How to Write Better and Improve Your Writing Skills and Abilities

Writing is an essential skill irrespective of your job or career. Writing a great resume will get you your dream job. Writing a good financial business plan will secure the funds you need to ensure the success of your business. Good writing skills may even help you find your soul mate in life.

Most people think that writing is a talent, and whilst a certain amount of talent is needed to write a bestselling novel, writing is as much a skill as it is a talent. As a skill, there are certain techniques that you can use to improve your writing ability. Your writing ability is like a muscle that can be trained to improve your performance. And as with any form of training, improving your writing takes practice and the knowledge of a few useful techniques.

Practice makes writing perfect

If you want to improve a skill then practice makes perfect. Whether you’re talking about tennis or writing, using a skill every day will inevitably improve your ability to use that skill. If you want to learn to write quickly and effectively, then you need to set aside some time to write every day.

You also need to invest in courses that will improve the type of writing you want to improve. If you want to improve your skill at business writing for example, then the course business writing by Webucator will teach you how to write effective business correspondence.

Read

Reading is almost as important as writing. If you love writing then you should enjoy reading. Reading teaches you a lot about writing. Read what you want to write about. So if you are keen to write a ghost story then read them. Read as many as you can. Reading will teach you what makes a good ghost story or what makes a bad one.

Learn the tools of the trade

Good writing requires a certain level of skill in the tools of the writing trade. Good grammar and spelling are essential for creating a well written document. Knowledge of grammar and spelling will save you time when writing your ideas down. If you have to spend time looking up grammar rules or how to spell a specific word, then the delay often interrupts the flow of ideas. Good writing embodies capturing the ideas you want to communicate as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Invest in your knowledge by taking a grammar course that suits your level of expertise. An introduction to English grammar is a great course to invest in if you want to improve your basic grammatical skills.

Great writers break grammar rules. It is what gives them their unique voice. So once you know the rules – don’t be afraid to break them. But always bear in mind that breaking the rules will cause your readers to stop. It will break the flow. So if you decide to break the rules, then make sure you break them for a reason.

Writing is communication

In the quest to improve style, grammar and efficiency, writers often forget that the ultimate aim of writing is to effectively communicate a particular message. It is therefore a good idea to clarify what you want to say before you begin putting your thoughts on paper.  Creating an outline of ideas you want to share with your readers will help you to organize the main points of your intended communication. Outlines ensure that you stick to the point and that your writing includes all of the points you wish to communicate.

Outlines also help you to create a logical structure for your writing. Whether you are writing a letter, a resume or a novel, readers must be able to follow your ideas. To create cohesive ideas that are logical requires planning. Preparation and creating a cohesive logical outline of your ideas will save your hours of needless editing in the long run.

Keep your audience in mind

Other than a personal diary, all written communication is intended to be read. If you keep your audience in mind whilst writing, you are more likely to produce work that appeals to your specific audience. Your audience will help you to determine the right tone and style for your writing. The use of slang in a business proposal is not appropriate but formal language in a text message or modern poem may be out of place too.

To create the right tone, it often helps to pretend that you are addressing your audience. If you are talking to your bank manager, you are unlikely to use slang. The same rules hold true for written communication which is why it helps to pretend you are talking to your audience.

If you want to learn to write great sales copy for example, then why not sign up for the writing sales copy course from udemy now?

Create a draft

Once you have your outline and you know what message you want to convey, then it’s time to write your first draft. Allowing ideas to flow can contribute to writing that flows naturally so when you write your first draft, allow your writing to flow naturally. If you know it’s just a draft, then you have the freedom to allow ideas to flow without spending too much time or attention on grammar or spelling. Writing a first draft will also allow you to see whether your outline does indeed flow naturally, or whether there are extra concepts you need to add to your outline.

Edit you work

Once you have written your first draft it’s time to edit your work. Editing is important because it gives you a new perspective on what you wrote. Often things sound better in your head than they do on paper. A good tip for editing your work is to read what you have written out loud. When you read it out loud, you will pick up sentences that don’t flow properly and other grammatical errors. Editing allows you to catch those spelling and typing errors too. It’s important to ensure your writing is as error free as possible since needless errors reflect badly on your writing abilities. Errors will also break the reader’s flow and the ultimate message you are trying to communicate may be lost.

Don’t lose your passion

The most important thing to keep in mind is your passion for your message or for your writing. Passion often helps you to write through times of writer’s block. Remember why you wanted to write in the first place.

If you have a passion for writing, then the novel writing workshop from udemy may a great course to sign up for today.