The more I write, the more I become aware of the ways others do it.
The more I become aware of the ways others craft winning ideas, the more I notice the importance of form.
Great ideas have definition. I’m seeing a distinct beginning, middle and end in great works.
Whether it’s a blog post, speech, song, joke or movie dialogue, I see this rule of three.
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Lead off with a strong beginning. State your idea right away. Get their attention. Reel them in.
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Get into the middle and develop the idea. Details are good, but beware of tangents. Keep it simple.
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Bring it to a strong closing. Restate your idea. It should have more weight now if you’ve worked through your intro and body properly.
Form is supreme when you’re writing for others. Don’t assume they have the same familiarity or passion for the topic as you.
How often do we hear people talk to a crowd and leave us with nothing, no takeaways, no sense of what their point was?
People have less patience than ever to hear your point.
Keep it simple.
Keep it defined.
You can probably think of an example that breaks this convention and works. I’m not denying that. But look at the vast majority of great writing and it usually has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Now that I’m aware of this design pattern, I see it everywhere. This goes for spontaneous speaking as well by the way.
published .
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