There are millions of people across the globe who would like to become a better writer. For some, their desire is just to master the basics of writing and perhaps to overcome a disadvantaged education. For others, the desire may be to simply become more competent and may be driven, for example, by a need to write good quality work reports. Then there are those of us who aspire to making money from our writing and perhaps dream of having a novel or short story published. Whatever your current level of writing ability, and whatever your end goal, it is always possible to take on new learning and improve your writing skills. In this article, I'll touch upon some of the main ways that you can do this.
Tip 1: Read more:
The more you read, from accomplished writers, the more writing skills you will assimilate. You may be barely conscious of this process but you will find that your vocabulary increases and your understanding of basic things such as sentence structure, paragraph layout and spelling will all improve.
The material that you read doesn't need to be restricted to novels. You should look to read a range of things including newspapers, magazines, Helium articles, short stories and, yes, some novels too. Your choice of what to read will depend upon your interests but it can be valuable to branch out a little from your usual reading material. When I was younger, for example, I mainly read fantasy novels but I feel that my writing has benefited from reading novels from the like of Douglas Coupland and Kate Atkinson from outside of that genre.
I mentioned reading Helium articles and the great benefit that Helium offers is that you can see how people have ranked various articles on the same topic. Reading a few of the top-ranked and a few of the bottom-ranked articles will probably give you some insights into what people look for in good writing.
Tip 2: Write more:
If you speak to established authors or people who run writing classes, the single biggest piece of advice that they almost invariably impart is that writers need to spend time in front of their computer writing. It doesn't really matter if your initial output is disappointing, as you should find that with time you will become more proficient. I often liken writing to working out at the gym. The more you write, the easier it becomes as your creative muscles develop.
You might want to try experimenting with different types of writing. For example, writing Helium articles, writing a short story, beginning to write a novel or even trying your hand at some poetry. The basic thing here is that every time you sit down to write you are honing your skills and learning to work with words and craft them into something that it fluent and maybe even beautiful.
Tip 3: Learn some of the grammatical basics:
Trying to write without understanding the basics of grammar is a bit like trying to play football without understanding the rules of the game. You might be able to make a decent fist of it but anyone watching you would immediately be able to see that you aren't grounded in the rules of the game. In the same way as footballers need to know about the offside rule and other technical peculiarities, a writer needs to know about commas and apostrophes and will struggle to become accomplished until these become ingrained.
The sad truth is that school inadequately covers grammar these days and people leaving school now have a much lower level of grammatical competence than my parents' or grandparents' generations. The increasing prevalence of text-speak with its absence of apostrophes certainly isn't helping either.
It can be very beneficial, therefore, to brush up our grammatical knowledge and a great reference source is the best-selling guide "Eats shoots and leaves: The zero tolerance approach to punctuation" by Lynne Truss. Her guide provides some humorous examples of why punctuation is important and the misunderstanding that can result when incorrect punctuation is used. It also, then, outlines in a very easy-to-read manner some of the basics of punctuation. I found the section on apostrophes particularly useful!
Tip 4: use your spell check tool:
Spelling's something that many of us struggle with and is, of course, a particular bane for people who suffer from dyslexia. Thankfully, our generation have the advantage of being able to use the spell check function on our computers, so this can significantly cut down on those unintentional errors. The other advantage of it is that, over time, it should flag up the things that you consistently have difficulty with and you will be able to eradicate these errors.
In general, it's been shown that minor typos generally don't affect most people's abilities to interpret a message. However, there is no doubt that sloppy spelling looks bad and can convey a detrimental impression of the writer. An employer looking at a CV that was full of spelling and punctuation errors might conclude that the person is either not good at paying attention to detail or perhaps isn't very intelligent. Similarly, if you want to get a novel published, a publisher probably won't bother reading beyond the first page if it (and your cover letter) contains simple errors.
Tip 5: Pay attention to formatting:
Readers like to see writing broken down into manageable chunks. This is achieved mainly through writing in paragraphs but also by the use of bullet points and numbering. The importance that people place on formatting will be clear to anyone who has ever submitted a poorly formatted report to a senior manager at work. It is likely to come back marked in red pen. You will also see articles on Helium that are just one long continuous stream of writing, with no paragraphs. They are invariably marked down in the ranking system and this will be the case even where the actual standard of writing is really high. The key point here is that impressions are as important, if not more important, as the technical standard of the writing.
Tip 6: Pacing and developing your own style:
When we read novels, there are times when we are gripped and can't put down the book. Then there are also times when we find it a real chore to finish the novel. There will be a range of factors that will contribute to whether we consider the novel a page-turner or a bore, such as characterisation, genre, etc. However, one important element is often the pacing. Does the dialogue and narrative flow smoothly or is it over-long and forced?
This particular aspect of writing is one of the more advanced skills and usually only comes with time, practice and the benefit of reading the works of more skilled writers. It is also tied up in finding your own writing style. Having an identifiable style will make it easier for you to write various articles or stories and the ease that you find in writing the piece will probably also reflect through on how easy the end user finds it to read it.
Tip 7: The importance of editing and second drafts:
If you think about it, the chances are quite low that you will hit upon the perfect piece of writing at the very first attempt. Even with the aid of your spell checker, the chances are that some spelling and grammatical errors may still creep in. Additionally, the way that you've structured the piece of writing may not be perfect and there may be internal inconsistencies that you've missed.
This is why it is so important to go back and review your piece of writing and to critically evaluate it. When submitting an important piece of writing, you might even want to get another person to check it for you, as sometimes an independent pair of eyes helps identify stuff that you may have missed.
Tip 8: Be aware who your audience is:
If you're writing a report for work, the chances are that you will want to adjust it depending on whether it's going to the senior director or to your IT technical specialists. Similarly, if you're embarking on a children's novel, then you will want to write it in a different way and level of sophistication than if you were writing for adults.
Tip 9: Don't be afraid to seek assistance/advice from others:
Asking questions is a basic way that we can improve our competence, not only with regards to writing but also for everything else. Don't be afraid, therefore, to seek advice from others. People will generally be flattered that you rate their writing skills and have thought to seek their advice.
You can get informal assistance from work colleagues, family and friends. Helium is another good forum for seeking advice, giving you access to a large pool of skilled writers. However, there is also the option of enrolling on a writer's course. A good starting point can be to contact your local college to see if they run any evening classes. Classes are run for basic writing (and reading skills) and also there are creative writing courses which are aimed more at aspiring writers who already have a decent level of ability.
Summary:
Writing is a basic skill that we all engage in on a regular basis. There are great benefits to being able to write well and, on top of that, it can be great fun to craft words on a page. Becoming more proficient at writing is something that is within your grasp, provided that you are prepared to put the time and effort into self-improvement. The cornerstones of becoming a better writer are the holy trinity of reading more, writing more, and having a basic grasp of the main grammatical rules. Hopefully, you will have fun as you develop as a writer and who knows where it might lead you perhaps you might even become one of those handful of individuals who achieves their dream of getting a novel published!
Finally, here are some websites that offer writing resource tips that may be useful:
http://paperbackwrighter.weebly.com/writing-r esources.html
http://www.janeespenson.com/index.php
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