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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33636
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33636
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If I answer late, I only answer if I can think of something not already said. With an exception for things said, but I think poorly, or weighted with unnecessary baggage. I +1 anything said that I would have also said, unless that answer includes something I definitely disagree with.

For normally answered questions, recently posted, I have no definite structure. I am a discovery writer, for starters, and my approach to teaching has been successful and loosely structured: I figure out what the student is thinking, where they are going wrong, and address that issue.

I don't think it makes a difference what the subject is: Student's asking questions, especially things I'd expect them to know, have some fundamental misunderstanding that needs to be corrected. Sometimes that is shallow, sometimes it is deep.

So my objective is always to see if I can find what is probably their fundamental misunderstanding about the mechanics of writing, or science, or culture. I take my best guess at what are they missing about writing something entertaining, **_why they had to ask the question,_** and I address that.

I only tie it back to some kind of fundamental if I think they have a fundamental misunderstanding. If they just aren't clear about something fairly simple, I'll just clear that up.

So my structure depends on that. Headings don't hurt, but might be silly in a few paragraphs. Citation links don't hurt, but I may not have any, or cannot quickly find what I am looking for.

> Quotes from existing publications might help, but preferably only if I can cut and paste them from somewhere.

> Original examples might help, if I can think of something fairly short.

I am a discovery writer, I do not write from an outline or template. I do revise, I will often write a fairly lengthy answer and in the process realize what the headline answer should be, and go back and stuff it in, and perhaps rewrite and rearrange to make that the central idea of my response.

Original score: 13