10 Tips for Improving Your Writing Skills
Improving Quality of Writing to Become a Better Writer
Everyone has their own strategies and techniques when it comes to writing. Some people only write in the morning, while others only write after midnight. Regardless of when you write, the end result is the quality of the final product. People judge a written work using their own critiquing methods. This is important to know, because right up front you are not going to please everyone.
Considering reader critiquing methods and the fact it is impossible to please everyone, the best approach is to produce quality work. This can be accomplished by using strategies and techniques, which help produce a written work accepted by as many people as possible. There are many strategies and techniques for achieving a goal of acceptability. However, the focus is on 10 writing tips to become a better writer.
10 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
Punctuation
Pay attention to punctuation; especially to the correct use of commas and periods. These two punctuation marks regulate the flow of your thoughts, and they can make your text confusing even if the words are clear.
Wordiness
For example, in a sentence where you say …”you will have to…” replace it with “…you must…”, or “Click on the Go button to…” can be replaced with “Click Go to…”.Think of words such as “enables”, instead of “allows you to” or “Helps you to”. If one word will work where three are, replace it! When the finished with writing go back and purge.
Creating and Editing are Different
Do not edit while when creating the first draft. Make a deal with your internal editor that it will get the chance to rip your piece to shreds at the end.
Read Others Written Work
Use others writer’s sentences and paragraphs as models and then emulate the syntactic structure with your own content. This can help with learning grammar and punctuation.
Read the Work Backwards When Editing
This technique helps focus on misspelled words and missing words.
Avoid He/She Said
Instead of using he said/she said to every bit of dialogue by identifying the speaker showing him/her in action. For example: “Pass that sweet-smelling turkey this way.” With knife in one hand and fork in the other, Sam looked eager to pounce.
Read the Work Aloud
After editing the work on screen or in print, read the text aloud. Awkward sentences and errors that slipped through earlier edits show up readily when reading out loud.
Go Back and Edit Previous Work
Edit your older articles and pieces. You will notice growth, and it will allow you to refine your style and avoid mistakes.
Accept Criticism
Remember not everyone will like your work and while others do like your work they may offer suggestions for improvement. Accept these suggestions graciously and reflect on the comments.
Watch out for Homonyms
Homonyms are words that share the same spelling or pronunciation, but have different meanings. Switching effect with affect or plane with plain could be catastrophic, so pay attention to them.
Summary
Although there are many more strategies than the 10 listed here, the best strategy is to write. Write everyday for a minimum of 30 minutes and read. These two techniques will improve writing ability and help you become a better writer.
A bonus tip is to join the National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org). This novel writing challenge pushes writers to write 50,000 words in November each year. The goal is to improve writing skills and possibly publish a novel.
Writing Tips
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