Creating an article appears to be a difficult task. Is this correct? You take a deep breath and start typing, but a swarm of readers has gathered near the monitor screen, anticipating the advent of a new publication.
As it turns out, to write an article is a difficult process that requires you to get disoriented in order to please the reader rather than yourself. It doesn't matter if you're writing for a personal blog, a new media outlet, or a major print magazine; what counts is that you write well. Always try to give it your all!
Today, I'm going to share some of the ideas I employ to write an article, and write not just any article, but an exceptional one!
What is the Actual Process to Write an Article?
- Decide on the topic: A logical first step, when we only understand what we are going to write about now.
- Analyse the available data: Before you start writing, study the topic in more detail. The better you understand the topic, the better the material will turn out. When the author swims, it is visible and repels the reader.
- Study near-thematic articles: It is equally important to analyse materials that have already been created by other authors. How do they provide information? What is missing there? Is your vision great? Compete with them! Find non-obvious moments. You have to give people something unique so they don't feel déjà vu.
- Draw up a plan and theses: Sketch out the skeleton of the article. This will help to keep the logic of the presentation and not to drown later in the stream of your consciousness. Remember: first the plan - then the text itself.
- Detail: Paint in more detail each thesis. At this point, an article begins to take shape, but this is only a sketch, the final is still far away.
- Write with submission: Presentation is incredibly important to an author. It makes your articles unique, cool, engaging. You can write about banal topics, but if you have a presentation (and in this concept I put not only the style and design, but also the author's vision, his character)- they will read you and want to read further.
- Re-read and mercilessly edit: Look not only for grammatical errors, but also check for water, logic, clarity, usefulness.
I’ll say right away - if you haven’t written before, or haven’t written much, or are used to writing texts for robots, and not people (which is now a fairly common occurrence)- don’t expect you to write a masterpiece right off the bat.
And it makes no difference how long you've been writing; there's always something you can do better and areas where you can develop. In order to accomplish this, you should always evaluate your articles, searching for both their flaws and their strengths. Soon enough you would be mature enough to get rid of the weak and be friends with the strong!
Common Mistakes Beginners do when Told to Write an Article!
Speaking of weaknesses, it is worth highlighting the common mistakes that beginners face:
- Uselessness: The article is empty for the reader, the impression that the author "wrote to write." It is often observed among bloggers who want to write, but it’s hard for them to come up with topics, so they write “about nothing”.
- Nonsense: Perhaps here the author wanted to convey something to the reader, but got confused in the stream of consciousness. As a result, the essence of the article is not clear, and the reader is at a loss.
- Boredom: An article overloaded with terms, complex language, lack of interesting thoughts and ideas. This article is boring to read, so readers will leave after the first paragraph.
- Copying competitors: You find a successful blogger in your own field, and just repeat all his ideas after him. He writes about Venice - tomorrow you also write about Venice. He gives style advice from Walter White - you give style advice from Walter White. That will not be the case!
What kind of Articles can be Called Good?
What kind of article can be called good? You can have long discussions, but I have identified 4 key points that, by introducing them into your texts, readers will surely like you!
1. Fullness
Each article should have a goal, and after reading it, the reader should get something - new knowledge, interesting ideas, tips for implementation, motivation. Fullness is not the same as volume. You can write a post of 500 characters and be more useful than a stream of consciousness of 10,000.
2. Ease of digestion
Make sure you don't overwhelm the reader so that the information is easy to digest. Better to simplify than to complicate. Instead of abstruse words, use "human." Believe me - simple does not mean stupid at all. But complicating everything in the world, you will only scare off readers.
3. Presentation structure
The article should be logical. The reader should not have the feeling that the article is incoherent, and the author jumps from one thought to another without bringing each of them to the end.
Structure information into subsections, lists, headings, highlight smart thoughts and focus on the most important. Make your article easy to read.
4. Submission
Above, I already wrote about the filing. I got this concept not from cooking, but from dancing. You may have noticed that by demonstrating the same combination, one dancer can ignite the audience, while the other, although performing the same movements, does not endear himself in any way. So, the very fire of the first dancer is called “serving”.
The Bottom Line
How to do it? Practice, regular practice is the only way! Write every day. Write short posts on social networks, write full-fledged blog articles- analyse mistakes, learn from them. Notice what you're doing well and build on it. And then you will have both a “feed” and good articles that you like to read, you want to share them, and come back to you again and again.
