10 MORE Tips To Improve Your Writing
A few years back, I wrote a blog called “10 Tips To Improve Your Writing.” These tips are meant to demystify the writing process, get your fingers onto the keyboard, and help you refine your prose. But, why stop there? Improving your writing requires more than just 10 tips — it’s an ongoing process that takes practice and patience. While I can’t force you to practice or be patient, I can offer you 10 additional tips that can sharpen your sentences and strengthen your impact.
Writing Tip #1: Don’t Plagiarize
This may sound like a no-brainer, but believe me, it’s not. Not because people intentionally plagiarize and try to get away with it, but because many don’t know what constitutes plagiarism.
According to The Oxford Dictionary, plagiarism is “the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.” See what I did there? I put the definition in quotations AND cited The Oxford Dictionary. In other words, I credited the source.
That’s what you do when you take someone else’s words, word for word: you put them in quotations and cite the source.
But, when writing an article or paper, no matter the topic, you don’t want to put every other sentence in quotations. The idea is to research the topic until you understand the material well enough to write it in your own words. Still, when you put your spin on it, the idea wasn’t yours to begin with — you must cite your source whenever taking information from somewhere or someone else. In other words, rephrasing someone else’s words can help you avoid having to use quotation marks, but it does not exempt you from plagiarism. If the idea wasn’t yours, say where you got it from.
It’s especially important to cite your source when making a claim, such as:
70% of adults are lactose intolerant, or
The average American will be married twice in their lifetime.
These are examples of claims — something that would make anyone say, “How do you know?” or “Where did you hear that?” Anything that is not a commonly known fact* should be cited, preferably from a reputable source (hint: not Wikipedia).
*To be fair, a commonly known fact is somewhat subjective. What may be common knowledge to me or you may not be to someone else, so it’s not always clear when citing is necessary. You’ll have to use sound judgment.
Can you see the difference between:
70% of adults are lactose intolerant, and
Milk comes from cows.
See how the first sentence is a claim with a specific statistic—one that might make someone question it—whereas the second sentence is more general and likely commonly understood.
Still, when in doubt, cite.
Freelance writers usually have editors that review their articles before publication. It’s a much better look for you if the editor sees too many citations rather than too few. You don’t want them sending your articles back to you with comments scattered throughout saying, “Source??” and “According to whom?” #embarrassing
Speaking of crediting sources, I learned many tips in this blog from “Writing in the Sciences,” a Stanford University-taught writing course.
Writing Tip #2: Use A Thesaurus… Or Not
In my first writing tips blog, I wrote about not repeating the same word in the same paragraph — use a thesaurus to mix it up! If you keep referring to your home, use different words for it: home, house, living space, dwelling, room, sanctuary, etc.
However, if you’re in the process of finding a second or third way to say the same thing, pause there. There’s a good chance you don’t need to repeat the word at all. Ask yourself, do you really need a second, third, or fourth mention of the word to get your point across? Or is it redundant? Another way to look at it is, would your paragraph be stronger with or without it?
Writing Tip #3: Do Away With “Not”
The word “not” is a red flag to look for. Of course, “not” has its uses, but often there is a positive or more concise spin on what you’re trying to say.
For example:
“He was not happy.” —> “He was unhappy.”
“Scientists did not find an explanation for the reaction.” —> “Scientists found no explanation for the reaction.” or “The reaction was unexplained.”
Writing Tip #4: Don’t Be Passive
The opposite of passive is active, and that’s exactly what you want your writing to be — active. The active voice conveys strength and clarity. By contrast, the passive voice puts the subject or main noun secondary in the sentence, weakening the writing.
For example:
Passive: “Studies on blueberries were conducted by the scientists.”
Active: “The scientists conducted studies on blueberries.”
Passive: “The kids were picked up from school by their mother, Jane.”
Active: “Jane picked her children up from school.”
Passive sentences are clunky and pretentious. The active voice keeps your writing clear, direct, and engaging.
Writing Tip #5: Trade Nouns For Verbs
Verbs make sentences flow; nouns boggle down sentences.
In many cases, you can trade bulky nouns for exciting verbs. Let’s look at an example:
“The clarification of the document is helpful.”
Bulky AF, right? The noun is “the clarification of” and the verb is a simple, boring “is.”
Let’s trade the bulky noun, “the clarification of” for an exciting verb, “Clarifying.”
Now it reads like this:
“Clarifying the document is helpful.”
We went from “The clarification of the document is helpful.” —> “Clarifying the document is helpful.”
Much better, no?!
BONUS TIP: On a similar note, always try to condense and upgrade your verbs. For example:
“These rules are applicable to everyone” can be changed to, “These rules apply to everyone.”
Here, two words (“are applicable”) have been condensed to one (“apply”). Additionally, the verb in the first sentence (“are”) was simple. In the second sentence, the verb was upgraded to something more action-y (“apply”).
Writing Tip #6: Keep Nouns Near Their Verbs
Colorful descriptions are all well and good, but by God, get to the point!
Consider the following sentence:
“Billy, along with his best friend Jenny, and all the other kids in the playground, against their teacher’s instructions, ran around chasing pigeons.”
I’ve bolded the nouns (Billy, Jenny, and all the other kids) and the verb (ran). See how far apart they are?!
It’s easy to lose track of what’s happening when there’s too much stuff between the noun and the verb.
Instead, keep the nouns and their verbs close together. This sentence can be reworked to:
“Billy and his classmates ran around the playground against their teacher’s instructions.”
Writing Tip #7: Remove Redundancies And The Superfluous
This is a skill that usually takes someone outside your work, such as a trained copy editor, to pick up on.
Some examples are:
He stood up —> He stood. (removed “up”)
Once I turned 18, I was old enough to be able to vote. —> Once I turned 18, I was old enough to vote. (removed “to be able”). You could also go simpler with, “Once I turned 18, I could vote.”
Some redundancies are easier to spot than others, but almost all of them will weigh down your writing.
Writing Tip #8: Swap Adverbs For Something Better
Whenever you catch an adverb, it’s time to pause. This is a good time to swap it out for a more succinct word. Adverbs like “essentially,” “basically,” and “very,” help you describe someone or something that another word already covers. Let’s have a look.
She is very strong. — She is powerful.
She ran very fast. — She sped/bolted/dashed.
He is very nice. — He is pleasant/lovely/kind.
They are very smart. — They are intelligent.
The computer is very slow. — The computer is sluggish.
You get the idea!
Writing Tip #9: Orient Your Reader
As a memoir writer, I write about my life, often forgetting that the reader wasn’t there with me every step of the way.
It’s easy to overlook essential details because, to the writer, these details are already understood.
In one book, my editor flagged a joke I made about my apartment being cold. “Why is it colder in here than it is outside?!” I thought the joke was hilarious; my editor didn’t get it.
You see, I forgot to mention that it was wintertime. Also, I live in New York. My editor lives in Texas.
For New Yorkers, broken radiators in the winter are a common cause of grumbling. But my Texan editor couldn’t relate. She read the sentence, “Why is it colder in here than it is outside?!” and thought to herself: Why is that funny? Isn’t that normal? It’s hot in Texas and most homes are air-conditioned.
Your readers are not privy to everything you know. This does not mean you need to over-explain every detail. Rather, look out for areas where you may need to establish a place and time.
For example, letting your reader know what season it is. You don’t have to say it literally: “It was summer” or “It was spring.” Use your creativity to show instead of tell. Perhaps, “The ocean absorbed the mid-summer sun as it sank,” or “Now that the buds have matured, people are removing their sweaters and tying them around their waists.”
Similarly, for time references, a simple “Three years ago,” or “It had been two months since…” can help orient your readers.
Having said that, this isn’t a hard and fast rule and doesn’t always work. In a novel or memoir, for example, it may not be enough to give the reader a timestamp, e.g., “Five years later,” without immersing the reader in that five-year journey.
For example, if two people go on their first date in Chapter 1, it may not be believable that they are married with kids in Chapter 2 just because you write, “Five years later.” The reader may need to watch this couple’s relationship evolve and go on that journey with them for this jump (first date —> married with kids) to feel realistic.
This is not the case for every book—some books purposefully jump around in space and time and it works well—but it’s something to consider when developing your story.
Writing Tip #10: Make An Outline
Overwhelm can thwart brilliant ideas from materializing. Don’t let that happen!
Don’t worry about how the final product will look, who will read it, or where you’ll find your references. Just start with a good, old-fashioned outline. Your outline is your backbone, your starting-off point from which you’ll eventually build content around.
This does not have to be fancy. Simply write down any ideas that come to you, any topics or talking points you want to write about. You can always rearrange the order, and add or delete items later.
Once you have the main ideas laid out in bullet points, create 2-3 sub-bullet points for each item.
If I were writing an article about how sugar affects health, my outline would look like this:
Introduction
-Summary of what will be discussed in the article.
What Is Sugar?
-Define sugar
-Various forms of sugar (fruit, vegetables, starches)
-Various names for sugar (honey, agave, corn syrup)
Sugar And Hormones
-Sugar increases insulin
-Sugar disrupts sex hormone activity
Sugar And Gut Health
-Sugar damages the gut lining
-Sugar can cause diarrhea or constipation
Sugar And Glucose Spikes
-Blood sugar imbalances
-Inflammation, mood disorders, diabetes, etc.
Conclusion
-Summary of what was discussed in the article
Outlines apply to any form of writing: articles, blogs, books (any genre), newsletters, etc. Seeing all your ideas listed out can help clarify what order events and concepts should be told in, as well as what’s important to include.