4 ms·

I love reading and writing. Do you all have any advice for writing more and writing better?

tene80i 3y ago
Depends what kind of writing you want to be better at, but for fiction Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ is both interesting and useful. As for ‘more’, what’s worked for me is to make a routine for it.
tuatoru 3y ago
It's probably like photography: just do it a lot. Write about your home, your neighborhood. Edit: also read other writers' work, of course. In novel writing there's very old advice: plan to throw away your first million words. Actually, that's good advice generally, not just for fiction.
smokel 3y ago
It depends :) Do you have an idea what stands in the way of your ambitions? Here are some suggestions (dang, I'm starting to sound like ChatGPT here): 1. Try an accountability partner and call them once a week to discuss progress. 2. Share your work, preferably to an audience you trust, and nourish feedback. 3. Experiment and train creativity. Write a short story, write with a pen, write technical documentation, write code. Hope this helps.
surprisetalk 3y ago
Some great advice from Ben Kuhn on how & why of writing: [1] https://www.benkuhn.net/writing https://www.benkuhn.net/writing I also just published some structural tips for writing quickly at high quality: [2] https://taylor.town/pseudoprose https://taylor.town/pseudoprose Make sure to create a low-friction writing environment for yourself! Whether it's a notebook or text-editor, you should be able to get your idea onto paper within 90 seconds of having it.
inglor_cz 3y ago
At the risk of sounding smugly, just write. Perhaps ask someone to read your texts, but don't rely too much on random critics. Individual people have their own taste and pet peeves; what is unreadable for one may be enjoyable for others. Writing is like hiking or skiing. While there are some important rules how not to kill yourself, you can only learn it by doing. Also, read a lot, ESPECIALLY works by people who have a good command of your language (IDK if you are native English speaker; I am not). Writing style is a bit contagious. Don't worry if you occassionally sound like someone else, this kind of contagion is really unavoidable if you read a lot. I would say that the optimal ratio of R:W time is about 5-6:1.
GeoAtreides 3y ago
Read and think about you read. You can't get better at writing without reading as much as you can, as widely as you can.
- jodrellblank 3y ago
  Possibly the thing I do most is read comments on the internet, I'm not convinced it makes me a better writer, tbh.
  - GeoAtreides 3y ago
    I'm sorry, I thought it was obvious I meant read books, good books.
OliveMate 3y ago
Earlier this week I picked up a copy of On Writing Well by William Zinsser, a style guide on what he believes makes for good informal writing. It's yet to reflect in any of my comments but I'd recommend it if you struggle with being concise. It does have a heavy focus on American writing and it's akin to a longform opinion piece, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of what makes for an accessible and pleasant read. edit: What also helps is to sit down and write. Make a blog and even if you don't have a specific topic to focus on, just write and keep at it. Take a note of how you write, the style that you naturally develop with all of your quirks; do you overuse commas, do you routinely break up sentences with a dash or a semicolon? Does it have a sense of flow? Before long something will click in your head, you'll become more cognisant of the world around you, and your head will be screaming at you to write certain thoughts and ideas down.
- jyunwai 3y ago
  I second the recommendation for "On Writing Well." I read this many years ago, and the book had a strong positive influence on my writing (serving me very well when later doing editorial work, writing articles, and writing summaries, emails, and reports week-to-week). George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" essay is a short essay that shares many of the pieces of advice [1]. The main principle that I've taken from both is that you will be more effective at getting your points across to the reader, if you optimize your writing for ease of comprehension, instead of attempting to sound sophisticated with unnecessarily fancy words. This is especially helpful in work environments, where getting your points across clearly can save yourself from delays due to confusion. I would also strongly recommend reading good writing often. Becoming a regular reader of a well-written newspaper or magazine is great for learning new ways to write down observations or advance a point of argumentation, and I've also personally found it enjoyable to have a broader awareness of what's going on in the world. [1] https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/ https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
  - ggpsv 3y ago
    Any magazines that you recommend?
vonjuice 3y ago
Allocate a time of the day, every day, for writing. You can spend the time writing whatever comes to mind, working on a story, or staring out the window, or reading about writing. For the latter, I recommend this list: https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/ https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/
PikelEmi 3y ago
I do a daily writing exercise that is to write at least 1000 words, whatever comes to mind. No editing. Just let it flow and see where it takes you. When you get used to it (which you will do very quick) you will be surprised how it improves your writing skills.
anon012012 3y ago
I actually composed a free ebook about writing advice from many major writers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSMJ_VIYylRcKIpboolS8Qm9a1thtHsne3DYEPm8trey7Z6JfvCI8cNY-8vxkcMD6qqvSmKjyCcNzks/pub#h.tyjcwt https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSMJ_VIYylRcKIpb... Hopefully this should help.

Depends what kind of writing you want to be better at, but for fiction Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ is both interesting and useful. As for ‘more’, what’s worked for me is to make a routine for it.

tuatoru 3y ago

It's probably like photography: just do it a lot. Write about your home, your neighborhood. Edit: also read other writers' work, of course. In novel writing there's very old advice: plan to throw away your first million words. Actually, that's good advice generally, not just for fiction.

smokel 3y ago

It depends :) Do you have an idea what stands in the way of your ambitions? Here are some suggestions (dang, I'm starting to sound like ChatGPT here): 1. Try an accountability partner and call them once a week to discuss progress. 2. Share your work, preferably to an audience you trust, and nourish feedback. 3. Experiment and train creativity. Write a short story, write with a pen, write technical documentation, write code. Hope this helps.

surprisetalk 3y ago

Some great advice from Ben Kuhn on how & why of writing: [1] https://www.benkuhn.net/writing https://www.benkuhn.net/writing I also just published some structural tips for writing quickly at high quality: [2] https://taylor.town/pseudoprose https://taylor.town/pseudoprose Make sure to create a low-friction writing environment for yourself! Whether it's a notebook or text-editor, you should be able to get your idea onto paper within 90 seconds of having it.

inglor_cz 3y ago

At the risk of sounding smugly, just write. Perhaps ask someone to read your texts, but don't rely too much on random critics. Individual people have their own taste and pet peeves; what is unreadable for one may be enjoyable for others. Writing is like hiking or skiing. While there are some important rules how not to kill yourself, you can only learn it by doing. Also, read a lot, ESPECIALLY works by people who have a good command of your language (IDK if you are native English speaker; I am not). Writing style is a bit contagious. Don't worry if you occassionally sound like someone else, this kind of contagion is really unavoidable if you read a lot. I would say that the optimal ratio of R:W time is about 5-6:1.

GeoAtreides 3y ago

Read and think about you read. You can't get better at writing without reading as much as you can, as widely as you can.

jodrellblank 3y ago
Possibly the thing I do most is read comments on the internet, I'm not convinced it makes me a better writer, tbh.
- GeoAtreides 3y ago
  I'm sorry, I thought it was obvious I meant read books, good books.

OliveMate 3y ago

Earlier this week I picked up a copy of On Writing Well by William Zinsser, a style guide on what he believes makes for good informal writing. It's yet to reflect in any of my comments but I'd recommend it if you struggle with being concise. It does have a heavy focus on American writing and it's akin to a longform opinion piece, but I wouldn't let that get in the way of what makes for an accessible and pleasant read. edit: What also helps is to sit down and write. Make a blog and even if you don't have a specific topic to focus on, just write and keep at it. Take a note of how you write, the style that you naturally develop with all of your quirks; do you overuse commas, do you routinely break up sentences with a dash or a semicolon? Does it have a sense of flow? Before long something will click in your head, you'll become more cognisant of the world around you, and your head will be screaming at you to write certain thoughts and ideas down.

jyunwai 3y ago
I second the recommendation for "On Writing Well." I read this many years ago, and the book had a strong positive influence on my writing (serving me very well when later doing editorial work, writing articles, and writing summaries, emails, and reports week-to-week). George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" essay is a short essay that shares many of the pieces of advice [1]. The main principle that I've taken from both is that you will be more effective at getting your points across to the reader, if you optimize your writing for ease of comprehension, instead of attempting to sound sophisticated with unnecessarily fancy words. This is especially helpful in work environments, where getting your points across clearly can save yourself from delays due to confusion. I would also strongly recommend reading good writing often. Becoming a regular reader of a well-written newspaper or magazine is great for learning new ways to write down observations or advance a point of argumentation, and I've also personally found it enjoyable to have a broader awareness of what's going on in the world. [1] https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/ https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
- ggpsv 3y ago
  Any magazines that you recommend?

vonjuice 3y ago

Allocate a time of the day, every day, for writing. You can spend the time writing whatever comes to mind, working on a story, or staring out the window, or reading about writing. For the latter, I recommend this list: https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/ https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/

PikelEmi 3y ago

I do a daily writing exercise that is to write at least 1000 words, whatever comes to mind. No editing. Just let it flow and see where it takes you. When you get used to it (which you will do very quick) you will be surprised how it improves your writing skills.

anon012012 3y ago

I actually composed a free ebook about writing advice from many major writers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSMJ_VIYylRcKIpboolS8Qm9a1thtHsne3DYEPm8trey7Z6JfvCI8cNY-8vxkcMD6qqvSmKjyCcNzks/pub#h.tyjcwt https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSMJ_VIYylRcKIpb... Hopefully this should help.