Practice Makes Perfect

Many questions that I see to answer on Quora and other sites run along the lines of how do I become a better writer, how do I write this well, or even what makes you a good writer? Practice, practice, practice is usually the answer. The more that you write the better your writing will be.

If I am being honest, heck if we are all being honest, we all started out with choppy semi-good writing. Someone saw something in what we wrote, and complimented us, giving us the courage to carry on with it and enjoy it.

Writing more, editing more, and reading more are the three keys to becoming a better writer. Each of these things plays a crucial role in honing your skills.

Here is how:

Reading: Reading is one of the fundamental things that spark ideas for writing. We think about how we want to make a story as great as the ones that we read and how we want to entertain readers as well. In addition to this, we gain creativity from other's words and stories. When you read, you develop better grammar and improve your word pool. I know that I myself as a writer want to be able to take my readers on a journey just as my favorite authors do for me.

Writing More: The more you write the more we think about sentence structure, story flow, character development and so much more. Writing allows you to work on these areas and as you do you slowly become better and develop new ideas. When writing more it is also important to try to write various kinds of genres and styles. This helps you to become a more rounded writer and get a feel for what genre you enjoy.

Editing: At this point, you're an avid reader, you write often and practice your skills. Now it is time to look through your work and see how you need to improve your skills. This is a way to learn about yourself, what you need to work on and what you do well with. Editing is such an important step and can take many rounds to get your story exactly where it needs to be. Having other people edit your writing will also allow you to catch things you can improve or you may have missed.

Becoming a good writer is possible however you need to make time to write and work on your writing on a consistent basis. It takes time and that is okay, it should.

Something I have heard time and time again is to make sure you are writing something that brings you joy. Everything else aside, if you enjoy what you are writing, it will show and make your writing shine.