Here it is: Write what’s most important first. Always.
It’s a concept that a lot of people are familiar with, but not very many put into practice (I’ll give you an example of what I mean in just a bit). Why? We’re taught not to.
Think about it. All of the writing you did in high school and college had an introduction. You had to create a lead in, a little structure, maybe even use the dreaded metaphor.
(J majors, you can stop reading now.)
Anyway, if you’re writing introductions, quit it. Because your web reader wants to get the facts, fast. In order to give it to them, cut the structure and get to the point.
There’s plenty of room to elaborate. You should. Just make sure you’re doing it after you’ve given the information that your title promises
Brian Clark said that each line in a post is a war of attrition. If you think about your writing that way, you really have no choice but to start with everything you’ve got. If what you’re writing is worth reading, people will still be with you at the end.
Here’s an Example
Alright, one of my favorite things to do is to write mashups. So I present to you some famous first lines from Dickens’ A Tale Of Two Cities, rewritten as a blog post…
Original:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Blog edition:
There has never been a more exciting time to be alive than right now.
Some people say the opposite. You’ll get that.
Thinkers, creators, and doers thrive right now. I know because I get to be one. You know who else thrives? A whole bunch of people you’d like to see in hell. Also: those people are very, very loud.
Just a side note- if this kind of thing makes you angry, like I’ve trampled the good name of literature forever, you might like this post better.
Anyway, I stripped all of the poetry and symbolism and rhythm (and everything that makes me love this quote) out. Then, I took the main point and simplified it. That’s how to start.
Other things that make this the beginning of a good blog post:
-The conversational style. It’s a blog, after all.
-The spacing. It makes ideas easy to read.
-It’s polarizing. Love it or hate it, at least I’m not wasting anyone’s time.
Next time you’re trying to think of a witty way to begin your blog post, don’t. Try writing just what you want to say, right from the start.
