Who, What, Where, When, How and Why
These are the questions I always ask myself whenever I try
to create an article, blog post, eBook and other written material I produce.
So, before I start writing, I always pose this question to
myself and then try to figure out what the answers are.
Let’s say I have a topic about “Tiny Houses”, the first
logical question I would ask myself is: “Who is going to read this”? That crucial
question allows me to identify my target niche. This helps me narrow down my
research to the key niche market that I am hoping to capture.
I use the 5 Ws and a how technique loosely whenever I start
writing. In this instance, I started asking “what”.
What was I going to write today? I debated with myself for a
long time since I woke up wondering what would be worthwhile to write about. It
took me a couple of hours before I finally decided on this topic. Oh and don’t
think I just lay in bed or sat staring blankly at the wall trying to make up my
mind on what to write.
During the process of deciding what I was going to write
today, I had already gone out and fed all of my pets, did my daily workout
regimen, took a shower and fetched my girlfriend from work. We had a hearty
meal for breakfast and then I was off to work on my topic for today.
Okay enough of my personal life, let’s get down to the 5 Ws
and a How method in writing. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t come up with
this. Sadly, I am not the most original person in the world. I actually borrow
from a lot of sources for inspiration. I learned how to use the 5 Ws and a How
method through my elementary school teachers. And no, I wasn’t listening that
hard when they discussed it. I think I was probably daydreaming or doodling on
a piece of paper. But, the lesson still stuck, thank God!
Okay so I decided on using this article for my “What”
question. The next question I asked was “Who would benefit from this?”
I know what it’s like to struggle with writing on a daily
basis. Creation can be such a pain but here’s what I found out in one of my
studies: Creatives have a very wide range of thoughts on a daily basis. So, the
people who are going to benefit from this mostly are creatives who are
struggling with their articles and other stuff they’re trying to come up with.
How is this going to help you? See what I did there? We moved
to the How part immediately. This is going to help you by teaching you how to
focus your questions so you can easily come up with your article. The 5 Ws and
a How method basically works as a board to bounce your ideas from. It throws a
question at you and you answer back. It’s basically a conversation with
yourself to help you get on track with your work.
Why? Well, you do want to get done with your work right? If you’ve
tried everything else, why not give this method a shot? Who knows it might work
with you just as much as it has worked with me.
When and where are questions that can go hand in hand
because they basically work with time and place questions. So when are you
going to use this and where? Well, the next time you sit down at your work
desk, start asking these questions when you’re presented with an article to
work with immediately. Or you can do what I do and basically think of questions
that can help me focus my articles while I tend to my garden or work out.
But these questions can also be asked for the relevance of
your topic to your target customers. For example: where are your customers
based? You can’t expect people in extreme environments to share the same
feelings with each other. For example: what may be applicable in Africa is
probably not going to work in Antarctica.
Why basically talks about the timeliness of what you’ve
written. Is it a snapshot of a period in time from the past or is it current
news that begs to be shared instantaneously to other people from across the
globe. These are things you have to consider when you write.
As a simple recap:
What
What is the topic?
Who
Who is your target audience?
Why
Why are you writing this?
Why do they need to know this
information?
How
How will it help your target
customers?
How will you gather your data?
How will you write it?
When
Is it relevant today?
Is it a snapshot of a memory?
When will you start writing it?
When will you be able to finish
writing it?
Where
Where are your customers based and
is the information you’re sharing with them relevant to them?
Where will you write your article?
I’ve been writing professionally for more than 5 years now
and the 5 Ws and a How method has never failed me. I have easily churned out
articles on a daily basis just using the 5 Ws and a How Method correctly.
Just in case you’re wondering, I didn’t major in Literature
or English but I still managed to make a living from writing by being
productive. For online writers, the more material you can churn out, the more
opportunities will open up. And the more opportunities you have coming to you,
the more you’ll be able to profit. Use the
5 Ws and a How method correctly and
you’ll be able to produce more work quickly. It all boils down to focusing your
questions down to the very basic so you’ll be able to open up the floodgates of
ideas in your mind. Try it, it might just work for you too!
Good Luck!
