In Part 1 of this series we covered some of the preliminary elements that may be preventing you from writing as quickly as you could be. We learned the importance of touch-typing, writing tools and creating an efficient writing station. In Part 2 we’ll move on to a few practical techniques that I’ve employed in my 20-plus years of professional writing.

Know What You Want To Say

When I am coaching other writers, the first question that I always ask is “What are you trying to say?” A stunningly large percent of them cannot provide a good answer. If you don’t know what you are trying to write, and who will read it, then you cannot hope to accomplish the task quickly. Before you begin any writing task, ask yourself these questions:

1. What am I trying to say?

That is, what is the purpose of your writing? What gap are trying to fill? What questions are you trying to answer? You must have a good answer to this most basic question in order to move on.

2. Who is the audience for this writing?

Your writing style will differ depending on who will end up reading it. Are they a smart crowd, or a set of beginners? Are the older and cynical? Or young and full of anticipation? Are they interested in what you have to say? Or will you be working hard to win them over? All of these questions will shape the way your final work looks.

3. What will the output of my effort look like?

Imagining the finished work is a little secret that I’ve revealed only a handful of times. It works like this: Before you begin to write, take a moment, close your eyes, and envision the work completed. All of your writing is done, and the customer, client or reader is enthralled with the word you created. Now, what does your work look like? Is it a hardback book? A postcard? A spiral-bound notebook? A sales letter? Or perhaps it isn’t a physical object at all, but just a PDF file that people can download.

Knowing this answer will help you visualize the work coming together, and will let you more quickly know if your are on the right track, or if you need to rethink your effort.

4. How long will the finished product be?

When I was in school, I asked teachers all the time how long my assignments needed to be. Often the teachers answered this question with a sarcastic “your work should be as long as it needs to be to cover the topic.” It’s never easy to work under those vague conditions. When I became a professional author, the answer to that question changed drastically. Every editor I’ve ever worked with knew exactly how long the finished product should be, and could tell me in very definite terms. 1500 words, 10,000 words, 200 pages… the numbers were etched in stone, and gave a sort of “finish line” to shoot for.

Today, I recommend setting up those same finish lines for yourself. If you’ve thought about the first three questions, you should be able to, without much effort, determine how long your work will be. Then set that number up as a goal and get to work.

When all four questions have been answered, your preliminary work is complete, and you can move on to the steps listed in Part 3 of this series, where I’ll uncover some little-known tricks professional writers use to greatly increase the amount of work we complete in a day.

These are just a few of many great strategies for writing that I’ve learned or developed over the years. If you are interested in discovering 5 more great sales writing techniques (ones that your competition doesn’t know about), I’ve got Tip Sheets and Mini-courses for you to use without risk or obligation. Go to http://www.FictionSecrets.com and let me know where to send it.

Kevin Franz is a successful fiction author and online marketer. For more than twenty years he has made his living putting words to paper, and he has helped thousands create their first written works. He is currently showing internet marketers how to incorporate the techniques of great fiction into their online sales efforts. You can find the details on his blog – http://www.kevinfranz.wordpress.com.

NJVF Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ptdr

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