Writing isn’t easy. Whether you’re into narrative writing, working on an essay, or writing an article, it takes real practice. I’ve been writing consistently since I was seven years old. When I was eight, I started writing my own books by filling composition notebooks. Throughout school I entered many writing and poetry competitions and loved to contribute to the school’s writing magazine. Now in college, I do more writing than ever! Juggling a job at the newspaper, writing for Her Campus, and writing journal entries and research papers, I’ve gained many strategies that have helped move things along and improve the end result of my writing. These are five of my best writing tips to improve your writing tenfold.
- Go with the flow
One of the best tips I got when I began writing creatively was to not get caught up on small wording imperfections. This strategy works especially well with narrative writing, but it can also work for scripts and speeches. The best way to do it is to sit down with whatever you’re using to write and have a timer at the ready. Choose a prompt for yourself and set the timer for the amount of time you think it will take to answer it. I usually do 10-20 minutes. From there, you start the timer and write consistently. Don’t worry too much about word choice or structure, just dump thoughts on the page. This is how you can get some of your best ideas to come out.Â
- Talk it out
Another similar way to get ideas flowing is to talk about it! Do you love to send your besties voice messages rather than sending a paragraph when you spill tea? Apply that to your writing! Start a voice memo and talk to yourself about your idea. Explaining your ideas out loud can help get the idea flowing if writing gets you stuck. It can also help if you opt to tell a friend about it so they can give you feedback on things you may be missing.
- Strength in numbers
In March, I went to a convention for college journalists where I learned about how to properly pitch ideas, and the same can work for your essay! This works especially well if you’re in a class where everyone has the same assignment. My recommendation is to, if you can, find a group of people in your class to float ideas with and talk about the assignment. Collaborating and sharing ideas is one of the best ways to develop your thinking and learn new things. The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. Similarly, the best way to develop your ideas is to immerse yourself in differing perspectives.Â
- Fresh eyes
There’s a true benefit to having an editor. No matter the type of writing, your audience should be able to at least understand your paper even without the context you have on your topic. Therefore, asking a friend to read through your paper without you explaining the context to them can help you fill gaps where it’s needed and, in turn, eliminate unnecessary detail to balance it out. You will always look at your own writing with bias, especially right after you’ve written it. You know more than your audience, so it’s good to hear from them!
- Don’t silence your voice
A lot of people learn when they’re younger that they should never use first person. You often find, however, that it depends on the assignment. What some people don’t know is that even in formal writing, you can have a voice. Your word choice and sentence structure can determine how your tone comes across and give your writing a specific voice. The amount of detail you describe something in can show its importance. Satire journalist Tom Wolfe is a good example of giving formal writing your own voice.Â
The most important thing about writing is to be passionate about it. FInding topics you care about and things that you enjoy writing can make practice so much easier. Don’t worry too much about what you think you “have” to be doing. Do it for the love of the game.