Ten Ways to Become a Better Writer
Posted: Monday, May 11, 2009
by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com
No matter how skilled and competent we are at writing, there is always room for improvement. Below I have included ten ways to become a better writer. While many of you may already adhere to most of these, you might find some of them helpful.
1) Practice, practice, practice. As with any other discipline, the more one practices writing, the better of a writer he or she will become. I can see a marked difference between the quality of the articles I write now and that of the pieces I wrote four years ago. While practice rarely makes perfect (contrary to the old proverb), it almost always leads to steady improvement.
In addition, don't repeat people's first names throughout an article. Except when required for disambiguation (i.e., when your article includes two or more persons with the same surname), include a person's first name only on your article's your first mention of him or her. All subsequent references to that person should be limited to his or her title and surname (ex., Mr. Smith), or just the surname (ex., Smith).
3) Read newspapers on a daily basis, especially the editorial sections. Read the letters to the editor, but give special attention to pieces authored by prestigious, accomplished writers like George Will and William F. Buckley, Jr., and study their writing styles. Although Buckley is no longer with us, much of his work is still available for perusal on the Internet. And don't just read the work of the people you like – also read the opinions of those with whom you disagree. You need perspective from all sides of any issue.
4) Listen to intelligent people when they speak. Tune in to what they have to say. Through osmosis, you might begin to speak and write like they do. What goes into your ears comes out of your mouth, and is hopefully reflected in your writing.
5) Use numerals in sentences only for values of 11 or greater. Spell out zero through ten. And never use a numeral of any kind at the beginning of a sentence. Exception: It is okay to use a numeral for any numeric value, if it is not part of a sentence. An example would be numbered items that are followed by a period or right parenthesis.
6) Don't write about the same stuff all the time. Write about a broad cross-section of subjects. That shouldn't be too difficult, as most people are interested in more than one thing.
7) Expand your vocabulary. Learn new words, become familiar with their usage, and then start using them. Use an online dictionary to aid in this process.
8) Use short paragraphs of no more than four sentences. As many have pointed out before, people just won't read articles that include long paragraphs. Many readers find them intimidating and most of the remainder don't have time to read them anyway.
9) Don't ramble. William Shakespeare once said that "Brevity is the soul of wit." Brevity is indeed a good thing in all forms of writing. Don't use ten words to say something that could just as easily be said with five. The use of superfluous words will not make you seem any more intelligent.
10) Use commas and shorter sentences for clarity. Long sentences without commas are very difficult to follow and are easily misunderstood. Here's an example:
"On my way to the doctor's office I witnessed a traffic accident in which two people were injured I stopped my car got out and offered assistance you would have done the same thing right."
Now here are the same words, but broken down into three sentences, and with some commas inserted:
"On my way to the doctor's office, I witnessed a traffic accident in which two people were injured. I stopped my car, got out, and offered assistance. You would have done the same thing, right?"
Now, isn't the latter a lot easier to follow?
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)Great information, Terry. Definitely one for the library.Bruce, thanks for the compliment! They always mean more to me when they come from someone like you. Best regards, my friend.
(This probably won't mean as much coming from me but . . . )
I agree with Bruce, Terry. This was great information to use as a reference when one is writing an article or anything to get the reader to understand the necessary information being written about and posted for consideration in educating and informing or just merely expressing a point of view!
Whew! (Catching my breath!) LOLCome on, Avis, you know your opinion means the world to me. :-) I nominate you to do a sequel to this.
Good grief you are one intelligent man...hey, I spelled out 1, it's like this osmosis thing you speak of really works! Cool. Great article Terry, I still wanted to comment even though you told Bruce that it means more coming from someone like him instead of us little wannabes...Hey Avis, how you doing girl, I noticed you saw the same thing from mean ol Terry, huh?Gee, your brain gets to be 100 pounds and your long time fans are no longer worth much, say it ain't so Terry. Ohh, I keep using your name in this comment, dang it.Lots of love Terry, had you going didn't I? Your comment about it meaning more from Bruce hurt, but hey, I'm a tough ol' gal and I love your writing so much and see such tremendous value in it I will compliment you anyway, so there (toungue out and very immature face being made at you...and probably spelled toungue wrong to, or is it too?)You get me all discombobulated Terry, how about that for a big word, when I read your stuff and then try and write a comment, but I figure even well adjusted confident guys like you need to hear how great you are from time to time.Loved the article and I read everything you write, the words mean so much more coming from you than any of the other wannabe authors around here!Just kidding everyone, Giving ol' Terry a hard time. How many times did I use ol' in this comment, I cold not find a synonym for it. Please forgive me. lolMyla, it always means so much to me to have you select one of my articles for one of your comedic comment rants. :-) See, I have enough compliments in me to spread around to everyone, ... correction, ... to all the folks I really like.
Hello, thank you for your useful information. Got a question, i'm really bad with where to put the commas. Any suggestions?
Enjoyed your article. Great helpful tips. I need all I can get. Thank you.Linda, you're quite welcome.
Hi Terry, better late than never :-)Great tips. As one who never dreamed of writing until 5 years ago, I still have a lot to learn. Going back to school for proper training is not an option at this point, so I rely on good stuff like this :-)Thanks! TeresaTeresa, I'm glad to be of service. :-)
Great tips...thanks.Steve, you're welcome. I'm glad you liked it.
Great articleThanks for the compliment!
Hi Terry, I hope you don't mind I just wanted to practice right away. I picked an easy one.9) Be brief. William Shakespeare said "Brevity is the soul of wit." Concise, clear writing will make you seem sharp.Even the best of authors can improve.Where would you suggest we draw the line between good style and lifelessness? Too terse and we're bland. Sloppy verbosity can with timeliness, appear practically luxuriant. (Forgive me if my sentences lack what they profess).Jesse, that line is often difficult to know. BTW, it sounds like I may have been preaching to the choir when you read this. :-)Maybe the children's choir Terry. Normally I write conspicuously atrociously (see?). It took me considerable time to follow your advice on your paragraph. I'll keep practicing though. Thanks for the guidelines. :)Jesse, I'm glad you found it useful.
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