Nested Writing
And its benefits over a strictly linear approach
The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said that forcing his thoughts into a straight line was torture. He contrasted the chains of prose with the flexibility of poetry. The latter, he thought, was the only proper medium for philosophers. Today’s post is about analytical writing that’s not quite linear but not quite flexible: nested writing.
Nested writing starts with a nutshell argument where each clause later expands into its own section. Nested writing helps readers quickly understand the big picture and retain important ideas. It also forces writers to identify the foundations of their argument and makes drafting easier via a formulaic approach. This piece is an example of nested writing. To try it, write out big picture ideas, order them into a nutshell argument, and then expand each sentence into its own paragraph.
What the heck is nested writing?
Nested writing begins with the arc of your argument: a pithy, several sentence summary. Each sentence then expands into its own section. And so on, with each sentence of the new section serving as the base for yet another section. In other words, you quickly give away your main points and then add detail as you retrace your steps.
Some of you might have heard of “roadmapping” a presentation — when you lay out an agenda for a presentation or piece. Nested writing is a bit different. Roadmapping tends to involve telling the audience what you’re going to discuss. A nutshell contains what you want to discuss but can stand alone as a paragraph with meaning.
Benefits for readers
Nested writing enables readers to immediately see the arc of your argument, rather than making them guess where the piece is headed. This enables readers to focus on details. In addition, nested writing ensures that a reader retains the most important points if they stop reading — something that happens frequently in a world where many sources compete for attention.
Benefits for writers
Nested writing helps writers to identify the essential parts of their argument, put them in order, and easily turn those core ideas into a full draft. Writers can understandably get bogged down from all the information they want to convey. Articulating the “nutshell” helps separate core clauses from supplementary details. Rather than stare down the tyranny of a blinking cursor with each new paragraph, the writer knows the first sentence and that the next few are meant to explicate it.
This has been an example of nested writing
Hopefully it has become clear along the way that this post is an example of nested writing. After a brief introduction, I tried to encapsulate core ideas. Each section in this post anchored itself in a core idea from the beginning nutshell. So if you’re trying to write an op-ed or an essay, consider a nested writing approach — even if it only serves as a brainstorming mechanism that you’ll tinker with later.
How to try nested writing
Write out big-picture ideas in single sentences. Don’t worry about the order yet.
Once you’ve generated many one-sentence ideas, read through them. Separate out explanatory detail from core clauses. String together core clauses into a nutshell paragraph.
Copy and paste each sentence from the nutshell paragraph. Use each core idea as the first sentence of a new paragraph that explains that core idea.
Repeat #3 as needed until you reach the granularity you desire. For example, each sentence in an explanatory paragraph can become the “core idea” for new paragraphs that add additional context.
If all this sounds too abstract, stay tuned for a follow-up example of these steps in the next few weeks. And if you’re interested in trying this out for something you’re working on, send me a note — I’m always happy to chat and help out!