One sentence or paragraph at a time

Beginning writers can sometimes have difficulty focusing their writing. Their story can kinda be all over the place. This exercise can help.

Write your story in one sentence. That’s it….only one. Pretend your editor is asking you to do so.

Then pretend your editor has gotten back to you, approved your one-sentence story and granted you another sentence. Write a second sentence to your story.

Then add a third. With each sentence, you’re pretending in your mind that the story could be cut off at any point. This is extreme loyalty to the inverted pyramid—key information up top, less crucial information further into the story.

You can do this exercise one sentence at a time or one paragraph at a time. Remember, a paragraph in newswriting should only be 1-3 sentences, once in a while 4.

Writing one sentence at a time or one paragraph at a time (with the thought that the story could end after each) will help your stories have stronger focus.