My Top Writing Tips
1. Read
It might sound obvious, but to be a good writer I think you need to read a lot. Which is not difficult for me, as I love reading!
Read anything you want to, not just recommended books, but newspapers, online articles, comics and any kind of book you like, whether it’s a graphic novel or an instruction manual. All this reading will give you an idea of different writing styles and approaches and will improve your spelling and punctuation no end. And you’ll discover what your favourite books and authors are.
2. Write
I’ve lost count of the number of people that have said to me over the years that they
would love to write something, maybe a story or a book. But they have never actually
done it. I think one of the hardest parts of writing is sitting down and making yourself
do it. So, don’t delay. Write something – anything – today!
3. Start in the middle
With any piece of writing, whether it’s a novel or a homework essay, it’s always
a challenge to write those first few sentences. So why not write your beginning at the end?
If you start writing the parts that you find the most interesting, then the
introduction or first page will come much more easily towards the end of your writing.
It works for me!
4. Put it aside
Yes! You’ve written something – well done. Now try this. Put your story or article
aside and go and do something else. A few days, or even a few months, later you
might see it with new eyes. You’ll see bits that can be improved, sentences that you
don’t need and places where you could add more detail.
This kind of revising will make your work so much better. I revise my work a lot – it would be too embarrassing to tell you how many times!
5. Don’t give up
You may think what you’ve written is a pile of nonsense, but I can bet that you will
find something that’s worth keeping from your ramblings, even if it’s just one
sentence. And if it really doesn’t work, who cares? No-one needs to see it – and at
least you know next time what not to write.
Like most things, writing takes practice and you won’t always get it right the first time. But if you keep going, the chances are that one day you will write something that you are really pleased with. And you might even get it published!