Writing can be tricky if you sit down to write without a structure or plan.
If you’re in the world of content creation, use TextExpander snippets to create frameworks for the different types of articles you write. Not only will it make your articles more comprehensive and pleasant to read, you won’t have to stress about remembering everything you need to cover. Phew.
Here’s how to create your own article framework, so TextExpander can keep you on task, while you focus on doing your best writing.
Opening The Article
All articles need an introduction, whether it’s an overview of a news story or the setup for a opinion piece. Decide what you need to achieve in your first few lines, and write a prompt in your snippet to remind you what to focus on.
For example, if you were creating a framework for articles about events, the first section of your snippet may look similar to this:
Introduction
- Summarize event
- State where it took place
- Describe the atmosphere
- Reference event highlights
Using bullet points for each item means you can directly replace each point with your own writing.
The Super-Interesting Middle Section
Articles can get a little boring in the middle. By using TextExpander to build your own framework, you can guide yourself through the writing process smoothly, without accidentally diverging too much. Using our events example, here’s what the main body of your article may look like:
Main Body
- Description of weather conditions, if relevant
- First impressions of event
- Quote from attendee
- Discuss best event highlights
- Another quote from attendee
By including all the core prompts, your snippet will be your guide throughout the article. You can also refine your framework over time, as you learn the prompts that trigger your best work.
Wrapping Up
In this section of the snippet, include prompts for a great conclusion. Here’s our events example in action.
Conclusion
- Summarize general thoughts on event
- Describe emotions of attendees leaving
- Quote from attendee to sum up event
- Provide details on next event
The Final Snippet
When you’ve added all the sections you need, your finished snippet will look similar to this:
Article Framework: Events
Introduction
- Summarize event
- State where it took place
- Describe the atmosphere
- Reference event highlights
Main Body
- Description of weather conditions, if relevant
- First impressions of event
- Quote from attendee
- Discuss best event highlights
- Another quote from attendee
Conclusion
- Summarize general thoughts on event
- Describe emotions of attendees leaving
- Quote from attendee to sum up event
- Provide details on next event
Great Articles, Every Time
You can create multiple article frameworks with TextExpander and pull them up the moment you sit down to write. It’s the best way to add a sprinkle of automation to your writing work without compromising the quality. This also means, as you tweak your writing workflow, testing out new writing apps, you can use your snippets in any of them. A success for us productivity minded fiddlers, always searching for a “better way.”
Don’t forget, you can use other features such as fill-in fields, if your article style would benefit from them.
Start building your powerful article frameworks today.
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