Using the 3×3 Writing Process to Become a Productive Writer

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Have you ever been in a situation where you have an idea but you just don’t know how to start writing it? Or maybe you spend forever writing a piece, but the finished product isn’t exactly what you were hoping for. If you’ve experienced this, trust me, you’re not alone!

Writing isn’t an exact science, and a lot of writers begin their craft essentially stumbling around until they get a grasp of their personal style. If you’re still at this stage, a generalized writing process may help you write higher-quality pieces. Let’s discuss one such process that’s proven to make writers more productive.

The 3×3 Writing Process

The 3×3 writing process is a simple method where writing is divided into three distinct stages: prewriting, writing, and revising. Its purpose is to develop your writing skills while training you to be organized with your details and presentation.

Let’s take a look at how you can apply each stage.

1. Prewriting

Prewriting is the first stage of the 3×3 writing process. This is your brainstorming stage: you think about a topic, its content, your audience, and their likely reaction. I’ve repeatedly made the mistake of skipping all the brainwork by jumping headfirst into writing a piece. The result turned out disorganized and lacking in details.

The point of this stage is to define your writing goals, plan how you’ll write the piece, and create an outline. It is further divided into three tasks: analyze, anticipate, and adapt.

Analyze

Think about why you’re writing a particular piece. The Purdue Online Writing Lab suggests asking yourself two questions every time you start writing:

  • What’s your purpose for writing this piece?
  • How are you planning to achieve this purpose?

Knowing your purpose is an excellent way of setting your perspective and deciding what direction to take with your writing. This way, your research is narrowed down to what will matter most to achieve your purpose.

Then think about how it will affect your readers. How will they react, and what takeaways will they be learning? Your audience must feel that they’re getting something from your writing, otherwise, they’ll think that they’ve wasted time.

The last thing you’ll need to analyze is the best format for your idea. Different formats have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, listicles are easy to make and read, but they aren’t suitable for in-depth topics. Here are a few questions to help you decide the best way to communicate your message:

  • Does your idea require lots of information?
  • Will you need other media forms such as images, video, and audio?
  • Which format is likely to be best received by your target audience? (Based on what you know about them)

Anticipate

Being knowledgeable about your target audience gives you a better idea of how to shape your writing. For example, I anticipate that this article will most likely be read by fellow writers, specifically new ones. So I wrote this with a general image of who writers are.

In my experience, new writers mostly throw words onto paper. They don’t have a writing system in place yet (which is basically the point of this article), and don’t know how to proceed with their writing. Anticipating that, I’ve tried to make this article as actionable as possible so it’s easier to follow and apply the advice.

Research is the only way you can create an accurate picture of who your readers are. Find out their collective habits, interests, and thought processes. Do this by reading articles about your target readers and immersing yourself into their culture. For example, if you’re targetting Millennials or Gen Z, the quickest way to learn about them is to use social media. According to the Pew Research Center, 84% of social media users are aged 18-29, well within the age bracket of both generations.

Judge your audience’s knowledge level and write slightly above that level to ensure they’ll benefit from your piece. During your research, identify what’s common knowledge, and seek to provide less-known information.

Adapt

The last thing you’ll need to do at the prewriting stage is style your writing appropriately for your audience. Think about the language and tone your readers appreciate. Millennials, for example, tend to like clever and straight-to-the-point writing.

Think about how your audience talks and thinks: do they often use use slang, figures of speech, or technical jargon? Keep these things in mind when you’re actually writing your piece.

This is the time to decide on what writing style you’ll use to convey your meaning. Do you make it academic, professional, or conversational? The more familiar the language and tone are, the more comfortable your audience will feel about your writing.

2. Writing

Writing is the second stage of the 3×3 writing process. This is where you actually begin putting your ideas into words. You’ve already made an outline during your prewriting stage; now it’s time to flesh those ideas out.

Remember, what you’re writing here is only a draft. Perfect grammar and spelling aren’t necessary; just focus on writing out sentences that convey your meaning.

The writing stage is also divided into three tasks: research, organize and compose.

Research

Collect the necessary information you’ll need to write your piece, and make sure the information you use is correct. You can do so by checking that multiple, trustworthy sources agree on it.

The best way to start your research is to check out popular articles that discuss your topic or something similar. In this task, search engines (especially Google) are your friend. Pay attention to the top articles.

Try to determine why they’re successful and seek to emulate their best practices. When researching existing content, always ask yourself these two questions:

  • What can I add to make this better?
  • What’s this article’s weakness?

By answering these two questions, you’ll be able to create a better piece compared to what’s already out there. You’re also ensuring that your details are complete.

Don’t stop at written articles, though. Try checking out other mediums that talk about your idea. Watch YouTube videos, or listen to audiobooks or podcasts. They might contain information that none of the written articles mention.

List down all of the information you’ll be using. Make sure to save the links from where you got them, too, as this will save you time later on if you ever need to confirm details or link to them from your work.

Organize

Once you have the information you need, it’s time to organize it for easier use. This is where your outline from prewriting comes most into play.

By looking at your outline, its easier to pick out what information you’ll want to use for specific parts of your piece. Think about your major and minor points and see which parts of your research best support them, then list them down in your outline.

This way, as you write your piece, you don’t need to keep on sorting through your research for any information you might use.

Compose

It’s finally time to actually write! Throughout this process, keep your outline handy and remember your purpose for writing this piece.

Let the words flow and keep writing, preferably until you finish the piece. This is your zero draft—a first attempt to assemble your thoughts and research into a coherent whole.

Lots of writers edit as they write. While this does work for some, it is generally better to do revisions after you actually finish the draft. This keeps you focused on the writing itself, rather than correcting mistakes. So don’t stress over proper spelling, grammar, or form for now. You’ll likely go through multiple drafts anyway.

3. Revising

Revising is the final stage of the 3×3 writing process. At this stage you already have a version of your work, but you’ll still need to polish it up. This is where your zero draft becomes your final draft—what you present to your readers. It is further divided into three tasks: revise, proofread, and evaluate.

Revise

In order for your readers to understand your work and appreciate its value, it needs to be readable. Your piece must be coherent and comprehensive. Some of the most common writing issues are:

Pay attention to these kinds of errors as you read through your work. Don’t immediately correct errors as you see them; instead, take note of them and finish reading through your piece before making any changes.

In general, aim to make things concise. The fewer words you use, the better your readers understand you. Don’t be afraid to break up paragraphs and delete words or sentences if you need to.

Also, if your piece is meant to be read by others, then it needs to be reader-centered. Think back on your purpose and the insights you gained about your audience. Will this draft satisfy your readers’ needs and expectations? As you revise, ask yourself these questions:

  • What information must be explained or defined for the readers?
  • Are your details sufficient enough to support your major points, or do you need to add more?
  • Is your organization effective, or do you need to make some changes?

When working through multiple revisions, it’s also best to allow some time in between (preferably 1 to 2 days). This keeps your mind fresh and allows for new perspectives. Rapidly going through the same work can be tiring, and makes you feel as if you’re not progressing.

Proofread

Bad spelling and even worse grammar can put your readers off. It becomes difficult for them to enjoy your work, much less understand your meaning. This is why you shouldn’t skip proofreading your work. Good writers must also be good editors.

Now, writers aren’t language experts. Fortunately, technology has created AI-based grammar and spelling software (such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid) that helps you proofread your writing. While they’re not foolproof, they do make it easier to spot errors. Just try not to fully depend on them.

If you can, get some of your friends, mentors, or fellow writers to look at your work. A fresh pair of eyes might be able to discover errors because they’re impartial and have different perspectives.

Evaluate

Once you’re done with all of your edits, it’s time to revisit each stage and their tasks. Did you follow through with each of them? Ask yourself these questions:

  • Does the piece you have now fulfill your purpose?
  • Did you use language and tone appropriate for your intended audience?
  • Did the format you chose suit your ideas, or were they difficult to translate into your chosen format?
  • Is the information you used relevant and correct? Is it enough to support your ideas?
  • Will your readers benefit from your writing? What reactions are you expecting from them?

Why the 3×3 Writing Process Works

A huge part of what makes writing so hard is writer’s block: either you don’t know what to write, or you don’t know how to translate your idea into writing. This resistance prevents you from being a productive writer.

Sometimes you’ll opt for procrastinating instead, as you wait for some spark of inspiration to finally make you write. While inspiration is great, consistency is quicker when you want to gain experience and regularly put out high-quality work.

The 3×3 writing process eliminates that resistance by giving you a template to follow. At each stage of the process, you’ll have a focused idea of what you need to work on so you can spend less time figuring out what to do.

Of course, its effectiveness will vary from writer to writer. For some, this process might be too straightforward, and others might not find it effective at all, especially if they already have their own writing system.

But for writers who are just starting, this is an excellent process to use and can help you make writing a habit while ensuring that your works are well-researched and reader-centered.

A Clear Process for Your Writing

Writing isn’t a linear process with clearly defined moves. It’s recursive, requiring you to move back and forth between steps. Often, a step can branch out into a new direction. Most times it links back to the main thought of your piece, but sometimes it adds a new section to an already complicated web of ideas.

The 3×3 writing process is a general method for writing better. It can be easily adapted to suit your niche, whether it’s nonfiction, fiction, academic, or something in between—but because of this adaptability, the process doesn’t get into details about any specific niche, so you might also find it lacking sometimes.

As such, the 3×3 writing process is most useful as a temporary guide while you’re still developing your personal methods in writing. As you grow as a writer, you might decide to keep it as your own or incorporate some elements into your own system.

Have you tried the 3×3 writing process? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

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