7 Tips On How To Turn Your Idea Into An Article
My favorite 7 secret tips I use to turn my ideas into articles
(Not a Medium member? Read this story for free here.)
Serious writers keep coming up with article ideas without thinking too much about the process.
Just like you should have an iterative process when writing, editing, publishing, and promoting your content, you should have an iterative process for coming up with article ideas.
The 7 tips outlined below can help you turn your idea into a final released product
- · 1 Add more detail to your idea to turn it into a concept and premise
You may be surprised at how your idea begins to transform from an idea into a story the moment you actually start writing.
If you’re wondering how to turn your idea into a story that people care about, start by understanding that an idea is just the beginning, and adding more detail to an idea will turn it into a concept and premise that makes it much easier to implement.
Write a story that the reader will like!
- · 2 Put your thoughts on paper about your new brilliant idea — the idea card
Put all your thoughts on paper about your new brilliant idea — a brain dump, if you like. I
In this way, you capture in the idea everything that you thought about, and not just the idea itself.
For example, if you’ve thought about the first sentence of an article you want to write, you can add it to an idea card.
You need something short that will allow you to understand what idea the card represents.
Let’s say, for example, that you had an idea to write a story that would specifically talk about emotions.
Sometimes an idea doesn’t seem enough to turn into an entire story.
You can’t take an idea and write a good story based on a vague idea.
You can be more specific than “emotions” — so give it a go and see what you can come up with, to expand upon “emotions”!
- · 3 Turn your idea into an engaging story that turns your readers into your super-fans
Sometimes you will come to what seems to be the end of an idea’s potential, only to get a new piece of a new idea that focuses on the first and develops into something new.
You have a great idea for a new story, but you need a little help.
If you’re fast enough — if you’re lucky enough to write it down before it’s gone, a great story idea might just slip out of your head and onto your laptop to use later when it’s time to write something new!
While an idea for a story may seem like a turning point, the hardest part is getting a great idea out of your head and turning it into a good, engaging story that turns your readers into super-fans of your story.
- · 4 Refine your idea into a storyline, that can serve as the basis for writing your story
As we quickly learn each time we try to get these ideas down on paper, the real trick is figuring out how to turn an idea into a story that first works and can then be expanded into a jaw-dropping story!
To do this, refine your idea into a storyline that can serve as the basis for writing your story.
If you’re having a hard time identifying additional ideas or topics to explore, it might be time to go back to the main idea and rework it, as well as consider other ways you can approach it to turn it into a fully realized story.
- · 5 Try more focused brainstorming
More focused brainstorming is when you start actively thinking about the aspects of your idea and the direction your potential story could take.
More focused brainstorming can help you create a visual representation of how different aspects of your idea are connected, including themes and potential plot points.
- · 6 Try working on a collaborative project
This part of the process is to unravel your idea and see how it compares to all other ideas.
If you’re working on a collaborative project, it could be a process that you do with others, something that involves everyone coming together to evoke ideas and write them down for everyone to see.
- · 7 Move your idea from the idea card to the idea list
When you’re ready to turn an idea into a written project, move the idea card from the idea list to the to-do list.
Or, to put it another way, your backlog is the set of ideas you want to generate.
That way, you don’t have to recreate the list every time you move from idea to to-do.
You can give yourself a certain amount of time to develop your list or extend the process for a few days so you can add new ideas to your list as you come up with those new ideas!
You can learn how to write articles quickly with a wealth of ideas at your disposal.
With so much to write about and ways to write it down, even a brief brainstorming session might bring more ideas than originally thought possible!
Conclusion — and The Takeaway
Allow yourself to brainstorm as freely as possible, and use the tools and methods at your disposal to qualify ideas and know which ones to prioritize.
If you’re pretty sure you’re not ready yet, it’s time to start putting ideas down on paper, slowly squeezing them, understanding them, and forcing storytelling logic and writing techniques on them to see if they can become something more than just pleasant concepts from the playground of your mind.
If this process seems tedious, which is normal, some writers learn by doing.
The most important factor to take away from my post is to start with an idea designed so that you don’t run into any obstacles in the writing process!
I hope you have found my article to help answer your questions concerning how to turn your idea into an article!
Please share your sentiments in the comments section.
Thank you for reading!
My thanks to Sahil Patel for publishing my article in his stellar Reciprocal publication!
I would like to recognize the work of these incredible writers,
Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar Hope Rising Christina CARMEN F MICSA, MA in English, podcaster and Josephine Crispin
whose writing is over the moon — please read them when you can:
Link to Sahil Patel:
Full Disclosure: These links will take you offsite — outside of Medium:
Like my awesomeness? Please — would you buy me a Ko-fi?
Interview The Rich & Famous! — or –
Steal my “Free Checklist To Interview/Research Impactful and Interesting People” at:
Gumroad
Bonus — Ask me to feature you, too:
An Impactful & Interesting Influencer I featured recently in my LinkedIn Group — Sahil Patel-3× Top Writer in Poetry| Reading | Inspiration —
If you liked my article, subscribe to Medium to get more articles that I publish regularly:
Get an email whenever Patrick OConnell publishes:
You can find me on LinkedIn (ID: azpat0)
If you like my article, check out my other stories on my Medium Profile page!
I am a freelance writer- available to write YOUR blog posts or articles -
Samples of my work are on my Medium Profile page:
and my writing sample (portfolio) website: https://protectmykid.us
Bonus — Check out my favorite strategy to raise YOUR Brand Awareness — free:
I also publish a weekly newsletter on Substack: The Market Algo Newsletter — It forecasts the direction of the S&P 500 market — index for the upcoming week — and global geopolitical commentaries -
Full Disclosure — This link will take you offsite outside of Medium:
Do you have the vision and the passion to manifest Greatness for Everyone? — I can feature you on my YouTube podcast, “The Patrick & Stephanie Show” — to raise your brand awareness!
Do you need to get found, get noticed, and learn how to raise your online marketing “brand awareness”?
If so — we can help! Subscribe and like our YouTube Patrick and Stephanie Show podcast every Monday and Friday for more information on what you need to know about how to be a successful online marketer:
