Do you plan your posts or do you just write them free flow as they come?
This is a question that one of our members at ProBlogger.com (Mark Dykeman) started off a conversation with in the last week.
Mark talked in the thread about how he does both (sometimes he uses bullet points for his main points and then writes on each point while other times it just comes) – but I thought it’d be an interesting question to open up to everyone.
What’s your approach?
My own approach is mixed and sometimes starts with one approach and ends up as the other but in general the way I work depends upon the type of post:
Pillar Content – in most cases if I’m setting out to write what I refer to as ‘pillar content’ (or a big post that is on a central theme of my blog) I generally like to have some kind of plan before I start. Like Mark I’ll usually start out with a list of points that I want to cover that I’ve brainstormed (and perhaps a quick note or two on each). Then I work systematically through the points one by one and write a paragraph or two on each.
Other Posts – other posts that are not quite as structure in their form tend to be written in a more freely written way. For example if news breaks on something relevant to my niche I will generally bounce off a press release or another blogger with a few of my own thoughts. If the post is like this one and is more of a ‘reader question’ type posts I again will usually write it without a formal outline.
I should say that often my posts are a bit of both. Sometimes I’ll be halfway through writing a free flow/non outline post and I’ll suddenly be hit with inspiration for about 5 other things that I’ll want to say in the post. I generally stop writing at this point and capture the points that I want to cover and in doing so write a bit of an outline for the rest of the post before coming back to where I was.
Other times I might be writing a post that I’ve got an outline for and the post will evolve in a direction that makes a lot of the points I’ve outlined irrelevant and I’ll scrap them (or at least put them aside for a future post).
What about you?
Are you someone who plans posts in detail? Or do you write best when you’re writing in a more freely flowing style?
I normally write in a more free flowing manner dependent on inspiration. If I am attempting a series I normally do drafts with the titles and points for each post.
I really haven’t thought about this much. Sometimes I have a skeletal outline that I use to keep thinking about the article until I write it. Other times I just write.
Most of my posts in my blog were written in “free-flow” way. I love this way because it gives me the freedom on what to write, and my blog is a personal blog after all. It’s something like, “anything goes”.
I don’t write outlines per se for my posts.
I do, however, jot down notes and ideas in a draft of the post and when I return to it I have a rough idea, from the notes, about how I should proceed with my writing.
I suspect that more that bloggers who have greater success than I do probably plan their outlines in great detail. I will be interested in hearing what others have to say.
My tenth grade English teacher, Mr. Maloney, would rise from his grave and strike me down if I did not develop some sort of outline before writing a post.
My posts tend to be short, but I always create a brief outline with a focused conclusion so I know where I’m heading. When I start going on tangents and coming up with other ideas I put those in my list of future posts.
I keep the outline as brief as possible as I want have a balance between something that has structure, but also flows from the gut.
It’s useful to have an outline. It’s a little scary leaving anything to chance. But the way I do about it is a little less structured than an outline. Mark is right about using bullet points. Sometimes I have the salient points numbered so I’d never forget to touch on each of them.
You’re right, however, that some posts lend itself well to spontaneity. Makes it more compelling and conversational. Perhaps a little rant falls into this category.
I generally do not use outlines for a regular post – I write a travel blog so I just choose a starting point for the story and build from there. Now though, as I start to write service-y posts I find one helpful sometimes :-) Generally though, I’m a fly by the seat of my pants blogger.
Both.
If I need information I plan more (should plan even more).
I use a lot of my photographs as the main message
OR
I create a posting via my images because there’s too much information/to read on most of the blogs.
Less is more.
Think a post out in advance? Hmmm.
Since my posts are simply stories – and not a list of things that will make you a better person – advance your career – or inspire you to a higher level of blogging income – I like most other commenters above – simply use the free-flow method as well. Quite often I will start off with a story about my Aunt Myrtle in North Upscaleville – only to find out at the end that the real story that comes out only mentions the fact the old broad is rich. And then I clean up all the parts that no longer fit and reorganize the structure to give the best reading experience.
I use no bullets in my planning. But I always have something that just has to get out.
I would love to be someone that teach others all my great wisdoms and move them to a state of greater financial bliss – but at the moment – I just hope I can make you laugh – and maybe if I’m lucky I might make you think to.
But I do enjoy your posts very much! Very helpful indeed, yet I am still waiting for a google ad check to appear in my mailbox :).
Well it is a good question , But to be frank some of my post are completely immediate written as thought flow so would be my speed on the keyboard .Yes some times I would make sure I chalk some of the points and then start writing some details .
Does that makes difference .. to frank no .. you write planed or unplaned .I have never seen any difference with the crowd reading it .As long it a good material that what readers wants nothing else .
For me, pillar contents definitely play crucial role to attract huge traffics to our site. It is because with great content, it will help to bring our blog and its contents to the place which can be hardly reached through social sites.
And for the other posts, instead of just fill in the gap of our blog, it can help us to keep our visitors as long as possible within our site. Therefore, the bounce rate will be lower and page views will increase.
This will definitely help us in monetizing our blog if you plan to do so in future.
Cheers!
Being new to all this I haven’t thought about an outline. Perhaps I should try it to see it helps organize my thoughts. Sometimes I find myself rambling and have to start over.
I usually let flow as idea come which allow me to create article fast. I just type, type, and type without any hesitation and then i will edit it after all idea already type.
I personally write both ways. I plan a lot of blog entires in good ol’ notepads, and they are very thought out and structured. Others I write in the moment, and they are much more free form. I do tend to write more planned posts, though. I have a pretty organized OCD type personality.
That depends. Sometimes I figure out a structure, and then fill the outline with stuff, sometimes I just write the full post from the beginning.
I’m just exactly like that! I never thought I would hear that verbalized, but you, Darren, have given me ideas…and the confidence that it really is alright to branch off in unchartered territory. Oh, My Columbus!
For pillar posts, I use the WordPress plugin Peter’s Post Notes to make some notes and an outline right in the post itself. It works great as I can write in the main post area while referencing the side notes. No scrolling or jumping from one app. to the other. :)
Rob – LexiConn
I personally do mental or “mini” outlines that usually look something like this:
How Does Writing Affect Blogging?
I. Communication & Message
II. Personality & Trust
III. Persuasion & Making Money Online
These fit on index cards or rather large sheets of paper and can be easily expanded upon when I’m working on the post. My A.P. English teacher taught us how to mini outline and I just thought it was a really awesome technique.
I would say generally about 90% of posts I make are planned and only occasionally does a post basically write itself in one free flowing sitting. What tends to happen is sentences/ paragraphs will come to me and I jot them down before building a list of other points I want to include. Then once I have all the points I structure them, either grouping items or separating them so I have all the sections planned before writing the first draft.
I use to purely work on the free flowing approach but then once I started revisiting those posts a few months later I realised that they weren’t as structured as they could be and often missing things because I hadn’t planned them.
Oh. One last thing. I personally, as the reader for now, would like to read something that has been well thought out, such as a well-rehearsed play, movie, etc. Most unpracticed art is not, well, art. Or quality. But, some like sheer sinful, impromptu, untrained humanness, (as in the case of an unrehearsed movie, play or a first draft of a screenplay…usually not good). Oh, don’t hate me! As you asked I thought a reader’s perspective may be relevant. Thank you comrades.! I mean no harm!!!
I tend to make notes in the draft as well as the main points I want to make, which tend to become subheaders of the post. I notice that when I do this bit of drafting my post is longer than I expected it to. When I freewrite- which I do as well, the post needs more editing and isn’t as long.
I tend to write more flow of thought but need to do more outlining. It tends to keep it more succinct and flowing toward one point. Sometimes try to make to many thougts in one post but forget that the tighter and shorter I make a post the more I have for more frequent posts.
I’m a free flow free form dump it out of your brain and on to the page kinda guy. Generally I have thought or see something inspirational and then write about it.
At the very most I’ll note down a few bullet points somewhere like on a piece of paper to make sure I cover all of the areas that I want to take about. Usually that’s something I only really do for longer posts.
A very interesting question you pose. I am from the free flowing side as I tend to come up with topics from reading or just thinking about something. I can see how planning a subject out might make it a bit easier. I will have to think about it and see what comes out.
Mark’s spoken on his blog about an “Idea Injection” formula he’s used – having given it a shot, it’s fairly good. For certain topics. Restricting your writing to a formula can get frustrating after a while, a single approach is not helpful for creativity. I’ve found it useful to build a few approaches based on mood. Outlines, train of thought. Make a video post once in a while. Like exposing yourself to other topics outside your field, exposing yourself to other process can be enlightening as you grow as a writer – which is part of what blogging is about, after all.
I find a lot of my blog post ideas come to me in my sleep or just before I’m going to sleep. I make sure I write down the basic points i want to cover so I don’t forget them. :) With a list of points in hand I just free flow from there.
I also end up with a different kind of pillar content and that’s where I expound on a theory or idea related to my topic. Those I do freestyle, but I have to go back and make sure they make sense at the end, since ideas pop up and I can easily get off topic on those. I think spirit comes through when I’m writing because there are times I go back and read something and I don’t remember writing it at all. Usually it’s pretty good so I just go with it.
That depends. But usually I don’t do outlines in my posts. I also don’t have drafts.I wrote whatever that comes in my mind and then publish.
Good on you Mark for starting this conversation!!!
I plan out about 90% of all my posts because most are pillar articles and take time to write and research.
That said there is a 10% that is quite free flowing and depends on current news/events in my niche.
I will turn around and write something quickly and put it on the site.
I think you do need to have that element of “free-flowingness” or else you miss out on current news that shapes your niche and those topics are of interest to your readers.
This is a great conversation!
Krizia
Everyday I sit down to write I never know what I am going to write about. I simply open Word, close my eyes and write about the first thing that comes to mind. I gear the topic and shape it to fit within the context of my blog.
I don’t want to lose the free spirit nature of my blog.
It depends on the length. If it’s 500-700 words, I’m not likely to outline it. On the other hand, if it’s pushing 2000 words, I’m much more likely to use an outline.
I normally do mental outlines, but that’s about it. I do think there would be some value to using this more disciplined approach, since I very often do write “Pillar Posts.” I do end up spending more time editing/tweaking than I do writing. However, since the purpose of my blog is to show off good (and clean) writing, I try to be a little more formal and buttoned up. With my fun blogs, I don’t go to all that trouble.
Work blog http://koifishcommunications.com/blog.
Fun blog http://pdxcyclingonline.com
Since becoming a blogger/writer I find that I’m always pondering something I want to write. I keep a notebook & digital voice recorder with me at all times. I will make notes. I outline it in my mind and then write. I want to get to the place where I’m much more structured.
Another “Writing Clinic” post??? Is this how it’s going to be?
Every 2-3 out of 5 posts is going to be about the act of writing? “Type of Posts,” “Beating Writer’s Block,” “Outlines,” etc.???
Darren, I’ll assume you have data showing that people dig these writing-related articles, but I don’t. It’s remedial. You should start a separate blog titled “Blog Writer.”
Oh, and to answer the question in the headline: “no.”
I don’t have the patiences to write a post long enough for an outline, I sometimes have a general ideal how its going to flow, but usually its pretty free form.
I use two methods: A Theme Statement and a Jot Outline. These are described in more detail on this post http://www.thebloggersbulletin.org/2009/10/07/themes-and-jot-outlines/
The Theme sets the tone for the piece and the Jot Outline gets the structure down quick. I find that helps me tremendously with getting productive and starting productive.
Re: Jeffry Pilcher
Isn’t the whole point of ProBlogger that it’s a blog about blogging and how to do it well?
If that’s the case then surely “remedial” posts about writing posts and the like are actually integral to Problogger
Hey Darren,
Creativity flourishes when there are limitations. When you only have a few elements to work with, you create faster and come up with more inventive stuff. My most effective writing method is organized free flowing.
When I get an article idea, I quickly jot down all the points for what I’d want to say. Then I come back, throw in all the points, and write out the article in a free flowing manner. I have a writing template I use, so the free flowing writing is within those confines.
In other words, organized free flowing writing.
Best,
Oleg
I’ve tried outlining my posts before, but I always wound up ditching the outline once I really started getting into the writing. For me, outlining is a prime example of good advice that just doesn’t work for me.
What I’ve started doing instead is just writing down a few catchy sentences, phrases, or ideas that I use as pivot points for the rest of the post, if that makes sense. Kind of like an outline, but much less restrictive and artificial, in my mind.
I right as things come into my mind. But if there’s something specific I’d like to prove in a post I just create a central idea and focus my writing around that. No outlines though, shit I don’t even write outlines for my university essays so surely enough I don’t do it for my blog. I find outlines to get boring and allowing my mind to just work things out as I type away it makes the post more exciting.
I think it’s all situational. For example, if it’s information or how to pieces, then it’s better if it’s structured, but if it’s an editorial or a comment piece, than it could be freewriting to engage the reader into the person experience.
Sometimes when I feel a pulse of inspiration, I just have to write about it, save it and elaborate on it into a final piece later…think and ink it! Otherwise, the thought may be lost forever, and you never get that experience back to write about your new ideas or thoughts from that experience.
A couple of things I do: (1) I keep a list of blog topics that I’m very interested in, but that I don’t have enough resources or knowledge of it yet, or isn’t working on at the moment (2) I post questions about what I’m curious about and get a conversation going, and then write a blog about what I’ve learned, the insights I received from others, and kind of summarize everything.
I usually think hard about what I am going to write. I make it all in my head then make quick bullet points of the main points, so I can build up on them in the post.
Sometimes though, I just get into the mode and can’t stop to write it all down, so I just type away.
Free flowing works best for me.
Even with complex xposts hat include details lessons on using options conservatively, I just stand, write and finish.
When finished, I edit and possibly alter the sequence.
I do a bit of both as well. A lot of times it depends on the quilt I’m featuring or the pictures I have taken.
I outline. I found it makes it easier to write. I’ll organize the big points first by outlining the header titles. After that, I’ll outline the subpoints I’m going to discuss under each heading. After that, it’s just a matter of filling in the details with a few sentences.
I don’t feel the need to outline on blog posts; my books are a completely different ballgame. 500 or so words really isn’t enough for me to justify an outline and I strive to make only three of four main points during my typical post.
Like you, my writing is a mixture of both.
Short posts tended to be more stream of consciousness. Longer posts are more structured. I don’t feel a writer should be locked into any one routine as I believe it can stifle creativity.
For brevity, bullets can be a blogger’s best friend. Headline it. Expand it. Move to the next point. We must keep in mind that our readers are probably following hundreds of blogs, so we must make it easier for them to gather actionable information.
Depends on the material. Sometimes I start with a numbered or bulleted list, and build from there. Sometimes I’ll lay in the headers and fill them out later. Sometimes I just let the words flow and fix it later.
Generally though, the more accurate an article has to be, the structure I impose on it before and during writing.
Nope. I have a central idea and a few other things I want to say. I write the blog and edit once. After writing NUMEROUS papers in college and grad school; I can do the organization for short writings in my head. Makes for more fluid writing for me and (hopefully for my readers).
I only blog when I have something to report and then make a mental outline of the high points before just letting it flow.
Hey.
Shout out to Mark Dykeman from the PB.com forums – I have seen you around.
I don’t tend to write an outline. I have done it rarely, but I tend to only write in a fast pace from start to finish. An outline, or some points I want to bring up in the article, would help, but I don’t tend to do it.
I did sort of have an outline for the last video I did of what I wanted to talk about, so that is close.
Thanks for the discussion.