Focus on These 10 Tips to Become a Better Writer
1. Write about what motivates you.
As a child, sports became my obsession.
I lived, breathed, and slept baseball until an accident forced me to retire from the game and pursue a career in sports writing.
I'm still enthralled by sports.
I assumed that if I was called to full-time Christian ministry, I would have to give up writing and become a pastor or missionary. I was ecstatic to learn that I could utilize my writing to answer that call.
What is it that motivates you?
What do you want to do with your life? What is the source of your power?
That is something you should write about.
When the writing gets tough — and it always does if you're doing it well — your passion will carry you through.
2. Create and keep to a writing regimen.
Treat your writing schedule as if it were your full-time job.
Show up and do your job.
Writing, editing, researching... there will always be something to do. You'll be surprised at how much you can do if you sit in your chair for a set amount of time each day.
Also, let folks know that you won't be available for that period unless there's an emergency.
Others will respect your writing time if you do.
3. Develop a strong reading habit.
Readers are also writers. Terrific readers are also good writers. Terrific readers are also great writers.
Do you want to write in a specific genre? First, read at least 200 titles in it.
You should read everything you can. Soon enough, you'll figure out what works and what doesn't.
4. Begin small.
Before attempting to write a book, take the time to develop your trade and refine your talents on lesser tasks.
Journal. Create a newsletter for your business. Create a blog. Short stories should be written. Submit articles to publications such as magazines, newspapers, and e-zines.
Take journalism or creative writing class at night or online.
Attend a conference for writers.
5. Write, write, write.
Writers are talked about by dreamers. Writers are people who write.
Even if you don't feel like it, keep writing.
Every day, write. Also, don't expect to be great at it right away. You were terrible at walking until you learned how to walk, terrible at riding a bike until you learned how to ride a bike, and terrible at baking until you perfected it. Allow yourself to expand.
6. Try to see yourself as a writer.
If you've read this far, I'm guessing you want to improve your writing skills.
Don't let imposter syndrome* suffocate your ambition before you've even given it a chance. [*Feeling as if you're pretending to be a writer because you don't feel like one.]
Do you have a message for the world to hear?
Even if they're simply voices in your head, don't listen to those who tell you you'll never be good enough. If you don't summon the bravery to try, you'll almost certainly fail.
Call yourself a writer if you're writing, regardless of how well or successful it is.
7. Join a critique group for authors.
Getting valuable feedback from other writers is a quick method to improve your writing.
Find a writing mentor or a writer's critique group that will be brutally honest with you.
Prepare to get your ego bruised at first. But I promise that if you're held accountable, not allowed to quit, and reminded that you're not alone on this road, you'll improve as a writer.
One caveat: Make sure that at least one individual, preferably the leader, is knowledgeable about the writing industry. If you have a group of just beginners, you run the risk of the blind leading the blind.
8. Get your reader's attention right away.
The most crucial effort you'll perform in any piece of writing is the introduction. If you lose your reader here, he's gone for good.
Every word you write should entice your reader to want to read the next and the next. Don't let him go till you've caught him.
Unless you're creating a thriller, that doesn't mean violence or chase sequences. It means skipping through unnecessary scene establishing and description and getting straight to the meat of the story as soon as feasible.
9. Make use of strong verbs. Adverbs should be avoided.
Have you ever wondered why a statement that is otherwise technically correct lays there like a dead fish?
Your sentence could be chock-full of the adjectives and adverbs that your teachers and loved ones admired in your writing as a child. However, the sentence is incorrect.
"Focus on nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs," I learned from The Elements of Style years ago, and it revolutionized the way I wrote and brought vitality to my work.
10. Always keep the reader in mind.
This is so crucial that you should write it down on a sticky note and tape it to your monitor so that you remember it every time you write.
This filter should be applied to every writing decision. Not you, not your book, not your editor, agent, or publisher, but you. It's not your inner-circle-of-critics-first approach.
Write what you'd like to read and treat readers the way you'd like to be treated. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever
Always keep learning in mind.
You consider yourself to be quite gifted. You consider yourself to be quite intelligent. And you are one of them. However, spending all of your time showing you know what you're doing rather than learning from the people and resources around you is the best way to fail as a writer.
Stop putting up a show.
