As an individual who loves writing, it’s really difficult to understand why so many people don’t or struggle with it. For me, it’s always come easy and been more a leisure activity than a chore. But when I think about my brother, writing is so hard for him whereas math is his forte. Growing up, he always helped me with math and I always helped him with his writing. So looking back, I realized, I may not be able to make someone love writing, but I may be able to help them. That’s when I came up with six ways to “love” or, more easily, handle writing:
Choose a Topic You’re Truly Passionate About (if you have the ability):
Ever wonder why doing what you love comes so easy? Well it’s kind of a simple explanation- it’s because you love it! When you enjoy or have an interest in something, you become inherently more passionate about it and motivated to work on it. If you have the ability to choose what you get to write about whether in college or in a club, such as a newspaper or blog, choose something you either already know about and want to spread awareness about or something you are really intrigued by. Curiosity and passion can carry you far beyond bland, surface-level writing. On the other hand, if you don’t have the ability to choose your topic, the best way to get motivated about writing is to think positively about the opportunity to learn something new. Being open-minded and optimistic can really help you value a topic you didn’t realize you could see importance in before the project.
Think About the “End Goal”- What Impact You Want to Make with Your Writing
Something I find that always keeps me going is understanding my “End Goal” or why I’m writing what I’m writing. Sometimes your purpose in writing is more clear, especially if you are passionate about it, but sometimes it isn’t. Clarifying why you’re writing is truly a game-changer. To figure this out, I always take moment to ask myself my questions like:
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Do I want someone to be changed by this?
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If so, what do I want to change? Is it an action or a state of mind/opinion?
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Do I want to make a “Call-to-Action”?
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Do I want to spread awareness?
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Do I want to make an impact?
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Is this informative or persuasive?
Narrowing down what you want from the paper makes the piece a lot more attainable because you can clearly see the end or end result.
Make a Clear Outline
Similar to establishing your “End Goal”, simply taking a couple of minutes to outline your paper can make all the difference in the world. Knowing your beginning and ending is important, but having an idea of what goes in-between helps keep the paper organized. It also keeps you on track. Writing is a process; like all subjects, you can’t just randomly start. You have to have a plan. An outline makes sure you won’t have to organize while you go or wonder what would flow well next. Having the outline answers all your questions.
Create a List of Manageable Tasks to Complete
Another step that always makes writing easier for me is creating manageable tasks. These are tasks that can be completed quickly or easily but ultimately help to form the whole paper. Creating your outline can be a manageable task. Then, completing one paragraph at a time can be a task. The idea is to give yourself steps to complete. In addition, formatting these steps or tasks into a checklist and checking them off as you go will help you feel more accomplished and therefore motivate you to finish the paper.
Explore Structure
Often in middle and high school, our teachers would give us a very strict structure on how a paper had to be written; the basic introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and then a conclusion paragraph. But then, all of the sudden, in college and in life, that simplistic structure is no longer enough. Its rigid, sometimes doesn’t flow well, or is too short. But no one ever tells you this. And this may be because we are too dependent on people explicitly telling us what to do, but at the same time, we might just be afraid to branch out of the norm because that’s all we’ve been taught- we’re playing it safe. However, the truth is that there can’t be a singular structure that fits every paper or piece of writing you do. Just like people, there are numerous shapes and sizes. Structure isn’t confined. You can make whatever kind of structure you want. I do believe that it is important to have an introduction and conclusion, but beyond that, you could have ten small paragraphs, four big paragraphs, three small paragraphs, or five huge paragraphs- the possibilities are endless. You just have to find what works best for your paper and the flow of what you are talking about.
Make It Fun! Find Your Voice!
In middle school and high school, when writing for classes and sometimes even the school newspaper, students are told to write with a professional tone or with a elevated level of speech. And where writing professionally is important to sound credible and gain an audience, being yourself and being relatable is also important to credibility. Oftentimes, students find they can’t branch out from that singular, professional tone but one of the best ways to enjoy writing is to add in your own style of speaking. When you find your voice in your writing, it will make you far more passionate about your piece because you no longer sound fake or like someone else; you sound like yourself and thus your writing becomes more confident. It may take some time but I always think of my “writing voice” as if I was a storyteller or a speech maker, depending on the piece I’m writing. I like to consider how I would want to sound if I was telling someone a story or giving a speech and then I incorporate that into my piece. The main thing to remember is to be authentically you. Your voice is going to be different from other peoples’ but that’s brilliant. Your voice matters!
Ultimately, whether writing comes easy to you or it’s more of a challenge, you have the power to make it what you want. So make it something that’s enjoyable and have fun with it!