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How do I improve my writing style?
Posted by Arnous81 • 1/07/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: improve writing
I feel like my writing is far from where I'd like it to be.My first language isn't English.So that gives you an explanation why. But I still dont believe that should mean I can't make my writing alot better.
So what do you think is the best way? Is it writing more often, reading more often, or both? And if you say reading for example, does reading alone automatically make my writing better (my subconscious mind learning by itself), or do I have to pay attention to what I'm reading?
User Comments
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Still looking for advice on this.
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It seems no one wants to share because they don't want you stealing their traffic
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Folks study for years at the university level to become good writers. There are others that have enough passion for the subject on which they write and that can overcome the lack or education.
There are lots of books in the library.
No one can give you a comment that can replace study and passion. -
Boo. You need to do both. Style is not something you can necessarily get from grammar books. It comes from your personality and grasp of the language. Poetry books will help you with style a lot more than grammar.
Spunk and Bite is a good book on style. -
@arnous81
Maybe the resources in these posts will be helpful.
ESL and Blogging
onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/esl-and-blogging/
Resources for launching your online writing career
onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/resources-for-launching-your-online-wr...
How to Become a Better Blogger 4: Essentials
onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/how-to-become-a-better-blogger-4-essen...
Edit: I just read 4 posts in your personal development blog called Practical Personal Development. They were well written. In fact, I liked the blog so I subscribed to it.-
Thank you TimeTheif, Ill check these out.
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You're welcome. Please don't fret about your writing. I read a lot of blogs and your are write well.
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I appreciate it.It actually took me quite a while to write each post.Like half an hour each and they're pretty short.My writing still doesn't flow naturally out of me but I think it will with time.
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There are lots of great writers who don't have English as a first language.
I think there are two common mistakes most writers make:
1) using passive verbs (eg. "the house was built" vs "they built the house");
2) use of way too many adjectives and adverbs.
Good luck.
Avoid those two and you'll be well on your way to writing better than most people on the 'net.-
I think I need to work on those, thanks SpotCoolStuff.
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My writing didn't really come together until I started writing for a Jewish editor in 1990. I wrote on the development of the Christian practice of baptism from the Jewish practice of Mikveh. He got all excited about this article. Then the next day, he called me up from across the country and chewed me out for an hour over my writing. He then said, "Let me work on this and maybe we can salvage this." I could hardly sleep that day.
Then the next day he phoned again. "That wasn't a bad edit. Excellent excellent article."
The article made the cover. And I continued to write for him for a year. But this guy taught me more about writing than years of English classes.
For you, put your ideas together meaningfully. Then sequence them logically.
Make use of lead and slant (some call this lead and theme).
Don't worry about titles. Editors usually change these anyway.
Practice practice practice. And find someone to work with you.-
"For you, put your ideas together meaningfully. Then sequence them logically.
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Nice!
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for me, just write like you are talking to your audience, keep on writing and you skill will improve without you notice, so keep on writing man, don't stop. -
Read. A lot.
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I do, which is why I can write at all
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Arnous81...most top writing schools will tell you to throw out all the garbage that you have accumulated over the years listening to other people.
They start you fresh with only pen and paper.
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Being well versed in any topic 1st is important.
In others words, know what you're talking about.
Have all the facts and information handy and experience in these topics also helps to give your writing a new perspective and people will come appreciate it and you. -
You need to read other writers. It's the only way to learn how to write. The adage goes "good writers borrow, great writers steal." That means you read others, learn how they write and why, and imitate them. If you're not born with the gifts of a Capote or Hemingway, that's the only way. -
Being original is of utmost importance too.
I do not think it's a good idea to copy anyone. (too many lawsuits)
Your work should be original and showing creativity coming from you and no one else.-
I do have the info and the topics.But somehow when I put them in writing, and I read the whole thing, it just looks weak to me.And I cant point out what's weak about it.
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Arnous81...sounds like it's lacking depth and soul and that is something that comes from within. There was a documetary of Hemingway and a woman who the top american writers went to so they could bring out their best work. I'll see if I can find it for you.
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I didn't say "copy"...I said STEAL HOW THEY WRITE.
You learn their diction, their cadence, how they use adjectives, nouns, verbs, long sentences, short sentences, freight train sentences, locution, metaphor...
This is basic theme writing. Any writing teacher worth their salt will tell you: learn from others, and sooner or later you will BECOME original.
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By the way, I was born and raised in the Middle East.My entire school education was in Arabic.And most of my friends were Arabs too.I learned English when I was a kid by watching cartoons (mostly Ninja Tutles) and movies.I also had some British neighbors when I was 10 years old and i was forced to speak English to them until I somehow got a grasp on the language.That is how I learned.
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Arnous81...there is beautiful work coming out of the middle east by various writers. A lot of people are writers but just don't know it, they just haven't tapped into it yet.
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I decided to write my ass off this year and see where'll Ill get.
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I just found this...I have no idea if it will help you
arabwritersgroup.wordpress.com/
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You write better than most people who's first language IS English.-
That means alot to me.
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To be able to write a language well, you must be able to think in that language well. And that means speaking it often, preferably with people who are willing to correct your errors.
English is not an easy language to learn and in your case, you also had to learn a whole new character set to go along with it. I learned French and Spanish easily, and have picked up quite a bit of Afrikaans since I have come to South Africa, but the idea of learning a new language that includes a new character set is intimidating: congratulations on your accomplishments so far...your written English is far better than many native-speakers!
See if you can find a source of English idioms (American and British). These are often quite difficult to master. If you are writing in English, knowing the idioms helps to make the work flow...it allows you to use them appropriately and helps you to understand them when you read.
And you must read. Read classic literature than American and British people read while in high school and university, as their speech and writing is peppered with oblique references to these documents. The Christian bible is also full of references that people unconsciously drop into their speech and writing, even if they are not Christian themselves. Aso read Greek and Roman mythology, as many metaphors and similes are also based on them. Hence you will know to use "Herculean labours" instead of "very, very hard work" or "the trials of Job" instead of "a lot of bad stuff happened."
When constructing an essay...which is essentially what a blog entry is...it should have three parts: intro, body, and closing. One of my writing professors told me that the intro should tell the reader what you are going to say, the body should say it, and the closing should reiterate the intro.
Something I have found very helpful (most people think I'm a pretty good writer) is to write something and then let it "rest." In the beginning, it needed to rest for as long as six weeks before I could read it with fresh eyes...now a few hours is sufficient. Then, go back to the piece and read it as if someone else wrote it and critique it. Then correct (edit) it. Let it rest some more and do it again. You have a body of work already, so you can go back to some of your old pieces and read and critique them. Every day you add to your skill and to your body of knowledge, so you know more today than you did then...use it.
So, read more, write more, and ask native speakers who are decent writers themselves to critique your work for you. You certainly seem to have the ability, so you should develop it further.
Oh yes...and learn idioms...that will really help both your reading and writing!-
Very well said, SweetViolet. Your reply here reminds me of how I hated my English teachers back in high school and in college. There was just no way I could find a good reason why we had to read all those classic lit. And then, as everyone else knows later, I realized it was important that I knew the classics to be able to communicate more effectively in English (which by the way is not my native language, either).
Saludos!
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Write stuff.
Revise stuff.
Write better stuff.
Repeat ad infinitum.-
you get that right!
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you gotten that right.
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you can said that again!
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hold on this is better ...
i agree.
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Arnous,
Arguably the best French writer of the 20th century, Louis-Ferdinand Celine (my avatar) says that style is working a text 100 times.
My blog has this on the art of writing:
beingandquirckiness.blogspot.com/2008/12/art.html -
not my avatar any more.
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Based on your discussion above, it appears your writing is already quite good. It's conversational, has a nice flow, and is easy to understand.
But that said, anyone can benefit in writing from reading a lot. Discover what authors you like, and then think about why you like them. What techniques do they use? Are they breaking rules of grammar? How do they vary their sentences?
By taking a good analytical look at writing you enjoy, I think you might find you learn a LOT about different techniques for communicating well.
Just my two cents, anyway! -
Hi Arnous. I believe that reading others' work is imperative to your own writing. I actually wrote a blog about this: blog.writersoftheroundtable.com/?p=187 -
The main way to get better at writing is by writing and keeps writing. The more you write the better you get. I wrote a couple of letters to the editor and just kept on writing. Even now, I don’t speak the kings English properly, but that don’t stop me. I really would be in trouble if I didn’t have spell and grammar check. -
The way I got a grasp of English was a lot of TV/movies without subtitles on, reading magazines, and writing personal diaries (for my eyes only) in English. The more you can listen to native speakers the better. You Tube is a great resource. The more complicated and entertaining, the better! (Try Russel Brand, Robin Williams and Stephen Fry for practise.)
I believe that writing comes from speaking, and once you communicate well with the spoken English, it gets easier to translate that into writing. My aim was always not to sound foreign, but those damned Aussies still pick up on my accent. (But at least they can't pinpoint it, which is cool. :p)
Pay attention to idioms and phrases that native speakers use. Get them right when you write - if unsure, google. You just have to keep your ears open at all times.
I read some of your blogs with this in mind, and my tips for you:
- Avoid passive sentences. (Instead of: "A question might be raised..." say something like: "That makes me question..."
- Always add a space after period and comma. That will make your text a lot easier to read. A LOT. Just that alone.
- Learn to use words that bind sentences together. Such as: "However, due to, because of etc." That'll make your writing a lot lighter.
- Avoid starting sentences with the word "and".
- Avoid saying approximately the same thing twice, like here: "I've been going through a movie phase lately.I have my phases with movies." Instead, try something like: "I tend to have periods that I watch a lot of movies; I call this my movie phase." Repeating same words a lot gets tiresome to read.
- Avoid using two words in a sentence that mean the same, like here: "I still loved both of these movies though." Use still or though, but not both.
That's some tips, but the most important: Keep your ears open!
I've written some tips for non-native bloggers here:
www.sebastyne.net/2008/09/tips-for-non-native-speaking-bloggers/-
I make some of those mistakes, and english is my native language! Back to school for me... Yeesh. -
Yeah, I make them too, but rarely without thinking about it. The thing is though, that a native speaker is ALLOWED to make more mistakes than a foreigner, because if a "language police" catches you doing something wrong, they'll decide that you just don't know the rules. A native speaker can break the rules because it's a question of style.
For example when I say "I don't give a flying rat's bottom" there'll be someone advising me that the phrase goes: "I don't give a flying fuck" or "I don't give rat's ass". If you, the native speaker, say it, they'll think it's a display of wit. (That's my own saying, so I speak from experience on that one. :D)
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