PREWRITING – A FEW BENEFITS

Prewriting.  Remember that discussion in school about planning your writing before actually starting to type?  Yeah, that stuff.  For any writing project, whether a one page memo or a 100 page e-book, planning your writing just makes sense.

So what is prewriting?  Prewriting involves all the activities (in a process) needed to prepare to write the first draft.  Why not just start typing after that first flash of an idea?

Prewriting offers benefits.  I’ll discuss just a few here as they relate to writing nonfiction books.

1. Prewriting can be a lot of fun.  Anything is possible at this point.  Your ideas can be freewheeling, even idiotic.  Just keep playing with ideas, collecting resources, doing all the activities needed to prepare for the first draft.

2. You get to plan the book to best meet the needs of your readers; figure out the true purposes of your book, for yourself and your readers; play around with different organizational and presentational strategies; think about different features to include.

3. You can easily evaluate new ideas that come flooding into your mind (and they will) without having to delete writing that no longer works.  Does the idea fit your present vision of the book?  If used, would this new idea drastically change the book?  Is this change good or bad?  If good, then where does the idea fit into your present outline?

4. Prewriting allows you to write the first draft more easily because you know what you want to write (no writer’s block).

5. Prewriting increases your confidence as a writer and in your book idea.  You’ll be able to see that the project has merit, that you’ll be able to finish the project and actually write that book!

By the end of the process, you’ll have a full outline of the book and be ready to tackle the first draft.

(c) 2008 Katherine Ploeger

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Katherine Ploeger, MA, MFA, is a writer, teacher,  consultant. She publishes practical, process-oriented information for nonfiction writers and screenwriters on her blog, Katie’s Writing Notes.  Also check out her information at http://www.ploegersservices.com.