Effectively communicating your ideas to your readers requires good structure and organization. Knowing what to say first, how to guide your reader from one section to another, and where to add information and insights can make your writing powerful and professional. No matter what kind of writing you do, you'll find that good organization takes your work to the next level.
Organizing Your Writing Makes It More Effective
Whether you write fiction, poetry, non-fiction, or any other type of work, writing is always about clearly communicating ideas to your reader. In order to be clear and compelling, you need to present the right information in the right order. The order you use and the details you choose to include can drastically affect how well your reader understands what you're trying to say - whether that's a strong poetic image or clear support for your thesis in an essay.
Good Organization Looks Professional
In addition to the message you're trying to convey, your reader will take away an impression from your work. If it's poorly organized and hard to follow, your audience may see it as amateurish and rough feeling. On the other hand, if your organization is clear with smooth transitions and just the right amount of detail, your reader will feel confident in the information you are presenting. Your work will look polished and professional, and that's important for any kind of writing.
It Makes Your Work More Immersive
Every time your reader has to stop for a second to try to make sense of what you're saying or figure out a detail of the chronology in your text, he or she needs to leave the world you have created with your words. This can be jarring, and it weakens your work. However, if you make things clear and eliminate the need for your reader to stop and figure things out, your reader can be immersed in your writing. This is especially true with fiction, but it's also the case for other types of writing.
You Won't Miss Important Details
If you've ever jotted down an email to a friend about upcoming plans only to discover that you missed conveying some of the most important details, you know already how essential organization is in writing work. An outline helps with this, but even if you don't want to use an outline, a list of the details you plan to include can help keep you on track. That way, your finished piece won't skip anything your reader needs to know or understand. This is absolutely essential for non-fiction, especially any kind of procedure. However, it's a good idea for any type of writing.
Organization Keeps You From Repeating Yourself
Just like good organization can keep your from missing things, it can also prevent repetition. Even essays and shorter pieces are prone to redundancy if the planning isn't there, but this is even more of a problem with longer work. It can be challenging to remember what you've already said, especially if it's been several days since you last worked on the piece or if it's something you're writing over the course of weeks or months. An outline or other plan can make your writing more concise.
Planning and Organization Save You Time
Organized writing doesn't just benefit the reader; it helps the writer too. If you know where you're headed as you're writing, you won't need to spend as much time revising later. This is especially true with longer works that may have multiple parts or plotlines to keep track of. It's easy for the writer to get lost working on these longer pieces and then have to go back and rework large sections as a result. Proper organization from the beginning can cut this time drastically, especially in the case of novels, plays, scripts, memoirs, or any type of book-length work.
Create a Plan for Great Writing
It may not be fun to think about organizing your writing, but it's an important part of any type of work. Think of it as the grocery list you make before you shop for and prepare a huge meal. No one likes making a plan, but it's hard to successfully pull off great writing without one.
