5 Ways to Improve Writing Skills

The present era is a digitized world where all the skills carry their weightage according to the requirement. The best one is the communication skill through which anyone can convey his/her ideas and thought process to others. Communication could be verbal and written as well.  A writer is a keen observer who conceives ideas from the surroundings and then writes out in a conclusive way.

Writing as a profession is not that laid-back task. A writer is to be good enough that people around could notice his/her work. A writer can improve and refine the writing ability with practice and training. But just writing couldn’t help much. There are different ways one has to cater to improve writing skills.

This article will make an endeavor to give out 5 best top-rated ways through which anyone can be a writer and a few could stand out from others by producing a masterpiece. Preceding paragraphs include those 5 ways through which writing skills can be enhanced.

1.                Inculcate Habit of Reading

“A man who doesn’t read has no advantage over the man who can’t read.” Mark Twain

For good writing, one has to be a good reader first. The habit of reading any good stuff opens up the mind to understand different writing styles. The reader also gets to know how the writer has used the words in an appropriate and beautiful way.

          Writers should always choose the books or articles of their choice otherwise reading could be boring for them. One reading is not enough to understand how to use the words and their expression. Reading several times is strongly recommended. It also helps in the increase of vocabulary of the language.

2.              Increase the Vocabulary    

“Loving your language means a command of its vocabulary beyond the level of the everyday.” John McWhorter

A good writer is the one who focuses on increasing the vocabulary to the ultimate limit. Written expression is based upon the vocabulary, but the mere increase is not enough, a writer should understand that a word is where, when, why, and how to use. The writer should learn a new word with all its forms and prepositions with examples.

The best way to increase the vocabulary is to keep a dictionary and thesaurus always with you. Learn a word per day and increase the words per day with the passage of time. The retention of new words in your mind could only be possible once you practice by them in your writing and speaking. 

3.              Improve the Grammar

“Life is like grammar: there are more exceptions than rules.” Remy de Gourmont

“Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason.” Richard Chenevix Trench

Grammar plays an important and vital role in the improvement of written expression. The quality of writing reflects the appropriate usage of tense and punctuation.

          The best option to improve the grammar is to keep a grammar manual, review the basics, and do a lot of practice. Proofreading your draft writings also helps.

4.              Use Active Voice

 

“The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive.” William Strunk, Jr.

Whenever possible, try to use active voice. Generally, passive voice sentences use more words. These are normally vague and may lead to a jumble of prepositional phrases.

Active voice requires fewer words, it makes the writing briefer and more effective. It also helps in preventing grammatical mistakes.

5.                   First Draft

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Terry Pratchett

The first draft, as it sounds, is FIRST and a DRAFT therefore it has to be far from perfection, rather it would be a bad one.

“It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.” ─ Will Shetterly

A writer must be ready to accept mistakes and blunders committed by himself/ herself during the process of writing.

So, the first draft will be perfect with the attempts of rewriting, nourishing the contents, editing, and proof-readings.

Conclusion

There is always room for improvement and good writers always keep this important aspect in their minds. The above-mentioned tips do help out the newbie writers, to a great extent. There is a need for them to practice as it is a key to success.

“If you don’t practice you don’t deserve to win.” Andre Agassi

The writing skill can be polished by practicing and gaining relevant knowledge. A good writing skill comes with experience and experience comes with actions over a period of time.