10 Tips To Improve Your Writing

In creative expression, there's no one standard for greatness. Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, O'Keeffe—no one "right" way to paint. Though all different, they inspire, engage, and stir up emotion in their audience. Writers are no exception.

Every artist works from a baseline — they abide by certain ground rules. For writers, this means using correct spelling and punctuation. For painters, this means mixing the correct ratio of water to paint. Everything beyond the baseline is open to experimentation and style.

Writing is a powerful, beautiful means of self-expression, inspiration, education, and entertainment. Writers must use a strong voice so their words carry the most authentic resonance while adhering to their baseline. The craft is constantly evolving, as we are, therefore even great writers need to continually sharpen their skills as well as their pencils.

Here are a few ways to do just that:

1. Show, don't tell.

You know the expression, "Tell me you're a mom without telling me you're a mom." Same idea. We want to find ways to help the reader identify what’s happening without literally saying, “THIS IS HAPPENING.”

When we write, it's tempting to want to explain everything, leaving little to the readers' imaginations. This winds up reading like a list of instructions, rather than an engaging story. A list of instructions may be helpful for self-help and cookbooks, but it’s not so appealing to readers of narrative fiction, memoir, or poetry.

We need to let the reader know where we are, what's happening, who's with us, what the character is feeling, and so on. But there are ways to do this without spelling it out.

Here's an example: Instead of saying Bob and Joe are brothers, construct a dialogue between them in which they refer to "Mom" a few times. This will signal to the reader that they share the same mother.

Here's another example: Instead of saying you were annoyed at someone, describe the feelings or sensations that signify annoyance: short-tempered, curt, snappy. Maybe that involves conveying impatience, describing a red face, and showing what it looks and feels like to be flustered.

One more example for good measure: You don't need to tell the reader that your main character is a lawyer. You can describe how they interrogated a witness on the stand, while 12 people listened to the evidence carefully. That should do the trick!


2. Don't start sentences with:

"And"

"There is/are/was/were"

"I think."

No sentence should start with "And," unless you're taking a creative liberty. As you go back and review your work, notice sentences that start with "And," and then see if you can adjust, rephrase, or combine sentences.

Similarly, the phrases, "There is/are/was/were" are often not needed at the beginning of a sentence, and in many cases, you can find more creative ways to start the thought.

For example: "There was a lot of noise in the room," could be changed to, "The room was filled with noise." You could also get more detailed and say, "As Sharon entered the room, she was confronted by loud sounds."

Another example: "There is nothing more annoying than a meeting that could have been an email," could be changed to, "Nothing is more annoying than a meeting that could have been an email."

Finally, don't start a sentence with, "I think," as in, "I think that there are a lot of great bands in New York." Simply say, "There are a lot of great bands in New York." Or better yet, “New York has a lot of great bands.” (See how I got rid of “There are”?)

Not only does your message sound clearer and stronger without “I think,” but it's implied that what you're stating is something you think/believe.

3. Use adverbs in moderation.

Adverbs easily get confused with adjectives.

Adjectives describe nouns. For example: the beautiful car. Here, “beautiful” is an adjective.

Adverbs describe adjectives. They should be used in moderation; they are usually fillers. For example: the very beautiful car. Here, “very” is the adverb.

Try removing adverbs and seeing if your sentences work without them. In many cases, they'll work better.

Also, Check out Grammarly's list of adverbs and phrases to avoid to improve your writing.

4. Start with a hook and back it up.

Human attention spans are getting shorter. Whether you're writing a blog, book, or social media post, you have to nab your reader right away! A hook can be a fascinating quote, an alarming statistic, a funny anecdote, or anything that piques the readers' interest.

Lead with a hook, but don't drop it there. You'll want to expand on or back up your quote or stat. For example, a hook may be a statistic, such as, "Did you know we only remember about 50% of what we hear?" Now, back it up and flesh it out a bit more.

For one, where did you find this fact? Secondly, why is this fact/quote/anecdote important or intriguing to the reader? How does it relate to what you're writing about? Let this transition into the meat of your piece.

5. Don't repeat words.

Sometimes repeating words cannot be helped — there may be no other way to say what you need to say. But many times, you can find other words and phrases that convey the same meaning. Whenever possible, diversify your language. I like to scan my paragraphs after I've written them to see if I've used the same word multiple times. If I have, I'll rephrase as needed, using a thesaurus if necessary.

For example, if my paragraph describes the inside of my house, I'll allow myself to use the word "house" one or two times. If there are more than two mentions, I'll replace some with "home," "living space," or "room," where applicable. If my character is angry, a multitude of words and sayings can achieve the same information: upset, frustrated, furious, hot-tempered, annoyed, at the end of her rope, and so on.

Caveat alert! When you find yourself reaching for the thesaurus to find a new word for a concept/word you’ve already mentioned, ask yourself if you really need to reference it again. Perhaps it is redundant? You’ll only know by re-reading your paragraph over.

6. Read and write.

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to

a) read other people's writing, and

b) write.

This tip needs little explanation. Practice and exposure make perfect!

7. Get a second, third, and fourth set of eyes on your work.

It doesn't matter how great a writer you are, everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has blind spots. Few people can take their own advice. It can be hard for even expert writers to see where their writing may be falling short. This is why therapists have therapists, doctors have doctors, and writers have editors.

It’s essential to have other trusted people or professionals look over your work. They can point out plot holes, areas that need more fleshing out, confusing language, inconsistencies, concepts that need to be trimmed down or removed entirely, where a story is stalling. They will also pick up on grammatical and spelling errors you may have missed. Having additional sets of eyes also helps you determine if your message is coming through the way you intended.

Having a reviewer is especially important when telling a personal story. When you've lived through every agonizing moment, the inclination is to share every detail. Writing personal content is the easiest way to lose perspective on what is and isn't important to an objective reader. Even when the story is not a personal one, anytime we become so deep in our work, we lose objectivity.

8. Be consistent.

When writing a blog, newsletter, or article, you'll be talking to your readers. You'll want to establish a consistent way to address them, decide if you are included in the address, and determine how general you want to be.

Consider the sentence above: "You'll want to establish a consistent way to address your readers." If you decide you're part of the group, you would write, "We want to establish a consistent way to address our readers."

You can also make it more general and write, "Writers need to establish a consistent way to address their readers."

Whichever you choose, stick with it throughout the piece. You may address your readers in numerous ways, whether directly or indirectly, and include yourself or not. This is largely a matter of style. The important thing is to keep it consistent.

Similarly, your verb tenses should stay consistent, at least within a given sentence. For example, "He swam, went to the market, then made dinner for everyone." Notice that all the verbs are in the past tense. If one of your verbs ends in "ing," then they should all end in "ing." This would look like: "He enjoys swimming, going to the market, and making dinner for everyone."

Bonus tip: When combining people and pronouns, remember that the sentences have to work independently if you separate the people. For example:

This is NOT correct: "Cupid's arrow punctured him and I." When you separate the people, it looks like this:

"Cupid's arrow punctured him." (this works) and, "Cupid's arrow punctured I." (this does not work)

Remember, they have to both work independently. Therefore, the correct way to write it is: "Cupid's arrow punctured him and me," because when you separate the people/pronouns, both versions work.

9. Avoid clichés.

In writing, popular sayings and expressions are sometimes useful and necessary. They can add humor and insight, and may even help illustrate a point with an analogy. But some sayings may weaken your message and credibility.

Reading other writers' work is as important for demonstrating what to do as it is for demonstrating what not to do. The more you read, the more you may find cliche phrases.

For example, "Now more than ever," as in, "Now more than ever, we need to stand together," is a phrase I see a lot in trying to conjure up hope and inspiration. Or, "There's no better time to (fill in the blank)" is another one I see often. They’re both pretty blah.

Whenever you find yourself using a commonly-used phrase, pause. This is a great opportunity to grow as a writer. Challenge yourself to make the same point in a new way, in your own words. Find something different and more you. Any expression can be said in countless ways. The goal is to avoid sounding like every other writer out there, so your originality and personality stand out.

10. Write first, edit later.

Frankly, this tip should be #1.

It's important not to be overly concerned with any of the above tips until after you're done writing. Punctuation, phrasing, repetition, etc., are not important when you're first sitting down to write.

So, write first, edit later.

Get it all out. Do a brain dump. Knock out your first draft. Have fun! Keep this list separate and only refer to it after you've gotten the words out of your head and into that Google doc.