Although it may be true that some people have a natural flair for writing, regardless of what you might think, it is always possible to improve your writing skills, whatever your age or background.
The ability to write well is not just for those seeking a future in literature, journalism or website content creation and design. Indeed, the ability to write matters to a wide range of careers. From writing articles to drafting documents, it is always important to know how to write well.
Here are some tips to improve your writing.
Read
It’s hard to emphasize enough the importance of reading in relation to being a good writer, as it is almost impossible to write well unless you are able to tell the difference between poor-quality and high-quality written work.
Why are the classics still so widely read? It certainly helps that good writing is timeless. Hence Shakespeare’s works were once described as: ‘not for an age, but for all time.’
That being said, knowing how to write stream-of-consciousness prose will not necessarily improve your journalism work, so it is important to read various types of writing; from newspaper articles, to Shakespeare’s works, to essays, to novels. By observing others, we can learn how to improve ourselves.
Blog
The best way to improve at something is to get in lots of practice, by establishing a blog you can gain lots of experience which will help increase your writing skills ability and learn from any initial mistakes.
By keeping a blog, you will be encouraged to write regularly, especially if you build up a network of followers who frequently read your content. Knowing you have an audience to impress will certainly give you a set of standards by which your writing will have to keep to.
Similarly, as you read over your work you will be able to see how it reads, and therefore learn how to create a well flowing, well-structured piece of work.
Peer Assessment
Know anyone who can write well, perhaps an old teacher, a work colleague or even a friend or parent? Having them assess your work removes the subjectivity that comes from having authoring a piece.
Building up a varied network of peer assessors enables you to learn what styles of writing appeal to which audiences, as well as giving you constructive criticism from a range of people, providing you with lots of help with becoming a better writer.