How To Become A Better Writer?

Everyone can write, but writing something that captivates the interests of the readers is not an effortless task. There are a lot of techniques to be kept in mind to be a better writer. It is not easy to point out a few of them on how to become a better writer since it can be different for different individuals. There are a few tips as a writer to be kept in your mind while writing an article.

(source: Jon Santiago)

To be a better writer includes a lot of skills and hard work. It is not at all an easy task to be better at writing. Writing well is always hard and there are no shortcuts to accomplish this goal. Being a better writer doesn't mean that you can write numerous articles in a short period of time. Instead, it's about the research, content, and quality that lies behind the work. Anyone can write an article, but it is the content that makes it different and unprecedented. The quality of the content makes the article unique and interesting for the readers. There should also be a proper structure. The writer should always make sure that the article is properly structured. This makes the article look better to the readers.

A writer should always be open to criticism, it is one of the basic qualities that a writer must possess. There are a lot of things that are beyond the control of a person. It is normal to not be aware of everything around, what's important is to accept the imperfections. It is important to have an open room for judgment and suggestions. So writers should always be open to criticism that can enhance their work.

A better writer always does a lot of research and homework before writing something. They look up more on the quality than the quantity. Whenever you write something, you should always think about your readers and how you can capture their attention and make them interested.

Reading books are always an advantage for writers. It helps to reconstruct and transform ideas and thoughts. One can also quote lines from the books that they have read. Great writers should also be great observers. They should always observe the atmosphere around them and the innovations that it goes through. It is only then the article becomes interesting and relatable for the readers.

It is always better to find time for writing something when your mind feels clear and non-occupied. If your mind feels clear, it can contemplate more and come up with the best ideas. On the contrary, if you are disrupted by some thoughts and preoccupied that can be seen in the writing. One can not bring out the best when their mind is already preoccupied.

(Source: The Writing Cooperative)

It is important to make sure that the writer goes through the article thoroughly before submitting or releasing the article. The article is going to be read by a lot of readers and it is definitely going to be under criticism by the critics. There might be an editor or proofreader who edits the work, but still, it is the writer’s responsibility to make sure that the work is free of error. The writer can easily grab the errors in the article since it’s written by yourself. This doesn’t mean that the writer will have to spend a lot of time in editing too, but just make sure to do the basic editing. Today there are a lot of applications to check your grammar and make the article error-free. This was not the case several years back. There were no advanced applications, it was the editors and proofreaders who manually checked the article and cleared the mistakes.

Being a better writer is to be paralleled up with a lot of work, responsibilities, and expectations. There is an audience that demands more satisfying and exceptional articles from a writer. This shouldn’t be a burden on the writer instead, these expectations from the audience should be taken as a motivation to work even harder and research to bring out the best article possible and satisfy the audience. There might be occurrences where you can’t provide your readers with better articles, but that’s normal and a writer shouldn’t step back because of these judgments. These criticisms are the foundation upon which the writers become the knights of the pen and excel in their writing even deeper.

So "how to become a better writer?", the writer should know what they are writing and make the articles interesting for the readers. It's the experience and practice that make you an effective writer. It is difficult to excel at the beginning itself but if you have given it a lot of trial and practice gradually you become a better writer. Trail and practice is always an effective method for beginners. It's okay to make mistakes but what's important is to accept these criticisms and try to make them better and better.

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Author - Aleesha Vithayathil

Content Writer at Escribo.