
Ask HN: How do you write effectively? - feroz1
Hey guys,<p>Just wondered how you churn out effective content?<p>I.e. If you have to write 10&#x2F;20 pieces of content a week how do you do that? How do you 1. Come up with the topics. And 2. How do you actually sit down and write it and not get distracted?<p>thanks!
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Rannath
It's been a few years since university, but:

Coming up with ideas is an exercise in creativity. So you need to exercise
your creativity. Brainstorm everyday try to come up with 10 topics, they don't
need to be good. Optionally, prune them down to what you think is good, and
summarize why you think so. When it's easy come up with 10 do 15, 20, etc.
Eventually you'll have the creativity muscles of Stephen King :).

Not getting distracted is a matter of discipline. Set aside time everyday to
write. Start small and work up (a few hundred words then work your way up to
2000+). Beyond that have a basic idea what you want to write. Outlines help
immensely.

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verganileonardo
Hey! My two cents

2 sources of ideas: \- Keyword Research (use SEM Rush, KeywordTool.io and
AnswerThePublic; this is great for SEO)

\- Qualitative Research with customers/leads (just send an email asking them
what are their goals, challenges, obstacles, etc; that is a great way to start
writing topics that your clients care about)

How to write fast \- I try to copy the structure of similar articles and then
fill in the blanks \- I just sit and write as fast as I can - and then review
and edit to make it better. I think that separating this two steps is a great
way to write more - first you write, then you judge your content.

Another tip \- I usually see more success writing fewer articles with higher
quality (and word count!) - 2k+ words articles perform a lot better and can
position you as a source of relevant and deep content

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npratini
Hard to answer the ideas question without more context, but I'd focus on ideas
related to something you are passionate/knowledgeable/curious/have an opinion
about. It's so much easier to write a piece of content when you actually care
about the topic and have something add to what's already out there.

As for writing, I find it super helpful to have a formula that I can repeat
for multiple articles... again, depends on the topics you're writing about.
Give yourself timeframes - you'll probably fail to stay within the limits at
first, but it can often help to keep you focused.

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ISL
It's hard to imagine having 10 important things to say to the world in a week.

If forced to do so, I would consider whatever is really important to my
audience and write forthright, accurate information about those things.

