A new year has begun and if you are like me, getting a fresh start on story lines and article ideas is a number one priority. From an article on better writing Kathi Cacias wrote:
The Train-of-Thought Writing Method
Here are a five thoughts from her "train-of-an-idea" article :
1. Find and maintain focus on your story by laying the track. Writing an outline helps many writers to stay on target. If you aren't used to writing an outline--try it. It can help you keep focused.
2. Snagging the reader with a great "cow-catching" idea. Write your opening scene or story with an idea that just won't quit. It should grab your reader so they won't want to stop.
3. Getting the piece moving in the right direction with the locomotive. This moving direction helps your story line to stay interesting to the reader.
4. Defining, arranging and organizing our main points through the careful construction of boxcars. Each part of your story is important so pay attention to those details as you edit your piece. It should not be too short to miss information but yet not too long to bore your readers. Take a pen and bank pages and think through your story/manuscript from start to finish. Arrange your pages with the story line or non-fiction information in logical order and pay attention to the difficult parts.
5. Connect the dots by hooking these difficult parts together to form a smooth and fluid whole. You may have several well built boxcars all aligned in perfect order but if they are disconnected from each other, they will never move your readers along on your journey through your story.
I hope these ideas help you write a better story where readers will not be able to put it down.
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