List of writing questions

##brainsystems

Starter questions

For any thought being chewed over, actually answer these!

What do I actually want to say about this, right now, in the state I’m in?
What tiny part of this could I write about today and call it “enough”?
If this was just a blog note to my future self, what would I want to remember?
How can I use this to nudge my ‘public self’ a tiny bit closer to my actual self?
If no one else ever read this, what kind of change in me would make it worthwhile? What’s one way I’d like to feel differently at the end of this writing session?

Right now, what I’m really thinking about this is…
The thing that keeps snagging my attention is…
I’m not sure yet, but it might be that…
One way this connects to my own work / life is…
If I ignore the imaginary critics for a second, I’d like to say…

Topic questions

What is tugging at my attention about this topic? (A feeling, a confusion, an example, a quote, a conversation…)
What puzzles me about it?
What do I think I believe here – and where am I unsure or conflicted?
What’s one concrete story, image, or example I could start with?

What do I want from this writing?

What do I want this piece to do for me? (Examples: help me think; show my working; vent; practice writing; build a public record; signal expertise; connect with others…)
What would a “minimum viable version” of this piece be?
(e.g. one example + one thought about it; a list of questions; a sketch rather than a full argument.)
Can I make “small, scruffy, partial” the default format? Principle: assume every piece is allowed to be small and incomplete unless proven otherwise.
What would make me feel: “yup, I’m allowed to hit publish now”? (Examples: I’ve made one clear point; I’ve captured the messy feeling while it’s fresh.)
If this piece quietly succeeded on its own terms, what would that look like? (e.g. “I understand my own thinking better”, “one other nerd finds it useful”, “I’ve turned a messy feeling into words”.)
What do I not want from this piece? (e.g. “I don’t need it to be definitive”; “it doesn’t have to impress X”; “I’m not doing a methods deep-dive here.”)
Is there any pressure I can explicitly drop for this piece? (Name it: “This does not have to be the Big Final Argument About X.” Or: “I don’t know about this, I have questions…”)
How does this connect (even loosely) to the kind of person / writer I’m trying to become?
Who do I think this is for? If I don’t know, is it OK to say (and put in the title): “This is an experiment – I’m writing to find out who this is for.”
What would I like the reader to feel or think at the end? (e.g. “Oh, I’m not the only one”; “That gives me a new angle”; “Huh, interesting question.”)

Questions for allowing not knowing where it’s going:

Reminder again: if useful, use these for writing by directly answering.

What am I curious about here, even if I have no idea what the conclusion is?
What would I like to discover by writing this, not before?
What are two or three genuine questions I have about this topic that I could share openly in the piece?
If this ended up being nothing more than “field notes of my thinking”, would that still be worthwhile? Why / why not? [Tie that to ‘permission to hit publish’]

Mid-writing/thinking questions for when it gets gnarly

What makes this hard?
What am I afraid of?
Do I actually want to do this?
Can I give this piece a title like ‘Unfinished thoughts on X’ and then stop when I hit that level?
What is ‘Internal Reviewer 2’ saying about this right now? Do I agree? If not, what do I think? (Treat the academic/productivity voice as a character you can notice, not a truth you must obey.)
Is the task mis-specified (too big, too vague, too boring, too scary)?
Is it too painful to stay stuck like this? Do I want to lean in and do it, with new strategies? Or is it time to let it go / change the goal?
Right now, am I writing as a human with a brain, or as a frightened employee trying to justify their job?

Functions of writing: expanding the available options

Let’s start with the ones that we often mistake for the only available options - professional functions.

Professional functions:

Signal expertise - show I understand a topic, explain it to others (‘expert mode’).
Show how I think - “here’s how I approach problems.”
Translate jargon into human - take something technical and make it readable (sci-comms etc).
Record insight from client / project work - anonymised lessons learnt.
Lay groundwork for a bigger piece - “proto-chapter” or seed of an article. (‘working paper mode’.)

Turn mess into a rough map – summarise notes / readings into a skeleton.
Draft instructions for myself – “next time I do this workflow, follow these steps.”
Document a process or project – what I tried, what worked, what didn’t.
Make a to-think list, not just a to-do list – park open questions somewhere.
Archive the context – so future-me doesn’t have to reconstruct “what was going on when I made this decision?”

Functions for my own brain:

Help me think – untangle a knot, see what I actually believe.
Show my working (to myself) – externalise a chain of thought so I don’t have to hold it all in working memory.
Capture a fleeting idea – get something down before it evaporates.
Make the vague concrete – turn “a sense of something” into sentences / test a hunch – see if an intuition still makes sense when written out.
Clarify priorities – figure out what matters most about a topic.
Decide what not to do – write through a possibility just to decide to drop it.
Store a snapshot of where I am now – so future-me can see how my thinking changed.
Map the edges of what I don’t know – list questions, uncertainties, contradictions.

Emotional / psychological functions

Vent – get frustration, anger, or anxiety out of my head and onto the page.
Soothe myself – write something kind (to myself!), explanatory, or grounding.
Defang a shame story – tell it in my own words so it has less power.
Celebrate a win or joy – note what went well before it gets forgotten.
Process grief / loss / disappointment – give it shape and language.
Reassure future-me – a note from now-me to the version who will freak out later.
Boost confidence – prove to myself I can start / finish a thing.

Others in mind

Tell someone a story – “here’s what happened” or “here’s how this feels.”
Connect with others who experience similar things – “if you recognise this, you’re not alone.”
Start a conversation – put something out there so people can respond.
Invite help or feedback – “here’s where I’m stuck; what do you see?”
Offer comfort – write something that might reassure or support someone else.

Experiment

Play – language play, silly ideas, metaphors, weird structures; enjoying writing as a toy.
Try out a voice – more casual, more nerdy, more personal, more ranty.
Experiment with form – lists, dialogues, letters, field notes, Q&A, “conversation with myself”.
Put two areas in dialogue – e.g. data + lived experience.
Test whether a topic has “juice” – do I actually enjoy writing about this when I try?
See what emerges if I don’t plan – commit to discovery writing.

“Enough to hit publish” functions

Deliberately make a small thing – prove that a 500-word note is valid.
Practice stopping – write until X minutes or Y words, then quit on purpose.
Turn a huge topic into “part 1” – explicitly make this one slice, not the whole cake.
Close a loop – finish capturing a thread so my brain can let it go.

“My identity” functions

Build a public record of my thinking – “here’s how my ideas evolved over time."
Assert authorship over my own story – write how I see my path, not just how institutions see it.
Practice being the person I want to be – “someone who shares their process”, “someone who writes honestly about ADHD + work”, etc.
Reclaim topics from perfectionism – show they don’t have to live only in formal papers / reports.
Create an “I was here” trace – a small mark that I existed and thought about this.

See also