12 Better Writing Habits
How to build better writing writing skills
Great writing requires an extensive skill set. You have to understand language, syntax, and context. A firm grasp on grammar is essential. The content you write must be organized so it reads smoothly. A vast vocabulary, a talent for puns, and a knack for storytelling are all skills that will benefit any writer.
Sure, some people are born with a talent for word craft. But nobody’s born knowing how to write. We all have to work at building and growing our writing skills, and this is especially true for anyone who wants to have a career in writing.
Better writing is not something that happens overnight. It’s a long-term commitment but the payoff is great. If you make a choice every day to improve your writing, then your work will get stronger, become more compelling, and you’ll drastically increase your chances of getting published.
How to Build Better Writing Skills
This list could keep you busy for years. There’s an endless supply of tools and resources to help writers build skills. Below, you’ll find the core activities that lead to consistently better writing over the long term.
- Read. Listening to audio books and surfing around the Internet do not count as reading. Curl up with a well written novel, brush up on your nonfiction reading, flip through some poetry collections. Reading is the single best way to naturally acquire writing skills.
- Write every day. My music teacher says that it’s better to practice for fifteen minutes every day than to practice for two hours three times a week. I think the same is true for writing. Even if you can only dedicate a few minutes to writing every day, it will become an ingrained habit. Writing will become an integral part of your life.
- Proofread, edit, and revise. It’s blatantly obvious when a piece of writing has not been properly proofread. Typos, grammatical errors, and other crimes against language will assault anyone who attempts to read your work. So fix it.
- Know your strengths and accept your weaknesses. You will come to learn that some aspects of writing come easily to you (maybe you’re great at dialogue) but other aspects are a challenge (your plots are full of holes). Once you accept your weaknesses, you can work on eliminating them through practice and study.
- Brush up on grammar. It’s rare for a piece of writing to be so amazing that readers are willing to ignore bad grammar. Many writers are lazy in this area because learning grammar is a lot of work and it’s academic work rather than creative work. The good news is that once you learn the rules, they will be with you forever.
- Get to know the style guides. Style is all about consistency with writing issues that aren’t addressed by grammar rules. Make sure you know which style guides are pertinent to your chosen field of writing and make sure you include them in your own collection of writing resources.
- Experiment with different forms. Every fiction writer can learn a thing or two from reading and writing a little poetry and vice versa. Nobody’s asking you to start rooting for a different team; just dip your toes in different waters so you know you’re swimming in the right body of water.
- Share your work and invite feedback. One of the quickest ways to improve your writing is through feedback. Get a real, live, well-read person to review your work. Embrace the feedback, even if it hurts, and then put it to work for you by ironing out all the wrinkles that your friendly reader found.
- Offer to give feedback on others’ work. When you edit or critique another writer’s work, you’ll see a piece of writing from the editor’s angle as well as the reader’s. This will give you a better perspective on your own work.
- Conduct thoughtful research. If you work in the nonfiction arena, then make sure you’ve got your facts straight. Even in fiction, there has to be some alignment with reality for a story to be believable. Resources are abundant. Use them (and be sure to check their credentials).
- Cultivate creativity. Have fun with your writing. Fill it will color or scale it back to a minimalist style. Try new words and off-the-wall images. Creative writing keeps readers interested!
- Make a conscious commitment to strive for better writing every day.
Better Writing Isn’t For Everyone
Improving your writing is hard work. If you love to write, then the work will be fun at times. Other times, you’re just going to have to grin and bear it, knowing full well that the ends make the means completely worthwhile. Some people love to write every day. For others, it’s a drag and they’d really prefer to just write when the mood strikes.
What separates a hobby from a lifestyle or a career is that we take it seriously and we have made a serious commitment to follow our passion, even if there’s a lot of hard work involved.
Some people are perfectly content with being mediocre, and that’s fine too. But if you want to shine, to be the best writer you can possibly be, then make that commitment and keep on writing.
Do you have any tips to add to this list? What have you done to improve your own writing? Do you strive to produce better writing? Share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences by leaving a comment.
Melissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. She writes fiction and poetry and is the founder and editor of Writing Forward, a blog packed with creative writing tips and ideas.
Wow! There are so many awesome points in this post, and I love them, in spite of me being familiar with all of them. In fact, I credit them to my becoming a better writer slowly over time, although the entire process was great fun, because, as you said, it’s easy when you love to write. When you don’t have the passion, then it’s hard to improve, so in that case, you’re much better off with a different medium, such as audio or video.
Tip #13: Observe as much as you can. If you don’t have anything to write about, then how will you write? If one doesn’t have enough knowledge on a subject, then can how can that person sound as if he knows what he’s writing about? That’s why my English teacher gave this advice: observe everything, read a lot, and then write a lot.
Ah, great addition Idress: observe. Thanks for adding that to the list
Great post, lots of good advice. I think rewriting helps one learn a lot about the craft of writing. I took a year to finish my first novel and another eight months working on the rewrites. It was those rewrites that taught me so much about good writing. When you write something, leave it for a couple of days, then come back to it with fresh eyes.
I think that young or new writers often skip revisions and it is only when a writer embraces rewriting that he or she truly blossoms. Yes, rewriting is good.
Thursday morning couldn’t have been more encouraging thanks to your post. I appreciate the concise and straight-forward nature of your list, and one of your tips I find to be my personal favorite.
Reading is the very best source for both inspiration and instruction. While reading the ‘classics’ can sometimes be disheartening-ah, the pure genius!-it can also offer beauty that cannot be matched, yet aspired to. While engaging in this favorite pastime, I occasionally am on a punctuation and grammar ‘hunt,’ finding out some very surprising truths.
Lovely job, Melissa.
Thanks,
Laurel H. Rogers
Thank you for your kind words Laurel. I agree that reading is number one in terms of an activity that will improve your writing. And you’re right, reading the classics can be disheartening but oh so rewarding!
Great tips! How bout “Always be on the look out” helps alot in looking for the right article to write about.
Although alot of us may be familiar with these points, they’re still very helpful to the beginners. Thanks!
Yes, another tip could be to always be on the lookout for new ideas and inspiration. That might be more of a creativity tip than a “better writing” tip, but it’s definitely worth mentioning, so thanks for mentioning it
Amen and hallelujah! My only objection is that, I get so involved in #1 (reading) that I forget to actually start, you know, writing. Sometimes it’s just easier to let someone else do all the work and sit back with something that’s done, you know? Not productive, mind you, but easier!
I hear you. There are so many good books to read, it’s hard to put them down and actually start writing. But that’s what a writer must do!
I recently started a blog, hoping it would help me to write more often. While I’m still not sure I’ve got anything new or special to say, I’m enjoying the process of putting my thoughts to the page. Even if I never write a book or short story, I intend to learn everything I can and make my blog the best it can be. Thanks for your generous sharing of information.
Congratulations on starting your blog! If you can commit to it, then you will definitely write more often and learn a lot about writing. In fact, I’ve learned more in about writing (and written more) in my three years of blogging than in all other years combined! Good luck to you
One of the most valuable tips I give people, that really works for me, is to understand when you’re best time of the day is for writing and go with it. For me, I write with much more fluidity in the mid to late afternoon. I’m not sure why, that’s just the way it is for me. Possibly because in the mornings I’m too caffeine-starved and in the evenings I’m bust after a day’s work.
As a result, I get all my admin, e-mails, meetings and such like out of the way by about 2pm if I can and get on with whatever reports or plans I have to write after that.
Works for me.
My best writing time is late at night. Sometimes I write (in my mind) while I’m trying to fall asleep, which is frustrating because often I’m too tired at that point to take notes. On the other hand, usually by then all my admin and tasks are completed so I’m free to sleep or write as I see fit
Writing is a regular part of my daily routine because of this blog and my copywriting business, but making time for creative writing (fiction and poetry) is a real challenge. I agree that setting up a routine around your best writing time is ideal.
One important element of writing well is not to use long, unreadable lists of bullet points.
Well, people who don’t like long lists of bullet points may find numbered lists easier to read.
Dear Melissa:
Great post, both the points you mentioned and those added as comments.
Regardless whether you’re writing articles, blog posts, or books, I encourage everyone to start new projects with a clear content plan.
The more time spent planning a project, the less time spent writing. The time saved can be invested in editing and rewriting.
I encourage writers to invest in a mind mapping software program, like MindManager 9, http://www.mindjet.com, which helps you keep plan and track your writing.
I’m looking forward to exploring more of your posts: great advice!
Roger
Roger, I appreciate your feedback. Most writers love to write, so “less time spent writing” is not exactly a selling point. Although, there are plenty of exceptions!
Thanks so much for these great tips…all good reminders of how to find ideas and polish your writing. Something I’ve found helpful: Keep something to write with handy at all times, because you never know when a good idea will make itself known. I keep small writing pads in my purse and in my car so if I suddenly get an inspiration for an article, a story title, an inspiring phrase, or an idea for improving something I’ve written, I can get it down on paper before I forget it.
Ah yes, we’ve covered this tip in a few other posts. Writers should absolutely keep a notebook or recording device handy at all times. The best writing ideas tend to come along when we’re anywhere but at our desks!
There are a multitude of skill sets required for writing and I am trying to learn them. As you say it is difficult to find the time to squeeze everything in but I do try to write every day – even if it is a short piece for my blog, a writing prompt or a poem.
Doing it (writing) is certainly the best way to improve.
MandyB
I couldn’t agree more!
huge thing a writer can do to develop her skills is to accept that the best finished pieces almost without exception come from a multi-step process and not from just pulling words out of thin air or from some pure “inspiration.”
That’s the truth!
Thanks for all the tips and supplementary posts for improving writing ability. As a new Phd student and the suggestions from all quarters including Professors, supervisors, colleagues, I have recently started writing blogs considering it as a channel for writing well. All know, research students write papers, articles, technical notes, as a part of their Phd requirement. Ironically and may be arguably however, I do not think writing research paper and scientific notes and writing attractively well with correct connotation are the same thing. I have already met many people with a limited knowledge for writing, for instance, even to write a good letter are one of the big number of article writers in the graduate school. This figure really scares me a lot! Obviously, to get a good Phd you need to publish quite a number of papers in good journals in unique field of studies. To me, however, persuasive writers are all too different; they might have published minimum articles in their entire Phd, but they are well capable to convince and to communicate people from any disciplines with their ideas and thoughts at a utter confidence, what others like me would have dreamed only! I forgot where I heard: “Writing can be classified as two key parts; process writing and product writing”, to lead the writing as a quality product it is critical that one is adept in process writing. And blog writing is one sort of process writing that gradually builds writing as a valuable product in the long run. So, I am kind of determined to indulge on it for my own sake!
Hi Shiplu, I think it all boils down to reading a lot and writing as much as you can. Through reading, you absorb the language. It’s important, however, to read quality writing (which is easier to find in books than on blogs, unfortunately). Of course, lots of writing practice is essential. I wish you the best of luck in your studies!
Just FYI, the hyperlink under item 6 doesn’t work:(
Thanks Rachel! All fixed now
I agree, am good in dialogues but poor in writing. I don’t have to be shy about this besides, am not stupid its just the making of different minds with strengths and weekends…………
Sorry weakness not weekend. I guess this is where proof reading is very necessary.
I always say writers have to proofread everything from text messages to blog comments. But we all make typos from time to time. Just keep reading and writing, and your writing will get better. Good luck!
Writing is the best skill to learn in this modern world. Unfortunately, I lack this important skill myself, I will try my level best to follow you tips. Thank you.
Writing is a vital skill these days. I wish you the best of luck in improving your writing.