If you are a new writer, there are many writing tips you can use to strengthen your writing skills. Strong writing skills are essential in just about every career today and this can be intimidating to those who don’t write on a daily basis. With a willingness to learn and some discipline, it is certainly possible to improve your writing skills.
One of the best ways to improve your writing is to practice on a daily basis. Another way involves using mentor sentences. This involves taking an exemplary example of a sentence and imitating its mechanics, grammar and style in your own sentences. Here are some other tips to help you improve.
Don’t neglect the basics
Just as concert pianists have to learn the notes before being able to play beautifully, writers need to learn the basics of writing if they want to become better writers. Too many people rely entirely on grammar and spell checkers. They can be very helpful but for those wanting to excel in the field of writing, it is well worth knowing the basics. You can always improve grammar and writing skills.
Fortunately, you have access to many online sources that can help you to learn language basics today. There are many good websites and apps that can help you with this. For example, you may have questions about when to use commas. Researching this gives you some essential knowledge you are able to apply whenever you write.
Get into the habit of writing daily
Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to becoming a great writer. If you want to get better at anything, it requires some practice. Talented writers often take many years to perfect their craft.
The best academic writers for hire on MyAssignment Help say that one of the best ways to get into the habit of writing daily is to start a blog. If you create a post on a daily basis, your writing skills will gradually improve. Instead of sitting with a blank page and a blinking cursor, you will find it easier to come up with topics and your own unique style will begin to emerge.
Even if no-one ever reads what you’ve written, practice will get the dry well flowing. Writing without censoring what you’re writing can help to get a flow going and you can always go back to it and refine what you’ve written later if necessary.
Read what you want to write about
Reading on a regular basis will help you to develop your writing skills. Try to choose more challenging material than you usually read and pay attention to the word choice, sentence structure and flow. You will start developing your ability to identify what makes writing effective.
If you read within your writing niche, you will begin to understand it better. The words of other writers in your niche and how they tackle certain subjects will help you to develop your own abilities. You can even highlight what you like about their work, such as certain turns of phrase or words they use.
Think about why they had an impact on you and see if there are any common threads in the writing you admire. If you do this, you may learn how to apply certain techniques your favorite writers use in your own writing.
Create an outline
Having an outline helps you to make sure you include everything you need to write a coherent, complete piece. If you create a structure, including subheadings you want to use, it becomes much easier and less time-consuming to write the actual piece.
You know where you are going to end before you even start, which creates a good flow from the introduction all the way to the conclusion. Your outline does not have to be complex but creating it gives you a framework that you can refer back to if you think you’re getting lost and can no longer see the wood for the trees.
Keep it clear and simple
A common mistake amongst beginner writers is to use more complex sentences and longer words to make them sound more authoritative. It is simply not true that your writing is better if it is more complex and you use longer words. George Orwell famously said you should never use a long word where a shorter one will do.
If you’re writing for online readers, formal prose full of jargon and obscure references will put them off, whereas conversational content and short words appeal to them.
Using the Hemingway app or Grammarly can help you to make your writing simple and clear. It highlights complex, meandering, lengthy sentences and shows where you can use a shorter word instead of a long one. You can also get rid of passive voice, weakening phrases and adverbs to make your writing more forceful and clear.
Accept that first drafts aren’t final drafts
If you think the talented writers you admire write a book or article once and don’t touch it again, you are wrong. First drafts are simply a way of getting ideas down on paper. Few people are able to produce a masterpiece without a lot of rewriting and reworking material. Writing is an iterative process and refining it probably takes more time than producing that first draft.
Working with good editors can significantly improve your writing skills. They will be able to show you why a particular sentence does not work and suggest how to improve it.
It is often embarrassing for you as a writer when someone else reads your work, especially if you haven’t shown anyone your work before. However, it offers a way for you to develop good writing habits and learn how to accept constructive criticism, which is always important if you want to improve.
A final word
Seeing how far you can progress is one of the joys of being a writer and this is possible by following some of the tips mentioned above. Practicing daily, creating outlines to make sure your piece flows logically and choosing simple words rather than long, complex ones are just some ways you can easily improve your writing skills.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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