When considering a writing project it is good to think about the nature and feasibility of the project. Here my focus is not on projects a typical scientist has to do such as writing a thesis or writing research papers. Rather I'm concerned with optional projects such as writing a review article, a popular book, a popular article, or a book chapter. I find the following questions helpful. The answers may be inter-related. Hence, answers to the earlier ones may need to be revised after answering the later ones.
What is my main message?
The goal is not to write a book or an article. The goal is to communicate something, something that is important and interesting.
Who is my audience?
This will really shape how you write the piece and where you try to publish it.
Am I the best person to write this piece?
In different words, who is my competition?
What is my real goal?
To have fun? To enjoy the process? To learn something new? To become rich and famous?
To fulfill the tenure requirement of my university for "public engagement"? To get lots of citations? [Review articles are a good way to do this.] To show the general public why condensed matter physics is such a rich, exciting, and important field? To showcase my latest research results?
Clarifying your goal is necessary to answer the next question.
What is the likelihood I will achieve my goal?
Some of the goals above are much easier to achieve than others.
Besides me, who thinks that this project is a worthwhile endeavour?
Sometimes we are not very objective or realistic in our plans and aspirations. We may even delude ourselves about the importance of the proposed message, our ability to communicate it, and the likelihood of achieving our goal. Hence, an objective evaluation by more experienced colleagues and editors can save us time, pain, and disappointment.
What is the genre? What is the medium?
Is it a blog post, a piece in The Conversation, an article in Scientific American, a review article in a particular journal, or a textbook?
By the medium, I mean who will be my publisher (broadly defined)? Anyone can write a blog post. But if you want to publish a textbook you need a good publisher and contract. For example, I am writing Condensed Matter Physics: A Very Short Introduction; it is part of a series with a well-defined genre. The medium comes with some editorial support, marketing, and distribution.
What are model examples that I can use for inspiration and for comparison?
For example, with A Very Short Introduction, I have read and looked over many other in titles in the series, on a wide range of topics: Marx, Literary Theory, Complexity, Physical Chemistry, Depression, Corruption, Elementary Particles. That's helped me find ones I like and ones I don't like. Thinking through why helps me see how I want to write mine. By the way, the best one that I have read so far is Social and Cultural Anthropology.
Do I have the time, energy, and resources to see this project to completion?
It will take longer than you think. It will be harder than you think. The larger and the more ambitious the project, the greater this will be. Co-authors may lighten the workload and also enhance the project. But, they may also complicate things. Are their potential commenters on drafts or editors?
Can I do this project in stages? Can I start small and then build up to a larger project?
For example, can I go from a series of blog posts to an article and then to a popular book? This gradual approach can make things a lot more feasible. Also, one can get useful feedback along the way, both about content and level of interest.
Do you have any other suggested questions?
Feel free to share your own experiences.
Ross, the framework you proposed is excellent. I would add "How long am I willing to work on this to finish the project?".
ReplyDeleteYears ago when I was contemplating writing a textbook I asked people I knew how long it took them to write texts I respected. One person told me "About 7 years". I decided that I couldn't face something like that and was only willing to dive into writing a book if I could see a realistic plan to be finished in 18 months or less.