I have been writing on WeChat public accounts for 7 years. Let me tell you my method.

If you have thought about persisting in writing, or want to produce some content through writing, what can you do? The author of this article has persisted in writing a public account for 7 years. With the accumulation of experience, he has gradually developed his own thoughts and methods on writing. You may wish to take a look.

In 2010, a few days after the college entrance examination, we got the answers and started to estimate the scores. I was very confident about my estimated scores in mathematics, English, and comprehensive science, but I was unsure about Chinese.

Later, the scores came out, and as expected, except for Chinese, the actual scores of other subjects were within 2 points of the estimated scores.

But I suffered a disastrous defeat in Chinese, scoring 90 points, which was just a passing score.

I judged that the essay was off topic because the other parts were easy to predict.

13 years have passed. Who could have known that the boy who had just passed the Chinese language test, the boy who was glad that he no longer needed to study Chinese in college -

I have been writing on public accounts for 7 years.

01

I admire those who are professionals in their respective fields, and when I see them take pride in their work, I also want to be like that person.

Once when I was talking about "professionalism" with my girlfriend, I asked her: Do you think I am professional in writing articles?

She answered without hesitation: Of course!

I went on to say: But I am neither a writer nor very popular. The only thing I can show off is that I have been writing on a public account for 7 years. Can this be considered professional?

She continued: But you have your own logic and your own style of writing. Many people can tell it was written by you just by looking at your text. This is the result of professionalism.

I think that’s true.

So I wrote down the following in my material notes: Let me talk about some methods that I have accumulated after 7 years of writing.

I know that these methods of mine cannot help a person achieve the monetization of writing that is widely promoted on the Internet, because I have not done it myself.

But through practicing these methods, I was able to produce a decent article within 2 hours, and more importantly, I could clearly and explicitly express the points I wanted to make in the article.

I believe that the benefit of these methods for ordinary people is that after such practice, they can also clearly express their own points of view through writing.

This article will not talk about metaphysical things, such as why we should persist in writing, what benefits writing can bring us, etc.

Many successful people have written about these things. When it comes to brainwashing, my words are pale and powerless.

What I want to talk to you about is what specific things you can do if you decide to start developing a writing habit and really want to write something.

I will first talk about the accumulation of the material library, which is the prerequisite for persisting in writing. The next step is the verification of the material library. If you use the circle of friends and write short articles, we can see your ability to control the materials.

Then there are some skills in the writing process, including logical construction, description of details and arrangement of ending. We should have learned these in Chinese class. I am just sharing some of my own practical experiences.

Finally, I still want to talk about the mentality behind persistence in writing. It can be said that it is not easy to persist in anything that goes against human nature. What mental challenges will there be in this process? I would like to talk to you about it in the end.

Okay, let’s not waste any more time and get to the point.

02

A library of material is not necessary for writing.

But for persistent writing, a material library is indispensable.

I started writing for public accounts in 2016. Along the way, I met many friends who applied for public accounts together and posted several good articles, but they all stopped updating in the end.

Some people told me that when they decided to apply for a public account, they were often in a state of impulse. Either they had a lot of ideas to express, or they decided to change their current state and develop a habit of self-discipline.

But few people realize that there is often a world of difference between doing something and sticking with it.

Behind persistence, there means that there is some mechanism pushing people forward. The existence of this mechanism eliminates the greatest subjective uncertainty.

What is the material library?

For me, it is a record of inspiration, a sentence, a line of words, just write it down.

Yes, the most important thing is to record it. No matter how strong the feelings are, they will be forgotten under the erosion of time, but the recorded information may have a huge impact on your heart when you look back.

The tool I use is also very simple, it is flomo. Whether it is on a mobile phone, iPad, or PC web page, you can record at any time and synchronize on multiple terminals.

I don’t like to write a lot or label my inspirations . Don’t do that. At least I suggest not to do that. It’s very troublesome and people are afraid of trouble.

The key is to record the widest range of ideas at the lowest cost.

03

Now that you have abundant materials, can you start writing?

No, don't worry.

You have to first see whether you have the ability to handle these materials at the moment.

The recording of materials often occurs in certain emotional moments, but after calming down, you may find that there are some ideas that you cannot write down at this stage.

For example, when I read a book, if I think one or two sentences in the book are well written, I will write them down in flomo. But when I calm down, I find that there are some topics that I can’t write about now, such as life and death, depression, poetry and the distance.

Some words can impact my heart, but I can't build my own works on them. Everyone has their own limit of ability, it's normal, don't worry about it.

I used to think, it would be a shame not to write an article about such good material. But to be honest, being able to control and write comfortably is more important than the quality of the material itself.

Never make the writing process itself painful.

So how do you judge whether you can handle the material in front of you?

My WeChat friends all know that I often write some short articles on Moments. These short articles are actually a way for me to verify my ability to control materials.

If there are a lot of likes, it means that your writing has resonated with more people, which means that you can continue to dig deeper into this material and eventually write a complete article.

If you find it difficult to write a short essay and receive little feedback after you send it out, it means that you are not suitable for writing on this topic yet.

The short essay itself does not need to care about some logic, but more about going from emotional impact to rational thinking. For example, when you read a history book, a certain sentence makes you feel that it is well written, so you write it down.

Then when you need verification, you can try to expand on it further: What are your thoughts when you read this, what do you think of, why does it touch your heart, is it a reflection of some kind of modern life, etc.

You can write down whatever you think of to form a more colloquial essay.

If you are unable to complete everything from the topic to the short essay, it is highly likely that you cannot hold on to it for the time being.

04

The first priority of writing an article is to make it understandable to readers. Logical expression is the key to making others understand what you are writing.

If you view writing merely as a form of self-expression and only need to understand it yourself, the feedback from others is not that important. But you can ignore this section and continue reading.

But if you want this expression to be better understood by others and thus gain more recognition and resonance, then a clear and easy-to-understand logical framework is a topic you have to face.

Before I write each article, I will first write out its framework, which is the logical line of what I am about to write.

This framework ensures that your content will not drift and has a stable output quality, while also ensuring your output results.

Writing without a logical framework depends a lot on your state at the time. If you are in a good state, your ideas will flow like a spring and you can finish writing quickly. If you are in a bad state, staring at the computer in a daze, the whole day will be wasted.

If there is excessive reliance on the state, it will be impossible to form a mechanism and it will be difficult for ordinary people to persist.

There are two logical frameworks that I often use:

1. Parallel framework of overall and specific structure;
2. A chain framework strung together by questions.

The "total" in the general-specific structure is usually a conclusion or a question.

If it is a conclusion, then you have to write the arguments to verify the conclusion in the subsection; if it is a problem, then you have to write an analysis of the problem.

I generally use the parallel framework when writing articles related to product methodology. For example, in the article "Low-code Form Design", the problem I want to solve is: how to clearly describe the form design in model-driven low-code products.

So I described several key elements in parallel according to the product modules: data model, form items, form container, model driver, field association, etc., and finally came to an end, and the article was almost done.

The parallel framework is particularly suitable for writing articles that are practical, because the object to be written is likely to be structured.

Second, the chain structure composed of questions is often suitable for in-depth analysis of a topic.

Its logic is similar to the 5 WHY interview principle——

For any question, the interviewer will dig deep into 5 levels of why to test whether you have very deep thinking about the question.

This principle also applies to writing.

For example, in the article "Let's Talk About Bytes", my main content is strung together like this:

1. Is it tiring to work at ByteDance? Very tiring because there are so many meetings
2. Why does ByteDance have so many meetings?
3. If it is so tiring, how do people stick to it? One important factor is salary.
4. I left ByteDance and my salary dropped. How did I come to terms with myself?

In this way, I took work intensity as the starting point and finally focused on life planning and choices. Such changes were slowly connected by one problem after another.

Some people may say that if we are trapped in a logical box, we will lose the possibility of creativity.

My answer is yes. But ordinary people’s writing is often not at the level of PK creativity. If you can write content that more people can understand, you have already defeated most people.

05

With the logical framework in place, the next step is to fill in the content. This is where many people get stuck. They don’t quite know how to flesh out a topic they want to write about.

There may be many ways to solve the problem of insufficient content, but I think the most direct way is to add your own stamp to the content, that is -

Describe the details you see.

It is undeniable that the art and beauty of language sometimes depend on talent, but capturing details is something that ordinary people can also do well.

Details come from observation.

I don’t know if you have ever observed the novice vendors who set up stalls downstairs from your house and how their facial expressions and body language change when someone passes by their stalls.

Novice vendors are often more shy. When a customer passes by, they will have the urge to shout, so they will move forward a little. However, because of their inner shyness or fear, they will not look at the customers. They will pretend to look at their own stall, and inadvertently glance at the flow of people out of the corner of their eyes.

You see, by recording what you observe, the subject of your writing will naturally become richer and contain more content.

There is no trick to observation. You just need to practice, practice, and practice again and again, and then record it truthfully.

My own habit is that when we want to express some subjective and vague emotions, can we fill them in with more real and objective details? When I am happy, what is my real state? When I am anxious, what is the scene I see when I open the door when I get home?

More often than not, rich details do more than just fill in the content; they also make your text more powerful.

Because details are often specific, and specific scenes often bring resonance.

If your words resonate with some people, then in their hearts, your words have a stronger power than they appear.

06

With logic, substantial content, and powerful details, what is left? Yes, the beginning, the end, and the connection.

In my opinion, a good article should have a slow beginning, a strong ending, and clear transitions.

It’s actually the same as watching a movie.

The beginning should be slow because readers have the least information at this time, and you need to give them a foundation so that they can enter the world you have constructed.

There are many ways to construct an introduction: tell a story to introduce it, describe details to lay the groundwork, or write content that readers are familiar with to lower the reading threshold.

Try to avoid unfamiliar concepts or excessive personal emotions at the beginning. Readers have limited patience and will leave immediately if they cannot get into the reading state.

The ending should be strong, because the ending is when readers have the most information. If you give them more details at this time, they can no longer digest it. So you have to give them some strong dishes, whether it is sublimation or association, in short, at the end, you have to give them a chance to remember your article.

The transition should be clean, that is, it should be explained clearly, the previous scene is the previous scene, and this scene is this scene, just like a navigation line on a map, the direction needs to be clear and unambiguous . If it is really impossible, use the serial numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 to mark each module.

Clean connections can also help your article appear more logical to a certain extent.

07

Although I said at the beginning that this article does not want to write about metaphysical content, but now that I have come this far, I still want to talk about the mentality behind persistence in writing.

The mentality I'm talking about is the mentality of not having the pressure of monetization, the mentality of not having to rely on writing to support myself. If it's a question of monetization, I'm sorry, I haven't experienced it, so I can't answer it.

What is the biggest difficulty for ordinary people to persist in writing?

Expectations were too high, disappointments were too great.

When you write an article seriously and then publish it, it feels like you have completely opened up your world and put up a sign at the door: Welcome to visit.

At this time, you will find that the guests who come are either your relatives or your friends. They are very supportive and forward your articles in their circle of friends, which looks very lively.

But after the second and third chapters, when relatives and friends have done their best, you will find that fewer and fewer guests come, and the gap you have opened with great difficulty feels like it has been stabbed by something because of this miserable situation where no one cares about it.

At this time, you may have an idea: Maybe I am not suitable for writing.

But instead of acknowledging this thought directly, you rationalize your thoughts with things like “I’m too busy” or “They can’t appreciate what I write.”

Eventually, it naturally stopped updating.

To be honest, I have experienced this process many times: writing furiously, full of confidence, no one paying attention, self-doubt. This is normal, everyone hopes that the results of their hard work will be recognized by more people.

The key is how to stick to it.

To insist on doing something difficult and against human nature, it is not enough to just imagine the results it will eventually bring (not to mention that I don’t have any material rewards now), sometimes you just need to be a little stupid and slow. Some people call this:

Insensitivity.

We first establish a certain mechanism, from material to logic to details to embellishment, write 10 or 20 articles, and see what happens. In this process, find the motivation to support you to continue writing.

I have updated the official account for many reasons:

1. Write an article about your feelings
2. Failed the interview, was frustrated, wrote an article to prove myself
3. I want to say something to some people, but I can't say it face to face, so I write an article to express it.
4. Good friend farewell, write an article as a memorial gift
5. Promote your consulting side business
6. Work is not going well, write an article to relieve stress
7. …

These driving forces all emerged naturally as I persisted on the path.

08

People who write WeChat public accounts must have asked themselves: Are words outdated? Does anyone still read articles now?

They may even have thought about whether to replace the text with pictures and go to Xiaohongshu, whether to replace it with short videos and go to Douyin, or whether to edit it into a long video and go to Bilibili.

Of course, from the perspective of commercial monetization efficiency, this question may have another answer. But from the perspective of vitality, I believe that words are not outdated. They are still the most malleable and widely circulated tool for individual expression in this era.

I don’t think I’m a very successful public account creator, but I believe that if my old friends don’t stop updating, and if more and more people express their opinions and depict their lives like me, then we will see a world with more dimensions, richer and more textured.

This is our common blessing.

Author: Dalige, WeChat public account: Dalige