Throughout my years of teaching writing in a tertiary education institution, one of the problems that students face is on how to begin writing an essay. I'm sure you've been through it, the long hours of staring at your screen not knowing how to begin writing the first sentence of your project, article or essay.
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For some of us Steemians, we face the same issues too. There are days where we just don't know how to write that first sentence despite having an idea of what we are going to talk about. Over the years, I've developed a few ways of how to teach my students on how to begin crafting an essay. So let us begin!
Begin with an idea in mind
This is the most important step to start writing, sometimes the students or even us Steemians may not have an idea in mind. As such, I would suggest doing some brainstorming activities. Here is an article on how to generate ideas quickly for both Steemians and the students in a writing class.
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The goal of doing so is to develop a rough framework of your article which will form the focus of your article. Without this, it can be difficult to zero in on a focus. As such, this will make starting an article nearly impossible.
Begin with a problem
This is my favorite way of starting an article. Take a look at my other articles and you would notice a pattern. Most of the time, I would begin with a problem. This is because most people read through an article to gain knowledge or insight towards a certain issue.
Take this article for example, I'm sure as a reader, you are interested to find ways on how to improve your writing on Steemit. Perhaps, you are facing the problem having spent too much time thinking of how to begin writing that first sentence. As such, it is my goal to help you address that need and by doing so, this makes reading my article worthwhile.
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If you choose to begin with a problem, start by first addressing the following:
Address that there is a general problem being faced by the world: This helps paint a picture that this problem is relevant to the world. This is your main starting point where you describe the problem from a general point of view.
Address that this problem is being faced by your culture/country: This helps the reader focus on the issue, perhaps the target audience is based in your country. As such, writing how this problem affects your country would make the problem more contextualized.
Address that this problem is being faced by you: This personalizes the problem, making the problem identifiable by others who may be facing a similar situation.
All these guidelines can not only help you begin writing on Steemit faster, but it also helps the students in the classroom focus. These ideas do not necessarily make you think in a certain way, but nudges you in a particular direction that will help you start developing your writing. However, this only applies to non-fiction articles.
Begin strong
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If you are writing or teaching a story, perhaps, you may want to begin your article differently. I call this technique beginning strong. For that, let me draw your attention to a few movies. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the beginning scene is an action scene. This is similar in the remake of Star Trek and Star Wars: Episode 3. They begin with action to attract the audience's attention. As they do this, it makes you wonder if the protagonists will survive or how the movie would progress.
This is similar in writing a story, begin with something sad, exciting or even tragic. This will help draw the attention of your readers, making them wonder what would happen next and would likely ensure that they will finish reading your article.
Conclusion
That's all for me and I hope this was helpful. I have simplified most of my ideas and experiences and if you would like something a little more in-depth or more detailed, please let me know in the comments below. A big shout-out to Steemiteduction for giving educators a voice on Steemit.
To all teachers and fellow Steemians, I hope this helps you in your journey. Be blessed.
