How I’ve improved my writing skills?
-penned by Joanna Fernandes (team Research Eye)
A positivity enthusiast, writer, reader and a pianist with a passion for literature, content creation and learning society.
I'm a newbie writer, although I think I have learnt a lot of things that my fellow newbies can utilize while writing. I have made mistakes and learnt along the way; I am still learning to be better. Writing can always improve, so there’s always place for learning and exploring. And now with the internet being such a great source of reading and writing, one has wider opportunities and scope to pick from and start their literature journey from.
• Creating an outline
Having a rough outline on what you are going to write is crucial. It can be just pointers or a few words. It should broadly cover topics one wants to write about.
It helps with the formation of your article and a reminder to the points you’ve missed out on.
Once you have an idea or a topic and the approximate word count, you’ll want to plan out the structure of your articles. This is important for producing a strong piece of content. Your outline should consist of the following:
1. Introduction - This will be the opening paragraph of your article. You can give a little teaser on what your article is about in the introduction.
2. Body - This will have the main part of your article. Use your outline to organize all of your thoughts. All sub points come under this.
3. Sub points/Pointers - Each main idea should have its own section within your article. Jot down the main points you’d like to include in each of these sections, as well as some examples to illustrate your points. This helps in breaking up the information and makes it easier for the reader to comprehend.
4. Conclusion – Not every article needs to have a conclusion, but it’s always nicer to tie together all your main points at the end, so that the article seems whole.
• Utilizing Google for synonyms, new words
Not everyone has a rich vocabulary and searching through an actual dictionary is really a task, if it has to be constant.
What I personally do, is Google for correct spellings, if I'm not sure about the words (sometimes when I’ve been writing for too long). I also search for synonyms or better words for the ideas I want to write about.
We have the amenities with Google Dictionary and I think young writers should make the most of it!
• Re-reading after 2 hours
While writing you get engrossed in the moment and in the continuous flow of words. Thus, you don’t tend to pause and wait back to read what you’ve written again. And at the time, everything sounds right because you have been researching and writing on the same topic since hours, so taking a break and getting back to the write-up, re-reading and analyzing it helps a lot. People’s perspectives change as time passes and sometimes there might be errors in what one actually wanted to portray while writing.
• Being thorough with your language
You have a lot of ideas and you wish to put them into words. But just putting down your cluttered thoughts, with a mix of language is not what people want. Yes, maybe if it is a syntax prose and you’re rushing through 10,000 thoughts a time, but not on a daily basis. Let’s keep it to a good language first.
What can we do to make it better though?
• Be clear with your grammar
Simple things like the difference between (its) and (it’s); Or placements of punctuation marks should be thorough.
• Check in whether the tenses are right
If one is writing in the present tense, they should not switch back to the past tense. However, as a writer myself, I know this can be a tricky task but we all learn.
• Whether you’re keeping up with the third/first person reference (you, one, they, I).
• Take care of readability
Writing well or writing in a strong language can seem appealing to students of literature, but how many people really ARE students of literature? Most of the people that read blogs are people who read for knowledge and fun. Thus, keeping a simple language for the blog suits best. And again, with a good vocabulary, you can always make your writing better and much more understandable to common people.
While cross-checking what you’ve written to see if the reader can comprehend the basic essence and meaning of the blog, one can always ask the question- “Will a 15-year-old understand this?”
One can make it simpler by using an easier vocabulary, simple formations of sentences and the correct use of commas. Placing the comma(s) at correct places also changes the entire game of writing, people often misuse it.
• Structure your article by category
Just like the way one organizes their closet by types of items, clothing, shoes; take a similar approach with the article. If you’re just starting up with your article/blog, try to format it in a way that makes it easier for reader to find what information they’re exactly looking for. Make it more systematic rather than one having to connect the dots from top to bottom.
This structure also helps with Google’s algorithms. Its algorithms take website structure into account when determining which posts to rank first among the top search results, so appropriate keywords also help. Thus, keeping a neatly organized article and headlines is beneficial in all fronts.
• Do your research
Whenever one is writing on a new topic, research is always need. I’d recommend a solid hour at least to get enough information on your headings and to be clear about the field you’re writing about. Being clear with particular facts and learning more always helps. Just like our teachers say, the more you read, the better writer you become. Also, one cannot deny that practice makes us perfect!!
Once you get comfortable with the matter from magazines, books and online, you may want to branch out to place in your own original ideas. Taking surveys and interviews also helps, depending on the type of blog/article you’re writing.
I hope this article has helped you in some little way, until next time!