Last week we were inspired by Blackadder and bored by influencers.

But along the way we learned to zoom out and ask:

"What's the point of my writing practice?"

Today, we're going to zoom back in...

...and learn how to quickly and easily write anything using this same approach.

Dear reader, this is it.

This is the whole process of generating ideas and forming a structure to write productively and powerfully. It all flows from that one question we asked last week.

And that’s singular point, because you can only say one thing well.

Points plural mean no prizes. Point singular means the prize of having a real impact.

In unpacking that line, I'm going to go full on preacher mode and give you five alliterative points to get there. And yes, this draws heavily on the Write Way course of the same name because I'm revamping that and removing this from it.

But this version is updated and shareable.

(Tell all your friends.)

And look, there are no CAW-CAWs in the Write Way, I hope. We are not simple-minded one-track engagement-maximising morons.

We are writers.

And writers are allowed a little nuance, a little dancing in the grey areas.

What I'm about to describe is only one way to do it.

Sometimes you'll know your big idea first and brainstorm under it.

Sometimes it'll be vague and you're going to brainstorm ideas and then hone in on the big idea.

So I don't want you to treat this as prescriptive. This is not a "system" you have to follow, but a set of steps you can take in any order, depending on what you're doing.

The first thing of course is to

Before you start to write anything, you must do this.

You must ask "What is the point?" not just of your writing practice...

...but of the piece that you're writing right now.

What is the point of the piece? What ONE thing do you want your reader to come away with.

Whatever it is, boil it down to one sentence and write it at the top of the page.

The reason we do this is simple:

We need to set the boundary of what we're going to talk about. Otherwise you'll end up with a vague mélange of muddled ideas.

(Clarification: that's mélange, from the French "to mix" and meaning "A mixture; a collection of heterogeneous items or elements, a medley" and not melange, which is the proper name of 'the spice' from the book Dune.)

A piece without a point is an arrow with a soft rubber tip. You'll never know if it hits the target because it bounces around. It does nothing.

You need focus.

Say one thing, say it well. Don't say five things badly.

So choose that "one big idea" and set the boundary of your piece.

You can do this later, but it's much more efficient to start with ten minutes of thinking than to write a bunch of irrelevant stuff and delete it later.

It will help you when you:

Brainstorming is a horrible word, but it's a helpful process. Take the boundaries you set, whether it's a big idea or a vague theme and feeling.

Sit down, turn off your phone and distractions. I like to use pen and paper for this but you do you.

(Pen and paper is definitely best though, trust me.)

Now, look at the boundary you set and write down every single thing that comes to mind. Do this for at least half an hour when you first start.

Eventually, you might be able to cut that down but it's important not to stop when you "run out of ideas". I promise that if you cudgel your brain for another ten minutes after that point, you'll come up with more.

Even better, stop and go for a walk after and then write down some more ideas when you get back.

Write down everything.

When time is up AND you've run out of ideas, step back, do a stretch or a little dance, and begin to...

Here is where we start to shape our outline.

If you stormed your ol' noggin you'll have oodles of ideas. Short snippets, little phrases, facts and statistics and stuff like that.

Sort 'em into categories, like with like. Don't worry about it being perfect, just start to sort it into some sort of grouping. Little buckets of thought, different ideas that fit together, sentences that support each other, facts that play into those ideas.

Keep your big idea in mind and you'll start to see the backbone of your piece.

Well, then it's time to cut yourself open and

This is where it comes together. As you sort, you'll see themes and groupings emerge. Pearls that you can string together into a necklace. Tiles you can assemble into a mosaic. Vertebrae in a backbone.

Bearing in mind your one big idea, how do you best support that idea? What pieces of evidence are key? What arguments and groupings matter most? Pick them out and make headings.

I suggest three, it's the most persuasive generally. No, that's not an ironclad rule, but in most cases one big idea, three headings, three subheadings in each and boom. You've nailed it.

Once you've got it, it's on to the hard part.

Delete your darling and only...

Draw a line at the bottom of your page (if you’re working physically) or start a new page or something.

This is important. Okay, we're not actually deleting anything. This is a psychologically powerful reframe. Just create a new box you can put things in that you might well use later in something else.

Now, look over your points, your snippets. Are any of them less good? Less strong? Move them below the line.

Meanwhile, put the good points under your three headings you set earlier. If it doesn't fit, stick it below the line. Nothing should distract from your point. I can get away with random parenthesis and digressions because I make them engaging but believe me that's much harder than just saving it to use another time...

Maybe you'll end up with too little to support your claim, your big idea.

This is when you go and do research. Read up on it, study the area, see if you can find more details and statistics that back up your big idea. Maybe you're wrong and need to tweak things. Do that now.

You want a focused set of points that support your big idea without wasting a moment of the reader's time.

Success or failure is determined by how many people come away convinced of that one big idea. How many people grasp the point?

Everything else is extraneous, use it elsewhere. If you don't know your big idea, if you can't answer "what's the point?"

Well, then you're wasting your time and your reader’s time.

I mean, if you don’t know your big idea, your one point you’re trying to prove then you could show it to a thousand people and waste your time. After all…

How would you even know if it worked?

Or to quote Kyle:

What's the point?

Until next week, may your pipesmoke be smooth and your writing pointy,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

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