Ways to Improve as a Writer

There are many ways to improve as a writer. The strategies are only limited by your desire and the willingness to work hard and set reasonable goals. When you continue to write you'll continue to improve as a writer as long as you give an honest effort and keep to the goals. The best thing to do is to just sit down and write. Even if the writing isn't so great it will always improve as the writer imrpoves.

Practice is most immportant, as is patience. The one thing next to writing that's very important is reading. Read your own writing, then the works of others, doing so first for enjoyment and then the second time to study how that author wrote the scenes and plot, developed the characters and created the settings.

It's also a great thing to write about what you know. And like with any research, you can also write what you don't know about, but have an interest in. When researching, also take notes on the details that you might not include in the story. Building on your knowledge is important, even if it all won't be read on the page. This can bring an in depth experience to the manuscript that it would otherwise lack had the other facts not been known.

When researching, also be sure to observe. It's in your surroundings that observation and awareness can be an important factor in your writing. It adds to the realism of the sights, sounds and smells that a character might encounter. Be sure to read your work aloud, as words sound different when read than just thought. Print a copy of the work and review it with a pen, because this approach also offers a different perspective than from only reading from a screen.