What Makes A Writer Great? Simple Tips To Improve Your Writing Skills

There's a wrong perception among the masses that a good writer is born. That's a completely false narrative. Writing as art requires practice. One is not born a good writer, rather one becomes a good writer, through sheer passion and practice. Writing is something that almost all of us practice on a daily basis. Be it writing an e-mail to a superior to writing a letter in school, everyone writes something or the other daily. But despite that, only a few pay attention to the art of writing and look to improve upon their mistakes and errors.

There are lots of things that go into the art of writing. But the most basic aspect which a lot of people take lightly is Grammar. Grammar is the soul of any language and for writing, you need to have a good knowledge of basic grammar. Good grammar goes unnoticed but bad grammar stands out like a sore thumb. But apart from grammar, there are lots of aspects to writing and to become a good writer, one needs to hone these skills into their writing. Let's look at some easy-to-follow, simple tips that will help you write better.

1. Write Daily

This is the most common advice you'll find amongst good writers. The more you practice writing, the more chances you'll have of becoming better at it. That's common sense. That's why to become a better writer, you'll have to set a daily goal, be it in terms of hours or words. And not just set that goal, but accomplish it on a daily basis. This will help you get better at your writing skills.

2. Do Proper Research

Whether you are writing an opinion piece or an article, research is an integral part of writing. Many people overlook this aspect and jump straight to writing. That's career suicide. You'll never become a good writer if you don't know what you're writing about or if your statistics are wrong. That's why you need to do proper research from various sources before holding your pen and writing your thoughts.

3. A Simple Outline

One common issue that is found in many cases is that people ramble on about things while writing, without having a clear structure. This gets in the way, especially when they are trying to put forth their opinion. Hence a simple solution to this is to think of a structure or outline to follow while writing. You can divide the various segments of your piece into different paragraphs and then follow it to the best of your capabilities. Once you know the rules, then it also becomes easy to break them.

4. Use Active Voice

This is rather a piece of technical advice for content writers. One of the biggest mistakes people make while writing is using more passive voice. This doesn't go very well with many readers. Most of us prefer reading in an active voice. Therefore if you are writing for an online forum or website, make sure you always try to use active voice. There are always exceptions but apart from that, try writing in an active voice.

5. Practice Proofreading

Many writers are always in a hurry to submit their pieces before having a second look. That's what proofreading is. There are always many glaring errors that young writers make while writing. These errors can easily be recognized from a second look. That's why you should never hurry in submitting your work without proofreading