If you’ve been writing for a long time like me, I’m sure along the way you’ve picked up some tips and tricks that you use every time you sit down to write. Whether it be an essay or an article for Her Campus, I always tend to do these four things that I have found helped me become a better writer over time.
- If you find yourself using the same words over and over, use a thesaurus to find synonyms to help you switch it up.
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My personal favorite is WordHippo.com. I tend to use this site to look up synonyms for words that I keep repeating or even to help me find a word that’s on the tip of my tongue. By using WordHippo, I have made my writing sound a lot less repetitive and a lot more eloquent.
- Break your ideas up by paragraphs.
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When writing an essay or even a listicle, I find it helpful to first think about all the points I want to make in my piece and writing them down as they come to me. Then, I arrange my ideas by paragraphs. By doing this, I can know exactly what each paragraph will be about. It makes formatting my writing a lot easier.
- Do not make any edits the first time you’re writing.
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When writing something for the first time through, just write freely. Write down anything that comes to mind that you want to say in that paragraph and then move on. Don’t go back and edit anything until you have finished writing at least a full first draft. In the past, I would typically write one paragraph and edit as I go. I realized that by doing this, I was messing up the “flow” of my writing. When you finish the first draft and then start at the beginning to edit, it is much easier to make everything sound more uniform.
- Keep an open and active mind.
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This was something that came to me quite naturally when I started writing more frequently. My mind was always thinking of new ideas and on the lookout for something interesting to write about. Writer’s block became a lot less common when I realized that I was constantly surrounded by things to write about. Writing more often opened my mind and eventually turned me into a more creative person. In the long run, this has also made me a better writer.
Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. With frequency, you will soon be able to pinpoint things that help you find helpful in improving your writing!
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