How To Improve Writing Skills In 7 Easy Steps
Are you an established writer? Or are you looking to build your career in the field of writing? Whatever be the answer, mastering the art of writing is quite necessary.
Getting started on writing can be daunting and confusing. Especially when you are trying to come to terms with a style that is unique to you. But keep up with the toil, as once you have mastered it, there's an endless sea of avenues out there.
Now, if you are wondering how to improve your writing skills, then look no further. To help you write effective content copies we have created a list of 7 easy tips. These tips will help you understand the process involved, and become a better writer.
1. Discover Your Interest
This is the foundation on which a writer establishes their work. If you haven’t already identified your area of interest, it’s important to do so now.
Take your time and research about the different kinds of writing. Copy-writing has 5 broad classifications: Creative, Descriptive, Expository, Narrative, and Persuasive. To understand your interest better, take topics from each of these categories, and try writing a content piece. Each form of writing has its own requirements and opportunities. For example, you may want to be a copywriter, or you may have a long-term goal to write a novel. Or, you may even want to start your own blog and keep it casual.
Find out what kind of writing you would like to get into, and test your skills in that field. This will help you identify your areas of improvement. You can then look at how to improve your writing skills.
2. Expand your vocabulary
A good vocabulary is one of the most powerful weapons of a writer. Being equipped with an extensive vocabulary will help you find suitable words. No beware, as a lot of people confuse good vocab with ornamental writing. Always write using simple words. Understand that your writing has to empower the reader, not cripple them. The more descriptive and meaningful your words are, the better your writing becomes.
There are plenty of ways to do this. You can give yourself a small goal to do each day. For example, start learning 5 new words every day. It is not enough that you learn them. You need to refresh your memory often by using the words you learn in a practical way, whenever you can.
Expanding your vocabulary will teach you how to improve your writing skills. You can also rely on puzzles and games to improve your writing skills through vocabulary.
3. Improve your grammar
Time to brush off the dirt from old grammar books. Perfecting your grammar is most essential to improve writing skills. Learning grammar can be quite frustrating and boring at times. Yet, it is important to revisit the very basics of grammar.
Work your way up the difficulty levels until you understand the logic of grammar rules. Once you start revising, you'll uncover a lot of implicit knowledge about the usage of grammar. Spend time on the structure of sentences. You should invest extra effort on active and passive sentences. Also, learn how to frame sentences independent of the qualifiers. Going back to basics at times is very important before you take a leap towards becoming an expert.
4. Make Reading A Ritual
Reading is the most interesting way to learn how to improve writing skills. Good reading and writing skills go hand in hand. If you aren't already a reader, start with a lighter material like blogs. You can then start expanding your horizons and skill level. When you read, you open your mind's door to new sentence structures and methods of writing.
Reading the work of your favorite authors can spark motivation. The more you pay attention to the techniques of good writers, the more you understand how to improve writing skills. This prevents you from making common writing mistakes.
5. Write every day
It goes without saying that to improve your writing skills, you must keep practicing. The best way to develop good writing skills is to actually start writing. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Likewise, you cannot start churning out masterpieces right away.
It takes a lot of practice to improve your writing skills and establish your own writing style. The only way to achieve this is by practicing consistently.
There are a couple of interesting ways to do this. One way is to find a writing partner. In a symbiotic way, you both help each other by finding topics to write on and keep each other motivated.
The second way is to take writing challenges online. This helps build sincerity and a writing community of your own. You can find such challenges on Tumblr, GoSocial and Instagram. Tumblr works around intriguing writing prompts which will give you cool new ideas for writing. GoSocial is a social media platform for creators. The platform hosts writing challenges and contests. You can join it to engage with other writers, improve your writing skills, and earn rewards. You can also choose the number of days you want to take up a writing challenge and start a “streak” to keep track of your progress.
6. Follow An Outline
Before you start writing, create a rough plan of what you are going to write. It does not have to be a very complex outline, and it may not be the outline of your final work.
Yet, having a basic plan at the initial stage of your writing will help you write your piece with better clarity. An outline establishes the structure and flow of your work. It is a recommended practice for all writers. This method will teach you how to improve your writing skills as you keep practicing.
7. Edit Your Work
If you think that all the best-written pieces out there are a one-shot miracle, think again. As the saying goes, a lot of writing is actually rewriting.
As a beginner or intermediate writer, it may be hard for you to redo the work that took you so much time and effort to write. But, if you want to make your writing stand out and shine, you need to be your own critic. Go over your work and edit out unnecessary words. Refine your sentences and optimize your writing to the maximum. Good editing skills are as important as good writing skills.
There you go! Seven simple and efficient ways that will help you learn how to improve writing skills and become a better writer. Like any other skill, becoming a good writer takes motivation and practice. But, in the process of navigating through all these technical rules, do not forget to have fun.
It may not always be possible to write about the things that inspire and move you. But in any case, stay true to your creative self and enjoy writing what you write.
Once you start writing, you can submit your work to writing contests online. Instagram is a popular app that has several innovative writing contests. GoSocial is a platform that rewards you for your writing. You can take challenges like 150 Character Tale on Coffee or Write a Character - Writing Challenge
Start writing now and get closer to being the best writer you can be!