Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Pulling an idea through in spite of the need to correct details

First, this question is not quite about writer's block or dealing with self-criticism. I find myself often in the following situation: I want to write a short piece of non-fiction and have plenty ...

1 answer  ·  posted 11y ago by yrodro‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question fiction non-fiction
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:04:33Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/8865
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar yrodro‭ · 2019-12-08T03:04:33Z (almost 5 years ago)
First, this question is not quite about writer's block or dealing with self-criticism.

I find myself often in the following situation: I want to write a short piece of non-fiction and have plenty of ideas to drive the discussion from a nice introduction to the heart of topic, to an end that wraps the discussion in a nice manner. I decide what to say in the first paragraph, with a view to catch the reader's attention and to introduce the theme in an original way...

...then I am so happy with the structure I want to develop, that I get bogged down trying to construct the perfect first sentence; and it takes a looong time to make it come out just right. Then for the second paragraph the same, and so on.

I am happy with the end results, but it is a drag. Now, I am aware of the notion that the first draft should be rough and that the editing process comes later. I am ok with that. What I need to know is how to quickly find the approximate turn of phrase I want in the beginning so I can continue into the main body of the piece?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-09-12T03:01:32Z (about 11 years ago)
Original score: 4