The world of writing can be tough, especially when you’re trying to squeeze it in on top of your day job and everyday tasks. We tend to think of good writing as something that you’re born with, but becoming a better writer is a skill that you can improve on. If you want to know how to become a better writer, and you have the discipline and dedication, and put in the hard work, you’ll be on your way to the publishing house in no time.
How to become a better writer
Here are ten habits that will make you a better writer.
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Read, read, and read
The more you read, the more you learn! Without reading as much as you can get your hands on, you won’t be able to hone your skills and become a better writer. Reading is the key to refining your writing style and your narrative.
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Time management
If you have a busy daily schedule, you have to make sure to manage your time effectively and get the most out of your writing time. It’s essential that you set time aside each day if you want to achieve literary success. Even just one hour a day will keep you on track!
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Read and watch like a writer
When you watch TV or read a book, do it like a writer. Pay attention to the language, style, speech — every little detail. Learn from what makes each sentence good or bad so that you can apply it to your own work.
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Write from the heart
When you write, write what you know! A reader can feel the truth behind the experiences you narrate, and it will resonate stronger with them.
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Check your work over
A good writer always checks over their work several times, even if they plan on using a professional editor later on. Look for plot holes and inconsistencies, and polish up older sections of your work. If you feel like your story is too plain and perhaps a little boring, you could try incorporating a third person multiple point of view. Changing the point of view in your story can be implemented to correspond to a change in events or scenery that necessitates getting into the head of another character. That way, you’ll maintain your story’s flow and momentum.
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Outsource your editing and book cover
The editing and the book cover design can be fun, but a fresh pair of eyes can be just what you need to reach your audience and create something compelling. Outsourcing costs a little more, but it can absolutely be worth every penny spent.
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Always be willing to learn
Every day is a new school day — and it never stops. Even the best authors in the world are still learning from each other, and you need to be open to these opportunities as well. If you aren’t willing to learn, you will stagnate and never grow.
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Find other writers
Finding other writers to connect with can be a great way to boost your confidence and bounce concepts off one another. Twitter can be a great platform for this. Think of it as a moral support group that is full of people just like you — people who want to grow and improve as writers.
Participating in literary events is perhaps one of the most important points to better understand the market and exchange ideas with writers. In the big capitals, almost every weekend has some event going on!
But if you live far from where these events are recurring, don’t be at a distance! If there’s no event in your town, how about creating it? Get inspired by existing events in other cities to understand how the model works, look for a space willing to receive it (for example, your city’s bookstore or library), trace table or conversation subjects, invite participants, and have fun. What can be better than finding a lot of people in love with books?
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Create a schedule and stick to it
Sticking to your writing schedule can be difficult, but you need to tell the world that you’re closed for business during your allotted hours! If you stick with your schedule, you’ll find that it becomes a natural part of your daily routine.
I think that’s the most important tip. As the recipe I put up there says: what makes you a writer is simply writing. And certainly practicing helps a lot. Take your willingness to write seriously and consider it as important as traditional work. I have no doubt that these 12 years of writing before having my book published by a major publisher made a big difference to what I could achieve as a writer.
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Reward yourself — you are a writer!
Remember to reward yourself when you reach your writing goals. After all, no effort feels worth it if you can’t show yourself that you deserve it. Remember to tell yourself that you are already a writer, even if unpublished — and no one can tell you otherwise.
Bonus tip. Never forget why you want to be a writer
It is easy to feel lost or unmotivated in the midst of so many things that will happen on this path of writing. So my biggest tip for being a better writer is that you don’t stop listening to your heart.
First of all, what made you want to write? If you’re looking for publication, fame, or success, I’d suggest you rethink your choices. What moves me to write is an intrinsic desire that turns the activity into something very important for my day to day. It’s almost like breathing. Don’t let mishaps take your focus away from the love of writing.
It’s the thing that’s going to move you and encourage you to go through all the adversities. At the end of the day, there are few things as good as feeling that taste of who has managed to make a dream come true when the time comes.
Conclusion
The road to becoming a writer can be a daunting one, but the struggles felt along the way are so worth it in the end. If you implement these ten habits into your writing life, you’ll find that the process becomes a little bit easier and more natural as time goes by. It’s time to get your writing cap on and take a step closer to your first publication. You may sometimes need to seek help with specific tasks such as how to write my annotated bibliography.
