Composing in Indonesian
DO NOT START BY WRITING OUT YOUR THOUGHTS ENTIRELY IN ENGLISH!
You could start by jotting down lots of headings , topics, ideas, loose notes in English and Indonesian but discount those concepts which you know are just too complex for your Indonesian language at present. Best of all is to make notes in Indonesian - brainstorm a list of words that might be useful, full sentences if they occur to you.
This is only 500 words, remember, for your first effort. One page or so of single spaced typing.
Now, put your ideas in order of some sort:
introduction ---- points 1 - 5 (if its non fiction) ---- conclusion
OR
Introduction ----- , characters, incident, development, dialogue, incident -- conclusion (if its a story)
"Order of some sort"
Order implies that you will show links and associations and cohesion between one idea and the next and over the entire composition. Some of this order is conveyed through internal meaning associations in your words and phrases messages.
the / that itu
My mother Ibu (the saya demonstrates order, my mother, not the mother other people mentioned in the passage)
Some is done bluntly by linking-words which show the logical connections or relations between one action or event or thing and another, such as
the (abovementioned) yang tersebut
Therefore Maka Demikianlah
Because of that, Karena itu
By chance, coincidence, it happened that Kebetulan
Whereas/while ...sementara ...
Temporal (time) ordering
First Next then After that Finally
Pertama-tama Kemudian Lalu Sesudah itu Akhirnya
In 1990 During June 1997
Pada tahun 1990, .... Selama bulan Juni tahun 1997, ...
Previously Formerly
Dulu
Before I/he was born, ...
Sebelum saya/dia lahir, ...
Just a while ago, just now Tadi
the one just now/that one before yang tadi
later, "some time in the future" Nanti
Sometimes Kadang-kadang
And there are innumerable phrases which show the speaker's, writer's or other people's emotions or attitudes or prioritisation of events or things:
In fact, really, truly, Sebenarnya
...is/was indeed... .... memang ...
Of course Tentu saja
It seems, appears that ... Rupanya
It looks like/as if ... Kelihatannya
It sounds as if/as though ... Kedengarannya
It would be better if .... Lebih baik kalau, ...
But, in my opinion, ... Tetapi, menurut pendapat saya ..
NOTE: Most colloquialisms (like deh, sih, dong, kasih instead of memberi , etc) are inappropriate in writing except for reported direct speech (words quoted direct from conversation). In writing, we tend to use mor eformal language (depending on the effect we wish to convey, so you can use Apakah instead of just Apa to make Yes/No questions, and so on.)