Writing is the art of transferring thoughts, ideas, emotions, knowledge, and memories from inside your heart and mind to the external world through the written word. Or, for a simpler definition, it is expressing oneself through the written word. I wish there was a magic potion that suddenly transformed the drinker of the potion into a writer. Alas, it is not so easy. For the rare exceptional few, writing does come naturally, but for the vast majority of us, we have to learn how to write. Yet, as with most things in life, it can be learned.
If you want to learn to write, here is some basic advice I have gleaned over the years to help you get started:
- Read. I don't know any writer who is not also a voracious reader. In order to understand what good and bad writing is, in order to build your vocabulary, you must be exposed to it through reading.
- Educate yourself. Take classes on any sort of writing you can: persuasive writing, essays, fiction, poetry, technical writing, etc. A classroom format can be a very effective way of learning. Go to your local college or university and inquire on their writing courses. Also, I've educated myself through reading books on writing.
- Practice. You will never learn writing unless you practice it. Try to write every day, even when you don't know what to say. Practice, practice, practice.
- Revision. It has been said that true writing is re-writing. Nothing I ever write--even the simplest email--is the way I want it the first time around. Get good at editing your own work, revising it, re-writing it.
- Feedback. Getting quality feedback is extremely beneficial to improving your writing skills, whether it is from a smart, trusted friend or loved one, or another professional writer or editor.
I highly recommend a few outstanding books and guides on writing and how to be a better writer:
The Elements of Style. A fundamental resource for writers, editors, and students. It addresses how to apply the basic principles of grammar and punctuation, properly construct a sentence and a paragraph, use words and expressions in their proper form and context, and avoid the mistakes and mannerisms that make for turgid, pretentious, or simply unintelligible writing.
On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. A book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing in their day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself, this book offers you fundamental principles as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher.