So, you are a writer or going to be a writer in the near future, and looking for the best ways to improve your writing style. Finish your research here and stick with us to learn everything that you should do and read to become a good writer.
Like all other skills, you can also improve your writing with the passage of time by following good practical exercises. From the expert's point of view, there are 3 ways to improve your writing skills:
- Reading as much as possible
- Writing using trial and error methods
- Reading about how to write well
Although reading books is a very traditional way; it is the most effective strategy for improving your writing skills and style.
As Stephan King says:
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”― Stephen King
In this article, we will discuss different ways to improve your writing style and the best authors that you must read to improve your writing skills.
How to Improve Writing Style and Skills?
From writing website content to academic content, and creating social media posts to sending emails, you must have writing skills to communicate your thoughts to others. It means you must know how to write a piece of content with clarity, accuracy and precision with no grammar, spelling or typos errors.
There are different exercises to improve writing skills. Some most common and top-rated ways to improve writing skills that you must follow and make in practice are:
- Writing guides and tutorials
- Writing workshops and courses
- Writing communities and forums
- Reading
- Writing exercises
- Using writing assistant tools
- Getting help from AI like Chatgpt
However, if you do not have enough time to read these books to learn writing skills, you can get help from writers online. Most companies provide academic writing services to help students and save their time.
10 Strategies to Improve Writing Style
How to improve your writing style during the writing process? Its answer is very simple and easygoing. Here we have 10 basic and most powerful strategies that you must follow to improve your writing:
- Research, research and research is the key to writing a masterpiece.
- Note down some important points that you find valuable to add to your content.
- Draft an outline to start the writing process
- Write your content according to the outline and add facts, stats and figures.
- Write in active voice avoiding the use of passive voice sentences, add bullet points, and headings, and make short sentences and paragraphs to enhance readability.
- Read it and see if it is according to the requirements that you wanted to write.
- Make necessary changes to make its flow more dynamic, and engaging.
- Review your content to remove grammar and spelling mistakes.
- Take some rest and then proofread it to make it error-free.
- Get honest feedback from others like colleagues, instructors, fellows etc.
Top 5 Authors and Books to Improve Your Writing Style
The author Giancarlo Rossini discussed the high-quality books to read for improving writing in his book “The Invisible Ink (The Essential Guide to Becoming a Successful Speechwriter and Ghostwriter)” published on 4 May 2023. Here we have also summarised this vast topic and presented the top 5 books to improve your writing style. These books cover different types of writing and help you to create good content.
1. Steven Pinker, “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century”
Steven Pinker, a Harvard professor, makes you enter his world with a more modern perspective. His clever method acknowledges the fluidity of language and helps you to improve your writing style with great efficiency.
He tells that it's important to be aware of and adhere to the rules when it makes sense to but you may go beyond to express your writing in some circumstances. This book may be difficult for writers who are just starting out, but it's packed with advice for those who already understand grammar and style and want to get better.
“Classic writing, with its assumption of equality between writer and reader, makes the reader feel like a genius. Bad writing makes the reader feel like a dunce.” ― Steven Pinker
2. Stephen King, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft"
“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” ― Stephen King
Fiction writers can get the best help from this book as it is based on it. Any writer who hopes to get their novel published should include On Writing in their list of books to read (or reread). This book provides a complete guide on different writing techniques, styles, grammar, and writing processes.
This book tells the origin story of a hugely successful writer, but it also imparts writing craft lessons in a style that feels conversational and authentic. It feels like the author is a mentor sitting across from you, sipping coffee and offering you his finest advice.
3. Anne Lamott, “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”
"Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly" -Anne Lamott
This book focuses on the whole process of writing and the author explained each point from start to end clearly. We can say that it is one of the best-guiding books for creative writers and helps you to improve your writing style.
Sometimes we take some things as writers way too seriously. Anne Lamott lessens removes the issues that trouble authors, like perfectionism and insomnia. By reading and understanding this book, you can also get rid of writer's block and self-deprecation as a result you will get some knowledge in the process.
4. ANN HANDLEY, “Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content”
“Brevity and clarity matter more than ever.”
Want to know how to improve content writing skills? Well, this book provides the best help for content writers and bloggers. Every day, millions of fresh blog articles and other pieces of material are published online. If you are a publisher and have a website or want to create a blog, work in marketing or use social media, this book can be helpful to you.
This book includes some helpful advice to improve your writing style for advancing your writing and marketing careers. It is a must-have manual that explains to content creators how to stand out in a crowded market. She discusses everything from writing techniques to syntax and the use of best practices in an approachable manner.
“This isn’t just a how-to-write guide, it’ll also help you uncover what to write.”
5. E. B. White and William Strunk, "The Elements of Style"
Despite the fact that The Elements of Style is a short book with only 100 pages, It covers a treasure of valuable information that a writer needs. To perfect your grammar structure and enhance your creative writing skills, follow this book right now.
This century-old book has all the information you require to write more effectively. It explains what to look for when editing your writing like redundancy, sentence structure, writing and life, etc and how to do so.
“Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; the reader wishes to be told what is... If your every sentence admits a doubt, your writing will lack authority.” ― William Strunk, Jr
Conclusion
Are you worried about how to improve your writing style? Don't panic anymore as we have covered all the basics that you must know for your betterment as a writer. By employing different ways to improve writing skills to following our expert tips and strategies, you can make your writing excellent and winning. Read out the list of books from the best authors to learn about different writing styles.
If you do not know how to write good content or need help from professionals for academic writing or any other kind of writing, get help from The Academic Papers UK. They provide the best academic writing services with free samples and templates.
Comments