Ask early, often, finally: what's my point? (Symposium Secrets to Stronger Editorials).

An editorial or column needs a clear focus to capture the reader's attention and especially to win the reader's support or move the reader to action.

To give your writing a clear focus, ask and answer three questions: What's my point? Who's my reader? What do I want that reader to do?

Your research can be thorough and your arguments passionate, but if your point is not clear, you have failed. To ensure that your writing has a strong focus, ask early, often, and finally: What's my point? Ask as you begin your research. Ask as you start writing. Ask when you're finished writing. At each stage, examine whether you're making that point or if you've wandered on to other points. Rarely can an editorial make multiple points effectively.

An equally important part of the focus is determining your primary audience. Are you trying to fire up the believer and arm her for arguing the point at the workplace or over the dinner table? Are you trying to help the undecided reader make up his mind? Are you trying to win over the reader who disagrees with you? Are you trying to make the reader aware of a problem that may have escaped her notice? Are you trying to stimulate thought by a reader who probably has not considered this issue? Are you writing for public policy makers?

Don't cop out by claiming that you're trying to reach all readers. Every editorial or column has a primary audience. If you think you're reaching everybody, you're in danger of reaching nobody. Yes, more people will read each piece than the primary audience. But different readers will react differently. Decide who is the reader you most want to reach and write for that reader.

As you're writing and especially when you're rewriting, ask how your primary reader is likely to react to each statement. Consider how the reader will view the examples and illustrations you use. Consider how the reader will view your word choices. Cutting remarks about sniveling liberals or bloodthirsty conservatives are fine in a piece that's written to fire up readers who agree with you. But if you're trying to sway the sniveling liberals or bloodthirsty conservatives to your point of view, this is not the time for name-calling.

If you hope for something more than a passive nod of the head from the reader, say so clearly. Should the reader vote for or against something, protest a policy, express support for troops, participate in an event?

These techniques can help you achieve and maintain a clear focus:

Ask yourself pointed questions

Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press suggests questions to ask as you try to find the focus of any piece of writing: Why do you care about this? Why did you want to write this piece? What touches you emotionally? Who is benefiting or being harmed, making money or losing money? How are readers being affected by this issue?

Write a headline

Writing a headline for your editorial might help you find your focus. A good headline. As DeSilva says, "no 'Unit Mulls Probe' garbage."

Make your point in three words. Bill Luening of the Kansas City Star recommends identifying your focus by boiling your point down to a three-word sentence, a subject, an active verb, and an object: "These generally emerge as themes, rather than a story focus, but they can lead to a theme statement. Maybe, if the story is a narrative, you can ... outline the complication, development, and resolution this way. The story of the Pied Piper then would be, "Rats Overrun City. City Hires Ratman. Ratman Kills Rats. City Stiffs Ratman. Ratman Steals Children. Moral: Keep Your Word. Or ... Flutists Kick Butt' Luening's example is a story rather than an editorial. You might want to boil the point of your editorial or column down differently: (Subject) Must (Verb) or (Subject) Must Not (Verb).

Be demanding

Use only your best information, your best illustrations, your best examples. The more demanding you are of the content of your editorial, the tighter your editorial, the stronger your focus. You cannot cover as much ground in most editorials as reporters do in the stories that uncover problems and explain issues. Without question, a tightly written long editorial has more depth and substance than a tightly written short editorial. But most editorials must be short. If you state your point clearly and raise your standards to allow only the best, clearest arguments and most important and interesting information, you will write outstanding, clearly focused editorials of modest length.

Steve Buttry is writing coach at The Omaha World-Herald in Nebrasak. E-mail [e-mail]