How to develop good writing skills

Why is good writing so important?

Producing a piece of art with your writing is not an easy task. It might seem as the simplest thing to do but in reality, it is very difficult to generate some good material that invites people to read, interpret and enjoy. There are different types of writings that include personal blogs, information related topics, biographies, technical writing, descriptive topics, academic writing, reviews, and columns regarding a certain issue or topic etc.

Developing good writing skills doesn’t only mean to join some fancy words together and develop a sentence with perfect grammar and punctuation, in fact, it means to create something that goes viral, grabs attention and forces the reader to read and share with others.

It isn’t so hard if you take care of some writing aspects. Let us have a look at some of the general and mini skills to follow while developing an impressive writing material.

Preparation

When you have to go somewhere let us say a party or an event, you think about various stuff. What to wear, how to look, what to take with you, how to go, when to go etc. Similarly, when you cook, you brainstorm regarding the options. Sometimes you cook on someone else demand and sometimes you cook something unique that you want others to taste.

Likewise, when you write, brainstorming is important. What difference can you make from your words that can have an impact on the minds of others? How can you generate something that is unique yet is of social interest? How can you transform something into a new look, that already exists in the literature?

“Practice makes a man perfect”

First of all, your basic language skills must be good.  A good writer should never compromise on grammar and spellings. It will do no harm if you have your article proofread by someone or have it pass through a grammar check website. Below are some key points every writer must follow while writing an article.


1. Use phrases that hit the minds

Good sentences don’t only mean to add poetic or idiomatic phrases. You can create your own phrases by juggling and playing with words. Sometimes, there are some sentences that we speak and use in our common language, but when written in black and white, touch the souls. Therefore a good sentence is the trunk of the writing tree.

2. Your writing style should be like a roller coaster

Don’t be monotonous in your writing style. Using the same tone gets boring. Add questions. Make people think about what you have asked and then curiously search for the answer to your question in your writing.

3. Add flavor to your stories

Avoid using weak phrases. Add more flavor to your writing by starting it with a story or by comparing your points, being the lawyer as well as the judge of your stance at the same time.

4. Link your paragraphs

Use transitional hooks. Remember, your reader should not feel that he/she has jumped from one concept to another and still, there was something missing in the previous discussion.

5. Do not ignore punctuation

Punctuation and exclamations add spice to your meal. A reader actually reads as per the punctuation. Lack of punctuation might create a lot of confusion to your content.

6. Structure your material

The written material should have a structure. Not necessarily applicable to all writings but yes, for most of the material, a rule of thumb is to have an introduction, body and the conclusion.

7. Make drafts and practice more

The more you practice, the more you get feedback, the better it gets making it a masterpiece in the end as the practice makes a man perfect. So keep practicing to become a more professional writers.

8. Numbers and facts

Always try to add statistics to your content, but not to an extent that it seems a mathematical word problem.

9. Go for chapter style

Real life stories and events always attract the readers. Sometimes, taboo topics can also take a starter from a beginner to “most favorite” writer.

10. Empathetic writing 
Try to be an empathetic writer. Show through your words, how you actually feel about the topic. If you yourself don’t seem excited enough, how can you expect the readers to enjoy the writing?

11. Adding weight to your material

Try to include expert’s opinions and examples. This will authenticate your stance and make it more trustworthy.

12. Never rely on single source for material

The more you would read from other sources regarding your topic, the better it will be since it will help you to avoid repetition, pick some missing link in others writings and write on that. Also it will help you to understand the masses stance. However, copying someone's material is not acceptable at all, in fact it is a crime.

If you follow all the above steps, I assure you that your articles would not only look more professional but you'd also see a lot of improvements. You can also time yourself up while writing to improve your speed. Not only can this but you fix a certain time daily which is solely dedicated to writing. It should be understood that none of the great writers be it Bertrand Russell or William Shakespeare, were born as good writers. It takes time, practice and dedication to develop skills. If you keep on publishing at least one content piece every week, it will help you get reviews and feedback which will help you to polish your skills and also there would come a time when your readers would actually wait for your article.
So if you feel this article has encouraged you to read and write, feel free to share your comments below.