Disclosure: I only recommend products/services I would use myself and feel might benefit you as well. This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Balance and moderation. It’s what we’re all striving for…
Work/Life balance. Moderation in our daily diets. Balance between rest and play. Using our social battery vs. recharging our social battery. The list goes on and on.
And writing is no different. It involves a balance between structure and creativity. It does the dance between art and “science”.
Even if you have a natural knack for writing, I’ve learned that there’s far more to writing something compelling than just the ability to write well. Writing involves its own balance between structure and creativity.
And just as with all other aspects of our life, there’s no specific formula. There’s no hard and fast rule that tells us the proportions of structure and creativity in our writing. Unlike your favorite cake, there is no exact recipe.
But this balance remains ever important, so let’s talk more about it.
Importance of creativity
Writing is known for being a right brain activity – or on the creative side of the spectrum. So let’s start there. While it may seem obvious, it’s worth touching briefly on why creativity is important to balance in the writing process.
You want to captivate your audience in a way that resonates with them. And you want this to be an original idea that will hold their attention and that they’ll spread far and wide.
Creativity is the key to captivating your audience and holding their attention, otherwise, you’re basically writing white papers and dissertations. Valuable in their own right but not particularly useful for grabbing and keeping the attention of those who may not need their information.
Creativity helps you to develop an awesome concept, portray a meaningful theme, and develop a story (and characters if applicable) that will resonate with your audience.
Creativity comes in many different forms and can manifest itself in some of the more traditional ways of plot or character, but it is also crucial in client relationships. It is a necessary component to bring your client’s story to life, not just the ideas that exist in your head.
Importance of structure
Contrary to popular belief, creativity is not the only or dominant ingredient to a captivating written work. There needs to be structure as well.
This structure serves as the foundation for your writing so that the creativity doesn’t go to waste. This foundation serves as a basis for your creativity to really flourish and come to life. It helps to ensure that those creative ideas don’t go to waste.
This is true in really any form of writing from a tagline for a business all the way up to a book. In the book Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller dives into how to capture the key components of a story to succinctly state the transformation that your business can provide to customers. In the book Story Engineering, Larry Brooks breaks down the six key components needed for a successful book or screenplay.
Structures and elements like these are time-tested and work for a reason. Using these as the foundation for your story helps to make sure that your message is clear and that your story isn’t a flop.
Putting it all together
To be truly successful, the key is to find a balance between creativity and structure. Each client and each idea will be a little different and require its own unique approach within the structural guidelines. This is where the art comes into play.
It’s most effective to understand the idea at a high level, start to put it into the structure, and then iterate from there. After the initial idea, you can flesh the idea out further to get more detailed components of your story, which you can then continue to fit into the structure.
For books, this takes place predominantly during the outlining and planning process and evolves as needed throughout the interview and writing process. In copywriting for businesses, this may take the form of some strategy sessions before the writing takes place and then developing a strategic approach.
In both cases, you can see how it’s important to honor the structure and core elements while still allowing flexibility for creativity throughout the process.
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Disclosure: I only recommend products/services I would use myself and feel might benefit you as well. This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.