Reading and Writing Won’t Make You a Good Writer
Here’s what will
My parents were always reading when I was growing up. No matter how busy they were, they read a chapter or a few pages every day, and because children learn by following the examples set by their elders, I learned to value reading.
- I was a book snob as a child and refused to read anything with fewer than 300 pages.
- I’ve read 71 books so far this year, averaging 350 pages per book.
- 75% of the time when I’m asked what sort of present I want, I’ll whip out my to-be-read list, which is endless.
Yet despite all that, I was awful at writing for a very long time. It took a changed mindset and a list of other things for me to get better.
The First Myth: You Have to Read if You Want to Write Well
I believed this myth so wholeheartedly that I assumed my writing was amazing. I never questioned my skill and often miss that confidence now.
The fact is that reading doesn’t give you the skills it takes to write.
I realised this at the ripe old age of seventeen when I looked at my dialogue tags one day and realised I was writing them wrong.
A refresher course: Dialogue tags are sentences that tell you who’s speaking.
“The dog ate my homework,” she said.
The dialogue tag is “she said”.
Despite my vast consumption of fiction, I was capitalising and punctuating my tags all wrong. In my defence, I only started reading in English when I was twelve, and the French write their dialogue differently.
— Le chien a mangé mon devoir, dit-elle.
Though they capitalise and punctuate the tag the same way, so really I’ve got no excuse.
The Second Myth: The More You Write the Better You’ll Get At It
My dialogue tag epiphany hit me after I’d written over two dozen stories, some short, many long. I had countless notebooks and Word documents filled to the brim with mistakes that went far beyond little dialogue tags — though I didn’t know it at the time.
I thought I was a good writer because I wrote a lot, but I had no knowledge of any facet of good writing. It wasn’t just technical stuff; I’d never heard of a character arc, or an info dump, or a hundred other story-related things.
My experience with this is in fiction writing, but it applies to non-fiction and article writing as well.
Most people have the ability to write — as in, string words into a sentence — so they assume they can also write — as in, craft a story that people want to read. They underestimate how difficult it is and the amount of work it requires before the writing even begins.
Maybe they realise their mistake after they’ve given it a shot, or maybe, like me, they remain oblivious for years until something happens to correct their mindset.
Because no amount of practice can teach you what you don’t realise you don’t know.
The Big Secret: Writing Is Hard and Should Be Treated as Such
I’ve often wished I could see my stats, like in a video game, to judge how good I am at something, to see how close I am to the next level, and to get that dopamine rush of achievement.
Unfortunately, the real world isn’t so convenient.
Building any skill takes time, consistency, perseverance, and effort. Sometimes we do things we think will help but don’t, and other times a thing done with no ulterior motive helps more than anything. It’s the trial and error process of learning, and learning to write is no different.
This is the age of the internet, though, so there’s a lot of easily accessed information on what does work.
Get Feedback
I hated this one because, once upon a time, sharing my writing felt horribly intimate, but it’s the fastest road to success.
There are websites and Discord servers that specialise in this, but I disliked most of them at a glance, so I turned to fan fiction.
Fan fiction has a poor reputation, but if your goal is learning how to tell a story, it’s a zero-stakes space in which to practice. Not only that, but it has hundreds of millions of readers.
Now, most of those readers either won’t comment on your work or will be supportive, which isn’t what you want.
You want constructive criticism.
You can ask your readers for this, and some will give it to you. Or you can seek out a beta reader. I also joined fan fiction competitions, though finding these isn’t always easy and a lot of them aren’t very good. I got lucky and found an excellent one, which unfortunately is no longer running.
If you’re good at making friends, or even just friendly, you can build a little community of writers/beta readers and head over to Discord to create your own server that is all about writing, whether it’s fan fiction, originals, or articles.
Use Writing Assistant Apps
Grammarly and Hemingway Editor are my go-to’s. Each has a premium version, but the free option works just as well.
These will help with the technical aspects of writing, mainly spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
If you pay attention to the mistakes these apps point out in your writing — though know that they’re not always right — you’ll slowly learn the technical rules of writing.
You’ll make fewer mistakes and get better at spotting them when you self-edit.
Study How-to Posts, Books, or Videos
If there’s a skill you want to learn, chances are there are dozens of guides available in a variety of forms. Some will cover the skill as a whole, like Writing Irresistible Kidlit by Mary Kole, while others focus on a specific aspect, like Hooked by Les Edgerton, which inspired this article:
Read, but Do It Critically
I know I said reading won’t help you — it’s only half a lie.
My French teacher when I was fifteen explained that the best way to consume media is with a critical mind. One bit of homework he gave consistently was to watch a film or read a story and write down what we liked and didn’t like and why.
Consuming media is no longer about enjoyment if you want a hand in creating that media.
You have to study it. Find out what works and what doesn’t, and avoid the bad in your own creations while practising the good.
If you’ve managed to create a writing community, offer your editing skills to your fellow writers. Beta reading and editing forces you to read critically.
Last but Not Least: Write
Writing when you know nothing won’t teach you much, but writing when you have knowledge to put into effect and perfect will.
Do you have any tips for becoming a better writer?
