One Weird Trick for Improving Your Writing

Well, it’s certainly not using hackneyed blog post titles that will do it! This post is for my young writers out there.

You want to know how to improve your writing? Here’s the big tip–

Read.

Yes, read. Read a lot! Reading a wide variety of texts at different levels of complexity, by writers who have different life experiences and opinions than you, can help you to develop a larger vocabulary, critical thinking skills, and an ear for the rhythm of words and sentences. When you hear other writers’ “flow,” you can develop your own in contrast (or in harmony).

If you want to improve your writing, it’s better to read things that have been reviewed and edited by others for clarity and cohesiveness. Magazine articles, novels, newspaper articles, plays, short story collections–all of those are good things to read to help you hear other writers’ voices and to get a sense of how to write in those genres and forms.

Lots of reading is required in many English composition classes because of the aforementioned reasons. Also, many reading assignments lead into writing assignments. If you are reading a first-person narrative essay in composition class about a time in your life when you had to make a hard decision, chances are you will be asked to write a first-person narrative essay about a time in your life when you had to make a hard decision.

Many students who I knew were enrolled in developmental writing courses were simultaneously enrolled in developmental reading classes. It stands to reason that if you cannot read very well, in terms of comprehension and analysis, you probably will have trouble with writing. They are interconnected.

Reading a lot and writing a lot will help you improve your writing. No one is born knowing how to write. Education and persistence are two important factors here. You can help to improve your writerly education on your own by reading and writing on your own time.