By: Marilyn L. Davis
Deciding: Breadth or Depth?
“To grow in the craft is to increase the breadth of what I can do, but art is the depth, the passion, the desire, the courage to be myself and myself alone.” Pat Schneider
Each writer must decide if they are going to write from the perspective of breadth or depth. The writer can give an interesting, informative overview of the topic, write a good article, or focus on specific points of the general topic and give in-depth information and resources for the reader.
A simple way to separate the concepts of breadth from depth is to think of bullet points as breadth and writing a 1000-word article about only one of the points as depth Click To Tweet.
Breadth: Equal Coverage for All Elements
The breadth of an article is writing about as many aspects of your topic as there are to cover. For instance, if you are writing about landscaping, you could cover lawn maintenance, shrubs and plantings, flower beds, and organic and inorganic fertilizers.
However, if you were writing from depth, you might only report specific shrubs for a particular climate zone.
I often write about the craft and structure of writing. In an overview format, I might list the components of an article. I could then follow up with a brief description or a few keywords about each of the elements, highlighting each of the following:
- Title: Predicts Content, Keywords, Promise of Information, Stimulates Reader Curiosity
- Introduction: Appealing statements to attract readers, relevant quotes, attention-grabbing, sets the tone
- Content: Paragraphs of information, educational How-to, Entertaining, Helpful
- Conclusion: Summarizes all information relating to the title and key elements of the content
In an article with breadth, each component has equal value, and there would not be more emphasis on writing about one element over the other. Writers would have broad-based knowledge about each of the components and elaborate equally about them.
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Depth: Highlighting One Element
I might still list the essential elements; however, I would focus on a specific component, such as the content, and give readers more information, sources, or descriptors to enlighten them about that individual element.
Using this approach, there could then be a series on the four elements listed and create interest for returning readers.
Both types of articles serve a purpose. From a writer's standpoint, though, looking at how saturated the market is with your topic might help you decide whether to write from breadth or depth. Click To Tweet
Breadth or Depth? Both Begin with Craft
Remembering the words of Pat Schneider, first comes craft. Solid writing craft means the post is well written. Therefore, improving at the craft of writing might means reading about how to write better. Each day, I try to learn a little more about the craft of writing. Some books and writers that have helped me are:
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost
Help! For Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces by Roy Peter Clark
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
After reading, comes writing, defining your process, analyzing the results, trying something different, and finding your voice, tone, and style for both the perspectives – breadth or depth.
Two Drops of Ink: The Literary Home for Collaborative Writing
Marilyn L. Davis is the Editor-in-Chief at Two Drops of Ink and From Addict 2 Advocate. She is also the author of Finding North: A Journey from Addict to Advocate and Memories into Memoir: The Mindsets and Mechanics Workbook, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indie Books, and Books A Million.
