4 Habits That Will Improve Your Writing Skills

A good writer is made of habits, being these four the main ones

Either you are a newbie writer or a veteran one, this advice will always apply to you: you need to keep honing your craft. Like in any other profession or hobby, there is always space for improvement.

Today, I’m suggesting you four habits that will help you to upgrade your writing skills. Perhaps you already include them in your routines, and this is merely a reminder, but if you don’t, give it a try; your writing will be thankful (as will be your readers.)

4 Habits that Will Improve Your Writing Skills

Read

This advice is gold. A writer must be a reader. As Stephen King states, in his book On Writing:

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.

Reading will make you a better writer. Being in contact with different styles of writing will open your mind and provide you with skills you can’t achieve in any other way. Independently of how many courses you take or how many thousand words you have written, if you don’t read, you will lack essential skills.

My advice — mine and from thousands of other writers —is to read authors where you recognize your voice, so that you can mirror it. In my case, it happened the British author Matt Haig. When I was reading the book How to Stop Time, I felt my voice in his pages. I then bought more of his fiction books to read for pleasure but also to learn with him, to perfect my voice and my writing skills.

You should also read different genres. The same way each author has a unique style and writing identity; each genre has its particularities. I’m a fan of romance, but since I started to write “for real”, I make myself read different genres, like fantasy, biography or psychological thrillers. The only genre I cannot read, as much as I try, is horror — I simply don’t like it.

Even being a romance writer, reading other genres gives me mind flexibility and boosts my creativity. I can’t imagine myself describing the characters of The Cruel Prince, nor making my readers hold their breath while reading a horrific twist, but I sure can learn with authors that have those abilities.

Find time in your busy schedule to read fiction. I’m sure you will be free for at least ten minutes a day. See it as an investment in your art.

Write

To improve your writing skills, you have to write; there are no short cuts here.

Being a writer implies much more than jotting ideas down on paper: you have to comply with syntax and grammar rules — or, if you want to break them, you must master them first.

To improve your writing, you must experiment: with your writing voice, your style; you must write in different formats and testing different narrators, experimenting with alternatives POV for your characters. You must write when high on motivation and when consumed my doubts and frustration.

Only by exercising your writing muscle, you will improve your skills.

Study

This piece of advice goes along with the read one. Besides reading fictional books, you should also read books and articles about the craft. As a complement, you can take a course and participate in workshops. The important is never to stop learning.

The art of writing is not an ecstatic one. If you open a classic book, you have pages of long paragraphs— I mean, really long paragraphs! Nowadays, it’s rare for writers to adopt that writing style, we offer white space: because that’s what readers prefer.

Things change, readers preferences change, and we should adjust. I’m not stating you should write for an audience — I’m a true believer that you should either write for yourself or with one specific reader in mind — but you must consider the market, especially if you want to be published.

You have at your disposal countless resources to learn the craft of writing: books, articles, workshops, courses, writer’s communities… Use them in your favour: learn and improve your writing skills.

Get Feedback

If you are a writer, you will have exposure. And, as much I can relate with those who fear exposure, this is a fact: you must put your work out there. The first step on this road is to use beta readers.

Beta readers will be the ones who will give you, in private, an assertive critic about your writing. It won’t be a critic to you, but to your work. Some will be positive, and some will frustrate you. You might react negatively, but, ideally, you will read the feedback from your beta readers with an open mind and consider incorporating their suggestions.

You don’t have to accept everything your beta readers tell you, but take a moment to reflect on their point of view. They are readers; they are a sample of your future audience. Take advantage of that.

Focus on the objective and constructive critics and use them to empower your skills.

Wrapping up

Every writer should be in constant progress; you must prevent stagnation. Think about yourself: are you the same person you were five years ago? Your beliefs and values might be, but how much do you see different in yourself?

To be a good writer, you need to include productive habits. Only by reading, writing, learning, and seeking feedback, you will be able to become a better version of your writer-self.

Reading suggestions: