1. Burn your thesaurus. Don’t use a fancy-schmancy word when a simple one will do. You might know pulchritudinous means “physically beautiful,” but someone else might think you’re talking about a disease.
2. Trim the fat. Being too wordy makes your writing hard to read. You don’t need to be Hemmingway, but cutting unnecessary words and sentences improves your writing.
3. Read a lot. Get a feel for different writing styles. Study your favorite writers. What is it about their writing that appeals to you? This helps you develop your writing voice.
4. Write from your own experience. It’s easier, it’s more personal, and you’ll have more credibility. You don’t have to work very hard to convince people that you know your stuff–because you already do!
5. Be conversational. Nobody likes stiff, formal writing. That’s for encyclopedias and dissertations. Try to write as if you were composing a letter to a friend.
6. Have fun. Enthusiasm is catching. You’ll get attention if you write about things you truly enjoy.
7. Write every day. The only way to improve is to keep practicing. Doesn’t matter if you do it by blogging, building Squidoo lenses, writing book reviews, or writing in your journal… just so long as you’re doing it. Thinking about writing and reading books about writing isn’t the same as actually writing.
Image credit: Public Domain pic on Pixabay
[Editor's Note: Digging through the Squidlog archives, we are uncovering some useful posts that are just as relevant today as they were when they were first published!]
I need to memorize these tips, Victoria. It’s easy for me to get carried away and forget these basic guidelines. Thanks for this post!
Very solid. Indeed, more than any poll module, duel, or fancy html, it’s the writing.
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I agree heartily that to write better, you need to write more often. The reader can usually tell if you are passionate about your topic or just throwing something out there.
You make a very valid point Virginia and I have to admit it is easier to retain interest in what you write or blog about, if it is a topic that you were genuinely interested in in the first place!
What if I am writing what I thinking, diffidently informal, and the grammar people come out of the Squidoo ranks. Once someone said I should get a copywriter to go over the lens and another, suggested the grammar checker.
I try to not write gibberish. I am so disheartened that I seem to draw critical feedback. Do not want the be a crybaby. I will just keep writing.
But I do love the thesaurus and I use it. It is a bit fun to go through the pages, turning, seeing the print feeling the paper, and finding a new or neat word.