28 Sep 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-VIII

The actual process of writing is indeed a lonely undertaking, but many things happen before you sit and start writing, and these many things shape your writing, therefore going out is as important as is sitting alone to write. In this part of the 5 Ways to Improve Your Writing series, I will talk about the benefits of socializing.

Writing group

Join a writing group in your neighborhood. Make sure it is not very far because distance works as a deterrent for many new writers. If you could not find a writing group in your neighborhood, form one.

Book reading club

Become a member of a book reading club. This will help you refine your existing ideas, and it will also help you get new ideas. Reading is the best advice that can be given to a writer. A writer who does not read cannot produce a good quality work for long. If there is not any book reading club in your neighborhood then form one.

Socialize with writers

Talking to fellow writers will help you unearth many hidden issues, and it will also help you find answers of many unasked questions as well. A practicing writer can become a better guide in telling you how to write, how to use different writing tools, and how to keep your writing simple yet powerful.

Meet someone who is not like you

Meeting a person who is not like you, and who has different point of view, desires, values, etc., will give you a good understanding in human nature. Meet a person of such standing and reflect on the experience you have by meeting him, and the experiences he or she shared with you.

Leave your couch

This is important. Your couch has become your comfort zone, or is it your chair that has become your comfort zone? Challenge yourself and break free. I am asking you to leave your comfort zone, and try meeting new people, and experiencing new things. The more experience you will bag, the better accomplished writer you will become.

Tags: Book Reading, Comfort Zone, Couch, Desires, Different Point Of View, Experiences, Fellow Writers, Good Understanding, Human Nature, Many Things, Neighborhood, Point Of View, Quality Work, Reading Club, Shape, Sit, Unasked Questions, Undertaking, Writing Group, Writing Tools

Filed in Writing with 0 Comments

24 Sep 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-V

Grammar is your friend, not an enemy. Respect it as you would respect your friends. A proper use of grammar and punctuation rules will make your writing beautiful, and easy to understand. Having said that, I must say that I am not a strict grammarian, so I believe you can tamper with the grammar at times, but to that first you need a good command over it. You guessed it write, if you did, this post is about grammar.

Write declarative sentences

These kinds of sentences make your writing forceful. You do not crawl, dictate or order. You just say what it is in a natural way. You do not intimidate people, you just say your things and let people think based on that. There is no offensive or defensive stance on either side.

Use Active voice

The prize for blogging was won Jack.

Jack won the prize for blogging.

Which one of the two sounds more powerful? Indeed, it is the second one. When you use active voice, you make your subject do the work, but if you resort to passive voice, you ask your subject to lie down on a couch and let the object of his action do the work.

Check adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives can be alright, but adverb is strict no-no. The excess of any of these two will make your text look boring, very badly boring. Did you see that boring was okay but very badly boring was not?

Cut it

Are you not sure whether it should be there or not? Cut it! William Strunk Jr. will love you for that. Did you ask who is he? Well, you need to read The Elements of Style and ask countless English writing people to know who he was, meanwhile, just follow the advice and leave it when in doubt.

No clunky sentences, please

If you cannot create a sentence that reflects grace than do not attempt to create one! Well, did I sound like William Strunk Jr.? Then I succeed. Jokes apart; I mean to say that you should avoid creating any clunky or confusing sentences. To find out if your sentence is confusing or not, make your friend read your piece.

Tags: Active Voice, Adjectives And Adverbs, Adverb, Beautiful, Confusing Sentences, Couch, Declarative Sentences, Defensive Stance, Elements Of Style, English Writing, Friends, Grammar And Punctuation, Grammar And Punctuation Rules, Grammarian, Jokes, Kinds Of Sentences, Passive Voice, Two Sounds, When In Doubt, William Strunk Jr