Think Before You Write
The best writing advice I’ve received doesn’t cost anything, and sometimes doesn’t even involve writing.
Over the years, I’ve tried all sorts of tips, tricks and ideas to become a better writer. I learned to touch-type, sort of. I lit a candle. Put on a hat. Burned incense. Recited affirmations. Drank more coffee, or none at all. A few things stuck. Mornings, solitude, quiet music, no distractions. But those might just be reflections of my personality rather than prescriptions I can offer the world. But there’s one thing that works for me, almost magically, that I think is worthy of wider consideration.
Think before you write.
I don’t mean “think” as in plan. Creating an outline first never works for me. I don’t like to start with the architecture. Writers talk about being a pantser or a plotter, and I’m definitely wearing loud, colourful pants that I ride by the seat of. There is a time to plot, to plan, to tie threads together, to imagine the final structure of things. But first come the sketches, drafts, collecting materials and teasing out creative threads.
I also don’t mean “think” as in something you do while you write. I used to waste a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect sentence in my head before writing it down. This is slow and painful. Everything gets edited and rewritten later. The perfect sentence – or at least the perfectly adequate one – will appear as part of the process. And as long as that process is fluid rather than tortured, there’s no need to worry whether the final form comes early or late. It will arrive.
What I mean is to think in three ways. First, think about your physical and mental space. Second, have a loose idea of what you’re writing and why. And third, have a clear sense of what you’re going to write the next time you sit down.
1. Think About Your Space
If you wanted a peaceful night’s sleep, would you begin with a routine that involves washing and drying your sheets and vacuuming your room? Or would you do those chores at another time and make sure you have a calm bedroom waiting for you at the end of the day?
Thinking about your writing space is all about figuring out how to make room in your life to write. This is about giving yourself the best chance of success.
“In order to get the results we desire, we must do two things. We must first create the space to reason in our thoughts, feelings, and actions; and second, we must deliberately use that space to think clearly.”
– Shane Parrish
This is a good idea for any area of life where we need to make important decisions. But it is especially true for writing. Bad decisions can lead to a lot of wasted time. Or a lot of self-doubt, which is a sure path to feeling blocked or creatively frustrated.
2. Think About Your Idea
Why are you writing? I don’t mean in some existential “I write to make sense of the world” sort of way. No. Why are you writing this particular essay, scene or story?
“I like to think about a book for a year before I start. I imagine the characters and their conversations, I listen to the music they love, I think about them until I feel the warmth in my gut that means I love them. Only then are they real enough to write.”
– Jodie Chapman
Chapman refers to this as the gestation period. It’s a pretty bold approach. But it reminds me of Twyla Tharp’s box idea. Before starting a new project, Tharp would collect ideas in a box. Music, photos, articles. Then, when it was time to create a new performance, she would tip the box out onto a table, looking for connections between the collected ideas.
Sometimes research is the gestation period. Sometimes it’s bringing an idea up in conversation. I used to test out ideas by posting about them on Twitter. Social media is much less useful for that now. Typically, there’s a long gap between the first draft or sketch of something I post here and the final draft. Usually it’s a few weeks, sometimes a few months, and occasionally much longer.
In case you’re wondering, the first draft of this essay was 62 words, written on 27 January 2026, and the final 943-word draft was completed on 3 July.
3. Think About Your Next Move
I used to open Scrivener and wonder what I was going to write that day. No longer. That’s such a painful way to write.
“If you want to write faster, the first step is to know what you’re writing before you write it.”
– Rachel Aaron
I write most mornings. But I decide what I’m going to write the day before. Again, this isn’t about sticking to some big master plan. It’s about choosing the next move. Making it easy to start. Then trusting that, once you’ve started, your skill and the strength of your idea will keep you going.
Conclusion
I’ll admit that sometimes I don’t do any of this, and I just sit down to write. The muse appears, the universe speaks, the words just flow. It feels magical. But when this happens, it almost never yields a complete piece of work. I end up with part of something that needs to be completed later.
Which is where the thinking comes in.
It’s tempting to hope the magic will return. It feels so good. But creativity is often hard work. Turning up. Producing. The best way to make sure that doesn’t turn into a grind is to make thinking part of the process.
