Any kind of writing can be more than nose-bleeding experience for a struggling writer. He needs to invest blood, sweats and tears to writing longhand or typing one masterpiece, or crap. Just like in editorial writing, it is not a piece of cake. It takes creative powers to write one with a punch. However, student who is trying his best to write a short-and -sweet piece has to consider the following tips:

1. Know what you want to write about

Any topic under the sun (moon) is a chance to hone your skills into developing a good piece of writing. But, sans a clear idea of what to write about, it will be hard for you to begin. To remedy this, you need to choose a topic and gather facts towards creating a convincing argument.

2. Know your stance

Before writing an editorial, you must know your stance or thesis. It will be much easier if you could identify your opinion from the outset and write piece sans unclear motives, or ideas which could create a lousy writing. There are three stances: for, against, or no. Which one are you in a particular issue? Then, supply the needed data to assert your belief or opinion.

3. Make an outline

Yes, without guidepost writing an editorial is a rambling experience. Know from the outset the things you want to cover and proceed from there till creating a compelling body towards a riveting conclusion which could send readers to think about your call to action.

4. Write the body

Make sure supporting details are strong enough to defend your thesis or stance. Then, arrange them according to ascending order of importance, or descending if your your point of view delves on humor to entertain. Using argumentative skills sans leaning towards one side is also needed in creating one sane editorial by presenting differing facts, in balanced manner.

5. Provide conclusion

It should be kinda summarizing your points and getting readers attention to accept your stance as is, or making them feel shortchanged or what because of weak ending. Always ensure that you are still sticking to your stance till the end; do not change course lest you want to ruin your editorial and become a waste of your readers' time.

6. Gauge every word

Since editorial piece is commonly short and sweet, each word must count. Any word that does not add or contribute to making a compelling piece should be crossed out, or be replaced with more powerful one. Yes, a must for an editorial writer to take heed of this.

Write with a punch; your readers will be as pleased as punch.

Larry Icabandi Nabiong, National English Proficiency Program (NEPP) regional mentor/speaker, currently trains young journalists in editorial writing, and is in the thick of writing training modules. Extending your expertise on this endeavor will be highly appreciated. Any valuable info or suggestion? Kindly send to my e-mail: nabionglarry(AT)yahoo.com