10  Creating the best order

Prose = words in their best order. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk)

You’ve pitched an idea and had it accepted. It’s a fairly complex project, 1000 words or above, and if you’re new (and even if you’re not) you may have had some advice on approach or some kind of briefing, and you have a fair idea of what you want to say. It will help if you have a provisional title that reflects your proposal and any briefing. You’ve collected a pile of notes and materials. It won’t be easy to go straight to drafts without first:

•  checking for the right ingredients

•  putting your file in order

•  discovering what to say

•  matching order to content.

At some stage in all this you may want to get back to the editor and make ...

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