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#16

Post by 1337biz »

joewee wrote: post #12

I had to write a weekly technology column for a number of years. The best method I found was to prepare a outline of the content you are going to write as a series of questions. For my column I used 5 questions in a logical progression. Example question might be "Why is this technology important to small businesses?" Once I defined the questions, I wrote in sprints without correcting grammar or spelling to answer eac…

I once watched an obscure online course by some Canadian lawyer with a similar method for writing books that way. Wasn't by any chance your inspiration?

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#17

Post by lawrencewu »

1337biz wrote: post #16
joewee wrote: post #12

I had to write a weekly technology column for a number of years. The best method I found was to prepare a outline of the content you are going to write as a series of questions. For my column I used 5 questions in a logical progression. Example question might be "Why is this technology important to small businesses?" Once I defined the questions, I wrote in sprints without correcting grammar or spelling to answer eac…

I once watched an obscure online course by some Canadian lawyer with a similar method for writing books that way. Wasn't by any chance your inspiration?

Do you happen to know the name of the course? Very interested.

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#19

Post by IC4RUS »

joewee wrote: post #12

I had to write a weekly technology column for a number of years. The best method I found was to prepare a outline of the content you are going to write as a series of questions. For my column I used 5 questions in a logical progression. Example question might be "Why is this technology important to small businesses?" Once I defined the questions, I wrote in sprints without correcting grammar or spelling to answer eac…

That's an impressive volume - was it all for the same technology column? And were they articles that required research?

Re: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly (2006)

#20

Post by rayalez »

Here's a common essay structure I've picked up on, from many sources(From Eliezer Yudkowsky's rationality articles to John Oliver's Last Week Tonight)

1. Introduce a problem/concept - can be a social issue, bias, or a useful cognitive tool.

2. Define/explain what it is.

3. Give several examples or studies.

4. Call to action - propose a solution, debiasing, or a practical real life application.

Also add an intro that grabs attention and promises value.

This seems to work well and I like it a lot, it gives me a pretty universal way to write on many subjects.

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