Recently I read a useful article about maximizing your writing time. The information was excellent. But what interested me more was that it was yet another example of a skilled writer putting a new spin on an evergreen topic.
How many articles do you suppose are out there on the topic of writing habits? I Googled 'writing habits' and got 80,800,000 results. Eighty. Million. Now before you decide this topic has been done to death and move on to writing about The Mating Habits of the Female Chartreuse Banded Whelk Nipper, consider this: 80 million writers can't be wrong. That indicates strong demand, strong interest. So what difference can your article make among those millions? YOU. YOU are the difference. You are writing, let's be honest, an article that will probably have some elements of a re-hash. But you will be writing it with your own unique spin, and that's why we need 80,800,001 of these articles. You never know when your article will be the one that makes a difference to one reader out there who just hasn't been grabbed by that topic yet.
The article I mentioned earlier chose to link the topic of writing habits with sports. Specifically, the BSD college sports teams in her hometown, Michigan State University. Now this I didn't Google, but I am willing to bet there aren't many writing articles with an MSU frame.
Examine that article and you will see the scaffolding behind the structure.
- Start strong - craft a good quality intro. "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em".
- "Tell 'em": Select the foundation - for our purposes, let's use the ironclad writing rule of three distinct elements of your topic; in this case, writing habits.
- Select the style - three more elements from the mash-up topic. My gut feeling is the article will be improved if you have some personal connection to the mash-up topic, but choose anything you think is a good fit. Often, the elements you have selected for your foundation topic will suggest elements from the mash-up topic. See example below.
- Link each pair in three well-organized bullet points or paragraphs.
- Finish with a wrap-up. "Tell 'em what you just told 'em".
- Add a pertinent graphic if you like.
To recap: evergreen topic + personal touch + structure = Success! There's your article, unique and ready to push Publish.
Let's put this plan into action with two completely random topics, just to show how it works. How about Good Driving Habits (our evergreen topic) and Pizza (something close to my heart).
Main topic: Good Driving Habits
Our three main points are:
- Be aware of other drivers
- Keep your vehicle in good, safe operating condition
- Make responsible choices
Mash-up topic (the topic that makes our evergreen article unique): Pizza
Our three Pizza points are driven by the points we chose for our main topic, to wit:
- Our first driving point is 'be aware':
If you enjoy pizza as much as I do, you probably take pains to familiarize yourself with the pizzas offered in your area. You don't want to end up hugging the toilet because you couldn't be bothered to Yelp and find out that kitschy joint across the street has been closed by the health department three different times. Likewise, learn the likely driving behaviors on your regular routes. If you pass near a high school, what time does school get out? AVOID. Do you live in Florida? If you cannot see the driver's head over the front seat head rest, prepare for slow travel and even slower right-hand turns into retail strips, especially if it is time for the Early Bird Special at the local Chinese buffet.
- 2nd point 'vehicle maintenance':
Quality pizzerias keep their kitchens clean and their ovens safe. No one wants to be featured on the evening news with the photo of the cockroach as one of the accidental toppings. Follow their example. Commit to performing simple car maintenance tasks that will save you heartache in the long run. No one wants to be featured on the evening news when their car fire causes four lanes to be shut down during Labor Day weekend rush hour.
- 3rd point 'responsible choices':
Pizza lovers enjoy their pizza, but we know our limitations. No matter how tempting, if you are on cholesterol meds, just say no to the extra large all-meat supreme. Similarly, do not operate a two ton vehicle at freeway speeds if you are planning on enjoying adult beverages beforehand. Both choices may seem harmless until the EMT holds those paddles over your bare chest and yells 'CLEAR!'.
Easy-peasy. Add a snappy intro and outro and voila! you've got the thin-crust-black-olive-and-onion of evergreen articles, fresh out of the creative oven. Can't wait to see what you cook up next!
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Great ideas, Lissa. It is challenging to keep cranking out original content, but I find your post encouraging.
I used to get overwhelmed about trying to create 'original content'. When I figured out the point the other author made about anything we write being original because it's original to US, I was able to relax and think about content from a different perspective.