What's your definition of craft? In general terms, the craft is perceived to be anything that can be seen or touched or felt. For a writer, their writing is their biggest craft that has to be felt by the reader with the same vibe of how that idea or character was born! Have you been procrastinating in writing because you feel it might not be that good to read?! Well, it's time to remedy that thought, shall we? First, let's diagnose what might be stopping you then, we have these proven effective 10 ways to improve your writing craft. So do you have this gut feeling that you need to write and publish something? Well, then there is no better time than the present to get started on it! However, many people can put off writing a book – the most common reason being insecurity. Writing comes with insecurity, but you can improve your skills and become the best writer to your potential! This guide will teach you exactly what you need to improve your writing.
Improve Your Writing Skills
If you want to improve your writing, just learn more vocabulary and fix your grammar! How will that work? Well, when you know more words – it will help you express your thoughts better. Good grammar will take you less time to formulate the correct sentences, as well. You can improve these basic skills in your free time – just make a checklist of all the things that you need to improve and then tick it off, overtime.
The good news about improving your writing skills is that you don't really need to spend any money on it! There are a lot of free courses on the internet that you can use. You will need to brush up on the basics – verbs, adjectives, pronouns, nouns, active voice, passive voice, tenses etc.
If you wonder whether you can pay someone online to help you do your homework. All you need is to find a reliable writing service with experts on staff, and send your 'write my paper for me' request.
Sharpen Your Narrative Skills
No matter what type of writing you're doing, it is really impossible to have good narrative skills. Once in a while, you will have to whip up a narrative for most types of writings – articles, blogs etc. If you're working towards a book, then you might want to improve your narrative skills, as well. The whole process is really simple, but you need to understand it and apply it to your writings.
Characterization is really important in the narrative – introduce characters and give them an appearance and personality. Dialogue is another huge factor that will improve your narratives tremendously – including short and sweet dialogues. Decide the point of you and keep it like that throughout the story – usually, the main character is the only point of you. Have a strong plot – that will help the reader imagine the story well.
Read Like A Writer
You might have heard this phrase if you've joined a writing community or have a lot of writers around you. This is like a writer's little secret – you need to read like a writer! When you go through other writers' work, you need to notice the important details. You might not have developed this system yet, but it can help you improve tremendously. Moreover, just plain reading can improve punctuation, grammar etc.
How can you read like a writer? Well, you will notice things that not most people would notice. What are those things? Notice how the writer introduces the plot. Is it slow? Is it fast? What speed would you want in your own story? Notice how the writer introduces characters. Is it in unnecessary detail or just perfect? What are the plot holes and strengths or weaknesses of your story?
Practice Everyday
It's true that inspiration comes to you when you're not looking for it; however, practicing every day can keep your writing skills intact. You can have a small word count and write that every day so you don't lose your skills. You can also do so by reading every day as that will also keep your skills intact. Moreover, having a good routine will help you stay consistent and inspired. This will really help you become a professional over time.
A great way to have infinite topics to write about is by searching up prompts on the internet. You will find really interesting topics, and you can even get your drafts published if they turn out amazing. You can start by keeping a journal and writing about your day or thoughts in it everyday– it's also a great way to stay in a good mental state.
Join a Community
There are so many communities on the internet and in real life. You can join as many as you want – depending on the time you can invest into them. Online communities are great if you're looking for motivation and ideas. A lot of people have many great ideas that were inspired by their communities. Having people around you consistently that talk about writing and reading can be a great thing.
How can you find these communities and join them? Go to your town office or just stroll around the town to look for banners about these communities. On the internet, you can just search up hashtags that will lead you to find the perfect groups that you can join. Send a nice message describing yourself to the admin, and you're in!
Ask Questions
This is not only about asking questions from your peers but also in your writing. When you ask questions in an hour of writing, it can keep the reading interesting. The questions can lead them to question themselves and then get interested in your opinion or the opinion of the character in your story! Isn't that interesting? These questions should be short and sweet. If you include long questions, it can be a little boring.
Furthermore, when it comes to asking questions from your peers – it can be a great way of networking. Everyone knows that networking is really important in any profession, and asking your peer's questions can help you make connections. It can also help you get the information on the inside of the writing world.
Edit Later
Fine-tuning your work can be a great tool to improve your writing. However, it can put off your creativity if you do it while you're writing stuff down. Especially if you prefer to write on paper and insert it into the computer later. It can be a hectic thing to correct your mistakes and can take a while. Whenever you get inspiration, it's best to write everything down right then and there.
How can you edit later? Editing later can be quite efficient as you will be able to edit your whole story and fine-tune it by using good software. Furthermore, it will take you less time as the story is already written, and you just need to make a few changes. It will also help your creativity flow through when you're writing without any worries of making mistakes.
Listen to Feedback
A lot of good writers can lose their jobs of earning money through writing if they don't listen to the people reading their books. You write the books and people out there pay to read it – this is exactly why you need to listen to the feedback. Instead of reading through all the negative comments that can put you in a bad mood, you can ask your assistant or friend to read through them and give you a general consensus.
So, how can you apply the feedback to your work? You can make a list of all the things that you also feel can be improved. After this, make a list and get on it. Keep the list in front of yourself when you are writing your next draft. When you formulate the paragraph, ask a friend if there is any improvement.
Publishing Must Be in Mind
You should keep this fact in mind that if you're writing something every day – you're a writer! No matter how good or bad it is, writing every day and trying to improve makes you a writer. You never know what people might like, so treat your every draft as something that could be published. If you think of publishing while writing every draft, it will motivate you to write your best stuff and make quality pieces.
While you're writing down your draft, think about the feedback that you received on your last pieces. You can easily analyze what your audience will love or hate, depending on the feedback. Think about what would be the reaction if you publish this draft and how can you improve it?
Observe Everything
Last but definitely not the least important point is to observe everything. How does that change your writing? Well, if you're a real writer, you must know that inspiration can come to you at any time. The time you least expect it – you're having dinner with your grandparents, and there it is, you had a dream, and suddenly you're inspired at 2 am at night. You're in a public bathroom, and you see something that inspires you – the opportunities are endless!
So, how can you remember all these things? Well, use the notepad app or your phone, or keep a small journal and pen with you at all times. This can really help you out, even if the timing wasn't right! Make sure to stay in good health - take care of yourself and your emotional self so that the inspiration can come more often!
Wrapping Up
So, are you feeling more confident already? You can note these points down on your checklist or notes app to keep them in mind. Always remember that you are a writer and will create something great one day. Be patient and work on your drafts – meanwhile, improve your grammar and other skills mentioned in the guide. Best of luck!