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For several years I was able to attend and often teach at CLASSeminars. Led by best-selling authors and popular speakers Florence and Marita Littauer Tedder CLASSeminars taught us so, among many topics, several techniques and insights to help us improve our speaking and writing.[1] These invaluable lessons have stayed with me and guided my personal and contracted writing.

One technique I’ve found invaluable to my writing is PIER, an anacronym for Point, Instruction, Example, and Reference. Let’s dive into this helpful writing tool, and hopefully, knowing and following PIER will improve your writing, speaking, and presentations.

I receive many manuscripts to review, and sometimes I ask the author, “What’s the point?” It’s not that their topic is wrong. The issue is that in the book, many of their chapters, or even paragraphs within chapters, there is no central driving point. They wander, and the book has no main theme. They write stories that don’t support any topic they are presenting (more on that later). Friends, it’s critically essential for your book; chapters and even paragraphs within chapters have a point. Leave rabbit trails and forest wanderings for hikes when you need a break from writing. The point is your main idea(s). Your point keeps you focused and helps your audience, whether readers or a physical audience, remain with you and understand your presentation. Can you have multiple points? Of course, you can as long as they stay within the core point you’re trying to make. Writers and presenters need to keep focused.

Instruction is what you’re trying to teach the reader. It applies to both fiction and non-fiction books. This particular Blog’s instruction is for you to develop an outline. Treat your main point as a tree trunk. Out from the tree’s trunk are branches (chapters) that feed from the main trunk. Pull all those subpoints together into an outline that logically helps your audience discover your main point—the primary reason they came to hear you speak or bought your book. An effective outline should help you cover your topic in a book, a presentation, or a two-minute media interview.

Examples are ideas or stories that illustrate what you are saying or writing. They help the reader to understand your instruction and points better. Here’s an example for this particular Blog. For a recent book project, the author had a specific topic he wanted to write about. His first book covered the general topic, but he wanted to get more specific. We began assembling an outline. We changed it a few times, but the outline and what became chapters all pointed toward or supported his main point. I often use Excel to create the outline and populate the Excel spreadsheet with quotations, citations, thoughts, etc., under each relevant chapter. This spreadsheet gives me one place to look; I can merely cut and paste the quote and citation if I use the reference. In this Blog, I used a story that’s an example of the instruction I gave.

The last idea is reference. References help the audience see that others share your opinion. They support your points and sub-points. They fall into research that supports your point(s). Research needs to be done carefully. If you’re writing a book about life in California, don’t mention plants that only grow in Maine’s climate. Do your research to find out what plants are native or grow easily in California. And, please, whenever you can, use primary sources. Secondary sources sometimes aren’t correct, so it’s best to find a primary source. This particularly applies if you’re writing a reference or a non-fiction book for scholars or teachers. In these cases, I’d recommend never using secondary sources. And, please, whatever you’re writing, never use Wiki or ‘brainy quote” type resources as they tend to devalue your writing. Seek primary research resources that make your writing sparkle.

So, that’s PIER. It’s an incredible formula to help guide you through the writing process.

If you have questions, please get in touch with me directly at info@waynehastings.com. I’ve also written two books on writing which are available on Amazon. There are also other writing Blogs on my website: waynehastings.com.

[1] CLASSeminars stands for Christian Leaders and Speakers Seminars. Marita’s book, Communication Plus, is available from Amazon.

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