Comments on: Why you don’t have to write in straight lines. http://3000messagesblog.com/2009/08/14/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-write-in-straight-lines/ What about yours? Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:14:34 +0000 hourly 1 By: Gordon Woolf http://3000messagesblog.com/2009/08/14/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-write-in-straight-lines/comment-page-1/#comment-112 Gordon Woolf Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:29:55 +0000 http://3000messagesblog.com/?p=163#comment-112 And as a staff writer, what was my answer when really up against it? Type every fact or comment as a paragraph on a separate sheet, throw them in the air, and do a bit of re-ordering when they landed. Another was to fan out the cut paras like a hand in cards and sort them. I've still been known to print out a sheet, cut the paragraphs into strips and shuffle when I really have trouble with how to start. And of course I'm sure I'm not the only writer who writes a first paragraph just to get going and then finds all that is needed is to delete that and the piece is ready to go. When I was training journalists, I overheard one telling the others about the man he'd just interviewed. I called him in, handed him back his story and told him to write it the way he'd just been telling his mates. That sounded a lot better than how it written it for me. And as a staff writer, what was my answer when really up against it? Type every fact or comment as a paragraph on a separate sheet, throw them in the air, and do a bit of re-ordering when they landed. Another was to fan out the cut paras like a hand in cards and sort them.

I’ve still been known to print out a sheet, cut the paragraphs into strips and shuffle when I really have trouble with how to start.

And of course I’m sure I’m not the only writer who writes a first paragraph just to get going and then finds all that is needed is to delete that and the piece is ready to go.

When I was training journalists, I overheard one telling the others about the man he’d just interviewed. I called him in, handed him back his story and told him to write it the way he’d just been telling his mates. That sounded a lot better than how it written it for me.

]]>