Editor’s Picks — Top 10

How Writing the Best Stories With Your Hands May Improve Your Skill

Let’s have a look at our top stories today

The great masters were not always like that. “They were talented,” we end the discussion. We discount thousands of hours of hard work.

Many successful writers copy the works of great writers. They handwrite their sentences to get a feel for their style.

Does handwriting masterpieces actually improve your writing skill? If it does, what is the logic behind this technique?

Jack London spent hours hand-copying Rudyard Kipling’s works. He was a self-educated writer, and his work often got rejected. He was a pioneer of commercial fiction in America.

He wanted to learn Kipling’s energetic style and “throat grabbing phrases.” He mentions his efforts at one place: “As to myself, there is no end of Kipling in my work. I have even quoted him. I would never possibly have written anywhere near the way I did had Kipling never been. True, true, every bit of it.”

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He copied passages from great writers. Stevenson carefully read twice, memorized, and reproduced their words from his memory. Since he knew he will have to write it, he paid more attention while reading.

Stevenson’s almost perfect style was forged from years of careful imitation of those who came before him.

Benjamin Franklin was a prolific writer. He wrote about this technique:

“In my teens, I met with an odd volume of The Spectator — I thought the writing excellent and wished, if possible, to imitate it.

With this view, I took some of the papers and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence laid them by a few days. Then, without looking at the book, I tried to complete the papers again. I showed each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.

But I found I wanted a stock of words or a readiness in recollecting and using them. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse. After a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again.”

And this is how Benjamin Franklin learned to arrange his thoughts:

“I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion. And after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order before I began to form the complete sentences and complete the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my work afterward with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them. But I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language.”

To use Benjamin Franklin’s technique in your hand-copying exercises:

1. Read the article, story, or essay.
2. Take notes to remember the main points.
3. Try to write the story in your own words but preserve the style and standard of the writing. You can consult your notes.
4. Compare your work to the original.
5. Repeat if you are not satisfied.

Mark Twain learned to write by setting other writers’ stories in type using his hands. Gary Halbert instructed his students to handwrite his top-selling work.

After knowing that the technique works, let’s explore why and how it works.

Results from many scientific studies show that we learn more and remember better when we write by hand. These studies use an EEG to track brain wave activity.

Handwriting makes your brain produce more electrical impulses. These electrical signals become hooks where you can hang your memories:

“The use of pen and paper gives the brain more ‘hooks’ to hang your memories on. Writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain. A lot of senses are activated by pressing the pen on paper, seeing the letters you write, and hearing the sound you make while writing. These sensory experiences create contact between different parts of the brain and open the brain up for learning. We both learn better and remember better,” says Professor Audrey van der Meer of NTNU.

Handwriting is a slow process. It gives your mind more time — to read, reflect, and absorb.

Using handwriting, you can learn grammar, arrangement of thoughts, logic flow, and an abstract idea — the little magic — of how a good piece feels like.

You cannot discover the little magic every great writer possesses unless you spend time with their work. You catch that magic with commitment, time, and love.

Here is a list of our top 10 stories today — by writers who are working to improve their writing skill:

10. Why We Can’t Be Happy All The Time

Bandoro Gunarso. Junior Doctor, Writer, lives in Bali. Human behavior and Well-being enthusiast.

He is a fine writer. His writing style is honest, easy to read, and engaging. Don’t forget to check his other work.

I once had a goal, I wanted to be happy all the time. The fact that science has no boundaries allowed me to think of that.

So I dug, deeply.

I delved into books written by the best experts, reflected my thoughts, observed emotions in me and those around me.

9. The Dark Side of Being Beautiful

Ruby Lee is a mother, wife, teacher, librarian, and teller of stories. She is the author of The Marriage Wars.

She is an excellent writer. Her writing style is smooth, honest, and very engaging. Do check her other work.

According to Insider Magazine, “Attractive people are more successful in life. They get paid more, get considered for more jobs, and have stronger social skills than unattractive people.”

It’s been my observation that there is a downside to being pretty.

I’ve never been a pretty girl. I’ve never had that drop-dead body that makes people stop and stare. And when I say people, I mean men.

8. Why And How I Read Five Fiction Books At A Time

Fahri Karakas. Associate Professor in Business & Leadership at University of East Anglia. Passionate about doodling, imagination, and creativity. Author of Self-Making Studio.

He is an excellent writer. His writing style is simple, direct, and very engaging. Do check his other work.

One of the biggest regrets in my life is that I have not read many fiction books when I was younger. I was way too focused on being successful at school and in exams. I wanted to be successful in the mainstream and traditional way.

I have always focused on achieving one goal after another. Work, work, work. Endless goals to conquer. Impossibly long checklists to go through.

7. 8 Ways to Switch from Scarcity to Abundance Mindset

CJ lone is a first-generation Latina. Lover of life, lists, and her kids. Counting & saving money is her job. Creating & manifesting wealth is her jam.

She is a fine writer. Her writing style is informative, easy to follow, and engaging. Do check her other work.

“I expect my life to be good and joyous, and it is.” — Louise Hay

For so long, I would repeatedly hear “no, we can’t have that” or “we have no money,” which is equivalent to the Spanish version “no tengo dinero.”

6. Prospecting for Validation?

Michael Adelizzi is a copywriter by trade. Medium contributor by pleasure.

He is an excellent writer. His writing style is frank, easy to follow, and very engaging. Don’t forget to check his other work.

The last time I took my son to the park, I met a little boy no older than five or six. He didn’t say hi or tell me his name. He simply made eye contact and riffed into detail about the little Paw Patrol figures lying in each of his two open palms. He was brimming with excitement and could’ve filled the park bulletin with everything he had to say about them.

5. Wake “Sense of Smell” in Your Writings

Noorain Hassan, BMS is an author, an entrepreneur, an educator, and a counselor. She is 19.

She is a good writer. She is an editor of Illumination and this is her collection of luck 10 stories. You can visit Illumination’s slack channel for these and more top 10.

The “human sense of smell” is connected with memories, making it a useful tool for writers.

FYI…the scent is a detail many writers can use to create human connection in their stories — attract readers. But too often, writers (like me) neglect the use of scent/smell in our writings.

4. Is Philosophy A Myriad Of Riddles?

B. A. Cumberlidge. writes about many topics: Mental Health. Eradication of Medication. Suicide Prevention. Soccer, Boxing, Meditation & Wellness.

He is a fine writer. His writing style is simple, direct, and engaging. Don’t miss this one.

Think about thinking.

Reading between the lines and abstracting the keywords.

Analysis of the tone or delivery process from within the content of quotes from philosophers and the actual mindset of philosophy is something that I believe can have positive results in various forms.

3. I Remember Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015)

Dr. Michael Heng is an explorer, discoverer, helper, enabler, and humanitarian through writing, ventures, and enterprise.

He is an excellent writer. He is also an editor of Illumination. His writing style is easy to read, informative, and well-supported. Don’t forget to check his other work.

For nearly 60 years, Lee Kuan Yew influenced, shaped and molded my life through the social, political and economic transformation of a Third World Singapore into the “First World” nation par none; characterized by economic prosperity, law and order, national security, housing for all, world-class education and full employment with social justice.

2. 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Writing

Yewande Adeleke is a lawyer and writer.

She is an excellent writer. Her writing style is easy to read, informative, and very engaging. Do check her other work.

Writing is a process. Good writers don’t sit to write just anything.

It’s an art which involves sharpening one’s mental muscles through creative thinking and in-depth understanding.

Writers think a lot and whether we admit it or not, our lives are an entire thought-process.

1. The Time I Changed Myself To Love Someone Else

At number today, it is The Orange Gildersleeve. He is a writer for BasketballUniversity. He writes about sports, love, and other interesting topics, all for the readers.

He is a superb writer. His writing style is honest, flowing like the river, easy to read, easy to follow, and above all deep and engaging.

He is a rising star. He is new to Medium and needs your love.

When sparks of love fly up, it’s often the result of common interests that two people share a bond over.

With those common interests allowing close relationships to blossom and thrive over time, it’s crucial that there is at least some sort of common ground between two people if they hope to start a relationship. It’s also worth noting that this common ground can’t be forced, no matter how hard one side may push for it. It has to occur naturally, and that way the relationship will grow the way it should.

This post is part of the Top 10 Series — you can meet 500+ top writers with these links:

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Final Thoughts

If your story was selected in the Top 10, please share another story with a brief introduction and a short convincing review — in the comments. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the great articles.

Please join our private Facebook group for Illumination writers to post your articles daily. Also, I invite you to become a writer for my publication — positive minds.

Iꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴀɴʏ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇ, ᴛʏᴘᴏ, ᴏʀ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ɴᴏᴛᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴄᴏʀʀᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. Tʜᴀɴᴋs.

To be included as a top 10 writer read these curation guidelines carefully.

You can read my curated stories here.