Writing Content: Developing Ideas

Methods in this video

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1. 1

   Advice and opinions: develop one point fully: the advice, why it helps, a specific example, what the reader gains

   ▶ 0:46

   When to use it: When you write advice or an opinion (an advice sheet, a letter, an article); a paragraph is only one sentence of advice or opinion; three or four tips get one sentence each; or the score report's development card shows a point that stops at the first step.

   • Make the advice specific: the reader knows exactly what to do.
   • Say why it helps: ask the reader's question "Why?" for them.
   • Give a specific example: one specific situation (when, where, what happened), not the same advice said another way.
   • Go back to what the task asks for and say what the reader gains.
   • A list where every tip stops at step one is not a developed point.
   • Develop the point that matters most fully; the rest can stay short, in a little Tips box.
   • More paragraphs aren't more developed: with too many, each one stays too short.
2. 2

   Stories: slow down the moment that matters: actions, senses, thoughts and feelings, then what happens next

   ▶ 4:36

   When to use it: When you write a story or a diary entry and the moment that matters (the one the task names, a turning point, the ending) is over in one sentence (She was very excited. / That was the end of my first trip on my own.), or you want to make it exciting with a pile of adjectives.

   • Slow down the moment that matters.
   • Actions: what the hands are doing, step by step.
   • Senses: what you see, hear and touch.
   • Thoughts and feelings: what's going on inside and the words in your head; don't let one feeling word do all the work (show, don't tell).
   • Then lead into what happens next.
   • Slow down only the one or two moments that matter most; you can slow down a moment in the ending, too. Don't pile up adjectives that mean the same thing.