One Way to Write an Article

Normally, I had little trouble writing school assignments. But one day I was having a problem trying to write a quick one-page essay for a class when the teacher happened to stop at my desk. She looked at the blank paper in front of me, and understood the perplexed expression on my face. "Write the first sentence and the last sentence, then fill in the stuff between," she said quietly. As I looked up at her in astonishment, she nodded and walked away. She had just given me a formula for article writing that I continue to use to this day.

I knew what I wanted to say, but somehow the words simply had not come, which for me was unusual. But every journalism student learns the "five W's" (who, what, where, why, and when) on the first day of class. So I created my first sentence by describing who did what, and where, and for what reason. Then I wrote a sentence about the outcome of the event I was describing. Those two sentences marked the beginning and the end of the paper. After that, all I had to do was to describe the important things that happened in between those two sentences.

It is easy to get lost in the details when you are working on an article or story and to lose sight of the point you are trying to make. It is even harder to know what material to include and what either does not belong in that article, or perhaps belongs in a different one. By writing down the first and last sentences first, you create 'anchors' to work from. The first sentence is your starting point and describes what you are writing about. The last sentence summarizes the point of the article or, in other terms, why the information in the article is valuable or enlightening. You wanted to write the story for a reason, and this is where you write down that reason.

Filling in the "stuff" between the first and last sentences is easier once you have completed those lines. On the first draft, you can write down whatever it is you want to say, and many writers simply let the words flow at that point. Others work more carefully, outlining their main points and then turning their outlined points into sentences and paragraphs.

Once that draft is completed, go back and test each sentence to see if it supports either the first or the last sentence. If it does, then leave it. But if it does not, then it will detract from the point of your story and must be removed, even if it is one of the best lines you have ever written. Writing instructors emphasize time and time again that you must tighten your story by paring out every single word or sentence that does not contribute something to your main idea. And finally, check your first and last sentences. You may find by the time you have finished your article that there is a better way to express the opening of the closing of your article.

By creating a definite starting point and ending for your story, you will learn to avoid those little "side trips" that create distractions for your reader. The side trips themselves may prove valuable as starting points for another article, so you may want to separate them from your current article and develop them as either a first or a last sentence.

There is one more benefit to using this formula. If you encounter a case of writer' block, and we all do from time to time, creating those first two sentences can open the floodgates and start the flow of words once more. It can even be useful in creating chapter openings and endings for that book you want to write.

That teacher passed on to me a valuable writing tool a long time ago. Now, many years later, I am attempting to repay her by passing on this bit of wisdom in the hope that it will help others as she helped me.