In this series on the 5-step writing process, we’re on step 1, plan.

Planning has at least three components:

• Generating
• Researching
• Outlining

A lot of writing tasks don’t require much planning. For an email to your boss about your meeting with the funder yesterday, step 1 consists of deciding what level of detail to include.

But if you’re writing a report for that funder, planning becomes paramount.

Start by generating ideas. Choose one or more of these techniques:

• Brainstorming is thinking with a pen in your hand or your hands on the keyboard. The result is usually a sort of list.
• Freewriting is where you write and write and never stop to think about it because you don’t care about the outcome but only about getting your ideas out of your head so the trick is never to stop writing even if you repeat yourself, never stop. The result looks like this paragraph, only more so.
• Clustering or mapping is basically a graphic form of brainstorming.
• Drawing is another technique for visual people. If you draw pictures of the problem, the solution, and the steps from here to there, you’ve already got a rough outline.

All of these techniques also work for groups. The trick is, have each individual generate ideas before you come together. Empirical evidence shows that individuals brainstorm more creatively than groups.

You may generate more ideas later, as you research, outline, and draft. But at least now you have some ideas on paper.

Next time we’ll talk about research. Don’t worry, it’s not like researching a term paper. Unless what you have to write is a term paper, in which case, sorry, it’s exactly like researching a term paper.