Thinking and Writing

What constitutes thinking and writing well, and what’s the connection between the two?

Writing everyday is easy; we do it all the time through text messages or e-mail. In messages we might communicate the first idea that comes to mind. Or when your train has departed. And in speech, when we speak with another person, sentences are sometimes vague. Our meaning is properly conveyed through the body; a gesture of the hand, a shrug of the shoulder, or a smile that fills in the missing piece. But writing on paper to find out what you think, know about a topic and what you want to say about it, is hard. But it can be made easier.

To write well is to think well. While thoughts follow the rules of language, they don’t always follow the rules of logic. In order to write clearly, it’s necessary to logically arrange sentences for the clearest possible meaning. That means threading concepts together or picking out ideas and concepts and peeling them like an onion to reveal their core essence––what and how the concepts explain. With each layer that’s peeled, thought becomes organised and clear, and that can be carried over to writing.

Each conceptual layer becomes a unit or a piece in writing. They can be organised through well-crafted sentences into a shape that’s coherent, logical and filled with the warmth and humanity of the author.