Tip #2: PLAN

Hello everyone! This is the second of 12 writing tips to improve your writing coming your way. These 12 tips are from my experience of writing a book, writing poems and giving exams.

My second tip for you is TO PLAN.

Now, I am sure that all writers have heard of this tip often. “Plan your writing.” “Outline your plot.” “Structure your piece.” But how do you plan effectively without spending too much time on it?

There are many ways to plan, and each method is different for each writer.

Personally, I like to plan by jotting down whatever comes to my head, drawing arrows to link ideas together and listing vocabulary that relates to my topic. My plans are usually very messy, and that is okay!

Your plan doesn’t need to be organised, but in order to be organised, you must plan.

For example, if you were visualising the room of an old man, you would have imagined a bed, a desk or a bookshelf. You would’ve also imagined the walls and the floors. List down these basic parts that make up the outline of your piece, and elaborate on each word. For example, you can elaborate on the word ‘bed’.

Here is an example:

Plan option #1- Mind map

If this method doesn’t work for you, and you prefer to have a more organised plan, consider listing bullet points- with the word ‘bed’ as your main heading, and then the describing words and phrases beneath it. You may also roughly sketch what you imagined in your head if having a physical copy of what you’re going to describe or narrate in front of you helps. Beneath each element, you can jot down its characteristics.

For example, if you roughly sketch the layout of the old man’s room, beneath the bed, you can list its characteristics.

Here are some alternate examples:

Plan option #2- Neat list

Plan option #3- Rough sketch

These planning methods can work for any kind of essay. Read a sample descriptive based on the above plans here.

If you were writing a narrative essay, for example, you could sketch out a scene, and use arrows to indicate action and speech bubbles for dialogues.

Planning does not need to take up much time. In fact, if you had visualised (tip #1) your idea before planning, you would have many keywords in your head to list down and your ideas would flow extremely smoothly.

In my experience, I don’t spend too much time thinking while planning. Once visualised, all the thinking has been done. All I need to do is pen down the ideas fresh in my head. This makes the writing process extremely easy and will allow it to follow a pragmatic structure. It will also prevent your thoughts from being scattered in your writing.

Numerous times, I have forgotten to plan, or not planned efficiently. I find that without a plan, I scramble to express what I want to, appropriately.

If you are writing a longer piece, over multiple days, months or years, having a plan will allow you to return to your story, without forgetting where you began or losing the chain of thought. If you haven't planned, and then start writing, you will find that you will keep editing the first few paragraphs or chapters, because you now have a new idea for the story, or have forgotten your older one.

Therefore, I advise you to plan quickly, but effectively.

Bonus digital art piece (my second attempt)

A Cute Elf