Writing is personal. But to resonate well with your audience, you have to consider improving the way you communicate with them. So, here are the 5 ways to improve writing skills in English using only the free tools you can find on the internet.
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A few days ago, I posted a question in a Facebook group about the writer’s ways to improve their writing skills in English. I know they suggested, including Google, the conventional ones which the majority of the people already know.
What I’m searching for are the 5 underrated ways to hone your writing, though uncommonly utilized by most writers; however, they are effective.
Others may see it as something you can do every day unnoticed. But for us writers these are vital. This is why I decided to write something about this and share my ways to hone my writing with you. As I scoured through the comments, I found the top 5 underrated ways you can do to achieve the same objective. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
5 Ways To Improve Writing Skills in English Using Free Tools
Improving your writing is important, especially if you have plans to make an income from it. For Dan Lok, one of the most influential people I follow and a millionaire, it’s what he calls “the high-income skills.”
You can read my post about how a writer can become a millionaire by using this #1 secret you shouldn’t miss. If you try to go across different ways to hone your writing on the internet, you can see tons of pieces of advice from experts. At times, these can be overwhelming.
This is the reason for writing this post to make my points as clear as possible. Like you, I don’t want to be overwhelmed with any information I find out there and focus on what matters. Subsequently, I summarized them into 5 underrated ways to hone your writing. That even you never recognized it. Including myself. 😀
1. Studying other writer’s work
Of course, writers like us need to read to improve. That’s part of our growth process. With that being said, it’s best to know where to improve.
To do that, we need to see where and how. We need to know the specific areas to hone our writing skills. We need examples of how this particular thought is expressed from another author’s perspective.
It’s not about copying the idea and committing grievous writing crimes (plagiarism). It’s about setting these books as examples of how we can improve the way we write things.
Since 2018, I have been reading different books with analysis. I underlined the sentences, encircled the words for my vocabulary, and recorded them in a separate notebook. If you can take a look at the photo below, this is how I record what I have read and notes how I can apply the same sentence or similar in different scenarios.
2. Imagining an audience during the writing process.
It doesn’t matter if it’s your sister or a neighbor. Whoever the person is, just imagine the person you like to offer the writing to. Whether it’s a book you’re writing now or a post you’re working on, it doesn’t matter.
The important thing is that you are putting yourself in a position in which someone expects something to read from you. Regardless of the work or the type of writing, being able to convey a message must be of utmost importance.
3. Keeping a journal & recording thoughts
This step is important, especially if you want to write a memoir. You can review your entries and recall some parts of those memories, transforming them into something valuable for your readers.
As a writer, keeping a journey plays a crucial role in the process, particularly in honing your writing craft.
If you have been reading my previous posts, I emphasized that this industry isn’t for everyone.
It requires a frustrating amount of focus and willpower to keep writing. With God’s grace, I can handle the pressure for 6 years now. You can read my writing journey here.
4. Watching Documentaries, Movies, Etc.
If you need to binge-watch to gain some insights, you can as long as you have it under control.
When I wrote my book “Accidental Quest” in 2018, I had to watch tons of films of the same genre. I took note of how the plot starts, goes towards the climax or the turning point of the story, and ends.
If you try to get a closer look at how writers arrange the story to keep the audience’s attention, you can see a lot of techniques. Flashbacks and foreshadowing methods are the basics but important. Most beginner writers rely on these techniques.
If you watch more films of the same type you’re writing about, you can see more possible methods of relaying a story.
Honing your writing skills isn’t about reading alone. Of course, you can see how the story is written and delivered as clearly as possible by the author. But you can’t neglect the importance of seeing how the story goes in motion as well.
5. Becoming vulnerable
You can’t help yourself but become attached to your writing. As I mentioned before, it doesn’t matter what kind of writing you’re working on right now. Regardless if it’s a blog post, an essay, a short story, or a novel, it always requires us to become vulnerable. You’re speaking the message from your heart, setting the editing aside.
The same words you want to relate to your audience are the same words they will read and appreciate from you. If you think this is only applicable when you write an autobiography or a memoir, it’s not.
Definitely, writing is a personal thing. I thought about it before and recall those times when I wrote various types of writing such as news, gossip, real estate, and fiction that require similar things.
Now that I’m focused on writing for business (as my day job) and my books, I have a clearer picture of what writing is. The next thing I see is the broader perspective, particularly the menial ways I can do to improve my writing.
Conclusion – What can you do next?
As a writer, you have to figure out what works for you based on the 5 things I mentioned in this post. Whatever I mentioned here doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same experience for you. These are simple ways that you have probably been doing all the time. It doesn’t take a lot of work to improve writing skills in English using the free tools you can find on the internet. Although they didn’t cost me a thing to use, they work for me in improving my craft.
It’s up to you because again, writing is personal. It’s unique to you and yours alone.
If you are enjoying this post, kindly share it with your friends and family, especially those who are writing something today. This will be a great help for them.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. I appreciate that a lot as well. 😀
Photo by Amelia Bartlett on Unsplash
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