8 ways to improve your writing skills

Writing can be a very close occupation for people who are just starting. But make no mistake; professionals are just as afraid of the white page as beginners! No matter what kind of work you are looking for, you need to make sure that you are constantly trying to improve your writing skills.

Like everything else, your skills will deteriorate quickly if you do not write every day. This is a special problem, considering that it is even harder to return to writing later. Read different texts: the more you read, the better you write. Read your competitors, as well as newspapers, blogs, websites, magazines, and books. Simplify the text: Journalists are often advised to check whether their texts are understood by their parents or grandparents, to remove unnecessary jargon, and to explain the terminology. Always make sure your audience understands what you have written, and use short, clear sentences without too complex constructions to avoid misunderstandings. The same applies to repetitions – they should be avoided when searching for synonyms or other linguistic expressions.

Think about it: re-read everything you write, preferably in a week or more. Learn to critique your texts and analyze which methods worked and which didn’t. Write for fun: writers who love their work do it better. Listen to others: Good journalists and writers observe the world around them and convey their opinions through their texts. Listening carefully is especially helpful when you write for an audience you don’t belong to. Develop sentences. There will always be people who do not agree with what you have written, or who are upset by a word or two. Don’t be angry at the word you had to change and be proud of the hundreds of others you have written. Question the written text: if you feel that something is wrong with what is written, it is most likely that the text is impossible for other people to perceive. If you are bored or do not understand the topic, it will not be understood by your reader. Chat with other people who also write. Important team spirit and dialogue between the authors are very important in writing. Find the right market. A good writer starts by finding the right audience for his work before moving on to creating content. Before agreeing to any of these publications, select the three publications that are appropriate for the publication you want to create and research their audience and how the editors work. It is also important to pay attention to the amount of material published by these media, the tone in which they communicate with readers who have written over the past few years.

Think about the idea and perspective of the presentation. Write the title first, then the rest of the text. Why? Again, since the untitled material does not have a clear direction, and this can negatively affect the structure, the editor will not like it. Also, the title helps determine who to talk to and what questions to ask the characters. Give the facts. If you are not an expert on the topic you are writing about, avoid subjectively checking the text, as this can affect its quality. Read as much material on this topic as possible, you will find relevant research and experts to cite. Create added value for your text. In the digital age, materials require additional elements: be it a short audio clip, a video clip, or selected infographics.

When writing for a print magazine, think about your article as it will be published and promoted online. For example, it may be good for a network to present a topic through a character, a real person, with whom the audience will identify. Edit your work. Never send the first text to the editor. Always edit the concept to permanently delete unintelligible sentences, unanswered questions, or unnecessary passages that do not reveal the topic. The third time you read this material, finding typos or missing commas should be a more technical task.

No matter where you are on the road to writing, you will always find more tips that you can use to improve your craft and make you the best writer you can be. Here are eight basic writing tips that will improve your skills and revive your passion for writing and storytelling.

Way №1 Be a good writer – read!

Without a doubt, the best way to improve your writing skills is to read as much as possible.

Reading improves your ability to connect and understand concepts, to imagine your concepts and stories, and to better understand how language works.

You are much more likely to subconsciously memorize grammar and punctuation rules if you are an avid reader and your mind is set up to construct sentences correctly. So if you notice wrong punctuation, you can notice it right away. Also, don’t read just one genre or just one fiction. Read as many different texts by different authors from different cultures as possible. The more exposed you are to how other people tell your story, the better you tell your own.

Way №2. Stay true to your voice!

Every writer has a voice. For example, there are many books in the horror genre. But if you read horror writer Stephen King, you will see that Stephen King wrote it. Authors may have similar voices if they write in the same genre or from similar cultures, but make no mistake; neither of the two authors is similar. The problem with finding your voice is that it takes some time. An even bigger problem is that there are courses that claim they can find a voice for you. It’s just a marketing act. You will find your voice by writing as much as you can. You will feel your voice coming out of you when you realize that you have a certain way of looking at the world, you have your philosophy of writing and you can comment with your voice on what you see in it (no matter what the world is with. you are dealing with whether it is fictional or not). When you realize that your voice has developed, hold it and never let go. If you want to become a professional writer, you need to develop your writing skills, even if you prefer to do something else. No matter how busy you are or how difficult your daily work is, if you want to become a professional writer, you have to take it seriously. Come up with a writing schedule that suits you and your lifestyle. Some like to write in the morning, some like to write in the evening, and some spend all their free time writing. One of the best ways to make sure you follow this goal is to set a daily word count that you must achieve (write) before bed. So, you strive to write in the days when all your plans for the day did not go as expected.

Way №3. Take care of your health!

A popular stereotype about writers is that writers must be either depressed or addicted to creating meaningful work. Of course, this is not true, and under no circumstances should you place your body in a negative environment just to imitate someone else. Your body should be as healthy as possible. For your brain to function properly, you need to feed it healthy food so that you can maintain your attention and energy levels. Eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, and you will quickly see that nothing else will help you in writing; you need to exercise every day and not be bored. Never let the day go by without writing a word. Even if the day was so busy, do not go to bed without writing a word during the day. If you really can’t find anything new to write about, think about the day you just had and write about it. The more you write, the faster your mind can come up with new, well-structured sentences, and you will find that writing becomes easier and easier. Many communities around the Internet rely solely on writers. You can join a forum, subscribe to interactive online communities that operate on social networks, or join a community of writers, such as #Writing Community on Twitter. The writers’ community is a great source of advice, free marketing of your work, and here you can find the latest news on everything a modern writer would like to know. Because many people in real life don’t know others who are also writers, the online community is a great place for writers from around the world to meet and enjoy writing time.

Way №4. Develop your writing skills!

Yes, the editor is crucial to ensure the highest possible quality of your work. However, two things should be noted. First, not everyone can afford an editor at the beginning of their career. Still, you should be able to polish your work as much as possible if it is impossible to see it with other eyes before it is published to the world. Second, the editor is not only designed to correct grammatical and punctuation errors. The cleaner the original project, the more the editor can focus on the whole article, providing valuable guidance on the information logic of the text and writing style. Whatever you say in a few words – do it! Being able to write means being able to say everything you have to say, choosing the perfect words for the job. You can also flood the reader with the information he doesn’t need to know. The reader does not need to know what each character is wearing, down to the smallest detail. Instead, just remember what’s important to your story, and let the reader fill in the blanks with their imagination. So, if you notice that a phrase, word, or even symbol is cluttering your spelling, delete it immediately.

Way №5. Complete the workshop!

While the overall improvement of your writing skills is important, improving all aspects of your writing is difficult. Workshops (both online and real) are available online. These classes focus on one aspect of writing (for example, the use of adverbs and adjectives) so that you can focus on improving a particular skill at any time. There are many such online workshops, and many of them are free. They are an invaluable way to improve your writing skills, and you should try to use them whenever you can.

Way №6. Write what you know!

Writers often discuss this topic – should you write what you know, or explore as many different points of view and worlds as possible. While it’s great to discover, it’s much better to stick to topics, experiences, and emotions that you already know, especially if you’re just starting to write. If you follow this rule, you will be more likely to give the reader the right descriptions and emotions that he can understand and may even be related to. If you try to write about something you don’t know, your inexperienced experience in this field will tell you and make you look like an amateur. Many writers are intimidated by the size of a project when they start working on it. This fear causes delays to occur very quickly and often leads to the project not being completed. If you are one of those people, you better start with your stories. They can be 700 or even 30,000 words long. They give you enough space to tell a story without having to deal with a lengthy writing project. So write as many stories as you can and focus on using a short format to practice writing only the details that the reader needs to know. If you write every day and make every effort to improve your craft, you are a writer. Real authors do not need to publish traditionally, receive awards, sell a certain number of books, or have a certain number of publications. A person who writes regularly and aspires to a writing career is a writer.

 Way №7. Get rid of the passive voice!

There is a reason why everyone is so angry at a passive voice when it appears in writing. This is because a passive voice distances the story from the reader. This puts the plot in an indefinite period, and the characters and the story sound as if they took place somewhere far away. You don’t want to take your reader away from your world because you need to give them the time and atmosphere they need to connect with your characters and the information you give them. Sometimes the passive voice here and there is not a problem, but try to have a few of these sentences as possible when writing. Whether we want to admit it or not, we do not have as much patience and concentration as before. The internet and the vast amount of information we deal with daily leave us with very little patience when it comes to experiencing something new. Keep this in mind when writing. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, the sooner you approach a reader and get them interested in the next steps, the more likely they are to read your work to the end.

Way №8. Recognition of a writer is a myth!

Let’s understand one thing: this does not mean that you will never find it difficult to write. There will be many such opportunities, but they are not beyond your control. Often, when someone mentions that they have ideas from a writer, it seems as if an external force is blocking their writing abilities. This is a form of procrastination that for some people can last for months or even years. If you find yourself in a situation where you don’t want to write, write something else. You can move on to writing something completely different, but don’t give up and say you have ideas for writing because you never know how long it will take to rewrite if you succumb to that belief.

About Author

Lina Jones is a highly motivated, talented professional writer who strives to provide great, personalized, and plagiarism-free solutions for Apapers.com clients. She also enjoys supporting the goals of schools educating young people, bloggers, and students in a way that inspires problem-based learning and innovative thinking. Lina Jones has traveled the world to study the joint research and education on conservation and conservation that she has brought to her community. She has a master’s degree in English philology and loves to write about anything related to the social and psychological sciences. She has been a journalist and writer for at least 10 years.