Easy tips to start writing!
Tags: Writing, Tips, Simple Steps, Motivation.
According to Indeed.com, Writing is a skill that includes all the knowledge and abilities related to expressing ideas through the written word.
It is clear that writing is useful for us, so the question arises, why should we write at first? The answer could be summarized in the following quotation by Canadian Clinical Psychologist, Prof. Jordan Peterson. In one of his talks, he says that…
There is no difference between thinking and writing.
— Jordan Peterson
Well that’s a nice motivation to start with. Exploring more in this direction, an article on BigThink (a multi-medium web portal) mentioned that “The primary reason to write an essay is so that the writer can formulate and organize an informed, coherent and sophisticated set of ideas about something important.” This statements gives a very brief description about the process of writing.
As all of these arguments are convincing enough to persuade oneself towards writing habit (if someone is genuinely interested).
Let’s have a look at some of the easy-to-follow tips for improving your writing abilities.
1 — Don’t give up before you even start!
We all have tendency to undermine our potential, which is completely natural. But to give up before trying is detrimental to our growth.
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Give yourself the freedom to make mistake, and you can only do this after you have done your part. So, try to think, pause, contemplate on the thoughts and write them. The best part is you can revisit your content and revise it. So do not give up before even starting to write the content of your choice.
2 — Embrace the disgusting draft!
Do not have vague expectations from your initial work, or in fact any work. Creative freedom is fundamental to any piece of art and artist, particularly when you are expressing with words .Those who currently seem expert at writing, have become proficient in this craft by making plenty of mistakes. Let you do the same too, and wholeheartedly accept the first draft even if it’s not in good shape.
“The first draft of anything is shit.”
― Ernest Hemingway
Even in a hurry, a draft is a big step towards writing something desirable. It could be your assignment, report, book or book chapter, blog, article etc. Starting early will definitely give your more time revise your draft. Make sure to have tentative plan before getting started.
3 — Quality of reading reflects in writing.
The amount of content you read allows you to explore what is unknown to you at the moment. The more you read, the more clear you are what you want to include in your piece of writing and what to exclude out of it. This helps in structuring the text for better understanding.
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King
Keep a dedicated time for regular reading. This will poke unexpected ideas, opens door of creativity and reduces possibility to replicate what is already known in the literature. This approach will enhance your skills to write and get better at it.
4 —It does not have to be complicated.
Remember, to be exceptional at something, you don’t have to necessarily start from complex part. You can try to keep it simple, at least for the start to eventually scale up as you grow in writing. This sounds too obvious but we often forget to remember it in our regular life and implement it.
“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
― Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Remember that a story that makes sense is more likely to score better than something with more jargons and dogma. Keep it simple to absorb for your reader. But do not overdo it, since it can make your output boring. So implement this approach with a pinch of salt.
5— Nobody knows what’s next— and it's okay!
We often idealize the “perfect dream role” of an author or writer for ourselves. The reality is, it doesn’t exist. Even the best writers of all time were unaware of their next masterpiece. And it is okay to wander in unknown to find pearls of thoughts.
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
― W. Somerset Maugham
Keep expressing your instincts via words. Read more to push your inner creativity. Seek help where you are stuck. But do not stop just for the fact that you don’t know what you are going to write. It’s better to think like “I am in process to find out what I am going to write next”.
6 — Build the muscle!
Just like it regular exercise to build physical muscle to gain strength. Same case is with writing, reading or any skill .Unless you are a child prodigy, you should accept your initial mediocrity in writing, and try improving it.
“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.”
― Philip José Farmer
Write multiple time a week, keep your notes with you or in your devices. Give yourself the space and tools to express ideas when they reveal themselves to you. It’ll help gain muscle for writing and getting better at your expression of speech.
7 — Use a nice similarity detection tool.
One of the key attributes of a quality writing is it’s originality. There’s no manual way to read all the writings on this planet earth and figure out whether your content is unique or not.
Let us quickly check plagiarism for you!
— Plagiarism Checker X
Simply download the free version of Plagiarism Checker X (Desktop Application), (or the PlagX — Web App), paste your content and see how much it is similar to all the content publically available on 16+ Billion Webpages. You simply focus on your writing. Let us handle the rest.
Do you have some personal tips to improve writing process? We’d love to hear that. Share your tips with us in comment box or on social media profiles.
Remember…
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
― Margaret Atwood
Good writing is a constant journey, not a static destination. Good luck and more power to you on your quest of writing.
— The End —
