Writing Skills: The Best Advice for Beginning and Experienced Writers-–One of the most important things to keep in mind about writing is that no writer will ever be perfect. Writing skills are not a hard skill set that can be acquired and stored.
These are skills that must be developed over time and honed throughout a person’s life.
Whether you are a passionate writer who enjoys writing short stories as a hobby, or you are a skilled professional who earns an income through your words, you will always need to focus on improving your writing skills.
Writers of all experience levels still need to practice and actively work on improving their writing skills. Below are a few tips that writers can use in order to focus on skill development:
Tips for Writers Who Want to Enhance Their Writing Skills
- Make a habit of creating a writing plan before you start writing. Identify who your audience is, what the purpose is for your piece and even jot down an outline of what you plan to write.
- Read more frequently. When you read what other writers write, you will begin to discover what works well, what does not work and what type of writing best fits your own personal style.
- Practice daily with writing skills exercises. You aren’t always going to have time to work on that novel you have been dreaming about, you can easily fit in 5-10 minutes of writing each day with fun and unique exercises.
- Make a list of specific areas of your writing that you want to improve. Perhaps you find that you use the same tired phrases throughout your writing, or maybe you feel like you don’t get descriptive enough. Identify the areas where you need to work harder, and then develop a plan to improve those specific writing skills.
Helping Students Hone Their Writing Skills Throughout Their Education
Students often begin to learn basic writing skills as soon as they learn the alphabet. Even preschool students are working on their writing skills — before they can even recognize their own name. In addition to teaching students basic writing skills, teachers and parents should work with students throughout their education in order to help them develop more advanced writing skills over time.
These are a few tips that both teachers and parents can use when helping students develop their writing skills:
- Encourage students to write in a daily journal. You can use journal prompts to guide your students, or give them an opportunity to write about whatever is on their mind.
- Provide students with peer review and editing opportunities. From a young age, students will recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their classmates, and they can apply what they learn to their own writing.
- Allow students to read books from all genres. The more that your students read, the better their writing skills will be. Your students will begin to identify the writing style that they prefer through their own reading, and they will begin to see how strong writers convey ideas when reading a variety of texts.
- Let your students practice their writing skills on their favorite devices. Today’s students are very comfortable texting their friends and chatting over video games. It may seem like a nuisance to most parents and teachers, but the reality is they are putting their writing skills to work on a daily basis!
Writing Prompts That Will Develop Writing Skills for People of All Ages
You can use these writing prompts to promote skill development in both new and experienced writers:
- Think about the best vacation that you have ever had. Now, write an in-depth description about your favorite moment during that vacation.
- Listen to a song that you loved from about 10 years ago. As you are listening, write down what you feel now when you hear the song and describe what this particular song reminds you about.
- After reading a news story online or watching the evening news, write a response to the top story of the day.
- Write a speech trying to convince someone that a major rule should be changed within your home, your office, or your school.
- Write a paragraph describing the day’s weather. After you have finished, review the paragraph and attempt to change every adjective you used with a stronger, more powerful word.
- Write an outline for a short story about two best friends who must separate from one another and start at new schools.
- Come up with an idea for a new main character in a book. Describe this character’s appearance, their personality traits, and the actions that they may take in the story.
- Write a letter to your role model and explain how they have impacted your life.
- Write down the directions for your favorite recipe and share it with a friend.
- Think about a pivotal moment in history. Now, write about it from a first-person perspective.
Writing skill development does not have to be a chore for writers. When you utilize writing prompts and other developmental techniques, you will find that you enjoy the process of practicing your skills and growing as a writer. In the end, you will almost always find that you feel better about the work that you create.
Of course, the easiest way to improve those writing skills is to keep on writing! No matter what age you are, you can always become a better writer.
Until next time, write on…
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