Our lives are centered around lists: reading lists, shopping lists, to-do lists, wish lists, David Letterman’s top ten lists, and so on. Right brain marketing uses lists extensively in the creation of commercials. Poets have used lists for a long time, because lists lead to powerful poetry through their brevity.

Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” is nothing more than a list. When Elizabeth Barrett Browning started with How I love you, let me count the ways, he was setting up his readers for a list. Emily Dickinson was making a list of what the heart asks for in “The Heart Asks First for Pleasure.”

Whether it’s poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, lists have an important place in creative writing. In Amulya Malladi’s 236-page novel, Serving Loco with Curry, on the second page, the protagonist Devi has made a list of pros and cons to finish off herself. In that list, Devi has introduced most of her backstory without going into any boring details, and from then on, the novel starts to take shape.

Creating a list is a smart idea to give information to the reader in a few words. List assets include persuasiveness, neatness, conciseness, and being scannable, easily understandable, and citable. Lists allow a writer to present the big picture first, so that they can work on the details later, if necessary.

For prewriting, many ideas can be used in a list and added to the list as they arise in the writer’s mind. In this sense, list building is research. Most writers make lists of their character traits, action sequences and scenes, and what they will include in the setting. These lists help them organize their thoughts and get writing done in less time. Be careful not to make lists too long, because they can become unmanageable.

Before writing any scene, a scene writing list can be useful even if the list has three items and is inside the writer’s head instead of on paper or on the computer screen. Making another list of development points in the story will make the writing process easier and will also prevent a blank stare on paper or screen.

Lists are important for presenting content. In a creative writing element, content is certainly king, but a list can pave the way.

For lists to be successful in dramatic writing, they need to be short. Three to seven elements should be the norm so as not to bore the reader. For example, if a story mentions a housewife’s drawer, a writer might say: She looked inside the drawer at the wedding ring she had taken off her finger after the divorce, the cork from the bottle of champagne from New Year’s Eve two years ago, a notepad with the menu hastily scribbled across the top, and the only glove he wore. five year old had thrown away.

Irrelevant items in a list do not belong in serious text. In the example above, if the writer were to name each item inside the drawer, as if he were taking inventory, the reader would get bored as those additional items would be unnecessary to the story. Additionally, lists should be arranged in a logical order, from most important to least important item or vice versa, in a way that suits the writer’s presentation goal.

Functional Lists are vital tools and, if used correctly, can improve the success of any text or task. No matter where the writer keeps their lists—on a piece of paper, in a computer file, or in a notebook—a list is an efficient way to save time and provide information.