Imitate the flow and structure of great writers.

Most people imitate the ideas (paraphrase) or words (quotations) of their favorite authors, but they do not realize that you can also imitate the flow or structure of their writing.

A common example that is probably overused by modern authors is the Story > Principle > Application structure for chapters. I read a book once where every almost chapter started with those three elements.

With this approach, you can improve your writing by paying attention to how your favorite authors arrange their ideas.

One of my favorite passages from C.S. Lewis is from his essay “On Reading Old Books”. There is a 3 or 4 paragraph section that always strikes me as compelling and beautiful. A few weeks ago, I decided to look more closely at what he was doing in those paragraphs, and I noticed a repeating pattern.

Here is the rough outline (using knowledge elements) of the first section:

So you can see he starts with a practical element (green). Lays out some logical elements (blue). Then, he seals it all with some memorable symbolic elements (pink).

In the next section, he repeats the cycle with essentially the same elements:

You can see the same basic elements: starts with a practical element, key logical elements in the middle, and a couple symbolic elements to seal the point and make it memorable.

There are a couple benefits here. First, outlining it this way immediately makes it easier to remember. (Try looking away and remembering the basic points. I bet you already have a lot of the key ideas memorized.)

But second, it works as a template to prompt your own thinking about something you are trying to understand or communicate:

You can see the utility here by applying it to a completely different topic: Praying the Psalms.

Interestingly, I didn’t have all of the notes when I started writing this out. Looking over my notes on the Psalms, I only found the first 5 of the elements. The last one (the metaphor about a child learning to speak) came to me as I was searching for a final metaphor to fill out the template.

Now, I don’t think that Lewis was consciously thinking about the arrangement of elements, but I do think that good writers intuitively understand the importance of variety, flow, and chemistry. Through experience, they developed habits that become lessons for us if we pay attention.