While stream of consciousness writing can work in some formats (hello Kurt Vonnegut), it doesn’t fit every circumstance. For most business and marketing communications, thoughts need to be presented in a concise form and flowing logically from one to the next. A basic road map of why you’re communicating and the points you need to make to connect with your audience is important. An outline can map your route, keeping your communication on course.

When I start a blog post, business email, or other form of more formal communication, I approach it having three points to make. It’s a nice number of ideas to communicate at one time and also for breaking down one big idea, giving some meat to your communication. By all means, if you can do it within the word limit, add more. But probably not less. 

My initial outlines usually look like this:

Introduction

Point 1

Point 2

Point 3

Conclusion/Ask

Next, I fill in the blanks and ask: does point two lead from point one? Is the most important idea listed first? I list all the definitions, examples, ideas, etc under each point as bullets, questions, full sentences.  

For this blog post, my outline looked like this:

Introduction — you should be using an outline. Mention literary fiction example for s.of.c but bring it back to logical, sequential. 

Point 1 — outline basics 

• Why it works 
• Why use one
• What does it solve

Point 2 — One way to do it

• Show examples and progression. 
• Give a text explanation

Point 3 — Extras 

• Caution about changing points in the middle of a paragraph 
• Options, like mind maps, paper, screen.

Conclusion — bring it home and ask a question 

The above outline took many different forms before the writing got under way and I wish I had thought ahead of time to track the changes. I moved some examples from point two to point three and changed the order of my main ideas. That’s one of the benefits of writing from an outline. You can think about how to place your thoughts, how to phrase your points so the meaning is easily understood, and you can make course corrections before you start wandering every which way by writing without one. 

If you get off outline, it’s easy enough to get back on track. Hold each sentence up to the topic sentence (the point you’re on) and make sure it fits there. It’s easy to jump ahead. One of my clients has the most fantastic ability to project where the chapter will end in paragraph four. But then paragraph five further discusses point one. I love this because as an editor, I get to outline the chapters, identifying the main ideas and topic sentences and then pointing the author back to a logical structure and flow of each main idea. 

If the thought of using an outline sounds stifling to you, maybe you remember your junior year history class project that also counted as your English grade for the semester and required a formal outline presented on notecards…that might just have been my high school (and I really hope it was). But just in case, let me be clear: that’s not what I’m talking about! Your outline can take whatever form is most beneficial to you and how you think. No notecards necessary. But if notecards work for you, keep at it. I like to use notebook paper for mind maps which can spark writing creativity with its visual representation of ideas. But I will go right to the computer for a traditional outline. Find what works for you. 

Do you write from an outline?