How to write about anything

The original conceit for Blogger's Secret was that it was possible to become an expert on any topic by sheer diligence and frequent public writing on a narrow topic. Sometimes, though, you find yourself needing to write about something you aren't yet an expert on, and that topic could be anything - including something you know little or nothing about.

How can you write about anything and everything? It's surprisingly straightforward. Use your first set of writing efforts toward identifying your own personal ignorance about a topic, and begin by identifying questions that you and anyone would need to be able to answer in order to dig in further. A properly framed set of questions will signal your curiousity, attention, and interest in a topic, without requiring you to know all of the answers immediately.

Writing for the net gives you a special opportunity to create a work which is a series of questions, and where the answers to those questions get worked out over time as you and the people who read what you are writing identify the gaps. Frequently asked questions, with or without answers, are always a good start at addressing a topic. Fill in the gaps until the number of question marks on the page is less than the number of periods.

Thanks to Roger Rayle for the prompt to address this question. Chris Locke gets credit for the "question mark node" phrase in an old post to the Vacuum mailing list. Thanks to everyone who contributed to Usenet era Frequently Asked Questions, as good a technique (and sorely missed) for collecting ignorance in advance of collecting wisdom, especially Mark Moraes who helped produce my "What is Usenet? A second opinion" FAQ for many years.