Structure Matters - How to Write

Considering Fundamentals like John Wooden, Pt.2

Photo by Vishal Vasnani on Unsplash

Last week we started talking about practicing the fundamentals of writing analogous to John Wooden’s style of coaching championship basketball teams.

He coached his players on the fundamentals.

Learn each of the fundamental component parts of a thing, and put them all together for a great end result.

A championship, or a winning piece of writing.

This week, footwork. Which for us means structure.

Without structure, we ramble. We don’t have a beginning, middle, and end, and we can’t hold the attention of the reader.

Here’s the drill: Write a five bullet skeleton. (I’m going not to say “outline” because some of the people in my Tuesday writing group get twitchy at that word!)

Here are four clean 5-bullet structures you can use. Pick one and drill it all week.

Structure Drill #1: The Classic Arc

1. Hook – A concrete image, question, or statement that earns attention
   
   

2. Problem – What is broken, missing, or misunderstood
   
   

3. Tension – Why this actually matters, what it costs
   
   

4. Turn – The insight, shift, or reframing
   
   

5. Landing – The clear takeaway or call to action
   
   

Structure Drill #2: Claim and Build

1. Claim – The one sentence you are arguing
   
   

2. Explanation – What you mean by it
   
   

3. Example – A story or concrete illustration
   
   

4. Implication – Why this changes something
   
   

5. Application – What the reader should do differently
   
   

Structure Drill #3: Personal Reflection Format

1. What happened – A specific event or memory
   
   

2. What I thought then – Your initial understanding
   
   

3. What I see now – The insight
   
   

4. Why it matters – The broader principle
   
   

5. What this means for you – The reader’s move
   
   

Structure Drill #4: Me We God You We (This is my favorite. I got it from a preaching book by Andy Stanley called, Communicating for a Change.)

1. Me - A story about you having a problem

2. We - Broaden to letters to say “we all have this problem”

3. God - But God has the answer here this Bible passage

4. You - Now what are you going to do about it?

5. We - What would the world be like if we all did it?

Think about something you want to write about and fit it into one of these. If you send it to me, I’ll give you feedback.

Structuring your writing is difficult until you get good at it. Eventually, you will start seeing outlines everywhere!

Bonus: Can you tell what structure I used for this article? Let me know in the comments.

Jeff

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