---
title: "Glossary of Idea - Write - Edit"
description: "What every special term in the Idea - Write - Edit process means, in alphabetical order, for quick lookup while you read the guide pages."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cuongthach.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Glossary of Idea - Write - Edit

Each term below appears in the pages of Idea - Write - Edit. Every meaning comes from the original content of the process.

| Term | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Big idea, small idea | A big idea is a main part of the post, with its own title in the outline. Small ideas are the points inside one big idea. |
| Blind spot | An idea in the outline you do not understand well enough to explain yourself. You fill it at the handover, before you write. |
| Context | The three things that make the core message: who the customer is, what their problem is, what your solution is. |
| Core message | One sentence that says which problem the post solves, for whom, with which solution. How to make one is in [How to create a core message for a post](/docs/know-trust-love/guides/create-a-core-message). |
| Four things readers skim | The title, the description, the opening and the table of contents. Readers decide whether to keep reading after skimming them. |
| Guiding questions | A set of questions written for your topic and post type, read aloud and answered while you record in the Idea step. They keep you on point and stop you from repeating yourself. |
| Handover | The time between the Idea step and the Write step: you go over the outline for blind spots and study until you know enough. All looking things up is done here. |
| Off key | When a title and the part below no longer match, because the title was changed after the content was written for the old one. |
| One of a kind | A post nobody else could write: an idea nobody has said yet, or a shared idea told through your own experience. |
| Opening | The start of the post, written in the Edit step because the outline has none. Short, names the problem, points straight to the solution. |
| Outline | The script of the post and what the Idea step makes: one core message and six to ten big ideas with titles. Once locked, it is not changed. |
| Pouring out ideas | Saying or writing every idea about the topic, before any choosing, so you see them all and then choose. |
| Publishing skill | The skill of taking a piece of content from an idea to publishing, built by repeating it. Not a gift for fine writing. |
| Rough draft | What the Write step makes: everything you understand about each idea, not yet edited. It is the longest version of the post. |
| Second recording | A round of recording from the locked outline, needed only when the first round was shallow or you got stuck on an idea of the post. Look into the gap before you record. |
| Sense as a reader | Being able to look at an outline and see whether it flows or falls apart. It comes from a habit of reading books, the news, or watching videos. |
| Stopping point | The moment a step is done and what it made is put away. The next step starts only from there. |
| Three hats | The three roles you switch between across the steps: screenwriter in Idea, actor in Write, editor in Edit. |
| Three starter questions | What is it, how does it work, why does it matter. The three questions that open the Idea step and break down a one-line topic. |
| Tighten | The job of the Edit step: cut repeats, extras and hard parts so the post is tight but complete. Only cut, never add words. |
| Word hoarding | Keeping too many ideas because cutting 60 to 70% of what you said feels like a loss. A stuffed post is thin and tires readers. Sort by your core message to avoid it. |
| Writing loop | The cycle of writing, editing, redoing the outline, writing in more and changing titles, with no stopping point, that happens when the outline is not locked. |

Source: https://cuongthach.com/docs/idea-write-edit/reference/glossary/index.mdx