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_Shipwreck  ·  3427 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What are some of your tips on articulating ideas into words?

Writing, like speech, has a physicality to it. Perhaps the main way this shows is in its serial nature, where ideas are no longer jumbled up in your head but laid out one after the other. This definitely has to do with logical structure; but it also happens in poetry, for example, so its not the same. The cool thing is, you can choose how to order your ideas so that they have the effect you want.

And you can enjoy the process.

In that sense writing feels more like creating something tangible, choosing words and ways to express yourself that will convey what you want. And choosing the right order to express those ideas. Doing an outline can certainly help, but personally I find that preparing a very detailed outline can be counter-productive for this, making my writing too mechanic.

When you're writing, or when you're telling a story, the main thing is to focus on what you're trying to express now and have in the back of your mind a general idea of where you're going with this. Typical examples of bad writing involve people getting ahead of themselves and getting to the conclusions before developing important parts of the argument or story. This can make people repeat themselves over and over again, getting their big points washed out in a disorganised mess.