Writing tips

how you may be going off-topic without realizing it

A lot of time writers will see something that they like and want to incorporate it into whatever they are working on 

I'm sorry but that won't work. 

Take a moment to just stop and think: ok is there any way that a reader would understand why I put this in?

I once knew a girl who also worked for a local paper. We were working on a Halloween edition and she was writing an article about pet costumes. For some unknown reason (Idk what inspired her) she wanted to talk about wedding dresses. 

Ex: "ok but what if I talk about wedding dress costumes for pets?"

Weddings are in no way related to Halloween unless you're thinking about the corpse bride or having a wedding during Halloween. 

Her idea was turned down and she was told instead to focus on the most popular pet costumes and where the idea of pet costumes came from. 

Things turned out ok. 

Just think of what the topic is that you are writing about and whether or not you would be confused if whatever you want to incorporate into your writing was in an article about what you're writing about. 

Would you be confused? 

I get that you want to write about whatever it is that is off topic but don't include it into whatever you're writing about if you didn't originally plan to have it there. 

Instead, write something else like a scene that requires it. You may need it in the future.