How To-30: "How to Be a Good Writer"

How to Be a Good Writer

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Here are some tips on how to become a good writer. It takes time, perseverance and practice but with patience, good practical approaches and determination, you can turn your creative desire into concrete writing.

Steps

1. Write every day. Write when you just wake up. Instead of longer writing sessions, try writing in little paragraphs or phrases all throughout the day. You can build on this practice. Work up to longer writing sessions.
   
2. Read all sorts of things, but really take the time to dig into an old-fashioned book. Regular reading will influence your style, tastes, background, and ideas. It will also help expand your vocabulary and improve your grammar.
   
   • Determine what is good writing and what is not. Find your literary heroes. Read both historical and contemporary authors.
     
   • Read a variety of topics and styles, with a focus on styles or genres in which you wish to write.
     
   • Make good use of your local library, both as a source of a variety of reading materials and as a resource.
     
   
   
3. Expand your vocabulary. Read books, especially newspapers daily. If possible, reading a dictionary or thesaurus can also be very useful.
   
   • Even if your vocabulary is not as large as you'd like, write in words that you know. Using fancier words doesn't make you a better writer, especially not if you are straining to use them or the result seems hackneyed or overwritten. Writing can be fascinating without being complicated or flowery.
     
   
   
4. Review your grammar. While you shouldn't get hung up on grammar on your first draft of something, you should certainly be able to edit and come out with clean copy. The most enjoyable way to improve your grammar is simply to read lots of good writing. Eventually, things will start to sound or feel right or wrong to you. You should also formally review grammar. If you have a fairly good intuitive grasp of it, try reading The Elements of Style, by William Strunk[1]. It's a slim volume that covers the most common errors.
   
5. Get 2 notebooks. One is a 'Vocabulary Notebook', the other an 'Inspirational Notebook'.
   
   • In your Vocabulary Notebook, write down new words and their meanings, and also some mnemonics (memory tips). If you like, also write interesting uses of words that you see.
     
   • In the Inspirational Notebook, write down bits and pieces from your daily life, like a fun conversation you overheard in the mall, or a joke a friend told you. This can also be a diary/journal. When something you read makes you laugh, or think, or tempts you to read it out loud to someone, try to figure out just why that caught your attention. Keep a list of these incidents.
     
   • Jot down ideas whenever they occur to you. Don't throw something out just because it seems strange or you don't like it.
     
   
   
6. Join online or neighborhood writing groups.
   
7. Brainstorm before starting to write. Go straight for the throat of the story or the main idea. Put down any idea, even if it is far-fetched or unlikely to be fruitful. You never know when an unusual idea might work or prompt another, better idea.
   
8. Consider the purpose and main idea for each piece you write. It will help to focus your writing.
   
9. Plan your writing, especially for factual writing. Use whatever technique works best for you. You can make an outline, put a collection of notes on cards and arrange them until they are in order, or draw a tree or map. It is possible to organize a broad topic very quickly with a tree or map structure.
   
10. Write as fast as you can for the first draft. If you can type without looking at the keyboard, do so. Don't stop to fix things now. Write at least a few paragraphs before going back and correcting or editing.
    
11. Do your homework. Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, do your research. Research is incredibly important for non-fiction writing, because facts must be true. It is also important for fiction because you want your novel or short story to sound plausible. Collect all the relevant information regarding the subject about which you have decided to write. Think of the sources from which you could gather more information on the subject: Your library, your friends, television, Internet, your professors etc. Approach all of them and collect a lot, so that your knowledge of the subject will be deepened.
    
    • Take it easy on the research at first if you're writing fiction, according to your style and your subject. You may find it is best to do the main points of the plot, then fill in details for color. On the other hand, the details may drive the course of the story.
      
    
    
12. Be specific. In most cases, it's best just to say what you want to say, rather than hinting, implying, or over-generalizing. On the other hand, try to include only the relevant details. Anything more is just clutter.
    
13. Tailor your writing to your purpose and your audience. Just as you change your clothing for the weather and the occasion, so you should change your writing for your audience and your message. Flowery writing, for example, might fit better in a poem than in a status report. If you think anybody in your audience will have difficulty reading or understanding your writing, keep your words simple and your sentences a moderate length.
    
    • Be careful of jargon and assumptions about what your audience knows. If you are writing about a subject you know well, it is very likely that you know something about it that they don't. Work on explaining things in language that everybody (or everybody reading your work) will understand.
      
    
    
14. Edit your writing. Once you have a first copy down on paper, reread it and rewrite it. You are not only looking for grammar and spelling, but also style, content, organization, and coherence.
    
    • Editing is an iterative process. You may edit a piece many times.
      
    • Give yourself time between writing and editing, if at all possible. Longer is better, but even a short break can give you some of the necessary distance and detachment to edit well.
      
    
    
15. Have someone else read your writing. If at all possible, get a second set of eyes to read your writing, too. Choose someone you trust to be forthright and frank.
    
16. Make sure that people understand and interpret your writing the way you intend. Try it on a test audience and see how they react.
    

Tips

• Just write! It doesn't matter if it feels blocked or looks like gobbledygook to begin with; let the words flow out and things will begin to take shape. Leave for a few days and come back. You will see something in what you have written and be able to start transforming it.
  
• Read about writing. There are many good books on the subject for a variety of writing styles and genres.
  
• Write to a particular audience, even if it is imaginary (people 100 years in the future) or general (people who don't know this subject yet). Having an audience in mind will help immensely to focus your writing.
  
• Choose a particular purpose for your writing. It will help you to have focus.
  
• Experiment. If you normally write short fiction, try a poem now and then. Write nonfiction sometimes.
  
• Write letters. Letters are an excellent way to practice writing. The Internet makes it easier than ever to find a pen-pal with similar interests in another country. Besides writing practice, you'll very probably get a new perspective, as well.
  
• Follow your inspiration. Have you ever felt driven to write? Have you ever had an idea that wouldn't leave you alone until you got it down on paper? Keep a notebook handy and write, write, write. At least scribble some notes for later.
  
• Follow your heart. Write about what is most important to you. What gets your goat? What inspires you?
  
• Conquer the blank page. If you don't know what to write, start writing anything at all. Even if you start with "This is boring and I don't know what to write," you may soon find yourself wandering into writing something more.
  
• Make lists. If you're warming up or just doodling around looking for ideas, make lists of interesting things. Here are some topics to get you started:
  
  • Questions you'd ask somebody famous
    
  • Things you would do if there were no risk
    
  • Things to do with a million dollars
    
  • Names you'd give an exotic pet.
    
  
  

Warnings

• Have a room or a space to write in. Distractions are dangerous to a writer.
  
• Don't skip out on writing time for something else. It's tricky to catch up, and missed time piles up quickly.
  

Things You'll Need

• Books
  
• 2 Notebooks
  
• pencils
  
• pencil sharpeners
  
• A vivid imagination
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Copyedit a wikiHow Article
  
• How to Copyedit and Proofread Written Work
  
• How to Write a Short Story
  
• How to Write Articles
  
• How to Create a Credible Villain in Fiction
  
• How to Write Political Fiction
  
• How to Write a Children's Story
  
• How to Ace College Creative Writing
  

Sources and Citations

1. ↑ http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/style.html

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