7 Writing Tips for People Who Hate Writing
I know this may sound strange coming from a professional writer, but there are certainly times when I just don’t feel like writing. Maybe the words aren’t coming out as easily as they usually do, or the topic is a bit boring. Or maybe I just simply don’t feel like it.
Regardless of the reason, writing can be a challenging task. So, what do you do when you absolutely hate writing, but you have to write? Over the years, I’ve successfully used these 7 writing techniques whenever I felt a bit “meh” about churning out a bunch of words but had to anyway.
Sum It Up
I never start work on a piece until I’m able to sum up the main point in ~25 words or less. If I can’t sum it up, chances are I don’t understand it enough or it’s not clear enough in my head, which means it’s pointless for me to write about it yet (and I need to do a little more research).
So before you begin writing, sum up the main point of whatever it is you are writing in less than 25 words. Think about what you’re trying to achieve with whatever it is you’re writing. What is the ultimate goal? Summing this up will help clarify why you’re writing what you’re writing, and will motivate you to start.
Assign Yourself a Deadline
People freak out when I talk about planning their writing, because they’re afraid that it’ll freeze them up even further. But this is simply not the case.
If I don’t assign myself a deadline on a piece, I know I will put it off until I can no longer put it off. And it’s just not a practical way to publish or produce content, ever.
So before you write anything, give yourself a strict deadline. Don’t schedule it too far so that you won’t remember to do it, but give yourself enough time so that it’s achievable. Set a reminder in your calendar, notifications, and alarms, and stick with it.
Write In Increments
If you’re writing a longer piece, like a user guide or an ebook, split up your writing into achievable increments.
For example, after you’ve set a deadline, figure out how many words per day (or per week or per month) it will take you to finish your piece for that deadline, and split your project in a way that will help you get it done. Writing 2,000 words in a single day might seem daunting; however, writing 200 words every day is a much less onerous task.
If your deadline was yesterday, then use a timing technique like the Pomodoro technique to work in short bursts, with short breaks in between. This will satisfy your inner instant-gratification demon while also helping you get stuff done!
Talk It Out
When I write case studies or articles, the first step is always to set up an interview with the client or subject-matter expert. It’s a recorded interview in which we do as little interrupting as possible and just let the other person talk — it’s very rare that people have absolutely nothing to say on a subject, especially when they’re being interviewed or recorded. It’s not hard to get people to talk about a specific topic, even when they’re not experts.
So if you’re having trouble writing, do this:
Pick a topic;
Sum up your point/figure out your main thesis. This doesn’t have to be onerous — something as simple as “I agree/disagree with [topic]” should be enough to get you going;
Set a timer — 15–30 minutes is usually a good starting point;
Start recording yourself talking it out;
Transcribe — obviously, you don’t have to do this yourself if you don’t have the time. You can use a service such as X or Y to speed up the process. However, I suggest you try transcribing your recordings at least once — you’ll see that usually, listening to yourself prompts you to add things to your arguments and help solidify them.
Have a Conversation
If you feel a little awkward having a conversation with yourself, then have a conversation with someone else about the topic you want to write about. It helps if the person is somewhat well-versed or familiar with the topic you’re writing about, but it’s not necessary.
I recommend recording this conversation, but if you’re afraid that this might make the conversation slightly unnatural or forced, then just have a notepad nearby and jot down any major points or ideas. The trick to this writing technique is to keep the conversation short — one hour at the most, so that you can jot down your notes and get writing as soon as the conversation is over.
Once I’ve chatted about a tricky topic with someone else, I’m almost always ready to write about it, or at least have a fresh perspective that helps me come up with an interesting angle.
Embrace Freeform Writing
A lot of people tend to self-edit while writing. This is a big mistake.
Whenever I write something, the first draft is almost always horrendous, but I sort of do it on purpose. I just write whatever comes through my head that is relevant to the topic at hand. I don’t worry about punctuation or spelling or anything, and just kind of brain-dump all the possible information I have about a topic. If I’m doing research simultaneously, I’ll plop in any relevant quotations or references I’ll want to use later in the same document and just keep going.
So here’s a fun process to try:
Open up a blank document (or pen-and-paper it, if you’re so inclined).
Set a timer. 15 minutes sometimes does it. Sometimes you need longer, sometimes you need less. Feel it out.
Backspace or delete is forbidden. So type type type and it doesn’t matter if what you just wrote isn’t perfect, just keep going until the timer is up.
If you freeform without a specific topic or thesis in mind, you might not get the expected result right away. So try to always stick to a particular topic before delving into freeform writing.
Write First, Edit Last
People have this idea that writing is an intuitive process that flows out of a person as a river flows downstream. But writing isn’t a linear, straightforward process. Rather than a smoothly flowing river, writing something is more like chipping away at a block of marble. And if you chip at it methodically enough, it somehow becomes a statue.
I never start with the beginning of a piece. I used to think that writing needed to happen linearly, but ever since I had to produce a high volume of pieces when I became a freelance writer, I realized that structure sometimes comes later.
So I just start with a little free writing about the topic I’m covering — I just bash the keyboard frantically, until something magical happens: the text starts to divide itself into logical pieces.
Take this article you’re reading, for example. In its “free writing” stage, the first few paragraphs looked like this:
I then separated the chunk of text with relevant, draft subheadings:
Once I did this with all the other paragraphs, I filled in the blanks (e.g. added missing information, strengthened the writing, etc.), and then edited the text. The final three paragraphs turned into this:
You can obviously outline your text beforehand, but if you’re stuck, sometimes it’s just easier to start writing and plan later!
Outsource
It’s okay, I won’t judge — if you hate writing, you hate writing!
There’s no reason to beat yourself up about it. So the next logical step to cure the pain is to hire someone who loves writing. You can go for a freelancer, a productised service, or an agency — whatever you choose, the best part is knowing that you will never have to force yourself to write again!
