When you think about the message you want to put out, probably your first thought is content.
What am I going to say?
Just as important, and too often overlooked, is the structure.
How am I going to say it?
Take the time to think about the assumptions you’re making about structure, and how you can create a new or different structure to better serve your work. Just because you’re taught 5-paragraph essays in high school doesn’t mean that’s the best structure. Make your essay a letter, a review, a spreadsheet, a series of jokes, a list, a play.
I was working on a long personal essay this summer, and it didn’t cohere into something I was happy with until I changed it from an essay into a letter to my son. Suddenly, everything came into focus.
For the record, I strongly encourage you to read some of the great thinkers on structure, including John McPhee’s brilliant book Draft No. 4. (It’s in my Personal Bibliography). It’s the best lessons I’ve ever received on how to think about structure. Though you can learn it just as well by reading creatively structured fiction and nonfiction, watching creatively structured plays and movies, listening to music for structure. Look beyond the body of content to see the bones of structure.