How to become a better writer?

[seraphine]

I recommend studying rhetoric and practicing different rhetorical devices and figures of speech. It's not important to memorize the names, but once you start identifying them in other people's writing, it can really help you pinpoint what makes something effective. I've found Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric and Farnsworth's Classical English Style to be good resources, as they're very thorough and have tons of examples from Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. I also like Building Great Sentences by Brooks Landon.

 

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[Ivex]

You read a lot and you practice with passion projects.

If you write about subjects that pour out your emotions, you find you can really get into a natural flow and rhythm - it might be uncomfortable at first and you don't have to share it with anyone but eventually you'll be able to apply that rhythm to seemingly mundane topics.

 

[Deleted74925]

The Fastlaner's guide to becoming a better writer, a three-step approach:

Step 1: Write something
Step 2: Hire a professional proofreader
Step 3: Read what they changed and then go look up the gramatical rules about why.

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[CT1]how can you start with none, then remove some of them?????
[SC2]Good catch

 

[WJK]

I want to learn how to become a better writer. In fact, I think it will be one of the most useful skills for me. I don't know how to make to make my sentences sound better. I would love to hear from MJ. Do you just read, read and read and you become better writer? My sentences sound like crap and I want to know how to get started. Thanks.

See? My sentences really sound like crap.

Write. Write every day. Write yourself notes. Write your mate a love letter. Write all the time. And read. Read good books. Read the backs of the milk cartons while you eat your breakfast. Read ads and figure out why told their message that way. Read, read, read. Tell stories to everyone around you. Borrow some kids and have a story hour with them. The best writers are good storytellers. Join a group online who are interested in writing better. I was part of one where we helped one another. Take a junior college class or an online class to learn to write better. Study sentence structure. They have books for that.
And here's a tip. Write something and put it away for a few days. Then read to yourself out loud. Revise it and put it away again. Then read it out loud again in a few days. Revise again. Keep doing that while you keep each version you have written. After a few of these revisions, you can look and see how the last one compares to the first one. And you can see your progress.
There are also some good online aids to help you. I use Grammarly which can be used for editing.
Good luck!

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

1. Cut adverbs

Axioms:

There are many articles about writing and many writers that consistently get their articles going viral

Don't contradict your own ideas.
Especially when said contradiction is only a few lines apart.

I have just watched a min-blowing

And proofread.
Always proofread.

 

[Athena_]

I think it is normal for writers to be their own worst critics. So at least you have that box checked.

It is not just read read read. It is more important to write write write. Develop the habit. Congrats, you already started!

I don't think your sentences sound like crap. You concisely and effectively communicated a thought, a concern, a desire, some self disgust and a request. I hope he responds.

Oh, and I recently discovered a bunch of youtube channels on writing, so that might also be a helpful resource for you. Good luck to you.

Love this feedback! There's a yt channel ( course / newsletter etc = his fastlane )by a guy named David perrel, his stuff is good!

 

[Mattie]

I want to learn how to become a better writer. In fact, I think it will be one of the most useful skills for me. I don't know how to make to make my sentences sound better. I would love to hear from MJ. Do you just read, read and read and you become better writer? My sentences sound like crap and I want to know how to get started. Thanks.

See? My sentences really sound like crap.

For the last ten years I I've done both every day. I read and write every day. Technically, I have learned when you switch genre's, you have different vocabulary used to describe the point, but your addressing it to a different population. Words are used to sell and aim for an audience.

I've read more relationship books in 30 years then I want to count. You can pick spiritual, religion, and psychology, and they will all tell you their life story and experience. Which doesn't work for everyone, because it's their journey.

They will tell you "Communication" is important in every genre. Now you can take any "Communication" book and learn the exact same thing all those genres talk about in relationships.

Words are the Wordsmith. Wordsmiths would collect all the words through the centuries, definitions, meaning, and symbolism, and keep records of all of them.

I have been studying this recently a bit, since words tend to be rooted from different cultures.

Just reading M.J.'s book I haven't ordered any physical books for years until 2021 with some writing books.

For whatever reason, when you are writing for Kindle, I didn't think personally about the software, layout, that you see with the physical book, and perhaps the way he is writing is standing out more with a physical book versus kindle.

It may just be I'm used to reading online and not in the physical.

I can look back on this too in 2011, because I read a lot from text books and bought physical books back then. I found it difficult to start reading online at the time. Which now, I'm going back to the physical.

When you read online all the time, I believe you can get so used to reading that you don't pay attention to different elements of writing and publishing. This is just what I've noticed the last few days.

Then I've been reading a bit on word order, since you have the right branching and right branching of some languages. The culture you come from at birth determines how you process the information in your brain. I still am researching this a bit.

Then there's also middle branching. There's all kinds of stuff to learning how to use the power of words.

I naturally write, so it's not difficult for me to write. The way I wrote in 2011 is quite different then the way I write in 2021. This is more of a process, trial and error, trying different ways to write over time in my experience.

There are different styles of writing. A text book is not going to be the same is non-fiction, fiction is different, and poetry as different ways of writing it.

It's trial and error.

The place you write is important. I am more apt to pay attention to how I write in this forum versus Facebook. If you hang out in certain Forums, Social Media pages, you can get sloppy with writing.

 

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[Mattie]

Don't tell people what you want to say - tell them what they want to hear.
Don't write what you want to communicate - write what they want to read.
Don't dO wHaT yOu LoVe - do what THEY love.
Don't look how you want to look - look like what they enjoy looking at.
Don't sell what you make - sell what they buy.

I don't know I would tell them what they want to hear when you write. This is a huge problem already. People want to hear what they want to hear. This means they get stuck in the same place. There is now growth. They may be in denial and looping the same actions for several years.

What they want to read is dependent on what your writing. I read the Gen Z Bible, and it's terrible. I'd never personally read the whole thing or ever write anything like it.

Do what they love.

If they love writing negative content that harms humanity, there might be legal consequences. Depends on the state of mind of the writer.
Example: Ted Kaczynski

There is always a negative and positive side the statements you made.

Words have the power to direct people in a positive or negative direction. There's always consequences to what we write and say. Rarely do most people acknowledge this and many people do not pay attention to it.

 

[Kid]

who like to talk about “investment habits” but have no money to invest.

There are billions to be made in creating content that totally has no meaning. (Might be a hint for some)

People want to hear what they want to hear.

I would debunk that. TMFL is one of the proofs.
The real problem is that the things that people want to hear
are almost never spoken. Most of the time they are applied by those who discovered them.

Its infinite demand - zero supply market.

State that you describe is effect of never hearing things that should have been said.
People try to listen few times and get false things in return.
They give up on whole concept and adapt to nodding at fluff-talk everyone is peddling.

And its not the discoverers fault either.

Try to say something that really hits the base. Publicly. Out of all who will read or hear it
there will be always few dozens who will attack you for it.
Some of greed. Some of hurt ego that you solved something they didn't.
You are one, quickly discovering that fighting mob alone isn't fun stuff to do.

Eleven hundred years passed and silence stays to be golden.

 

[WJK]

To be honest, I am the person who will always choose silence, not due to indifference, but people aren't always ready to hear the truth. Plus, I am not really good at expressing my opinion in written form. This is why I am using editing services that rewrite my essays.

Good writing is based on paying attention. Then it's practice, practice, practice. There's no way around doing the work.

You're right. Often people aren't ready to hear the truth. But, if you speak up, you may find that there are many people around you who have a similar thought or opinion. You don't know until you put yourself out there. Yes, some may make fun of you or disagree. That's just part of being a leader. It gives you a chance to ask them why and find out what they are really thinking.

Just remember this truism. We are in a lot more danger from friendly fire rather than those barbs that come from our enemies. It's the arrows in our back that really wound us to the core because they are least expected. But, those wounds can be the most instructive.

 

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