Pebblepup's Writing Den

So you’ve done your brainstorming and have some topics. Brainstorming only generates the topics. You have write the words. So, how do you choose the one you plan to write about? To put it in the simplest of terms, you pick one and run with it. That’s it.

All right, there’s a bit more to it. Your topic depends on the project. The scope of the topic is something to consider. How long of a piece do you need or want to write? How many words do you want or need it to be? Is it a personal essay? An informative essay? A blog? Something else? All that has a bearing on the topic you choose in the end.

Look over your list of topics with your planned writing project in mind. Try to figure out what you plan to do with the topic. Once you have a list of topics. You need to decide if the topic is broad or narrow enough for the piece you want to write.

That’s why you need to know what kind of writing you are planning to do before you choose the topic. So consider how much you can get out of the topic.

For example, this topic, “choosing what to write,” is about right for one of my short blogs. In fact, it’s almost too narrow. My blogs are usually about four hundred fifty to five hundred words. So this topic works for my blog.
It’s a narrow enough that I can handle it. It’s wide enough so that I’m not struggling to get the words out. It’s an ideal topic for an informative blog. So I chose it from a list I generated some time ago.

Writing takes planning. The pantsers among you snorted. I know. You like to sit down and write. The kind of planning I’m talking about here is the kind where you know you want to write, say a blog of under a thousand words. You don’t want to pick a topic like, say, astronomy. That’s too broad.

Of course you can narrow it down. If if you wing your writing as a pantser, you do plan what you write. You pantsers do it in your heads.
So when you brainstorm, keep an idea of the type of writing project you want the topic for. Then make your list. Look it over and decide on what topic will fit the constraints of your project.

Of course, I’m assuming you chose your topics based on your interests and needs. Once you have picked you project you are ready to write it. So write the piece. That’s all there is to it. It’s planning, but it’s minimal planning. Match your topic to the piece and you won’t go wrong. Have fun and keep writing.