The Basics of Writing

THE BASICS OF WRITING

This article gives some pointers that are basic in writing for profit. If setting out as a writer for the first time, the article gives some principles that can be taken as starting points and for those already in the field the principles can be considered as refreshers.  After all, information is one of those commodities you can utilise as you choose, store for future use or pass on to others.  The article gives a step by step approach in preparing oneself to write for a profit.  The main points to consider are self awareness, theme, target audience, subject matter, research, then – writing.  The principles are by no means exhaustive but may act as foundational for equipping the writer. 

Self awareness:  You will need to have a greater awareness of yourself. This may not seem obvious but being aware of your self, including strengths, weaknesses and more is an essential starting point.  Self awareness of a writer is an understanding of your writing skills, a knowledge of your literally ability, knowledge of the writing language (as opposed to the spoken language).  It involves the finer details of your style of writing, sentence construction and all.  Think of what you would enjoy writing about and the depth of understanding of the subject matter.  Some abilities can be acquired through learning; the important thing is to have an interest in writing.

Target audience:  Bear in mind the target audience, for example, it may be children, the business world, academic, family, religious, the list is long.  Identifying your target audience helps you to work on the probable subject matter.  You are concerned with what would interest your audience enough to want to buy, 

Theme:  Think of your theme.  Is it children’s stories, if your target audience is children?  Is it marketing, if you are targeting the business world, mathematics if the target is academic?  Is it raising children if family is the target audience?  Whatever your theme is, get to have a good understanding of it; of the audience and the possible degree of interest.  This brings us to the next point.

Research:  It helps to know what is happening in your area of interest because you learn what others have written on the subject.  Researching shows you the degree of interest the market has on a subject and this is especially useful when writing for profit.  There are different methods of research you could undertake, here we consider a few.  One method is to find out what has been written by researching books in that field.  Another is observing and drawing own conclusions. Yet another method is interview researching – talking to people of a select audience.   

By far the best and most effective method of research, especially when writing for profit is internet research.  Find out on search engines the degree of interest by the “hits” a subject is getting.  Generally the higher the hits the greater the popularity of the subject.  This information gives you an indication of the interest and the competition in that area, including pricing.  Think of this as supply and demand and position yourself to meet an existing demand by writing on a subject that is potentially of interest to the market. 

Subject:   Decide on the subject matter. Make an effort to gain more understanding of the subject.  It is good if you already have a topic, if not, you can come up with a topic later in the course of your writing.  Have a mental picture of the finished article and message you want to convey bearing in mind the target audience and theme.

Writing:  Develop a habit of putting ideas on paper whenever possible.  Do some notes or write down some points that come to mind.  You will need to carry a notebook with you as ideas can come randomly anywhere anytime.  You are not concerned with the logical sequence at this stage just write ideas as they occur.  Always have the complete picture of your article in mind to remain focused.  If you are writing a book, the major points could make up chapters, if it is an article, these become your paragraphs.  Bear in mind the structure of your work first, you will fill in the finer details when actually writing.

You may wish to have a foreword, acknowledgements if others have assisted you or you have “borrowed” ideas.  Remember that what you write must be originally your work, written in your own words.  Refrain from copying what others have written.  Think of the introduction, this introduces your article or book to what are you going to write about.  Consider the main body of your book or article and the conclusion that wraps up your work.  When you finally start writing, be mindful of sentence construction, tenses, spellings, punctuation, paragraphs style and the general flow of your ideas while remaining focused on your theme, target audience and subject matter.

Anyone can be a writer.  As with many other things in life, if you put your mind to it, you will surely succeed.  Start where you are and make a deliberate effort to write something.  You will be surprised at how much you have to offer and the pleasant realisation that you can write for a profit.