A Simple (Often Overlooked) Tip to Help You Become a Better Writer
Hint: It's probably not what you're thinking.
💡 If you write a lot in your job, you’re a fiction writer, or any other kind of writer, this one’s for you.
Writing is one of the most important and valuable skills a person can have.
This is especially true in the current social media age, as more and more people are recognising the importance of digital communication, effective storytelling, and online marketing to get ahead.
Whether you work in marketing or sales, you’re the founder of a business, or you’re an author writing fiction or poetry, chances are you want to to become a better writer.
There are plenty of ways you can achieve that, like:
Writing a lot
Reading a lot
Studying books on writing craft
Writing and editing your work at separate times
Reading your own writing out loud when you edit
Getting feedback on your work
Taking courses, classes, etc.
Subscribing to newsletters like this one (of course).
And quite a few others, for that matter, which I’ll talk about in another article soon.
These are all fine, and all very useful.
But there’s one thing I’ve personally found over the past 10 years to be — by far — the most effective exercise for improving your writing.
And, strangely, I don’t really see anyone else talking about this, or doing it enough.
The best way to become a better writer?
Edit and critique other people’s writing on a regular basis.
Why is Editing Other People’s Writing So Helpful?
I did a full-time, one-year MA in creative writing in 2017, to help me draft my first novel. There were about 15 writers on our course.
A key aspect of that MA course was weekly writing workshops.
Every Monday, three people would each share a draft chapter of their novel with the rest of the group by email.
Everyone would spend the week reading and marking the chapters in advance. In the workshops on Thursday evenings, everyone would take it in turns to talk through their feedback on the chapters, then we’d move into a group discussion.
To give you an idea of just how beneficial this exercise is, I still meet friends from my MA fortnightly to continue these workshops, almost seven years later.
When I talk about the value of this, you may assume, like most people, it’s because of the feedback we get on our own work.
That’s obviously really useful. Implementing the workshop feedback on my draft novel chapters and short stories always strengthens them significantly.
But it’s the process of providing feedback on other people’s work that has helped me improve as a writer the most.
You learn so much about your own writing from critiquing and editing the work of others. It's one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve as a writer and accelerate the development of your skills.
But why?
Looking Beyond Your Own Writing is Crucial
We’re all too used to our own writing, and very comfortable reading it, so we rarely scrutinise it as strictly or objectively as we should.
Plus, you wrote it, so you already know what it says. You know where the story’s going, so you naturally skim over it in places, even if it’s unintentional.
That means you're not paying as much attention as you would be while editing something another person wrote, or something you’re reading for the first time.
This lack of concentration makes it more difficult to spot weaknesses in your own work. So, it’s far easier to identify bad writing habits or mistakes in someone else’s work than it is in your own.
And when you go through this process, it begins to help you to recognise similar bad habits and mistakes that you often make as well.
The more you do it, the more self-aware you’ll become.
Even in my job as a content marketing specialist, I’ve ghost-written and co-authored articles with dozens of tech industry influencers and IT leaders.
In the earlier years of my career, editing those people’s writing helped me progress as a B2B writer much faster than I would’ve alone.
So…
If you really want to accelerate your development as a writer, find a way to critique and edit someone else’s work on a regular basis.
If You Write at Work:
I'd suggest picking a friendly colleague or peer who’s great at the kind of writing you want to get better at.
For example, if you’re looking to build a brand and grow an audience online, choose someone who posts a lot of written content on social media.
Ask them to let you try reviewing and providing feedback on their draft content once per week or fortnightly.
And remember to emphasise this will be beneficial for them as well, to help get a positive response.
If You Write as a Hobby:
Try finding another writer you get on well with and trust, either in real life or online, and start reviewing some of their early drafts.
Again, you should position this as mutually-beneficial to ensure they say yes.
You could even get in touch with online communities like The Writer’s Journey for help finding someone.
Or — even better — either start or join a writing group, and use that as a way to gain experience critiquing other people’s writing for workshops.
Either Way:
Make sure it’s an early rough draft, because the purpose here is to get used to finding room for improvement and bad habits in the writing.
You’ll be amazed by how much you learn.
And I guarantee you’ll become much better at editing your own work, and start drastically improving as a writer, as a result.
This Week in Writing
I’ve been editing a short story this week — with help from my workshop feedback, of course — slowly reaching the final draft stage.
I’ll be sharing an analysis of why the opening scene I originally wrote didn’t work, either next week or the week after.
Subscribe to receive that article as soon as it’s released.
This Week’s Sunset of the Week
This was captured during a lovely walk around Richmond Park with my mum on Monday.
Considering how miserable the weather’s been the rest of the week, we picked a good day to watch the sunset in the park!