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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Posted on Feb 11, 2021

How to Become a Better Writer: 20 Hacks and Tips

Practically speaking, writing is just about putting one word after another. But as anyone who’s struggled with the question of how to become a better writer will tell you, there are sometimes entire worlds of frustration compressed in the seconds between setting each word down. If that sounds familiar, or you’re simply trying to improve your craft without the existential writerly despair, we’ve got 20 essential tips to share with you.

In this post, we’ll be sharing writing advice for everyone, but you can head to our more specific guides on starting from scratch, writing novels, nonfiction, and children’s books if that’s what you’re after:

• How to Start Creative Writing: 7 Ways to Fast-Track Your Writing
• How to Write a Novel: Writing an Amazing Book in 15 Steps
• How to Write a Nonfiction Book in 6 Steps  
• How to Write a Children's Book in 7 Surprisingly Simple Steps  

1. Start by spending more time writing

• You’ll get to know your own writing habits better, e.g. the time of day when you’re most productive, or the location where you’re most inspired to write;
• You’ll develop writerly discipline (an essential skill if you ever hope to write a book or another long form project); 💪
• You'll work out what you really like to write, whether that's literary fiction or epic fantasy;
• You’ll stick around long enough for new ideas to occur to you (especially helpful if you’re a pantser, not a plotter ).

2. Practice reading books by other authors

On the level of vocabulary, sentence structure, and rhythm, the “ease and intimacy” King talks about occurs subliminally, beneath the surface of your consciousness, quietly sharpening your perceptive skills. On the level of plot or structure, you actively discover the creative strategies of other writers. Now aware of what others are doing with their words, you become a native to that “country of the writer”. 

Ultimately, the more wonderful things you feed your brain, the richer the pool of knowledge your creativity will be able to draw from.

📚 If you need recommendations, we’ve compiled reading lists for every taste here:

• 25 Creative Writing Examples to Inspire You Today
• The 115 Best Books of All Time
• The 60 Best Nonfiction Books of the 21st Century
• The 125 Best Children’s Books of All Time
• The 30 Best Memoirs of the Last Century
• The Best Short Stories and Collections Everyone Should Read

3. Pick up writing skills from other texts

Okay, enough with the subconscious magical learning — you also need to put in serious, active effort. That means taking apart passages that impress or move you and dissecting another writer’s methodology. 

This will be most helpful if you focus on texts in your genre or form: read respected newspapers or magazines if you’re hoping to submit to such publications, poetic collections if you long to publish poetry , academic papers by reputable academics if you’re a budding scholar. 

Read each sentence carefully, asking yourself how you would have gone about writing it. Notice the differences between each version: look closely at how the other writer avoids repetition and regulates sentence length, and become aware of all the words that could’ve gone into the sentence, but were trimmed out. If you remember the lessons you draw from this exercise, you’ll be on your way to becoming a better writer. 

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4. Study examples of writing theory

Time for some homework: aside from picking up other writers’ tricks by reading their work, you can also study up on basic writing theories . Learning about story structure and the different models that dramatists and fiction writers rely on, like Freytag’s pyramid or the classic three-act structure , is valuable for any aspiring writer. These models are guides to centuries of storytelling tradition: demonstrations of how you might apply a structure onto a story.

When it comes to expressing yourself, brushing up on your literary and rhetorical devices is also helpful. After all, as much as people like to pretend writing is a mystical art, divinely bestowed upon one by magical inspiration, a lot of it comes down to active effort on the writer’s part.

Head to these guides to literary and rhetorical devices if you’re ready for school:

💡 45+ Literary Devices and Terms Every Writer Should Know

💡 30+ Rhetorical Devices Everyone Must Know

FREE RESOURCE

Literary Devices Cheatsheet

Master these 40+ devices to level up your writing skills.

5. Create your own voice

Some people’s advice for learning how to write is to stick to templates. These can be wonderful if you’re writing something meant to be plain, like a legal document or a freelance proposal . (If this is the case, all you need to do to become a better writer is be accurate, precise, and grammatically correct.) For everything else, by all means inform yourself about things like story structure, but never adhere to templates to the point where your personality is extinguished.

If you’ve got a sense of humor, interests, opinions, or possess literally any other quality unique to human beings (as opposed to bots), you can channel that personality into your writing, and lift mundane subjects up with the buoyancy of your voice.

💡 Need an example? Check out this post on the best reading chairs written by Savannah, one of Reedsy’s writers. You might not have a passion for chairs, but you’ll stay for the engaging tone of her writing voice. 

6. Experiment with your writing style

Hit a plateau? If you don’t feel like you’re improving, it’s time to switch things up. Try writing something completely different to cleanse your palate with the literary equivalent of pickled ginger in a sushi restaurant. Experimentation seems to be working for George R.R. Martin, who has for decades been writing short stories , novellas and even reference books between instalments of his novel series A Song of Ice and Fire — evidently, switching between different forms has helped this author of epic fantasy stay inspired and motivated. 

We’ve got over 1,000 creative writing prompts you can browse for inspiration, as well as an interactive plot generator if you need someone to establish plot parameters for you. We know writers struggle to set themselves deadlines, so you could even join our weekly writing contest — we’re happy to provide you with some external pressure, and $250 if you manage to win!

7. Outline your book 

Openings and endings don’t just matter in fiction. Inherent in all good writing is story: a narrative with a full-fledged arc that must start and end in places that make sense and add value to the entire text.

Writing students commonly struggle with slow or delayed story openings — where the writer takes too long to clear their throat. They can fill two or three paragraphs, several pages, or even an entire chapter before they get to something interesting. 

To sharpen your beginning, try deleting parts of it to get a feel of your work without them. You may find a later passage is more gripping to your reader — you’ll then know you’ve found your true opening.

Endings are similarly crucial. As editor and former publisher Jasmin Kirkbride points out, “Every subplot and all the different strands of your main plot should reach satisfying, clear conclusions. If they are meant to be left ambiguously, ensure your reader knows this, and create something out of that uncertainty.”

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8. Write with a clear vocabulary

As you edit your work , you’ll be thinking of what you intended to say at the time of writing. For that reason, you’ll need to maintain a level of mental alertness that enables you to evaluate whether or not what you ended up writing actually does convey what you wanted to say. This is particularly important if you’re writing nonfiction. 

9. Self-edit for errors in your prose

While we’re discussing lazy, unmemorable writing, this is a reminder that fillers are another literary ‘bad habit’ to actively resist. Cluttering up your prose, these short words sneakily crawl into your writing and distract your reader from the essence of your point. 

In her free Reedsy course on self-editing, Lisa Lepki identifies the most common words in the English language as the culprits of literary clutter. Lisa advises writers to avoid “meandering around [their sentences’] meaning”, and offers this sentence as a wordy example:

“Andy went over to the far end of the playground to see if there was a rake that he could use to tidy up all of the leaves that had fallen down in the night.”

Lisa offers this distilled alternative:

“Mountains of leaves had fallen overnight, so Andy checked the playground for a rake. ”

Sign up to take the rest of this free course here:

Free course: How to self-edit like a pro

Rid your manuscript of the most common writing mistakes with this 10-day online course. Get started now.

10. Cut the repetitive sentences

One practical way to become a better writer is by consciously analyzing your writing to identify repetitive patterns. This is hard to do during the drafting process, especially if you write your first draft quickly , but it’s mercifully simple in retrospect. So dig out some past writing samples ( creative nonfiction , poems, short stories — anything will do), grab some coloring pencils or highlighters, and mark every instance of repetitive language.

Study your words on multiple levels:

• The lexical level, i.e. specific verbs, adverbs or adjectives you might be repeating (are your characters constantly grinning?);
• The sentence structure level, like if all your examples come in threes;
• The narrative structure level, like if you unwittingly but consistently lapse into new flashbacks.

The point of this exercise is to identify your personal linguistic reflexes — known in linguistics as your “idiolect”. In terms of language use, it’s your fingerprint, and familiarizing yourself with it can help you identify repetition and edit it out of your writing.

💡 If you want to learn more about idiolects, check out this post by one of Reedsy’s writers.

11. Avoid clichéd language  

Clichés are every writer’s stumbling block, ever an uphill battle — though the battle has its ups and its downs, and what matters most is not the destination, but the friends we made along the way. You get our point, hopefully: clichés are lazy, overly familiar, platitudinous, and often boring. Every time you use a cliché, you’re wasting an opportunity to be original and authentic. 

Primarily, our issue with clichés is no moral qualm about authenticity. It’s the simple fact that they completely drain your writing of its ability to be memorable. Lifeless, it falls to the ground, faceless and forgotten.

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12. Understand the ideas behind your work

You’ve already taken the first step toward seeing the bigger picture by honing your opening and ending. Now it’s time to look at all the extraneous stuff outside your text: in other words, situate your writing within a wider framework of similar work. 

13. Respect your reader’s attention 

Don’t lose sight of the fact that there’s a person on the other end of the line. Be a compassionate writer by imagining yourself as the reader: is that fourth paragraph detailing the history of a secondary character’s nomadic tribe really necessary? It’s certainly great world-building , but if it puts your reader to sleep, it’s got to go. 

Similarly, do not manipulate your reader. Pointless plot twists or clickbait will erode your readers’ trust, and hollow hot takes will impress no one. Stick to substance, and skip the paratextual circus act.

14. Get feedback from an editor

Nobody writes flawlessly. Most published writing undergoes significant editing both by its author and professional editors. For example, Raymond Carver’s classic short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is known to have been extensively shaped by Carver’s editor, Gordon Lish. 

No matter what you’re writing, give your work time to cool before stepping back into it with the fresh eyes of an editor. Assess the clarity of your meaning, expressions, overall structure, your tone, and the mood of the piece, and compare these to the vision you had when you were writing.

Any writing intended for publication should also be professionally edited — and lucky for you, you can hire some of the most experienced fiction or nonfiction editors in the publishing world, right here on Reedsy.

Give your book the help it deserves

The best editors are on Reedsy. Sign up for free and meet them.

Learn how Reedsy can help you craft a beautiful book.

15. Be open to constructive criticism

Becoming a writer means releasing your work into the world, and with that comes both praise and criticism. But neither will help you become a better writer if you shut all feedback out. Though some of the criticism you’ll receive may not be helpful, some of it will be, and you’ll struggle to improve your writing if you refuse to see that. Open your heart up to constructive criticism, and you’ll see your writing flourish.

16. Invest in your career with a writing course

While we’re on the topic of learning: there’s plenty of classes and courses you can take, if you’d rather study in a more structured way. If you’re serious about becoming a better writer, whether that’s an author, journalist, ghostwriter , or freelancer , a class can give you access to the wisdom of more experienced professionals — and a real-life class also means meeting mentors and kindred spirits. 

You can check out writing courses online — we’ve got a bunch of completely free courses you can take:

FREE COURSE

Author and ghostwriter Tom Bromley will guide you from page 1 to the finish line.

👩‍🎓 How to Write a Business Book —  taught by business coach Alison Jones

👩‍🎓 The Non-Sexy Business of Non-Fiction — taught by author coach Azul Terronez

Still hungry? Consider pursuing a writing degree. These aren’t just for people looking for creative writing classes — MFAs also focus on nonfiction, so if that’s what you see yourself writing, there are plenty of options. Only you know which program and school would be the best fit for you, and the Internet will be your friend as you work the answer out.

17. Keep company with other writers

Everything’s better with company. Whether your choice is to join a local writing group, critique circle , or an online Facebook group, having friends who are writers means you’ll have someone to bounce ideas off, someone to support you if you feel insecure about your writing, someone to inspire you to work harder, and someone to offer you advice and opinions about your project. All important aspects of improving your skills! ✊

18. Write content consistently

Writing takes a lot of determination and discipline, especially when you’re working on a longer work like a book or a series . Sometimes things won’t work out, and you’ll be frustrated, impatient, demotivated, and temporarily hopeless. All of this is fine, and an entirely normal part of the process. When you get to this stage, be gentle with yourself, but do not give up. 

Writers are often the most stubborn of people: so go ahead and keep writing in spite of yourself, in spite of your insecurities or personal failures, and in spite of what anyone else might think. If that doesn’t earn you the ‘badge’ of a writer, we don’t know what does.

19. Don’t give up on your words

Your ideas will be exciting, but they won’t always be masterpieces. Some you can fix with a zealous edit. Others, not so much. Accept this as a reality and let them float down the river of oblivion. 

We know this sounds contradictory to our last bit of advice, but trust your intuition to decide whether it’s worth persevering with a particular project. For example, there’s no point in trying to resurrect the passion you had for a project you started long ago, if the inspiration has long since left you. There is also little point in pursuing something you began simply because you felt it was what you were supposed to be writing. If it doesn’t speak to you anymore and you see no way to revive the spark, cut your losses and move on. 

20. Embrace failure to become a better writer

Finally, just as you’ll have to handle criticism, you’ll also undoubtedly face rejection and failure. Whether you’re rejected by literary agents , fail to get a publishing deal, or have your stories, pitches, or poems rejected by literary publications, you must remember that failure is an inescapable and inevitable fact of life, and does not determine your worth as a writer. 

Be assured that others fail, too, even if they only fail in private. One of our favorite reminders of how common failure is is the famous CV of failures published by Princeton professor Johannes Haushofer , where he lists every program, award, and position he was rejected from, as a reminder that everyone experiences failure. And if you need a writer-specific example of success despite failure, remember that Douglas Stuart’s novel Shuggie Bain , winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, was rejected 32 times before it received a publisher’s offer.

You don’t need anybody to officially ordain you as a writer — you’re a writer if you believe you’re a writer and write anyway. 

We hope these tips help you figure out how to become a better writer. Your quest is noble, and we believe in you! 

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How to Make Your Essay Better: 7 Tips for Stronger Essays

Krystal N. Craiker

Essay writing doesn’t have to be intimidating. With a few tips, you can improve your writing skills for any type of academic essay.

How to Write Better Essays

7 tips on how to make your essay better, how to become a better essay writer.

The best way to sum up how to write better essays is, “Make sure you’re answering the question.”

This sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many students struggle with this.

From not understanding the prompt to poor research skills to off-topic body paragraphs, it’s easy for an essay to derail.

We’ve got seven tips for writing better essays that will help you avoid common mistakes and craft the best essays possible.

Here are our top tips for improving your essay writing skills.

Understand the Prompt or Research Question

The first step in your writing process is to fully understand the essay topic. If your professor gave you a prompt for your academic essay, spend some time analyzing it.

First, take note of whether you’re writing an expository or persuasive essay. The tone, structure, and word choice will differ between essay types.

Pay close attention to the wording of the prompt.

If your teacher wants you to “analyze” the effects of new technology in World War I, but you turn in a descriptive overview of the technology, you are not answering the question.

If they have given you a topic but no prompt, you’ll need to create a guiding question for your research.

Be specific in what you are trying to research, or you’ll end up overwhelmed with a topic that is too big in scope.

“Symbolism in modern literature” is too broad for a term paper, but “How does F. Scott Fitzgerald use symbolism in The Great Gatsby ?” is an achievable topic.

Take Excellent Notes

Once you understand exactly what your essay is about, you can begin the research phase. Create a strong note-taking system.

Write down any idea or quote you might want to use. Cite every note properly to save time on your citations and to avoid accidental plagiarism.

Once you have gathered your research, organize your notes into categories. This will help you plan the structure of your essay.

You’ll likely find that some of your research doesn’t fit into your essay once you start writing. That’s okay—it’s better to have too much information to support your argument than too little.

Write a Strong Thesis Statement

Possibly the most important step in essay writing is to craft a strong thesis statement. A thesis statement is a brief—usually single-sentence—explanation of what your essay is about.

The thesis statement guides the entire essay: every point you make should support your thesis.

A strong thesis is specific and long enough to address the major points of your essay.

In a persuasive or argumentative essay, your thesis should clearly establish the argument you are making.

Make an Outline

Once you have all your research, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. How do you turn the information into a cohesive essay?

Rather than writing an essay with no roadmap, an outline will keep you on track. An outline helps you organize your thoughts, plan your arguments, and sort your research.

A good outline saves you time, too! You can compile the relevant evidence in your notes before writing, so you don’t have to find that specific quote in the middle of essay writing.

An outline will also stop you from reading your finished essay and realizing you went completely off track.

With an outline, you can avoid finding paragraphs that don’t support your thesis right before you submit the essay.

Craft a Great Introduction

An academic essay needs a strong introductory paragraph.

The introduction is the first impression of your essay. It prepares the reader for what’s coming and gets them excited to read your paper.

A good introduction has three things:

• A hook (e.g. insightful statement, quote, interesting fact)
• Brief background information about the topic
• A thesis statement

Using this formula will help you write a strong introduction for your essay.

Have Original Ideas and Interpretations

The best academic writing advice a professor ever gave me was, “You’ve shown me what other people have said about the topic. I want to know what you think about the topic.”

Even a fact-heavy or data-heavy essay needs original ideas and interpretations. For every piece of information you cite, whether you quote or paraphrase it , offer original commentary.

Focus on insights, new interpretations, or even questions that you have. These are all ways to provide original ideas in your essay.

Proofread for Readability

A good essay is a proofread essay.

Readability, or how easy something is to read, has many factors. Spelling and grammar are important, but so is sentence structure, word choice , and other stylistic features.

Academic essays should be readable without being too simple. In general, aim for a readability score that is close to your grade level in school.

There are several ways to check readability scores, including using ProWritingAid’s Readability Report.

The quickest way to increase readability is to fix grammar and spelling mistakes . You can also raise the readability score by using more complex and compound-complex sentences.

ProWritingAid can offer suggestions on how to improve your essay and take it to the next level.

Our free essay checker will check for spelling and grammar errors, plus several other types of writing mistakes.

The essay checker will offer you suggestions on sentence length and passive voice.

It will help you trim the excess words that bog down your writing by analyzing your sticky sentences and overused words.

The essay checker is here to help you turn in an error-free essay.

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Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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How to Become a Better Writer: 32 Proven Tips

Whether you’re a beginner or have been at it for decades, writing well is flat hard work.

I’ve written and published nearly 200 books, including 21 New York Times bestsellers, and I still take daily steps to improve my writing.

One doesn’t arrive at good writing. It’s a lifelong pursuit.

Maybe you write daily but feel your writing is still lacking. Or it’s as if you’ve hit a brick wall.

Many struggling writers would’ve given up by now, but you genuinely believe that with help, you could become the writer you want to be and see your message reach the masses.

Let’s see if you’re right.

I can’t turn you into a bestselling author overnight, and I’d caution you to look with suspicion on anyone who says they can.

But I do believe I can help improve your writing immediately.

• How to Become a Better Writer: My Best Advice

1. Don’t aim to write a bestseller.

That’s the last thing I think about when I start a new book .

I have no control over the market, sales, reviews, and all the rest. All I can control is how much of myself I give to a writing project.

To have any chance at success, my writing must come from my passions, the overflow of what drives me.

What’s your passion? Your strength? What drives you ?

Write about that. 

Your passion will keep you at the keyboard and motivate you when the writing gets tough —and if you’re doing it right, it always gets tough.

2. Always think reader-first.

Write Think Reader First on a sticky note and place it on your screen or somewhere you can see it while you’re writing.

Your sole job is to tell a story so compelling , so memorable your reader gets lost in it from the get-go.

Treat your readers the way you want to be treated and write what you would want to read.

That’s the Golden Rule of Writing .

Never let up, never bore. Always put your reader first.

3. Establish a strict writing routine.

Writing a book takes time, and lots of it. If you write only when you feel inspired, you’ll never finish. You need the discipline of a regular habit .

Schedule your writing time in your calendar and make it non-negotiable.

Track your progress: Your words or pages per day, or writing for a certain amount of time.

Set a deadline. Determine the number of words or pages you need to write every day to make your deadline. Just make sure your per-day production goals are realistic so you don’t get discouraged and quit.

Finally, even if you have to occasionally adjust the number of pages you finish per day, keep your deadline sacred at all cost.

4. Eliminate distractions.

Create a dedicated space for writing. It doesn’t have to be perfect — a writer should be able to write anywhere. 

Buy the best chair you can afford. You can’t be productive if you’re uncomfortable.

Keep on hand and close by all the supplies you’ll need.

Ruthlessly protect your writing time. Don’t let meetings, interruptions, household chores, or the Internet get in the way. Turn off your email and social media, block notifications, and hang a Do Not Disturb sign outside your door.

5. Start writing.

Good prep work will help you write with less frustration.

You need at least a basic structure — even if you’re not an outliner — whether writing fiction or nonfiction .

Preparation requires research (see #25), but even that can become a contributor to procrastination . Decide when you have enough information to begin writing, and get to it. 

If you’re writing fiction, study the best ways to start a story .

6. Avoid throat-clearing.

That’s a term we in the writing business use for any writing that stalls a story or chapter by beginning with anything but the good stuff.

Cut the setup, the description, the setting, the philosophizing, and get on with the story.

7. Show, don’t tell.

Telling spoon feeds your reader information rather than allowing her to deduce what’s going on.

Showing triggers the theater of her mind (see #10).

Telling: It was late fall.

Showing: Leaves crunched beneath his feet.

Telling: It was cold.

Showing: He tightened his collar and turned his face from the biting wind.

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” — Anton Chekhov

Click here to read more about this concept .

8. Avoid telling what’s not happening.

“He didn’t respond.”

“She didn’t say anything.”

“The room never got quiet.”

If you don’t say it happened, we won’t assume it did.

9. Introduce your main character early, by name.

The biggest mistake new writers make is introducing their main character too late.

As a rule, he should be the first person on stage and the reader should be able to associate his name with how they see him.

10. Trigger the theater of your reader’s mind.

Ever wonder why the book is usually better than the movie?

Not even Hollywood, with all its creativity and high tech CGI capability, can compete with the theater of our imagination.

My mind conjures images of everything an author implies.

Give your readers just enough information to engage their imagination, making them partners in the experience, not just audience members.

11. Cut dialogue to the bone.

Unless you’re revealing a character as a brainiac or a blowhard, omit unnecessary words from dialogue .

Obviously, you wouldn’t render a conversation the way a court transcript includes repetition and even um, ah, uh, etc.

See how much you can chop while virtually communicating the same point.

“ What do you w Want to do this Sunday? I thought we could go to the amusement park Sunday.”

“I was thinking about renting a rowboat,” Vladimir said. “On one of the lakes.”

“ Oh, Vladimir, that sounds w Wonderful! I’ve never gone rowing before .”

This doesn’t mean your dialogue has to be choppy — just cut the dead wood.

You’ll be surprised by how much power cutting adds.

12. Omit needless words.

Less is more.

Tighten, tighten, tighten.

Again, you’ll find cutting almost always adds power to your prose .

13. Choose the normal word over the fancy one.

By showing off your vocabulary or flowery turns of phrase, you draw attention to the writing itself rather than the content.

That’s the very definition of author intrusion.

Get out of the way of your art.

14. Use active voice vs. passive voice.

The easiest way to spot passive voice is to look for state-of-being verbs and often the word by .

Passive: A good time was had by all.

Active: Everybody had a good time.

Passive: The party was planned by Jill.

Active: Jill planned the party.

Passive: The book was read to the children by the teacher.

Active: The teacher read the book to the children.

Avoiding passive voice will set you apart from much of your competition. Even better, it adds clarity.

15. Avoid mannerisms of attribution.

Have people say things, not wheeze, gasp, laugh, grunt, snort, reply, retort, exclaim, or declare them.

Sometimes people whisper or shout or mumble , but let your choice of words imply whether they are grumbling, etc.

If it’s important that they sigh or laugh, separate the action from the dialogue:

Jim sighed. “I just can’t take it anymore.”

16. Avoid began to …

…laugh, or cry, or shout, or run. People don’t just begin to do these things. They do them.

Just say it: He laughed, she cried, Fred shouted, Traci ran…

17. Eliminate clichés.

And not just words and phrases.

Also, root out situational clichés , like:

• Starting your story with the main character waking up
• Having a character describe himself while standing before a mirror
• Having future love interests literally bump into each other when they first meet
• Having a shot ring out, only to have the shooter be a surprise third party who kills the one who had the drop on the hero
• Having the seemingly dead or unconscious or incapacitated villain spring back to life just when we thought the hero had finally saved the day

Avoid the dream cliché .

It’s okay to have people dream, but eliminate the dreadful cliché of spelling out an entire harrowing scene and then surprising the reader by having the character wake up.

That’s been used to death and lets the air out of the balloon of your story.

Also, avoid heart and breathing clichés: pounded, raced, thudded, hammered, gasped, sucked wind, etc . 

If you render the scary situation compellingly enough, you need not tell the reader anything about your character’s heartbeat or breath. The reader should experience those himself.

18. Avoid on-the-nose writing.

A Hollywood term for writing that mirrors real life without advancing the story, on-the-nose writing is the most common mistake I see in otherwise good writing. Click that link and master this, and you’ll be miles ahead of your competition.

19. Use adjectives sparingly.

Good writing is a thing of strong nouns and verbs, not adjectives.

20. Avoid the words up and down —unless they’re really needed.

He rigged [up] the device.

She sat [down] on the couch.

21. Read The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

This short paperback is recommended by every writing teacher I know and should be at the top of your list if you want to improve your writing skills .

I’ve read it at least once a year for more than 40 years. Its simple truths cover everything you need to know about style and grammar.

Click here to get the book .

22. Give your readers credit.

They understand more than you think.

Example: “They walked through the open door and sat down across from each other in chairs.”

If they walked in and sat, we can assume the door was open, the direction was down, and — unless told otherwise — there were chairs.

So you can write: “They walked in and sat across from each other.”

23. Use powerful verbs.

Ever wonder why an otherwise grammatically correct sentence lies there like a dead fish?

Your sentence might be full of those adjectives and adverbs your teachers and loved ones so admired in your writing when you were a kid. But the sentence doesn’t work.

Something I learned from The Elements of Style years ago changed the way I write and added verve to my prose:  “Focus on nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs.”

To learn how, read my post 249 Strong Verbs That’ll Instantly Supercharge Your Writing .

A couple of things to watch for:

• Avoid hedging verbs like: smiled slightly , almost laughed , frowned a bit , etc. Characters either smile, laughs, frown, or they don’t.
• Avoid state-of-being verbs: is, am, are, was, etc. Not: There was a man standing on the train platform. Rather: A man stood on the train platform.

24. Resist the urge to explain (RUE).

Marian was mad. She pounded the table. “George, you’re going to drive me crazy,” she said , angrily .

“You can do it!” George encouraged .

We need not be told Marian was mad if we see her pound the table. And we know she said what she said in anger.

25. Conduct your research.

Though fiction, by definition, is made up, to succeed it must be believable. Even fantasies must make sense.

Once the reader has accepted your premise, what follows must be logical. Effective research is key to adding the specificity necessary to make this work .

Accurate details add flavor and authenticity. Get details wrong and your reader loses confidence — and interest — in your story.

The essentials:

• Consult Atlases and World Almanacs to confirm geography and cultural norms and find character names that align with the setting, period, and customs . If your Middle Eastern character flashes someone a thumbs up, be sure that means the same in his culture as it does in yours.
• Online and hard copy Encyclopedias.
• YouTube and online search engines can yield tens of thousands of results.
• A Thesaurus , not to find the most exotic word, but to find that normal word that’s on the tip of your tongue.
• In-person interviews with experts. People love to talk about their work, and often such conversations lead to more story ideas.

And remember, research detail should be used as seasoning. Don’t make it the main course—that should be your story itself.

26. Become a ferocious self-editor.

Agents and editors can tell within two pages whether a manuscript is worthy of further consideration.

That sounds unfair, and maybe it is. But it’s a reality we writers need to face.

Learn to aggressively self-edit using many of the tools I’ve given you here.

Never submit writing with which you’re not entirely happy.

27. Develop a thick skin.

Every piece of published writing is a duet between editor and writer, not a solo. Learn to take criticism, especially from professionals who are on your side and want you to succeed.

28. Finish your first draft.

Writing is rewriting, and you can’t rewrite a blank page.

If you never finish your first draft, you’ll never publish a book.

Don’t fall prey to the myth of writer’s block . No other profession is allowed such an excuse for not working.

Suffering from writer’s fear? That fear is justified. Writing is tough and competition is fierce. Embrace your fear and channel it into motivation to do your best work every time. 

Procrastinating? Embrace that too. It’s inevitable and can actually be helpful, so schedule it.

Stalling because you’re a perfectionist? Put perfectionism in its proper place — during the editing and revision stage. As Margaret Atwood says, “If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”

29. Jump start your creative juices.

Some days you’ll struggle to write even a few sentences and may wonder if you’re a writer at all.

It happens to all of us.

That’s when it’s wise to try a few writing exercises .

30. read your writing aloud., it’s a great way to check your self-edit and see where your story may bog down., 31. vary sentence length..

Sentence structure can dramatically impact your writing. 

Run-on sentences and sentence fragments may get an essay downgraded, but they can enhance your prose if used judiciously.  

32. Become a voracious reader.

Your career as a writer can end before it starts unless you make time to read.

You won’t find the time — you have to carve it out of your busy schedule.

That might seem impossible with your busy life, but how badly do you want to become a published author?

Writers are readers. Good writers are good readers. Great writers are great readers.

• You Can Improve Your Writing Skills

I’ve dedicated most of my life to coaching writers because I love paying forward all I’ve learned and seeing you succeed.

Practicing these 32 tips won’t turn you into an overnight success — writing is hard, exhausting, time-consuming work. And if it isn’t, you’re probably not doing it right. But all that effort can be worth it.

Dreamers talk about writing. Writers write. So don’t quit.

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12 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Academic Essay Writing Skills

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Written by  Scribendi

Anyone can learn to produce an academic essay if they begin with a few basic essay-writing rules. 

An academic essay must be based upon a solid but debatable thesis, supported by relevant and credible evidence, and closed with a succinct and thorough conclusion.

By adhering to the best way to write an essay, you can create valuable, persuasive papers even when you're under a time crunch!

What Makes a Good Essay?

As previously noted, the foundation of any good academic essay is its thesis statement. 

Do not confuse your thesis with your opening sentence. There are many good ways to start an essay , but few essays immediately present their main ideas.

After you draft your thesis, you can begin to develop your essay around it. This development will include the main supporting points of your essay, which will scaffold its main body. 

Essays also typically include a relevant and compelling introduction and conclusion.

Learn How to Write a Great Thesis Statement .

Understanding How to Write a Good Essay

When writing an academic essay, you must take a number of qualities and characteristics into careful consideration. Focus, development, unity, coherence, and correctness all play critical roles when it comes to distinguishing an exceptional essay from one that is less than perfect.

The following essay-writing tips can help writers organize, format, and support their essays in ways that fit their intended purpose and optimize their overall persuasiveness. Here are 12 essay tips for developing and writing your next academic paper.

1. Know What You Are Going to Write About Before You Start Writing

While untrained writers might just sit down and start typing, educated and experienced writers know that there are many steps to writing an essay.

In short, you should know what you want to say before you type a single word. The easiest way to narrow down a thesis and create a proper argument is to make a basic outline before you begin composing your essay.

Your outline should consist of rough notes that sketch out your introduction (including your thesis), the body of your essay (which should include separate paragraphs that present your main supporting points with plenty of evidence and examples), and your conclusion (which ties everything together and connects the argument back to your thesis).

2. Acquire a Solid Understanding of Basic Grammar, Punctuation, and Style

Before getting into more refined essay-writing techniques, you must have a solid grasp of grammar, punctuation, and style. Without these writing fundamentals, it will be difficult to communicate your ideas effectively and ensure that they are taken seriously.

Grammar basics include subject and verb agreement, correct article and pronoun use, and well-formed sentence structures. Make sure you know the proper uses for the most common forms of punctuation. Be mindful of your comma usage and know when a period is needed.

Finally, voice is tremendously important in academic essay writing. Employ language that is as concise as possible. Avoid transition words that don't add anything to the sentence and unnecessary wordiness that detracts from your argument.

Furthermore, use the active voice instead of the passive whenever possible (e.g., "this study found" instead of "it was found by this study"). This will make your essay's tone clear and direct.

3. Use the Right Vocabulary and Know What the Words You Are Using Actually Mean

How you use language is important, especially in academic essay writing. When writing an academic essay, remember that you are persuading others that you are an expert who argues intelligently about your topic.

Using big words just to sound smart often results in the opposite effect—it is easy to detect when someone is overcompensating in their writing.

If you aren't sure of the exact meaning of a word, you risk using it incorrectly. There's no shame in checking, and it might save you from an embarrassing word misuse later!

Using obscure language can also detract from the clarity of your argument—you should consider this before pulling out a thesaurus to change a perfectly appropriate word to something completely different.

4. Understand the Argument and Critically Analyze the Evidence

While writing a good essay, your main argument should always be at the front of your mind. While it's tempting to go off on a tangent about an interesting side note, doing so makes your writing less concise.

Always question the evidence you include in your essay; ask yourself, "Does this directly support my thesis?" If the answer is "no," then that evidence should probably be excluded. 

When you are evaluating evidence, be critical and thorough. You want to use the strongest research to back up your thesis. It is not enough to simply present evidence in support of an argument. A good writer must also explain why the evidence is relevant and supportive.

Everything you include should clearly connect to your topic and argument.   

5. Know How to Write a Conclusion That Supports Your Research

One of the most overlooked steps to writing an essay is the conclusion. Your conclusion ties all your research together and proves your thesis. It should not be a restatement of your introduction or a copy-and-paste of your thesis.

A strong conclusion briefly outlines the key evidence discussed in the body of an essay and directly ties it to the thesis to show how the evidence proves or disproves the main argument of your research.

Countless great essays have been written only to be derailed by vague, weakly worded conclusions. Don't let your next essay become one of those.     

6. Build a Solid Thesis to Support Your Arguments

A thesis is the main pillar of an essay. By selecting a specific thesis, you'll be able to develop arguments to support your central opinion. Consider writing about a unique experience or your own particular view of a topic .

Your thesis should be clear and logical, but it should also be debatable. Otherwise, it might be difficult to support it with compelling arguments.

7. Develop an Interesting Opening Paragraph to Hook In Readers from the Get-Go

No matter how you begin your essay, you must strive to capture the reader's interest immediately. If your opening paragraph doesn't catch the eye and engage the brain, any attempt at persuasion may end before the essay even starts. 

The beginning of your essay is crucial for setting the stage for your thesis.

8. Always Remember to Edit and Proofread Your Essay

Any decent writer will tell you that writing is really rewriting. A good academic essay will inevitably go through multiple drafts as it slowly takes shape. When you arrive at a final draft, you must make sure that it is as close to perfect as possible.

This means subjecting your essay to close and comprehensive editing and proofreading processes. In other words, you must read your paper as many times as necessary to eliminate all grammar/punctuation mistakes and typos.

It is helpful to have a third party review your work. Consider consulting a peer or professional editing service. Keep in mind that professional editors are able to help you identify underdeveloped arguments and unnecessarily wordy language, and provide other feedback.

Get Critical Feedback on Your Writing

Hire an expert academic editor , or get a free sample, 9. when developing your essay's main body, build strong and relevant arguments.

Every sentence in the main body of your paper should explain and support your thesis. When deciding how much evidence to include in an academic essay, a good guideline is to include at least three main supporting arguments.

Those main supporting arguments, in turn, require support in the form of relevant facts, figures, examples, analogies, and observations. 

You will need to engage in appropriate research to accomplish this. To organize your research efforts, you may want to develop a list of good research questions . 

10. Choose the Format of Your Essay before Writing It

The final shape that your essay takes depends a great deal on what kind of format you use. Popular college essay format types include the Modern Language Association of America ( MLA ), American Psychological Association ( APA ), and Chicago Manual of Style ( Chicago style).

These formats govern everything from capitalization rules to source citation. Often, professors dictate a specific format for your essay. If they do not, you should choose the format that best suits your field.

11. Create Clear Transitions between Your Ideas

Although unnecessary transition words are the enemy of clarity and concision, they can be invaluable tools when it comes to separating and connecting the different sections of your essay. 

Not only do they help you express your ideas but they also bring a cohesive structure to your sentences and a pleasant flow to your writing. Just be sure that you are using the right transition words for the right purpose and to the proper effect.

12. Always Include an Organized Reference Page at the End of Your Essay

As a key component of MLA, APA, and Chicago Style formatting, the reference or Works Cited page is an essential part of any academic essay.

Regardless of the format used, the reference page must be well organized and easy to read so that your audience can see exactly where your outside information came from. 

To produce a properly formatted reference page, you may have to familiarize yourself with specialized phrases and abbreviations, such as " et al ." 

How to Write a Good Hook for an Essay

The key to a good hook is to introduce an unexplored or absorbing line of inquiry in your introduction that addresses the main point of your thesis. 

By carefully choosing your language and slowly revealing details, you can build reader anticipation for what follows. 

Much like an actual worm-baited fishing hook, a successful hook will lure and capture readers, allowing the writer to "reel them in."

How to Get Better at Writing Essays

You can get better at writing essays the same way that you improve at anything else: practice, practice, practice! However, there are a few ways that you can improve your writing quickly so you can turn in a quality academic essay on time.

In addition to following the 12 essay tips and guidelines above, you can familiarize yourself with a few common practices and structures for essay development. 

Great writing techniques for essays include brainstorming and tree diagrams, especially when coming up with a topic for your thesis statement. Becoming familiar with different structures for organizing your essay (order of importance, chronological, etc.) is also extremely helpful.

How to Write a Good Introduction for an Essay

To learn how to write a good essay, you must also learn how to write a good introduction. 

Most effective essay introductions begin with relatively broad and general subject matter and then gradually narrow in focus and scope until they arrive at something extremely specific: the thesis. This is why writers tend to place their thesis statements at the very end of their introductory paragraph(s).

Because they are generally broad and often relate only tangentially to an essay's main point, there is virtually no limit on what the beginning of a good introduction can look like. However, writers still tend to rely on somewhat cliché opening sentences, such as quotations and rhetorical questions.

How to Write a Good Conclusion for an Essay

Briefly put, a good conclusion does two things. It wraps up any loose ends and drives home the main point of your essay. 

To learn how to write a good conclusion, you will want to ensure that no unanswered questions remain in the reader's mind. A good conclusion will restate the thesis and reinforce the essay's main supporting points.

Take Your Essay from Good to Great

About the author.

Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing turn into a great one after the editing process. Scribendi's in-house editors are unrivaled in both experience and education, having collectively edited millions of words and obtained nearly 20 degrees collectively. They love consuming caffeinated beverages, reading books of various genres, and relaxing in quiet, dimly lit spaces.

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"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing"

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• How to Write Better Essays: 5 Practical Tips

For many such students, each essay brings with it the challenge of making it that little bit better than the last one. The problem is that when you write essays regularly, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut of repeating the same formula each time – particularly when you already receive good feedback from the teachers who read them. So how do you take your essays to the next level and go from great to brilliant? Here are some practical tips and techniques that will help you write consistently impressive essays, especially if you’re considering attending an Oxford summer school .

1. Read other people’s essays

Just as the books you read subconsciously help mould your own writing style , so reading other people’s essays can help you develop and build on your own essay-writing style. Try to read a range of other essays, including those of your peers and of academics. Read essays on a wide variety of subjects, not necessarily just those that you’re studying; different disciplines might apply different kinds of arguments or styles, so the wider you read, the more possible techniques there are for you to pick up and use in essays of your own. As you read other people’s essays, don’t just take them at face value. Be critical: what do you like about them? What don’t you like about them? How persuasive do you think they are? Is the argument a balanced one, with points adequately supported with evidence? Has the writer used any techniques you’ve not seen before? Another good source of essays is the broadsheet newspapers . Read the opinion pieces and dissect how the writer has supported their points with evidence, and again, be critical; note where they’ve left things out to try to persuade you to a particular opinion. Essays should be balanced, so you can learn from the best of these writers and pick up some techniques to help you shape a balanced piece.

2. Build your vocabulary and use it properly

A good vocabulary will allow you to express exactly what you mean, as clearly and concisely as possible. Economy with words is a characteristic of all good essays, because readers (and essay-markers) don’t like having their time wasted with long, rambling points that could have been expressed in half the number of words. One way of ensuring that you can communicate clearly and to the point is through accurate and effective use of advanced vocabulary. A good essay writer should never rest on their laurels when it comes to vocabulary; it’s something you should be working on continually, as there are always new words to learn that could help convey a point more effectively. What’s more, deploying a good vocabulary displays intelligence and allows you to be more persuasive in your essay-writing. Here are some ways in which you can build your vocabulary: – Subscribe to a ‘word a day’ email (such as this one from Merriam-Webster). Create a folder in your email account for new word emails, so that you can file each email away and have them all in one place ready to flick through and learn from in an idle moment. – Read widely, and refer to a dictionary for words you don’t know as you go along; this way, you’ll learn the new word as well as seeing it in context so you know how to use it properly. Read different genres of fiction, and non-fiction covering a range of topics, and you’ll have the added bonus of widening your general knowledge as well as your vocabulary. – Use a thesaurus – if you find yourself using the same words over and over again, add variety to your language by looking up those words in a thesaurus and finding other words that mean the same thing. A word of warning: words you find in a thesaurus can’t always be used interchangeably; even words with similar meanings can differ subtly in a way that makes them inappropriate in certain contexts, so find examples of a word used correctly before you use a new word for the first time. – Learn prefixes, suffixes and roots – it sounds boring, but this shortcut will help you learn a great many more words. Many roots come from Latin and Greek words, such as “bene” in Latin, meaning “good”, which gives rise to words such as “benefactor”, “benevolent” and “benefit”. It’s often possible to deduce the meaning of a new word if you know its root and read it in context. Prefixes are added to the beginning of a word to change the meaning, such as “semi” or “ante”, while suffixes are added to the end, such as “-able” or “-ance”. – Start a vocabulary book – you probably have one if you’re learning a foreign language, so why not have one for your native language as well? Buy yourself a nice notepad and use it to collect new words and their meanings. The act of writing down the definition will help you remember it, and you could include an example of how the word is used to increase your chances of memorising it for use in essays. It may help to have different sections for words on particular themes; you could have a general section, and then further parts of the notebook could be dedicated to words of use in history essays, science essays and so on.

3. Elevator pitching your essays

We’ve probably all had it hammered into us that we should write an essay plan before we start writing, but before you even do that, you need to know what the argument you’re going to make actually is. Only then can you start writing the structure for an essay that builds up to your overall conclusion. To condense what you’re trying to say into a short, snappy summary for you to work from, try making an ‘Elevator Pitch’ style summary of what you intend to write and why readers should be interested in it. The Elevator Pitch is a technique used by salespeople when condensing the arguments for buying a product into the shortest possible summary of why a customer should consider a purchase. The salesperson is told to imagine themselves in a lift; in the time it takes for that lift to reach the desired floor, they should have given a compelling argument in favour of that product that would result in the customer buying it, or at least wanting to know more. Your Elevator Pitch for your essay should sell the idea of it to a reader, leaving them wanting to read the essay in question. This is quite a tough exercise, as it forces you to be ruthlessly concise in your thinking and choice of words; but you can use this summary to help you write your introduction, and it’ll help you achieve clarity in what you’re trying to say.

4. Tell the reader what other people say

We’ve mentioned this on a previous article on essay writing, but it seems pertinent to mention it here too. Essays are a chance for you to show off how widely read you are, so make sure you quote other people’s opinions, and original sources , on what you’re writing about. For example, if you were to write a history essay on early religious practices in Britain, you could quote original texts on that topic (such as Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People) and also mention what a range of modern scholars have to say about the topic. Contrasting views should be sought; it’s unlikely that everyone agrees on the topic, so show you’ve looked at all the possible angles. For each of the subjects you’re studying, start a page in a notebook for important people in that field, with a summary of when they lived and what their views are. That way, you’ll have something to refer to when you’re writing an essay and want to consult appropriate scholars or other writers whose opinions you might wish to include. Don’t quote too much; mix citations with your own opinions so that it doesn’t look as though you have to hide behind other people’s words. It’s fine to disagree with a scholar you quote, provided you can give evidence and reasoning for doing so. This shows that you have thought about it and made your own mind up, rather than blindly accepting what that scholar has said; this demonstrates strong critical reasoning skills, one of the hallmarks of brilliant students.

5. Syntax, punctuation and tone of voice

You may not consciously realise it when you’re reading, but sophisticated sentence structures make the world of difference to how intelligent you sound. As we’ve already said, the most important consideration when you’re writing is making yourself easy for readers to understand; but you can still do this and utilise a range of interesting syntax at the same time. Employ a variety of sentence structures, long and short, but don’t let your sentences become too long and rambling, or they become difficult to read. Effective punctuation is vital in conveying your arguments persuasively; the last thing a teacher or lecturer wants to read is an essay riddled with poor grammar. What’s more, the reader shouldn’t have to read a sentence more than once to understand it. You probably already have a tone of voice you use for writing essays, but is it interesting and engaging? Read through some of your old essays and ask yourself honestly whether you find them absorbing. If they’re not, it could well be because you’ve not established the right tone of voice. Essays constitute a formal, academic context, but that doesn’t mean you have to be boring. A confident tone of voice will help show the reader that you know what you’re talking about and reassure them that they’re in safe hands. Writing in the active rather than the passive voice is a well-known trick of the trade that writers use to give their writing a sense of immediacy and make it more compelling; you too can deploy this technique in your essays by steering clear of the passive voice (for example, rather than writing “Much work is being done to…”, say “Scholars are putting a great deal of effort into…”). Over the course of an entire essay, you’d be surprised what a difference this makes to your tone.

We hope you’ve found these tips and techniques useful and that they help you take your essay-writing to new heights. If you would like to improve your writing skills even further, then why not sign up to our Creative Writing summer school .

If you have any tips you’d like to share with us, do let us know by leaving a comment below!

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How to Become a Better Writer in One, Simple Step

by Joe Bunting | 181 comments

Want to write better stories, essays, and blog posts? There's one trick that you can do to easily become a better writer.

Photo by Neal Sanche. Modified by The Write Practice.

I've read a lot of writing by amateur writers both in my work as a professional editor and as the moderator of this blog, and I've found that there's one, single piece of advice I give most often.

If you master this technique, you will quickly go from a mediocre writer to someone who writes stories that people read and say, “Wow! You wrote this?” So how do you become a better writer?

Be Specific

Five years ago, I spent nearly a year traveling the world, going to countries like Vietnam, Croatia, Uganda, Turkey, and Ireland. Beyond just being the trip of a lifetime, it gave me an amazing opportunity to write.

I wrote about the huge, redbrick cathedral we lived next to in Osijek, Croatia. I wrote about our strong, dark neighbors in the jungles of Thailand who helped us lift the thick beams to build a new house for our host. I wrote about reading Egyptian literature in a café in Dublin.

After reading my writing, my friend Dez began imitating the detail and specificity of my stories on her blog. Soon, she had friends and family emailing her, telling her what a great writer she was, how they felt like they were right there with her in Israel and Romania and Cambodia.

It's easy to write this way, to pack more detail into each sentence, but when you're more specific, it draws your reader in. It allows them to see what your characters see, to hear and smell what they're hearing and smelling. In other words, it allows you to become a better storyteller.

Three Simple Ways to Be More Specific

What does this actually look like? How do you add specificity to your writing? Here are three ways to be more specific:

1. Focus On Detail

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” —Anton Chekhov

“ Show, don't tell ” is one of the most common—and most overused—writing cliches out there. The reality is there are times when it makes sense to “tell.”

However, what I love about the  quote above from Chekhov is that it shows the power of specific detail to open the imagination of your reader.

To summon detail in your writing, focus on your five senses: touch, taste, sight, smell, sound. When you set the scene, challenge yourself to use each of your five senses.

Depending on your scene you might not be able to write using all of them, but by stretching your observation skills, you'll give your reader a much richer experience. Without realizing why, your readers will think, “Wow. This person can really write!”

(For more on the writing rule, “Show, Don't Tell,” check out our post The Secret to Show, Don't Tell .)

2. Focus On Moments

“The mark of a master is to select only a few moments but give us a lifetime.” —Robert McKee

Great storytellers don't try to tell every little detail of a character's life. Instead, they select a few, precious moments and then go so deep into those moments that it's as if we're living those moments with the characters.

Of course, this is more difficult than it sounds because when you're first writing a story , you may not know which moments will be important to a character's life.

This is why the most important, and usually most difficult task of every writer isn't the creation process but the editing process, when you choose those important moments and cut the rest away.

3. Write Dialogue

Dialogue is ultimate form of specificity because you're writing exactly what the characters actually said. However, it always surprises me when I read writing by amateur writers and they describe what the characters are talking about instead of using dialogue. This is so lazy!

Write out the dialogue. Don't describe the conversation.

By the way, remember to be specific in your dialogue, too. Cut out any unimportant small talk and only include dialogue that moves the story forward.

(Want to know one common mistake that will  ruin  your dialogue? Check out our post A Critical DON'T For Writing Dialogue .)

Above All, Don't Be Vague

When your writing is vague, it creates no emotional response in the reader. In fact, vague writing wastes your readers time.

No matter what, don't be vague!

Of course, it can be difficult to tell when your own writing is vague.

This is why it's so important to have a good editor or critique group who can tell you when you need to be more specific. If you're serious about being a better writer, then you need to learn to be more specific. It's not difficult, but it does require you to open your senses to what your characters are experiencing.

Do you struggle with being specific in your writing?

Today, let's practice writing as specifically as possible. Take a look around the room you're in right now. Focus on one detail, like the shadow on a wall caused by a picture frame.

Then, start writing. As you write, remember to use as many of your five senses as you can. Describe the room for fifteen minutes.

When you're finished, post your practice in the comments section. And if you post, please be sure to read a few practices from your fellow writers and comment on whether they were specific enough.

Happy writing!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

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181 Comments

Our house is for sale which these days means that we had to do a lot of staging. It’s much like editing a book as all the excess has to be stripped away and only the essentials left; the things that enhance each room or the main story line.

This is not the first time we have sold a home so we know the drill. Last time sold so fast it was easy to keep the place ready to be seen. Not so now as it’s been 4 months and often several weeks go by and no one has requested a viewingwhich has relaxed us to the point where there needs to be a flurry of activity to re-stage the house.

The family room I am currently in is the room we use the most. Watch TV and eat dinner and read, and for me, write. Clutter seems to grow easily in this relaxed, comfortable environment. iPad left out along with TV and DVD remotes. Reading glasses, a must for both my husband and I lately, are always at the ready. Cushions on the couch are just as we left them, in disarray, not plumped up and positioned correctly as they will be after the phone call that there is another potential buyer on their way. There are also a few stray Popcorn kernels on the carpet that need to be vacuumed.

This week there are also anniversary cards filling the bookshelves that had been thinned out to only a few items per shelf. One from each of our children and other relatives and close friends. After so many years it’s reassuring and comforting to know they still remember and want us to know they do by finding a special card to convey their love to us. These are staying up until I have to put them away.

I know buyers want to look at the property and not the owner’s life when they visit, andwe do want the house to look like we are willing to move. The fact is we do have a life and family and friends and there will sometimes be signs of that around the place. People might just have to deal with it!

I feel the warm family home in the third paragraph! I would put it as intro, and then to explain about the context. However, I liked it!

Interesting.. In trying to ‘set the stage’ it appears I put the empirical data before the feelings. However to draw people in I should reverse the order.

Great descriptions of everything from the small things – popcorn kernels on the floor – to the whole idea of the home. Enjoyable.

Thank you so much Glynis. Glad you enjoyed it. The subject today just hit home right away.

I like disarrayed cushions 🙂

Ann, I like this. Did you intend to have a little lesson or moral to your story? I enjoyed all your details, and my observation is that you are showing, not telling, us that a home is not perfect. A family lives here, spending time together, taking care of each other, doing what’s important in their lives. Clearly, a “perfect” home would be unfit for a family.

Thanks Avril, No I didn’t have that intention really but it is true that if things are too perfect no one can relax, well not me anyway.

I really liked this. Reminded me of my house most days. Good job 🙂

Thanks Miriam 🙂

Yellow… red… yellow… red… this minusculus light near the TV don’t let me sleep at nights. I try to keep my eyes out of it, but I can’t… it is hypnotic.

The others light are still in green. Three of them are from the router too. One more from the cable system.

The rest is pure darkness around me.

The sheets on my bed are white, but you cannot notice now, not at midnight.

The only thing you can notice are the thick black lines in the white ceiling. Those are the rafters of this ancient apartment.

In other season of the year, you cannot hear nothing, but living near the beach, has it consquences, one of them is the night activity in Summer.

Even if you don’t want it, you hear people talking in the bar of the corner, making toasts, laughing, singing… and later in the night, you can hear some of them throwing up in the street.

Yellow… red… yellow… red. At least, when I focus my eyes on it, makes me forgive the noise. Makes me forgive where I am. Makes me forgive the pillow, the flowered sheet, the dirty clothes in the floor, the near undone bags next to the open door.

I like the feel that there is more to this story, with the unpacked bags mentioned at the end. Though the double negative in the one paragraph needs to be changed. “You cannot hear ‘anything'” would be better.

Thank you, Ann! The funny thing is that I moved to a new country since almost a year ago and I have no room enough for all the things I brought in my new home. Thanks also for the detail to improve the write. English is my second language and I’m still struggle to make a better writing!

I married someone from a different country and emigrated many years ago. I have written a few short stories of things that happened early on. Write these things, even if only in a diary form right now. Others have found my stories interesting and I’m sure they will yours as well. True stories and feelings are always appealing. Keep writing!

Very descriptive. I like your short sentences. It sets a mood in itself. Nicely done.

I discovered the power of the short sentences this year. If it is in the right place, could make a deep impact in the reading. so I’m using it more commonly since then! Thanks for the feedback!

I’m at work on a very quiet day at the hospital. We are the Radiology department. Lots of digital equipment in this small office, which requires that we have our own server in here. It makes a high-pitched white noise hum all day, which is not bothersome.

The walls are an ice-blue that I think is only sold to old hospitals. I suspect the cold sterility would be depressing without our big window. Our picture window looks out to several big trees: cottonwood, maple, and elm mostly. Lots of clear high desert sky above.

Our other window is small and slides open. That’s where my desk is, and patients register here. My small window looks thru our waiting room, thru an interior hall, and thru the ambulance entrance to the helipad.

We are a small town hospital in a remote area, so the Care Flight choppers are frequent flyers here. Anybody hurt or sick out on a ranch or mine likely will not get here in time by car on dirt roads.

Living in this community of 2500 means, when I look out to see who is being brought in by copter or ambulance, I usually know them. I’ve worked here five months and I’m still jarred by that moment of recognition.

This office is cluttered with furniture, equipment, files, and people. We are a friendly, close group, so the close quarters are “cozy”. Our sole non-essential, non purely functional item here is our Ugly Chair, bequeathed by a retiring doctor.

Our chair is a color that is a mixture of sea foam green and mustard yellow. We are envied for our inheritance, and our chair gets more visitors than we do. Several times a day other staff comes to this office on a flimsy pretence, just to sit in our chair.

This is probably the smallest, plainest office I’ve ever worked in, and it is one of my all-time favorites.

I love it how you structure it. From small to big. Starting from the little office and then you gave us a description of your town and also the everyday routine in the hospital. I enjoyed reading it!

Thanks Teo!

I enjoyed reading about the stark, almost colourless hospital walls and then the real, warm human connection you have that makes the first thing less important after all.

Ann, thank you =)

Whoops I posted in the wrong spot 🙁

Wow, what a compliment! Thank you Glynis.

Ew, ice-cold walls. I like the satisfying structure of this too and how colour starts and ends.

Sue, I just started writing all these stories and thoughts I’ve had swirling in my head forever, It means a lot to me that I am getting encouragement and being taken seriously.

Isn’t this environment amazing?! Congratulations.

Very specific. The way everything is written, straight to the point / very as a matter of fact, and then the paragraph about the moment of recognition, was vet effective

Loved…the paint color that’s only sold to old hospitals; the thankfulness for the large window; “I’m still jarred by that moment of recognition” (I like how you included this to hit home the emotion); mixture of seafoam green and mustard yellow (wow…how long did you look at the chair to figure out that color? LOL); that people come “on a flimsy pretence, just to sit in [your bequethed] chair.”

I posted a reply earlier, but I put it in the wrong place. This puts me in the office with you. Very detailed description.

Think it’s time to get out of the hospital and into full time writing! All my senses were favorably involved.

Jeralyn, the thought fills me with panic and..hope! Thank you.

Just do it!

I agree! Since we’re going to be dead a long time…we need to get’er done!! The only thing to fear is fear in it’s self!!

I enjoyed this peek into your world. Nicely done. I would warn against too many repeated words. Certainly some are good for emphasis, but use sparingly. I’m also curious to get a consensus on the spelling of “thru” instead of “through” in writing. Opinions, anyone? I’m probably old school, but I would advise to use the formal spelling unless you’re talking about a drive-thru or something similar? Again, thoughts?

Denise, thank you and I agree that using words repetitively is not ideal. And “thru” is not a standard spelling of the word. On these prompts, I set the timer and then I’m off to the races. I stop when the timer sounds. I have not been editing, and perhaps that is a mistake? I wasn’t sure if editing would be “cheating”? I apologize if this has been discussed here before. I’m new to this group.

Actually, Avril, I’m probably in the wrong here. I’m just in the habit of editing everything before I post it. That may not be the rule here. Maybe one of the more experienced folks can clearify.

My desk is cluttered, strewn with the detritus of a writer’s life. A rainbow of colored ink pens sits atop crumpled papers, the owner of those writing instrument hoping that the hues will somehow coax creativity from a tired muse. Or maybe she’s a muse who has been sapped dry by the procrastination of the creator and the minuscule bribe of a colored pen is not enough to coax inspiration to come out and play.

I see the paper cup with the straw standing at attention, condensation wetting the bottom half. Somehow even a shot of nourishment in the form of an iced tea and pizza during an undeserved break in the non-action of my writing time can’t seem to uncloud the fog in this writer’s mind.

Maybe a different color for the walls would help with the block. But I suppose if colored pens won’t help, why would colored walls? The inspiration comes from within, doesn’t it? So is the candle useless? The photos of my children? How about the aromatherapy spray in the translucent purple bottle?

I love having my beautiful things around me, so whether they help with the inspiration or not, isn’t it good for the energy of the room to have things here that make me happy in my little writing space? Can it be called writing space when all I use it for lately is Facebook status updates and Pinterest recipes?

Except that I just wrote this. So that counts. Right?

Oh, yes, this counts. Who wants a stark attic room closed off from the world? When the muse comes she will find you anywhere. Keep your beautiful things around you.

What’s funny is that even though this was to describe the room I am in, I was partly imagining what other beautiful things I might add to this room. It’s a small space, but beautiful clutter is not a bad thing 🙂

🙂 this made me smile wryly whilst reading it, because Incan so much relate to it. The whole trying to appease the muse with pretty stationery. I like how, admits the detail, there was humour too.

Thanks for the nice comments. I sort of smiled when I wrote it, too.

I can definitely relate. Sometimes everything around us seems to be how we think it should be so we can write but nothing comes, then when and where we least expect it the writing appears easily and fluently like the coloured pens on pretty paper. Keep writing, even if it’s only here for a while. This place I find inspirational myself. Thank you for contributing to that.

I agree that I am often inspired when I least expect it. Thank you for the lovely words.

Awesome…witty and reflective, no? Loved, among others….”the miniscule bribe of a colored pen” ; “straw standing at attention”; “during an undeserved break”; the list of potentially “useless” items for inspiring creativity; and the last line. : )

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my piece. I really appreciate it!

Hehe. It most CERTAINLY counts! 🙂

I love how when we can’t write we start thinking painting the walls would help. Anything to get away from the abyss!!

I’ve been really struggling lately to get back into a regular routine. Sharing today’s writing prompt not only got me writing at least *something*, but it also made me feel a part of something bigger than myself.

I love that thought, Sue. Writing is a solitary endeavor — or so we think sometimes. But writing, sharing and then having a conversation about it is entirely different. And fun.

Very inspirational. We are surrounded for so many things that our routine sometimes makes us forgive about them. What you did it is great to pick up all these elements and make a good practice!

Thanks, Teo!

I liked this. Good job 🙂

Thank you, Miriam!

Hi Glynis, OMG can’t all of us relate to this? Sitting there in your writing space, with every possible comfort and “bribe”, and…nothing! Love the descriptions, like “the paper cup with the straw standing at attention, condensation wetting the bottom half”. On a practical level, I find the daily writing prompts to be effective at getting over blockages. The topic is assigned, set the timer, GO! You MUST write something, whatever comes out, even if it is quite rough. After doing the prompt, while the hamster in my brain is still galloping on his wheel, I can usually grab my story and start writing, at least for another 15 minutes.

There is definitely something to be said for just getting something to move the block forward. Then there are times I can’t stop the waterfall that gushes. Thanks for your comments, Avril!

I love this! First, I can really relate to it as I was trying to describe “stuff in my office” and I like how you combined the descriptions with the imaginative purpose of the items. A question- What are the color of the walls?

Funny you should ask, Darla. I meant to put that in there, but I couldn’t think of a good enough description. I always call them something like burnt sienna–not orange, but not brown. A little too masculine for my space, but it would require too much work to change. I’m lazy 🙂

Of course it counts! We all struggle with those moments and I suspect that being surrounded by things both comforting and stimulating is beneficial. Give yourself permission to be yourself and then write on!

Thanks, Denise, for the encouragement! 🙂

I do not wish to linger too long on the cobwebbed ceiling, the pile of clothes on the dresser, on the even larger pile on the floor, overflow from the dirty clothes basket, shaped like a cobra would come singing out of it if lured by a flute. I wish I was in India. Anywhere, really. Oh, I know the desire to be somewhere else is just symptomatic of interior cage rattling. That cage and its contents would still be there, of course, but at least I’d be distracted by the fact that I was traveling.

So instead, I’ll travel away outside the window. It’s winter and last night was cold enough that snow may have fallen 15 minutes away. It’s a winter blue sky, and it’s been raining enough to three-quarters fill the bird bath. Beyond the decking the sun lays the back of her hand across the great swathe of greenery – the large shrub by the side of the house, which has fluffy light yellow feather pods that the butcher birds hang upside down to eat. Beyond the shrub are the tall eucalypts. It is very quiet, sunny Saturday morning. Quiet, because there are no line trimmers, though if I peer closer with my ears it’s a myriad: a proverbial, cliched dog barks in the distance, as if on queue; cockatoos are screeching, whole others are doing the more low-level conversational croon. There are cars up on the Belgrave-Hallam Road where, 20 years ago and about 3 k’s south of here, a woman reported an encounter with alien beings. She still hasn’t changed her tune on it, either, revealed it as a fabrication. Who knows? Horatio’s philosophy would be even more narrow these days if he lived now, but I’ll side with Hamlet on this one.

You brought me from daily reality (loved the cobra image and the recognition that the rattled cage often remains) to leaving that far behind. Enjoyed, among others…”enough to three-quarters fill the bird bath” (specific!); “where the ground is a little closer to the sky”; “the sun lays the back of her hand across the great swathe of greenery”; “cliched dog barks in the distance.” Some great examples of description.

Thanks so much, Susan. I had no idea I was going to end up writing about the possibility of aliens, of all things!! 😛

During the day the busiest place in the house has got to be the kitchen. Everyone has to be in the kitchen if they want food or to go out the garage or back door or make the cat shut up by feeding him. But when all is quiet and still in the kitchen, when there is no one, but one still soul, one may see and make note of the beads of light that streak the floor, table, a few chairs and the stout garbage can. An evening light shut out by the white blinds who forbid its presence. Slits for thread that hold the opposing force of plastic horizontal planks an entrance is provided. Still and yet in motion as the sun sets in the west, insisting on invading to full corners and cast out darkness one last time.

The scissors with their blue plastic handle and the steel blades for cutting. It is some cheap pair at some store, probably costed between two to seven dollars. I can fit three fingers in the oblong loop and my thumb in the smaller spherical loop. The plastic feels smooth, there is hardly any hint of bumps on it. When I open the blades though I feel the steel is resistent so that my hands feel tension in them as I widen the destance between thumb and fingers in the loops and the blades then separate, and the jaws of the scissors over wide ready to cut.

And I can hear the two blades quietly rubbing against each other as they move apart, both as I open and then as I close them. And then when I close fast it makes a snipping sound that reminds me of hair cuts at the SuperCuts. And I am sitting here cutting in the air hearing the sound makes.

The plastic handle seems connected at such an intimate level to the steel, it is not just a matter of popping off the button in the center would would invariably have a small screw seated there. I would have to also pry the plastic off. It would take a great leverage and not only that but something small enough to wedge in there and pry it apart. But still I think that might be interesting to do.

I have pulled scissors apart before so that I have two separate pieces, somewhat like blades but duller and the scissors are lost, becoming a broken commodity. Still it looks different and that is enough of a reason to do it, even though it no longer is functional. It then has a different shape and that different shape intrigues my mind and I wonder if I can find some way to make use of it now that after breaking it apart.

I had not thought of doing all this before now, but now I will be looking at this pair of scissors and I will probably be taking it apart in my mind. I will see the WestCott brand on it with an arrow through it denoting a weapon and also strength and thinking how it won’t be that strong when I have taken off its parts and its splayed out and dissected on my sterile looking plastic table, like a lab table. And every section examined before me. Then it will be something altogether different.

Sandra, what I like about this is your willingness to completely submerge your train of thought into one object and stay with it. As if completely mesmerised and unpacking the wonder and the many ways of seeing an every day tool. I like to do this with single blooms of a flower. Thanks for sharing. Dawn

Thanks for your post. It really got me thinking.

Very clear description. I feel like I’m in your office with you. You have a keen eye for detail. Adelaide

The above comment is for Avril, not myself. I posted it in the wrong place.

Here is my 15 minute practice, no more, no less. It was begun at 11:00 and ended at 11:15. I’m off to bed now.

I’m in the study at the computer which I share with my husband. It’s just 11:00 p.m., and he’s gone to bed. Probably asleep by now. The sounds I hear are the whirring of a fan which does a poor job of keeping me cool, the clicking of the keys as I type and a dog barking, probably the same dog who barks on and off all day. The room is cluttered with filing cabinets, boxes of papers and files which won’t fit in the cabinets, a comfortable chair, a desk and uncomfortable desk chair, a wall with four bookcases filled with books from floor to ceiling, most of them coated with a thick layer of dust. Who has time to dust books? The books cover all sorts of subjects which have interested us over the years, including novels which have been read and reread. Can anyone easily part with a book which was important at one time in one’s life? It seems we can’t. There are several pictures on the walls, two of flowers painted by my mother, two of fruit and flowers painted by me, a photo montage of family pictures, a triple fame with the photos of our three children as teenagers. Next to me is a cup of hot tea, at least it tasted hot 15 minutes ago when I started this. Just as I thought. It’s warm, but I don’t mind warm tea. I drink it anyway.

Nice! It’s entertaining and descriptive at the same time. The mention of the tea at the end was a nice touch. 🙂

Thank you, Joy. your comments are much appreciated.

Odd shadows trace the long white wall. Shadows of treasures from our shared past. Exotic ornaments, small trinkets, crooked walking sticks, foreign instruments, kids paintings. All of them leaning in a row, testament to a life explored.

The worn brown leather chesterfield cradles my nostalgia and creaks as I shift my body to gaze at the single line of weak winter sun falling into the room. The musk of leather polish floats by. I remember old tea shops and hand made slippers, slumping on ottomans and sliding backgammon pieces across worn boards with inlaid shells and scratched enamel.

The steel angles that frame the retro teak topped coffee table streak out in to long skinny shadows across the burnt reds and muted dark stripes of jarrah floorboards. Like spiders legs reaching to touch the wall of fame. A spindly attempt to connect past and present.

The air is crisp up here. Downstairs the fire glows and embers ooze their reassuring warmth in to the cozy living room. Yet I feel more peaceful wrapped in a light alpaca shawl peering into the collected shadows of the past. Flickers of memories scatter themselves in sepia and full colour.

Elephant rides, snake charmers, chai-boys and carpet traders clamour into the room. Incense, dung and spices unravel from the base of my skull. I remember Frangipani tucked behind my ear. Images of my youthful long sun bleached tresses tease me further down the lane of reminisce: forgotten parts, regrets and jubilations sit there patient and immovable.

I draw my fingers softly through my sensibly cropped middle aged locks and sigh. The sun arrives at my elbow tempting it to shadow etch itself in to the web of memorabilia and moment: this one life.

My tea has gone cold. For a moment I’ve lost all of me into the trail of all of me. I smile at the shadows. The way they dance along the wall and crawl across the threadbare rugs we carried for miles and months in canvas sacks strapped to old-school backpacks. Camel wool and natural desert dyes. Faded indigos, burgundy and mustard green yarns knotted and weaved in old alleyways in ancient cities live on. Telling silent stories and growing thin beneath contemporary retro styling and the imminent possibility of fresh new tiny feet.

I wonder will these old treasures fit in the lives of my babies – now men. And will they blow raspberries on fresh baby skin and wonder about the hands that wove the rug beneath them.

Whoops sorry. I’ve double posted . And I can’t delete/edit on the iPad. Odd shadows… Seems like I’ve odd shadowed my post. 🙂

Cheers Dawn

Stunning imagery!

Thank you 🙂

Wow – so beautiful. I love the reminiscent tone. I felt as if I were right there in this room of old treasures. Nice last paragraph!!

Thanks Franci. Yes I like the last paragraph too. I find it intriguing with this type of free form writing that often there is a gem at the end. One that pops out of its own accord. Cheers Dawn

Wow….beautiful. A real lesson in “showing, not telling.” Brilliant. This touched me deeply. I grew up in Singapore, and your images felt familiar to me. The reminiscing strikes a cord. My father and sister both died in their early 40s. Now my mother is 82 and is having major health problems, which brings the thoughts of one day having no one to turn to to say, “Do you remember when…..?” Finally, I have a 12 year old son (only child) who has very little idea of my childhood (I’m not a good storyteller) and who hasn’t had the type of rich experiences I grew up with. My comments are not about me…they are gratitude to you for sharing.

Thanks Susan. I’m sure you have some eclectic and moving memories and details that could lace the sensory detail of your own writing. Regards Dawn

Thanks for the challenge. Your comments brought some details to mind.

This is so beautifully written. I can see and feel that room, and smell it too. Reading this was like stopping in to see a friend who has such a comfortable room, that I never want to leave. Your descriptions are of things and places exotic, yet the actual feeling is domestic and comfort, and happy. Thank you for sharing, and move over. I’ve brought hot tea, and I want to sit in the Chesterfield.

Ta. Come on over… 😉 Dawn

I really like these descriptions. I could smell the leather and feel the warmth of the fire. Beautiful.

Another wonderful refuge redolent with memories! So many solid, evocative images.

Thanks Denise. Oh so many stories to tell… 🙂 Regards Dawn

These panels of cedar envelope the warmest spot in the house. It’s a corner I curl into, just a three and a half foot drop from the ceiling’s steep slope. A wooden ladder attaches the lofted nook to the floor of my bedroom. The light mimics the temperature’s warmth up here. It has more of a modest glow than a shine as if it’s somehow removed from everywhere else; as if it has the power to also remove whoever it casts itself upon.

With the slightest backward tilt of my head I see various faded crayon and marker scrawlings crossing the ceiling panels. Scribbled song lyrics sing out from the knotted cedar with the potent memories they’ve taken hostage. Boys’ names and inside jokes with friends play along the panels, bordered by hearts and flowers and swirling suns. A purple “Jackson” flows across a panels’ corner in bubbly middle school cursive and a faded silver Sharpie cloud traps him there. More clouds and suns and moons represent the entire rainbow on those panels.

Because I’ve always thought of clouds when I’m nestled up in the corner. “My very own castle in the clouds,” I always felt it to be. A photo tacked to the ceiling captures two wiry, beaming then-ten year olds, a friend and myself, floating in the cotton candy clouds of a sunset. Her trampoline had sent us there each day of that summer.

There isn’t much room, but enough for me to stretch out onto a tattered afghan and throw pillow. Enough to bury the heap of weathered pointe shoes that feel too much a part of me to banish. Enough to keep a stack of favorites for rainy days…Mary Oliver. Vonnegut. Dr. Suess. Enough for this graduation photo of that one I left behind to take up all the thinking room. There’s enough room up here for the castle to breathe life and relevance back into each crack and crevice of the would-be forgotten.

Wow! I read this 15 mins ago and phrases from it are still dancing through my mind. Your words have such a descriptive power, I was there. Thank you 🙂

I’m so glad to here that, Kylie! I appreciate it.

I love this, it has such beautiful imagery, that for a moment the gloomy weather outside sorted of faded away into golden afternoon sunshine, and thoughts of those cotton candy clouds. Very strong descriptive language.

That’s so kind, thank you. I’m glad it brought you there!!

Amazing. Transported me there. You have many intriguing phrases which made me really want to fit into your skin to feel what you were experiencing. Also liked the image, “Her trampoline had sent us there each day of that summer.” Thanks.

Thanks so much, Susan. That image is a fond memory for me 🙂

I like the way you associate this space with awesome memories, specially the last part. It got a powerful emotional hook. Well done!

Thank you much!

Hi Franci, Thanks for the view in to your space, your life. Scribbled lyrics, suns and moons and pointe shoes. Memories taken hostage and singing in silence from knots of cedar. This is a delightful piece, that, without actually saying it, seems to reflect fondly while at the same time the narrator is growing up. Regards Dawn

What a nice comment. Thank you! As you said about the ending of your post – sometimes meanings just come out of something we write without direct intention to do so. I suppose that’s what I was subconsciously going for, because when I posted it I realized the direction it was taking. Almost like magic.

Hi Franci, this is lovely, just lovely. Please keep sharing with us.

Thank you so much! I enjoyed your post as well. very meaningful.

So beautiful. I felt completely and comfortably nestled into this cozy space. Lovely writing.

Thank you, it is certainly a cozy space, I hope I do it justice 🙂

I began to remember a ceiling I had above my bed growing up while reading this and it kind of enhanced the imagery. I want my own nook after reading this.

Lofts certainly are the absolute best.

I love how comfortable this was to read 🙂

Thank you very much!

What a delightful refuge! You’re a lucky soul to have it and it comes through beautifully.

Oh thank you much! I do believe I am very lucky for it 🙂

The curtain at the window was what one might call make shift. Simply a bright azure and turquoise duvet cover, folded in half- with two industrial paper clips hanging from the hooks where a net curtain ought to be supported, the bed sheet was gripped in each corner. Though the window was open, and Eniola could not only see a 15 cm by 200cm strip of cloudy grey sky, but also feel the cool stirrings of the morning air, heat still cloaked her neck in its tight enfold, and the smell of unwashed bodies that had sweated through the night, still assailed her olfactory nerves. She sat up, cramped on the double bed, and listened to the call of morning larks, and the trills of tiny red robins as she wondered what had roused her from slumber.

Peering through the smudged window pane, holding her face a bit away from the greasy finger prints one of her siblings had left on the glass pane, she studied the landscape. Though not yet apparent in the sky, the sun shed some light on neighbouring homesteads, and from the second story of their own homestead Eniola could just make out the brightening of the horizon in the east, a dark curl of smoke rising up, and what looked to be like the lazy flicker of flames.

Curling her tongue in her parched mouth, she ran a hand over her face in despair. Inhaling once more it occurred to her, that yes, just underneath the musk of the room’s sleeping occupants, was the acrid smell of burning.

It was likely the cause of her awake state now, and with the smell assaulting her nose she would find it hard to go back to sleep.

Again her eyes travelled back to the makeshift curtain, bright and cheerful in colour, if not somewhat gaudy, it had been something her mother had chosen, before the infighting of the tribes had stolen her from them.

The material had small pieces of lint gathered from to many washes with harsh chemicals, and it was tattered in places, yet still it clung to the industrial clips that supported it.

I enjoyed imagining this woman’s (girl’s?) life experience. Some of the phrases I liked, among others: “She sat up, cramped on the double bed, and listened to the call of morning larks, and the trills of tiny red robins”; good foreshadowing with wondering what woke her; “peering through the smudged window pain” (although I would leave off the second “on the glass pane”; “could just make out the brightening of the horizon in the east’; the parallel between the curling smoke and her curling tongue; I could see her “[run] her hand over her face in despair”; “she would find it hard to go back to sleep”… we all know that feeling of wanting more rest but knowing we won’t get it (I could feel her underlying frustration); the sudden “punch” to my gut when I, as the reader, discovered the tragedy of her missing mother. Most of my examples above are ones in which you use “regular” vocabulary, but they all contribute nicely to setting the scene and the mood.

Thank you so much for your feedback 🙂

It’s so strange in that the exercise called for specific writing, and most of the details were- but then my imagination ran away a little bit- (I think I often have trouble with characterisation – and I’m so pleased to find that through these few lines you could sort of conjure up life experience …)

mmmmmmmmmm…the refrigerator hummmms. It is only a year old, but then again it seems that large household applicances aren’t made to last like they used to be; at least that’s what my father told me. Otherwise, the kitchen is a sanctuary, a room of warmth and calm once everyone has gone to sleep. The laughter and clanking dishes from earlier in the day have receded into the cupboards, to be released again next Sunday when family and friends gather. For now, though, the quiet provides a treble clef for the crickets outside and the squeak of the card table subbing as a kitchen table until the right one is found. The pen gliding on paper, pages turning to be read again. My eyes soak up the words from the page over and over, starting, skipping to favorite phrases, restarting. “I like this, ” I think. “It flows; the choice of words is inviting.” Flip. Flip. Re-reading. “Maybe this will be the one.” A long slow meditative breath in, which brings with it the aromatic Indian spices on the still-unwashed dinner plates, which brings me back to the daily reality. “Better wash those up before I go to bed.” But the house is quiet, and I don’t want to wake anyone. Instead I’ll ready the coffee pot for the morning. The rich, finely ground coffee beans reassure me that a good start to the next morning will await me.

“The laughter and clanking dishes from earlier in the day have receded into the cupboards …”

Oh, I loved this! Gives such a feeling of flow, of day into night, of the house settling. Lovely

The phrasing of your comments is meaningful to me. Thank you!

The intro really got me! I like the way you made the environment only with sounds: the refrigerator, the crickets… I really enjoyed reading it. Coffe cheers!

Thanks for the kind feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Love your “coffee cheers”! I think nouns as adjectives is effective in quickly enhancing the feeling of a phrase .

Such depth. Its so interesting to read your well described sounds and thoughts! I tend to think mostly of the visual description. (Now I want to rewrite mine adding sounds!)

Wow. Thanks for the great compliment! Love that it sparked an idea for you.

I stare at the blank page on my computer screen and all I see is an excuse not to write. The lower corner beside the row of icons on the task bar read 2:41 AM.

Man, I’ve been up this late and haven’t gotten a single thing written? And here I thought the old saying “staring at a blank page will get you to write more” or some other nonsense like that.

I stretch my back against the dollar store, foldable, plastic chair and look at the maroon walls in my small, boxed in office.

Maybe that was the problem, the color of the room. I read somewhere that painting the room green will promote creativity in the brain, or was it blue? Or maybe I should think more about concepting the adventure story floating around in my head instead of wasting my time with looking up articles that hold no real value to me. It’s not like banging my knee on the metal supports under my desk help me any better.

I run my finger across the glass plating on the top of my desk where all my clutter rested and gathered a nice roll of dust. Some Spring cleaning might be needed, or rather Fall cleaning. Do people actually say that?

Maybe I should consider redoing my whole office. And there I go again, thinking up another excuse to avoid writing, but it’s with good intention. Afterall, I think it’s time to upgrade my coupon book to an actual mousepad.

This actually proves how lazy I can be.

Haha, this is funny after just reading Glynis’s piece where she’s wondering about changing decor when she’s struggling to know what to write, as well.

I like the way you have written this, with your thoughts going from one thing to the other, struggling to settle on any one thing, which is such a frustrating feeling when you’re trying to get into that flow space, isn’t it? Especially at 2.41 am 🙂

I thought it was funny as well after I wrote this haha. Either way, thanks for the comment!

Obviously, we were thinking along the same lines, Kim, and I relate to every word 🙂

Glad to know others share my weakness in choosing to watching Tomadachi Life playthroughs on Youtube over writing my first serious story, though I somewhat doubt that anyone share the specifics.

I thought your piece was also great. I really liked how you used a lot of variety in your words to describe the surroundings as well what is going on in your head. I hope to obtain and retain that skill myself if I keep practicing.

I’ve had those days before. 🙂

Don’t we all. Earlier today, I was about to begin working on some more concepts and the idea getting some peach flavored tea dawned on me as subtle way to delay progress. I think it’s fair to say though that I came out on top, with some peach flavored tea as bonus. haha.

Running out the door, Joe, but great post. It reminds me of something my agent once told me. “The setting alone doesn’t let us experience the details. I want to see it, feel it, hear it, touch it, smell it.” Your showing others how to do just that. TY.

We moved into this house a few days ago and I chose the bedroom with the skateboard fan as the office/spare bedroom. The window looks out on a woods across the street where birds flit in and out and the sun beats down today.

The shadow on the wall is the blades of the fan as they make the air whisper past my head. It reminds me of a helicopter and I listen for the whop-whop-whop of it, but only hear the air conditioner drone.

I can hear the radio in the other room as I look at my screen and watch the letters pop up when I touch the keys. It is quiet in the house.

I smell the odor of fresh paint as my husband paints the hallway outside this room.The dining room and hallway were a burgundy/brown and now are a crisp, bright white from the primer paint. It will be a polished, clean silver when he is done.

I feel like I am not a good writer so I don’t like to critique normally, but I decided I should start anyway. I like your writing style and this room sounds interesting to me. It has an officey/home feel. I love the helicopter sound of the fan and also in the next paragraph, “I look at my screen and watch the letters pop up when I touch the keys.” Pop is a wonderful word. I also like the word primer paint, it is specific and it brings me a lot of images of painting.I don’t like how you start the last two paragraphs, “I can hear…” and “I can smell.” Maybe one of them can stay, but both of them sounds a little corny to me personally. I like the final paragraphs beginning more. But I’d probably try to rework the sentences somehow?

Oh, I liked it. Made me want to move in as it felt familiar with all the descriptions. Well done.

Well here is my practice. I hope you like it

The room glows with the fading evening light. I watch as it slowly glides along the room like a spotlight. How could I possibly not feel at peace here? As the light moves it falls upon my cluttered writing desk. Colored pens and mechanical pencils most without lead and dry of ink.

I breathe in the sent of the book I’ve been reading, the wondrous smell of a finished work. How many hours had been spent on this? How many nights had the author spent merely taking in the calm of the evening?

My eyes shift toward the many posters strewn about the walls. Old mother’s day gifts written in a childish scrawl. Quotes from my favorite authors and idealists. Inspirational quotes and calm pictures. How much they meant to me could not be measured in money.

I lay back to gaze at the roof of my room. It is a mountainous terrain where my imagination often found stories in my younger years. They remind me of grandma’s and snickerdoodles. of reading with my family and waking in the morning. What a wonderful place to sit and think and flow in the forgotten memories of my childhood.

The light is nearly gone now and my room dyes the pale pink of a sunset. The pink reminds me of the love my mother always shows in everything she does. It also speaks of those many times I’ve rebelled simply to get my way.

I turn over and place my silken blue covers on me. As I close my eyes I begin to be wrapped in the busy thinking before bed. Slowly I drift to sleep, thinking of the many memories of my past.

“How could I possibly not feel at peace here?” I felt this line distracted me from the paragraph. I’m not sure why, maybe because a rhetorical question takes time to ponder and consider. I would suggest something (I am not as good at words as I think you) but like you said, “I watch as it slowly glides along the room as a spotlight,” I’d say, “The light is like a moving meditation for me, as I breathe deep.” Or something, basically showing how it brings me peace.

I liked your writing though. The sound of the words you put down sound pleasant to my ears.

Thanks for your feed back. I’ll look over what I’ve written and make changes according to it.

My strong arms carefully push my whole body from my wheelchair to the brown recliner in my office. The sudden chill of the overstuffed fake leather cools my upper back and feels good. Even though my sensation suddenly ends at my hip line, I have learned to adjust since my spinal cord injury 10 years ago and my brain now calls this “normal”. I lean back against the coolness and the whole chair tilts back a bit, positioning me to look at the yellowed knotty pine boards of the ceiling above and I quickly pick out the unique knots and grain that look so much like a cartoon deer head. How silly of me to feel like I am greeting an old friend.

I breathe in deeply and blow out my tense air. How many times have I repeated these exact motions and thoughts in this exact order? Sometimes it’s different. Sometimes I’m alone in this room with its chaotic sprawl of important papers hiding in stacks of junk mail, unmatched desk supplies, neglected books patiently waiting for their turn to be read, and the household minutiae that belong somewhere else but have become invisible. And it all makes me tense. But today as I plop down in my chair and greet my deer friend (I think I’ll call him “Rudy”), all I really see is my husband sitting at his computer and we begin to laugh out loud at the ridiculous photo shopped images he found on a website. And there’s nowhere I’d rather be than in this cluttered room.

In a matter of one short writing, you brought a wide range of emotions and thoughts… some familiar to me, and some teaching me another person’s profound experience and personal journey. I loved your descriptions of the details of the cluttered room, and how you used the cool sensation of the couch to offer your reader insight into living with a serious injury. There was a contrast there which struck me. More details of the every day life stuff, and a more subtle way to describe a life changing event. I enjoyed it.

Here is a focus:

In the center of the kitchen table sat a terra-cotta pot with a long armed green plant inside of it. It almost looked like a photo snapshot of a firework exploding with its limbs reaching up but then arching back down to earth, forced by gravity. The skinny long blades were a pale matte green with beige marks occasionally from when it had been bumped into over dinners or slight over waterings. A few happy new born leaves growing up from its center had still not stretched their full reach, reminiscent of chicks who had not spread their wings and flown from the nest. The tips of the new comers were small spirals that looked like green snails, only the heads of these snails were long and nose dived time to the plants center nest.

Also, I thought I would add this poem I wrote about the same plant that also was my own practice of focus:

I find a droplet of water,

sliding down a leaf’s green center vain,

following it’s guidance,

it finds rest at it’s bow,

poising in quiver.

I imagine where it came from:

Did it fall from the skies?

Is the plant perspiring?

I imagine what would become of it:

A whip of wind could launch it to earth,

or the sun could add it to the clouds.

It has likely slipped down many leaves,

It’s life cycle.

I leaned close to inspect,

inside that shiny little crystal ball,

and found a white dot,

I peered closer and it grew to cover the little droplet.

In that little drop,

The white dot grew to a face,

and I saw myself,

Lots of creative descriptions. Among others, I liked how you compared the “few happy new born leaves” to baby chicks’ “a burnt red colored ring at the base of it from the merlot I had the night before”; “I dumped what was left on top of the burnt ring in the mason jar.” I especially liked the poem. I’m glad you included both pieces; they complement each other well. Some phrases that drew me in….”following its guidance”; “poising in a quiver”; your ponderance of the droplets travels in the water cycle; “inside that shiny litlle crystal ball”; “I saw myself”–> the deeper meaning that brings forth.

Thank you for reading and giving great commentary. I’m glad you liked it 🙂

my bedroom walls are a

brownish tan. the fan is on the chair in the middle of the

room hisses as the blades swirl back and forth.releasing a

draft of cold air that slightly makes me shiver. on the

right a sunflower shaped mirror reflects on the bland

tan walls. i can hear the rain tapping on the ground

outside my bedroom window. the desk i share with my sister

is green and old fashioned with antique elements. i cannot

see all the beautiful detailing of the desk because its

cluttered with my stuffed animals, books, random papers,

empty glasses, my painted money jar and other knick knacks. my room is only moderately clean. I’m worn of living in a mess. my mind is a mess everything is. i lay down in my bed that has two different blankets that are multicolored. one is colorful with bright oranges and light blues and has happy animals on it. and the other one is dark with greens reds and purples with triangle shapes with black stripes. the bed is cluttered my laptop is awkardly placed on my lap as i type away. why i am depressed? i cannot write i can not think. i can still smell the dust that gathered on the blades in the fan it is a unpleasant sensation it dances on your nose seducing you to sneeze. i feel uncomfortable.

Thank you for sharing this revealing piece of writing. It is hard to write the deep, personal stuff. It’s easier to hide from it, but there is honor in writing the truth. Keep writing. You have talent.

The way in which you presented this really speaks to the emotions of it. Some of the details I enjoyed, among others…. “a sunflower shaped mirror”; “the desk i share with my sister…with antique elements”; “I’m worn of living in a mess”; “awkwardly placed on my lap”; “it dances on your nose seducing you to sneeze”.

The sunflower mirror and the bright colors and knick knacks reminded me of an old friend of mine’s room. She had sort of a child’s room though she was a young woman, that seemed to me like her eternal struggle to maintain her innocence in a threatening life.

I half expected the answer to be simply, sit down and write! Great advice, however I think you were too kind in declaring the writer “lazy” when describing dialogue in oppose to writing the actual dialogue. BTW: I did indeed write a short story, editing it with your Lets Write a Short Story, but left it in the proverbial drawer to mellow.

It is a sultry summer morning. It is hardly 10 am and I can feel the rivers of sweat pouring down my back. We are hoping for our first monsoon showers – that sudden burst of rain, coming from dark, swiftly moving clouds. In ten minutes, the day can go from intense heat to delicious coolness. Fat, frantic raindrops will fall first, making a clumsy drumbeat on the roads – a rhythm easily matched by our heartbeats. And then, the hissing rain will follow. Like a thousand snakes in symphony.

The earth will respond with a delicious smell. The smell of summer, the smell of forgotten heat, the smell of hope, of cooler days to come. Even stodgy old men, with stiff collars and stern expressions, will unbend and relax. Wait a while and see them splash into the puddles on the street, and for a brief, blinding, moment be transported to their childhood.

It is the season of paper boats, made with school notepaper. Dislike Math? Use the pages on fractions and see your imagination float, and gently bob along the swift stream formed by the rain. Your English teacher gave you tough time? Tear out the pages on Shakespeare and listen to your heart sing – light and fresh from the showers.

It is also the season of green. A million shades, from the shy, pale, green-yellow of pipal and mango, to the strong green-black of the sturdy grass that explodes everywhere. It is the season of planting, of a fresh farm cycle, the beginning of a few months of intense work in gracefully swaying paddy fields.

Somewhere, in my imagination, I have moved back, to the previous years. The memories of monsoon making me forget the stickiness and discomfort of this morning. Monsoon magic has left fairy dust on my day, and I spend a few more minutes squinting hopefully at the far horizon.

Your descriptions, which you hold center stage throughout, are as lush as the environment you describe. Your words transported me there. I like how you developed each paragraph, giving attention in each to one aspect of the effect of the monsoons. I grew up in Singapore, so your piece brings to mind the impact of the monsoon season. Some phrases I enjoyed, among others….”the day can go from intense heat to delicious coolness” — could just be a regular phrase, but I could feel the change; the raindrops making a “clumsy drumbeat on the roads”; “like a thousand snakes in symphony”; your descriptions of the shades of green; “Monsoon magic has left fairy dust on my day.”

Thank you Susan! I lived a while in Singapore too 🙂

Interesting. Love the coincidence. It was a magical place to grow up.

I liked the word phrase, “Even stodgy old men with stiff collars and stern expressions, will unbend and relax.”And the splashing in puddles, and let your imagination afloat, gently bob along. These are fun words and images of water and play.

Thanks, Sandra!

When you pass the door, you can’t miss the photo printouts of chubby-cheeked, sparkling eyed adorableness taped all over it. A visual chronicle of my grand-daughter’s first year. From the teary-eyed father, my son (how did he get old enough to have his own daughter?) holding the stunned looking knit-capped newborn to last week’s successful donut sneak attack, chocolate icing squished between plump fingers and smeared on pinchable cheeks. She twinkles at passersby inviting the inevitable “aww.”

Thank heaven she didn’t get my three-dimensional gene – I hate photos of myself – I don’t translate well into two dimensions. My grand-daughter makes that transition without missing a beat. You can almost hear her giggles as she bites into her purloined donut or her almost speech as she holds out her finger-paint daubed hand to the camera.

With limited real estate on a standard office door, I’m going to have to reconsider sizing of future additions, possibly rearranging or, painful to consider, removal of some older pictures. Rest assured that the deletions will be carefully tucked into a folder or book to be treasured, or pulled out, to her utmost embarrassment, at the appropriately vulnerable times in her life. After all, it’s a proud grandmama’s prerogative, right?

Love this! I’m not a grandmother yet (my son’s only 13), but I can relate to this passage. Among others, I enjoyed: “adorableness”; “pinchable cheeks”; “She twinkles at passersby inviting the inevitable ‘aww”; your description of translating from the 3 dimensional to 2 dimensions (or not); “purloined” …thanks for using that word. I should have known it, but I had to remind myself by looking it up; “limited real estate”; the future o selected treasured photos. You sound like a wonderful grandmama [except for maybe the blackmail part. heehee : ) ].

Thanks, Susan! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m completely enjoying my little Allie-cat.

I really enjoyed this piece. You did a great job of capturing the lifeless feel of the office job.

I’ll pick a less dull room next time =P Comments/tips very welcome!

The light shone with a lifeless glow. Fluorescent lights replacing natural light for the past year have a way of making the air feel just a bit more stale, as if the very molecules in the room stopped moving. Everything about it is uniform. The desks. The cubicles. Even the people walking about the halls. Suit buttoned, back straight, shoes shined. It’s as if they were printed right off the assembly line. Now don’t get me wrong, the livelihood provided was great. Everyday I get to sit in the office and look at my sticky notes. They tell me to be kind, show empathy, be helpful, be appreciative. All the notes in a line, the dry-yellow color trying it’s very best to brighten the grey walls surrounding all but one side of me. After the first hour I decide it’s time to stand. An article from a couple weeks ago mentioned that sitting all day increases the risk for high blood pressure and heart attack. Maintain your health! Weekly emails are sent out to workers reminding them to stay active and eat healthy. Everyone uses the gym. I notice the ceiling in which the lifeless lights are hoisted. The ridges and grooves in the mineral fibrous material added just a touch of diversity to an otherwise uniform design.

There are windows, too. The blinds are kept open allowing a view of the organic tree divide which separates our building from the next. Natural light. But most days feel like cloudy days, and most people seem like cloudy people. A touch of lime-green paint was added to the support pillars, and orange lines disorganize themselves along the otherwise black carpet. A phone on the desk rings, and I lift it. No one speaks.

I really like this. I felt myself back in a cubicle environment. I spent more than enough years there to know exactly what you’re talking about. Your descriptions are interesting and grounded in reality, to the last detail. Loved, among others… how you didn’t just say the room was stale, but that it was as if the molecules had stopped moving; also, “it’s as if they were printed right off the assembly line”; and loved the part about looking at the sticky notes all lined up and what they tell you to do (the cubicle environment requires one to be surrounded by inspiring words) and standing up because of having read the article. Nice job.

I’m in my bedroom at home. It’s a decent size, high ceiling, but there’s so much assorted clutter and junk that it feels small. My furniture is all hand-me-downs, and the desk is far too big, solid and squarish with a light wood veneer. It’s cool and slightly rough under my wrists, and a thin black wire from my earbuds catches under my hands as I type. On one side, there’s a printer – also secondhand, big and black with all the labels and stickers still on it. There’s a yellow one with set-up instructions. It’s been there for years, is covered in dust.

There are green status lights washed out by the sun: my computer is on, my monitor is on, my modem is on. The USB adapter is gray, one light constant orange, one flashing green with the modem. A thick yellow Ethernet cord connects the two, collecting dust.

There’s a black mouse with a red scroll-button. A broken clock, red plastic washed out pink by years of sun. The paint on the walls has faded too, from summer’s azure to the powdery blue of a smoggy day just starting to go orange around the edges. The paint on the windowsill is flat white, nothing to fade, but it’s discolored all the same from the chemical and particles coming in through the cracked-open window. The screen keeps the bugs out, but the building is old and the window is old. Even when it’s closed, smog comes through from outside. I can hear the freeway and a major thoroughfare. They’re not far.

It’s summer. The sun is bright and hot, so I keep the blinds closed to keep the light out. I shut the window to keep the cool in.

I wanted to keep reading, to get know the old doctor’s story, and maybe the genesis of the chair. Please don’t keep this unique writing style to yourself.

P.S. I ignored the mechanics. This wasn’t an editing exercise.

My room. The room with the computers, with their buzzing sounds- like a hive. They almost match the hum of the air conditioner that makes this room too cold even in the summer. I bring out a long sleeved overshirt many days, just for this room.

I slide in my rolling chair, ergonomic back support for when I had that bad week, as it rolls on its mat, and tucks me up to the long plastic tables we got at Costco for 40 bucks. They’re nice cause you can wipe them clean with a wet rag. On them is my dual monitor computers with a red bursting super novae for a desktop picture and a bunch of folders and icons to I don’t know where.

There is a mass of clutter on these tables, under them, every where. I seem to have an ability to not see any of it anymore and go on click click clicking like some mindless drone ant in search of crumbs for their queen. Three plants pushed to the corners of the table. All sitting on plates so the water doesn’t leak. One empty plate remains. A couple weeks ago there were four. I walk up to them with trepidation as I carry the pot of water. Will another drop dead soon? I pour the water in the pots and hope they can hold on.

Stuff my kids dumped on me and I place on my table, not knowing what else to do with them, pushed in beneath my monitor and behind the keyboard. A glue stick, red wire formed heart, one green marker, a spring, a spoon. When something lands on this table, it may never leave. The stack of books stuffed between computers Larry Niven, Robert Randall, Michael Critchon, others, all never started, and I don’t know how they got here.

Lime is the color of my wastebasket and lamp. Lime is for the vital energy that I can’t seem to summon up every morning. The feeble attempt to get everything done, and often find at the end of the day I don’t have any idea what got done.

The room is crammed with too many thoughts, his and mine. Lot’s of strange technical things lay on his desk. I don’t know what they do, either from out of a space movie set in the future or my local dentists. He also has a divine speaker system. I say divine because it must be since it cost twice as much as mine. He has two boxes of memories from his last job that he left two months ago, but have not been unpacked. I kind of doubt it ever will. And I could go on and on about this room because it is the sort of place that goes on forever if you know what I mean.

An ancient clock hangs on the wall. It cannot tell the time as its hands are not moving and the pendulum hangs as quietly as death itself. The clock gives off a smell of age and dust. I touch my fingers across the old clock and discover a cover of gritty dust. There is no sound since the pendulum is not moving. This antique clock has reached the end of its life but it will always hang in its place of honor.

Super advice! I call it “the telling detail.”

Currently I am in my living room. Through the window all I can see is the thick blackness outside. The only source of light is my computer screen and the light that is on behind me. The shadows that are cast by the light are long and at the very corners of the room are the darkest spots.

Little trinkets from different Indy Car races are placed around the room. Picture frames, fake tires, and model race cars fill the room creating a race track theme. Behind the decorations is a wall cover with dark colored paneling and pictures are strewn about the room of family, friends, pets, and other things.

A Steinway piano sits in the back of the room covered in dust. It is still as beautiful as the day we brought it home. In front of it sits an antique chair that is yellowed with age. The dark grain of the wood that holds the chair up perfectly matches that of the piano.

The entire room smells of cigarette smoke and with the window open it smells of the crisp night air. Up the staircase I can hear music playing and the T.V. going. The stairs are covered in carpeting that is an off-white color. The space is truly an amazing place for relaxing and writing to my hearts content.

The cursor blinks lazily on the blank word document in front of me. Describing what I see in detail of my surroundings in front of me for fifteen minutes is akin to eating a four course meal slowly, when you haven’t eaten for days. All I want to do is devour all the scenes in my room. The lamp in front of me reminiscent of the Pixar lamp, but black, shines its light toward the window next to me; a senseless act considering the blinds on the window are open and the sun is bursting through the window. The two sources of light engage in a competition with each other for the right to illuminate my desk. On my printer to the right of me, the two lights converge mixing ever so slightly. The cool blueness of the sunlight and the warm glow of the incandescent bulb in the lamp fight for supremacy. Neither realizes they have created an imperceptible line of demarcation on the printer where the warm light ends and the cool light begins. A white piece of paper, resting blithely on the lid of the printer, acts as mediator in the dispute. Its blue lines gradually tuning a slight shade of purple where the two lights meet. As I glance at the two spectralgladiators, I’m see more than what a mere casual glance offers. I see how the two lights lend their flavors to the objects on the desk. Only a couple of feet separate the lamp from the window. A blue vase sitting sentry on the desk in front of the window reflects both contenders on each of its sides, like a tug of war being waged and the vase is the flag in the middle. On the lamp side of the vase, a warm blue the color of the sky outside glows brilliantly as if lit from within. On the window side, the sun and its cool blue drown the color of the vase, stifling it’s brilliance as if jealous of the manmade hue.

My purple pen sitting on a notepad in front of the window, looks like an old bruise about to turn green. Even my laptop cannot choose a side in this epic battle, one side a shade of black like that of my hair, warm with just a kiss of auburn; the other side a dull, lifeless charcoal. My fifteen minutes are up now. I’ve written more than I thought I could, my faithful lamp and the eternal sun looking in through my open window fueled my muse giving me reason to honor them. The cursor still blinks lazily, caring not either way who wins.

It’s amazing how you could write so much about something so simple and mundane as a lamp and make it so entertaining 🙂

Also the similes in this piece are brilliant:

“My purple pen …like an old bruise about to turn green.”

“…fifteen minutes is akin to eating a four course meal slowly, when you haven’t eaten for days.”

If you want to become a better writer, then simply follow these rules. It will give you many benefits and this is good for the writer as well. Thanks for sharing it. http://www.imantra.org/artcls.php

Another day is about to be over soon. Since there are so much to do and so much to learn and yet, so much to feel I am not sure if I want another day to be over again. Life is fast out here. I am trying to catch it as much as possible. For instance, the street that I am watching from my office window is like a silent story teller. Stories are running in a car, or bicycle, or just on their feet every second, every day. I would die to watch all those stories as a whole just like the God does. Here Samantha is bringing other files to work on right before the day is over. That means, I am full for tomorrow, too. Samantha is the secretary of our office. She is the cutest in my city, at least for me. Her wavy hair smells like the springs from my childhood. Whenever I see her I feel this blood rush on my face. God, I am trying to no be very obvious, but I can tell I am very obvious from the look her face.

My desk is messy like always, it is a sign of my great mind. Just kidding, I am lazy and forgetful. I think this job killed a big chunk of my brain. I got files from Sam and put them over the other ones on my desk.

I looked at the street one more time. Why doesn’t it seem this beautiful when I am actually in it? Maybe, I am not happy with my life. Maybe, it is time for me to make a huge change, leave the job, leave the city and start over again like a real man. No, I cannot. My love is in this office, in this city.

This room is a big office for a person. I have gorgeous paintings on the walls of my room. I spent almost an hour for this special one. The one that is front of me. I watch it like I watch TV. It is a garden in Ancient Rome. There are these heavenly girls carrying beautiful flowers to a river for a ceremony. It is the story that I made up but it is fun to think about it.

I have a coffee table front of my table and two chairs for my guests. There are expensive but fattening snacks. And there is this beautiful Persian rug that I never want to step on.

Oh God, Samantha is coming again. From the door she is talking to me.

– Honey. Don’t you want to go home? The twins are home from school already. Let’s buy some food on the way home.

I guess I forgot to tell you, I am the boss and she is my wife. We have twin daughters and a dog. I have to go now, but be back soon to tell you the rest of my story. The only story that I am watching but just like the God.

The way the sun hit the blinds I knew that it was a clear day outside, my head started to fill up with ideas of what I could do with my day. What I difference a good day can make. I glanced around my room, the first thought that came to mind was, “how am I living in the chaos”. It had look semi tidy the night before but now it was as if god was shining a light at all the clutter that was holding me back in life.

I simply jumped out, I had to..this had to be the first thing on my list. So many post it notes scattered all over my desk but not a pen in sight. As I opened the drawers, I was shocked at what I seen, had someone else been living here and just dropped everything in. The sun had done more than simply brighten up the sky, it had shone a light right on my life and I became alittle sad within. I had wanted so much in life but never seemed to follow through. So I walked towards the window and opened the blinds up wide, “What a lovely day outside” I said as the sun rays hit me in the eyes. I turn back around to face my room and could see instantly what needed to be done. Everything was going in some bright shiny new black bags.

excellent post

The noise of persistent clicking from the data analysis next me consumes the quiet office on this bright Monday morning. I’m in the zone of unproductiveness as I listen to her working hard on the numbers that might save this failing company.

My jadedness has evolved into pure lethargy for my position. I spend my days fulfilling drive-by requests while my inner designer slowly suffocates from the lack of stimulation.

Now it’s 11:02 and I finally start to hear the clock watchers pipe up from their first of many coffee injections. In 15 minutes, I’ll have my first meeting of the day where I’ll listen to the big wigs redescribed what has already been said the week before. Proving nothing has been done or produced.

It’s now my turn to speak and I exult at the attention. I say what I’ve been working on all week, and then bask in all the applauds for the work that will never see the light of day.

I love my Mum’s kitchen, the warmth, the smell, the feeling of home. I love the wonders that hide away in the white cupboards that sit on the brown tiled walls, never really telling you what she has tucked away behind the lazy suzie. I love the smell of all the spice jars, lined up so neatly in the spice cupboard over the old white 6 burner gas stove, and the natural healing books stacked neatly in the corner. All her collected items, placed neatly reflecting life, an old silver coffee pot, and a bowl of dried acorns, an antique jewellry chest next to an aged well used coffee grinder. Everything so neatly placed. You know that if you switch off the light, and sneak in the room, Mom’s kitchen would be alive, almost like a disney movie, cluttering about, opening up the doors to let all the chinaware and cutlery have their fun.

I can just sit and listen to the sound of crickets outside, as the warmth of the night air wafts into the room to enhance the fragrance of the day’s cooking, and the odd mosquito ringing in my ears…as I slap my ears in frustration.

I just love that kitchen. Often times, I will sit late into the night working on my computer, so oblivious to the sounds that they fade into normalcy. When writing everything just stops, even the clock, as if giving me limitless time to spend in my euphoric bliss.

One night, working late it was probably about 12ish, I started to hear these really strange noises, like an old plastic bottled being twisted to get the last drop of water out of it. It made me jump, not a normal sound for me to notice, so looking round I wondered where it might be coming from. Then it happened again, but this time it was like a groaning sound, almost painful as if something trying to get out of a rubbery box. It stops, I go back to writing, then, a large groan and something drops..at this point I wondered if the house is haunted, then more things dropped, like a stone knocking on it’s way down a shoot.

Then it happened..the fridge kicked in and started doing its thing, and it was at that moment that I burst into uncontrollable laughter, all this time I had a haunted fridge. Now, the fridge has become part of my nightly noise ritual, making its noise becoming almost comforting, just letting me know that everything in my Mums kitchen is alive and well.

It’s a rainy day and I am at my desk in my well-lit, small home office. In the background is my music playing-chanting the gayatri mantra, if you’re familiar with yoga or indian type of music. The air is lightly sented with Frankinsence, which I use in a diffuser to set the mood. It’s chilly this time of year, but the coziness of the rain falling outside and the chanting help clear my head and my space to access my inner guide about what I want to write about. I write because it stills the panic welling up in my throat about my upcoming talk-I have no idea where to start. Somehow, committing words to paper (or in this case, laptop screen) helps soften the urgency as the email notifications continually show up on the lower right hand corner of my screen. Occassionally, I take a deep breath, sit up tall, and look over my right shoulder where my vision board stands, freshly updated for 2016. Pictures from glossy magazines, encouraging words of inspiration, photos of my dream kitchen with white carerra marble, all gracefully attached to the cork board bekon me. I continue writing as I try to push my thoughts away. Thoughts can be so distracting. And I marvel in amazement at this online community of writers, each of us strugling in our own way. Supporting one another. If only Ernest Hemingway had such support!

I’m curled up under my blanket, hiding from the cold weather and the responsibilities of adulthood. I’m surrounded by books I love, but I cannot focus on the words. One is an unfinished work by a master, the other tells the story of humanity to a child. They lie abandoned, unloved, unfinished. But the books love me unconditionally; they will still be there, when I wake up tomorrow and the day after. I wish people were more like books. I wish I treated both better. I pick up a book and put away my starving computer, for a while immersing myself in a life that belongs to someone else, hiding once again.

I’m curled up under my blanket, hiding from the cold weather and the responsibilities of adulthood. I’m surrounded by books I love, but I cannot focus on the words. One is an unfinished work by a master, tossed carelessly on the mattress. The other tells the story of all humanity, and also doubles as support for my phone charger. The books, I know, will still be there when I wake up tomorrow and the day after. They love me unconditionally. I wish people were more like books. I wish I treated both better. I pick up a book and put away my starving computer, for a while immersing myself in a life that belongs to someone else, until I’m ready to be me once again.

Resting on my knees, I huddle over a keyboard in the dim florescent light. An obsidian black, pantry-like computer desk with swing out doors engulfs half of my body from sight. An almost angry stare is the mask I don, as I carefully punches keys formulating my thoughts on a monitor. Parallel to stairs, the boxy architecture reverberates the sounds of loud noises and laughter that is belting from joyous children and their frantic caretaker. Broken. Once again my focus fades, while my attention drifts to the bolstering requests of the grammar school aged youths and my sister’s rebuttals and appeasements. The smell of rich, starchy butter frying has my stomach churning like tiny ninja-men are doing somersaults into my acidic juices. Looking at the time, i knew it time to wrap up. Frustrated, but still confident, I resolve to submit this without to much worry.

P.S. I’m a sixteen year old kid trying to improve. Appreciate comments and/or criticisms. Thank you!

Around me, the room is in disarray. Well used textbooks with the edges slightly frayed, a red plate with the residual crumbs from a piece of crispy peanut butter toast, a half drank cup of coffee that is no longer steaming with the warmth of a fresh brewed cup, and the clutter of randomness that only comes from a room that has more than just one role.

There are shelves that reach up towards the ceiling and are attached to the stark white desk. This is the main hub of the room. On this desk, I have surrounded myself with the trinkets that have significance. Significance that is only found in the eye of the person who has history with each separate piece.There is a white canvas placed on the highest ledge with vertical blue violet stripes that hold the slight handprints of a loving niece. This canvas was made with care and is a reminder that family is near and abundant with love. A diminutive piece of wood is on one of the lower left shelves. On this piece of wood is an array of shells that were plucked with immense consideration from a nearby sandy beach. These shells were set in place with hot glue, to create a small piece of dainty art. Although, seemingly simplistic, this one piece holds so much amusement and memory of a relaxing, sunny day, that one cannot help but smile when their eyes fall upon it.

The 27 inch computer screen, with its brilliant light that illuminates the whole room when all the glow of the day has gone, is the window into the vast expanse that is the internet. Here is where I settle, after a lengthy day of scurrying at work, to escape for a while. The responsibilities shift to homework and the need to fill my sponge-like brain with more knowledge. Here, I have assignments due, deadlines to meet, content posts to finish, and responses to satisfy.

I stare at a wooden drum that has fallen on the floor. It looks like a fallen tree with it’s stout trunk resting on the ground. It seems ominous in a patch of shadow. Its brown polished exterior looks black and evil. The patch of creamy leather strung across the top blends in with the smooth tile staircase. It looks like a large nut rotting on the ground, dying.

It longs to be lifted up and beaten to produce a song of joy, but it stays on its side – its oblong shape leaning against a wall. It has furry skin stretched upon the top that looks tired and in need of being beaten.

A hot, thickly furred, yellow puppy is lying stretched out in the corner. He enjoys lying there on hot afternoons when the sun warms the ground, and the breeze slows down to only a gentle ripple in the heavy air. The droopy eyed dog curiously looks up when the door opens. The sounds of chickens clucking, faraway roosters crowing, and the husky sounds of palm leaves rubbing together seep through the door. The puppy sighs and lays back down.

Small roach infested freedom. The floor is roiled with their little corpses, along with clothes and shoes that just can’t manage to find their own way back in their places. My desk is cluttered with all kinds of ambition: the failed kind, the hopeful kind, and the raw talent kind. This room smells like bodily molding depression, damp and think. Sleeps rarily caught here and when it is, it’s catch and release. No mental health, no emotional stability, nor even a poor womans meals can be captured (ah, to be twenty something and struggling). there is order to this mess, a desperate attempt to have normalcy and pride in apartment where half of all the lights don’t work and there is a leak in every room. I almost think I deserve to be here. don’t I? it is the degraded like me, it is unhealthy and unkempt like me. I am here because every decision I have ever made led me to this apartment where my body waste from apathy and exhaustion I can almost feel my sweat and heated stickiness sew me to the couch. this poor, little, hilariously crafted Ikea couch. my apartment has a worn trail of my presence even in my absence: my ass print on that hilariously crafted couch, my mud track from the door that I am too fatigued to remove, and my holy Mecca where the entertainment is stationed. my best friends TV, PlayStation, and laptop. if my best friends aren’t working, even for a moment, my whole world goes bleak. Oh yeah, my bathroom! I forgot, i almost never go there, except to look optimistically presentable and stable in 10 minute or less. This small, roach infested, unhealthy, and unclean apartment. the outside elements ranging from barbecued aromatherapy to Houston’s infamous thunderstorms and noises ranging from childrens laughter to foreign music to hardcore f@&king can all be heard and felt in my apartment. But this is where i can afford to find solitude, even in the internal and external chaos. (P.S. these are desciptions from my first apartment ever i had a couple of years ago. Im much happier now and in dramatically better living conditions)

Amazing, the content is perfect and super quote images are used. I am always try to write specific and brief with the formula of 7 c’s. But always looking for some more tips to become better writer.

the carefully placed flower vases stood at the corners of the room reflecting images on the bare paintings. jazz music in the background as a couple walked right in chattering about what to have. A strong smell of coffee as two guys from the table of three had their pie quietly beside a beautiful stunning lady glancing at her phone typing and masticating. I stare at the guy at the corner who’s glued to his laptop and wonder what’s going on in his mind then I wonder what’s going through everyone’s mind

(I still have a long way to go. So please it will be my pleasure if any of you guys correct my errors!! And bare with my English, it is not my first language so I still find difficulty in writing the language. But I would really appreciate it if you’ll tell me new words and correct the grammatical errors^^ BTW, this blog is great!)

Everything’s quiet, just a noise coming from the fan can be heard througout the room, which has a lot of scattered clothes on the floor, a big, long brown cabinet, and a lot of things are tossed aside which makes the room a little messy than it seems.

I’m sitting and leaning into the bed’s side, while my stepmom is sound asleep.

It’s already 3:11 am, and here I am, typing and having fun with my phone. Considering that I’m a night owl, I tend to sleep late.

The air that is coming out from the fan has been stroking my hair this whole time and it’s making me feel comfortable but sleepy at the same time.

I covered my mouth as I yawned, tears starting to form on the both of my eyes.

“I should go to sleep now… It is very late. This is not good for my health.” That thought started to crossed my mind. When I think about it, that little voice is right.

I decided to follow my little voice inside my head. As soon as I did that, I turned off my phone, stood up from the floor where I was sitting before, and went to bed.

My stepmom’s sleeping position is on the right, while mine is on the left.

Variety of personal hygienes are in front of me, untill slowly, my sight is becoming blurry and dark and before I knew it, I already fell asleep.

I’m string in a warm and tall stool in my kitchen. I just had dinner . It was better than expected. Full of warm, buttery vegetables and a fried chicken that made me feel like I was having a barbecue during a warm summer day. I’m listening to my aunt, who is here for a couple of weeks from Mexico and my older brother talk about their likes and passions for board games. They are so into their conversation that I can barely hear my thoughts. I only listen, not because I don’t want to be involved but because I admire the excitement in their faces. The desire to tell it all before the topic changes.

Sue, I’m not out for your sympathy and you were never one for loser sob-stories, but my living room has gotten to be a bunker for every silent evening. Without fail, from seven to eleven, seven twilights a week, I want you to know that since you walked out, I sit buried in this armchair of dry, cracked leather. It feels brittle at my hands, and though I do know, like you always said, that it needs the special cream to restore the sheen, well Sue, I forgot where we put the special cream, and I’m too flat out to try finding the special cream, and really just too locked down to care about the special cream. I guess I should also shift myself to clear away the cup of cold coffee, the plates of cold, half-eaten toast, and straighten up the greasy remotes splayed across my chairside table, ‘cos you always were the straighten up things person in my life, but all these are just motions happening in my head now, since no-one else is here to nag me no more. With my TV on stand-by, my body’s gonna stay on hold until the final moment and the pills have done what they say they’ll do – when you take more than the prescribed amount that is. I sure hope this straightens things out for you Sue, then later on, when all the fuss has died down, maybe you’ll find where we put the special cream and get this sofa looking real nice.

The night darkens deeper. My eyes ached and dreary from a full days of jobless work. I scan my room laying crumpled on my side on a heap of blankets and tarnished, mearky yellow, flat dead lifeless pillows. No sofa. T.v. …… My hallway door half open letting through an ever so soft flow of air. A yoga mat pinned to said door, to cover up the tattered mess that lay beneith. From when i used to throw knives into it, out of determination to be a skilled warrior type man, boredom, and lack of respect for the council property i was thrown in. The mat, also a bid to encoarge the practice (yoga) that i used to reguarly partake in. A fruit basket hangs percariously and ruggishly from the ceilng dead in line where the wall would be in my open livingroom and kitchen. A small hook, hand srewed in at an angle, grips and holds the entire weight of the three tiered basket. underneith army grade green camoflaged paracord, about 18″ long, with a total disrespect for style, is tied to the hook and basket. ends burnt shut to stop the knot slipping. On the rope are three kitchen pegs one of witch my pink plastic rosemary bead necklace thron over dangling all the way Down, cross touching the three cloves of garlic and unripe mango sitting in the basket, waiting to be eaten. …. fuck im bored.. and not in a great place to write right now. This will take foreever at this rate. Describing every little thing, its emotion, description, feeling. think it would take eternity. can anyone give any pointers and is their any established writters that see any glimmer of hope in my writting.. im unexpirenced. dont think i have a style. im full of ideas. But in writting this i just feel as if im reeling off infomation like a robot. Im thinking of writting choice books as i liked them as a kid and still enjoy thwm now. Maybe do a few bloggs. *whatever that actually means . Dont think i have patience for full novels. I lack concentration and flow off into to many avenues.

On my right, there are two pale grey walls facing each other scattered with a few pictures that give me a good smirk every so often. Especially the smallest one I scored of Prince, always staring boldly at me, with purple and teal ceramic glass in the background behind him. Just shy of Prince are two quotes in the center. One reads in white letters “What happens in the mountains stays in the mountains” on a black background. The other one says in green letters “Reading is sexy.” Go figure. You could say these are a few reminders of what has keep me going and what is to come. On the far right of my desk are a few “emergency books.” These are for those days I might need a good reference to read, or maybe even for a little inspiration. Gotta keep the creative juices flowing. Shoutout to my boy, Stephen King.

The second half of my desk might as well be devoted to succulents. A couple of cacti string lights that need know batteries, hint hint. Below is an incredibly tiny mason jar, maybe the tiniest one I’ve ever seen filled with three even smaller succulents that I am still shocked can all fit inside this one jar. One cactus inside could be considered as a spiky yellow and coral tortoise shell, as I’m sure those exist somewhere on the planet. The other two are a little more normal and green. Who’s to say if they’ll ever grow as vast as their brethren on the open desert wastelands? The real question is whether or not someone can remind me to keep adding a teaspoon of water a month.

All around me I find my room to be in an exceptional disarray, although not one which is particularly surprising. The clothes which lay disorganized in the corner, thrown there unfashionably, have begone to form their own structures – ones which a particularly bold contemporary artist could perhaps bring to life in an abstract and extremely displeasing piece. Elsewhere, the story is the same: several discarded mugs sit idly by, with only a few drops of cold tea remaining in each. The sharpness of the light, powered by those environmentally-friendly LED bulbs that are all the rage these days, project an almost surgical appearance to my bedroom. My work desk, which I long petitioned to keep as a sole safe-haven from the uncompromising orderliness that stands as the rule of law in this household, is filled to the brink with useless checkered paper, large colorful binders and an uncomfortable amount of assorted school supplies. An unread letter from the conservative party sits on this same desk, next to a few books dedicated to my next week-long obsession.

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How to Be a Good Writer

Last Updated: December 12, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 17 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,185,896 times.

Want to become a good writer? Just like any other skill, writing takes time and practice to improve. You'll need to write often, keeping a daily writing habit. Writers are infamous for their self-doubt, whether they're world-renowned or just getting started. With persistence and hard work, you can become a good writer!

Writing Help

Writing Great Sentences and Paragraphs

• "Existentialism became powerful because, unlike earlier, more theoretical philosophies, it is grounded and practical."
• "Who knows how long the US would have had to fight in the Pacific without the bomb."
• "Tired of aimless wandering, Dave sat on a dusty boulder to rest. He opened his canteen, but there were only a few drops left. Tired and thirsty, his mind drifted to his past."

Christopher Taylor, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English, tells us: "You can improve your writing skills by reading a lot, reviewing grammar rules, and practicing your craft. Most importantly, aim to write simple clear sentences that make your point directly. "

• I felt tired → "My arms and muscles trembled, and my eyelids fluttered shut no matter how hard I tried to stay awake."
• Gina is a nice woman. → "Gina was the kind of woman who baked you a plate of cookies (hot, gooey, smelling like home), just because you said you had a rough day."
• To him, the city was terrible. → "He couldn't stand the city - the endless lights, the clatter of cars and pavement, the way all eyes turned downward when you looked at them as if you were the ugliest man in Manhattan and not just another stranger."

• "In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his belly, slow of foot but always plodding along, always there when you needed him, a believer in the virtues of simplicity and directness and hard labor" ( The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien).
• "Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there" ( In Cold Blood, Truman Capote).
• "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice" ( One-Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez).
• “For poems are like rainbows; they escape you quickly" ( The Big Sea, Langston Hughes).

• "Jaime was really sorry, and ran quickly over to his friend's house just to apologize."
• "What's up?" She asked, happily. "Nothing much," he answered tiredly. She picked her face absently and said, "I wanted to talk about something." "I don't have time," he responded curtly.

• Ernest Hemingway was the master of economy. It is hard to find an extra paragraph or scene in any of his short stories or books.
• Great journalism is a good way to see how each smaller part pushes the story forward. Read your favorite newspaper, but stop after every paragraph -- what did it accomplish?
• Though not strictly a paragraph, Shakespearean monologues are a masterclass in growth and power in a short span. Listen to Hamlet's famous first monologue -- note how different he is in beginning and end.

Practicing Your Writing

• When you're a beginner writer, it's best to establish a set time to write each day so you can get in the habit. As you become accustomed to writing every day, you might vary your writing schedule according to your needs.
• If you can't find room in your schedule, try getting up early or going to bed late, even if you can only spare fifteen minutes.
• It's wise to set writing goals early when starting a new piece and try your best to stick to them.

• Look online, in bookstores, or in libraries for collections of writing prompts. These are designed to give you a starting point to work from, and are often ridiculous to spark your imagination and get you started.

• If your writing projects or your narrators all sound similar, try a different style. Imitate another author, or combine the styles of two authors.
• If most of your writing is for a blog, or for one long project, take a break from it. Think of a topic that could never fit into your usual writing project, and write about it. (For a followup challenge, rewrite the piece so it could fit into your project.)

• Look for online communities such as Scribophile or WritersCafe, or search for a more niche community on a specific type of writing.
• Check your local library and community centers for information on local writing clubs.
• You could even practice writing on a wiki, such as wikiHow or Wikipedia. This lets you help people as you practice, and might be one of the largest communal writing projects you ever undertake.

• Scrapping a beloved passage and starting again can be incredibly tough, so much so that writers have been phrasing this advice as "murder your darlings" for over a century. [8] X Research source

Learning Vital Skills

• As you read, pay attention to how the writer constructs their sentences and paragraphs, particularly in sections you really like. Additionally, observe how they craft their opening line, as well as the openings and closings of each chapter.
• If you're not sure what to read, ask for recommendations from friends, or visit a library and pick a couple books from each section.

• Dictionary definitions often don't provide an intuitive sense of how to use a word. Search for the word online and read it in context to get a better understanding.

• Learn how to write without informal grammar if you are not used to formal, written English.
• If you have a question about grammar, refer to a grammar book, such as The American Heritage Book of English Usage or Strunk and White's The Elements of Style .

• You can learn how to do this by reading good examples by established writers. Pay attention to how they use the specific register, format, and purpose of that type of writing so you can do it yourself.

Completing a Writing Project, from Start to Finish

• You may prefer to keep your ideas in a digital file, such as a Word document or Google Doc. This makes it easier to develop your ideas or insert them into other documents. If you use Google Docs, you can also access your work from several devices.
• You may use this notebook or file to collect unfamiliar words as well.

• There are many types of organizational software for writers, such as Scrivener or TheSage. You could also use a simple Word document or Google Docs. With Google Docs, you can access your writing from any device.
• It's fine to deviate from your plan, but if you abandon it entirely, stop and consider the reasons behind the chance. Build a new plan to guide you through the altered work, and keep you thinking consciously about how you want to get through it.

• In the case of fiction writing, you may be able to dive in to the first draft before you start your research.

• Give yourself time between writing and editing, if at all possible. It is better to wait a good length of time, but even a short break can give you some of the necessary distance and detachment to edit well.

Expert Q&A

• Sometimes your first drafts are fantastic. There is a common myth that your first drafts are terrible. This may be true because you have made spelling and grammar mistakes, but may not be true with regards to your written content. Thanks Helpful 13 Not Helpful 0
• Prepare yourself to receive rejection letters from publishers. Instead of being hard on yourself as a result, take them as constructive suggestions on what you can do better. Thanks Helpful 11 Not Helpful 0
• If you have a good idea, give it away for free. Giving away your free ideas is what great writers do. If you only give away your mediocre or copied ideas, then you are just like every other writer on the planet. Give away your best ideas and you will become a great writer. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/writing-clearly-concisely
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/specificity-in-writing/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/transitions/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-improve-writing-skills/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/getting-feedback/
• ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/kill-your-darlings-the-importance-of-editing-1.1877120
• ↑ http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/10/18/_kill_your_darlings_writing_advice_what_writer_really_said_to_murder_your.html
• ↑ https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_nature_makes_you_kinder_happier_more_creative
• ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/mar/02/best-advice-writers-read
• ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/for-students-and-parents/how-to-increase-your-vocabulary.html
• ↑ https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/audience/
• ↑ https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/words/avoid-jargon/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/brainstorming/
• ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/skillswise/planning-your-writing/z46nqp3
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/07/improve-writing-skills
• http://www.writingforward.com/better-writing/writing-habits

About This Article

The best way to be a better writer is to practice writing every day. Set aside a time each day for writing, even if it’s only 15 minutes. Set writing goals for each session, and stick to it. For instance, your goal might be to write 1 page a day every day for a year. If you can’t think of anything to write, describe something that’s in the room with you, or look up writing prompts online for ideas. After you’ve been writing for a few months, challenge yourself to tackle a new writing style or genre to help you improve even more. For tips from our writing reviewer on improving your grammar, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How To Become a Better Writer? 10 Easy Ways That Work Fast

Here is a guide to answering the question of how to become a better writer.

Several readers recently emailed me, asking: “How can I become a better writer?”

Learning how to become a better writer (or even a good writer) depends on what level you’re at, what you write, and what becoming a better writer means for you.

For example, great writers like Stephen King may think success means topping the New York Times best-seller list.

(Suffice to say, Mr. King did not email me.)

Success for a new writer could mean getting published in a magazine for the first time.

Years ago, success for me meant writing pretty little sentences.

These days, my answer to how to become a better writer means helping readers (more on that in a moment).

But first, here’s what I recommend:

1. Decide What Type of Writer You Are

2. set a realistic short-term goal, 3. publish your work early and often, 4. combine writing with another skill, 7. practice, 8. take on different types of writing projects, 9. grammar check and proofread your work, 10. track your word-count, the final word: how to become a better writer, how can i improve my writing craft, how can i become a good writer fast, what to study to become a writer.

For years, I wondered:

Should I write fiction or non-fiction?

What types of fiction should I write?

And how do I balance both types of writing?

(I even tried writing erotic fiction.. the less said about that, the better.)

In 2015, I published a novella for the first time, but these days I only write non-fiction.

That same year, I attended a class by the writing coach Robert McKee. I asked him: ‘How do I decide what to write?” and he told me:

Write what you love to read.

I went home and opened up my Kindle library. It was full of creative non-fiction, memoirs, self-help, and business books.

Since then, I haven’t looked back.

Now, I’m not saying you must pick between fiction and non-fiction.

That’s my choice.

Ask yourself:

What genre do you love reading? What types of books are you excited about reading?

Because what you read and write go hand-in-hand.

If it’s fiction or creative writing…

Do you read thrillers, romance novels, science fiction , or some other genre?

If it’s non-fiction…

Do you read self-help, memoirs, business books, or some other genre?

Each genre has conventions.

And to become a good writer within a genre, you must master them.

While you can write across genres, it’s easier to master one genre first before trying a second or a third.

Recently, I coached a new writer in his early twenties. He was struggling to balance writing with the rest of his college work.

He told me, “I just can’t seem to make time for writing.”

I get it. I didn’t make much time for my writing either while in college.

I was too busy avoiding lectures, going to the pub, and sleeping off hangovers.

Now, for this new writer, cultivating a daily writing habit is a realistic short-term goal.

So, he could decide:

Every Monday to Friday at eight a.m., I will sit down at my desk and write for fifteen minutes about a single topic.

On the other hand, a more experienced writer may not have trouble getting motivated to write . Instead, she may be struggling with perfectionism.

She may think:

My ideas aren’t good enough. Nobody will ever want to read this. I still need to get this chapter right.

I’ve been guilty of that one, too.

So, for her, a realistic writing goal could be:

I will find an editor to work with by the end of this month, and I will send him/her my drafts as I finish them.

It’s not enough to send your writing to your wife, husband, or admiring best friend. They’ll probably tell you they love it.

Finish more first drafts. Spend a little time polishing them up and rewriting the awkward and clumsy parts. Condense, remove and clarify what you can. But don’t spend months working and revising the same piece.

Get feedback from potential readers and other writers. It’s the quickest way to improve and become a good writer.

If you write non-fiction, you could become a better writer by:

• Starting a blog 
• Publishing your articles on Medium
• Writing guest blog posts for other sites related to your niche.

If you write fiction, you could become a better writer by:

• Publishing chapters or stories on the social media network Wattpad
• Joining a local creative group
• Entering a fiction writing competition

I hate to break it to you but:

There’s little chance we’re going to become Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or Malcolm Gladwell successful.

Those writers are in the top 1%, and there’s not much room up there for anyone else.

That doesn’t mean you can’t become a better writer and find success.

In Tools of the Titans, Tim Ferriss interviews the creator of Dilbert Scott Adams.

(I did say I love non-fiction)

Scott says:

Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix. … At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world.

As a writer, you’ve got the ‘communication’ part down… so combine it with learning the basics of marketing.

It’s easier than it sounds, too.

Figure out what your readers want and what they are willing to pay for.

Well, get on the phone with them and ask.

Study the book charts within your genre on Amazon.

Publish extracts of your work online and gauge the reaction.

Start an email list.

Then, write something that combines what readers want with what you’re passionate about.

5. Learn the Different Elements of Your Craft

For years, I used to think becoming a good writer meant lining up pretty little sentences in a row.

I spent hours reading print-outs of my short stories. I wondered if I’d picked the right verbs, learned basic grammar rules , and killed enough adjectives.

Oh, the horror.

One day, I’ll atone for all the paper I wasted by planting a small forest.

Sure, these writing tips are effective, and I still self-edit first drafts , but I often ask a line-editor for help.

Depending on your genre and who you’re writing for, you may need to:

• Write a compelling headline or book title.
• Tell a captivating story .
• Write a spell-binding introduction or conclusion.
• Transition from one idea to the next
• Optimize your article for search engines like Google
• Break up your writing so it’s suitable for digital readers.
• Reconsider the relationship between reading and writing
• Combine writing with an understanding of SEO so people can find your work

Learning how (and when) to do all of these things is hard work. Thankfully, you can choose from many online writing courses  and hone your craft from the comfort of your house or apartment.

I also recommend the various creative courses on Masterclass and CreativeLive.

That brings me to…

6. Get the Professionals In

If you’re an amateur writer with no intention of earning an income from your craft, write for yourself.

Professional writers – i.e., those who get paid because they’re good– work with editors. The best writing emerges from the work of many, rather than one individual.

They know the answer to the question, “Do I need an editor” is almost always a resounding YES!

It costs several hundred dollars to hire an editor to work on a draft of a book. Their critical feedback will help you fix problems in your book faster than trying to do it alone.

They’ll also help you improve your writing style.

Stephen Pinker, the author of The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century , writes:

I often find that when a ruthless editor forces me to trim an article to fit into a certain number of column-inches, the quality of my prose improves as if by magic. Brevity is the soul of wit, and of many other virtues in writing.

Now, if you can’t afford to hire an editor, reframe the expense as an investment in your business or your education.

If that doesn’t work, offer to critique another writer’s story in exchange for a critique of yours.

Or work out an agreement with an editor whereby they review your work on a chapter-by-chapter basis.

(If you write non-fiction, Kibin is a useful service for this).

If you want to know how to become a better writer, the biggest tip I can give you is “practice writing.”

So, how do writers “practice” writing?

Write journal entries.

Write articles.

Write blog posts .

Write thrillers.

Write awful erotic stories that you’re embarrassed to bring up in articles like this.

Write for money.

Write for yourself.

Write because it hurts.

Write for the hell of it.

Practicing your craft consistently is key to improving.

Time in the chair will help you gain mastery over your craft and get your technique down .

If you write in the same genre or medium all the time, you’ll inevitably improve. However, writing outside of your comfort zone is instructive because you can combine lessons from different genres or mediums and create something more original.

Professional writers rarely confine themselves to a single genre or medium, despite what their marketing teams would have you believe.

Stephen King writes everything from science-fiction to horror to thrillers. Ernest Hemingway wrote short stories, literary fiction, and personal essays.

Say you want to get into blogging. Well, learning how to write web copy will help with capturing the attention of readers. Similarly, if you want to improve your communication skills, learning how to write speeches will help a lot.

… or get help from someone who can. 

Typos are annoying, yes, but it’s easier than ever to fix them today. You can always republish a blog post or upload a new copy of your book to Amazon. I also like using good grammar checker so I can find and fix errors more easily.

That said, if you’ve written something longer, work with a professional proofreader and copyeditor as they will spot mistakes you’ve probably missed.

The business author Peter Drucker said:

What gets measured gets managed

Although he described the situation in many businesses, writing isn’t any different (especially if you want to get paid to write).

Set a target word-count goal each day and track your progress in a spreadsheet. Don’t worry too much about typos and other common grammar mistakes at this stage; you can fix them later.

Tracking your word-count will help you see if you’re progressing or not. This information will help you hold yourself to account.

When you get to the self-editing stage, revising and writing well is more important than aiming for a word-count. So, track how many hours you spend working on a piece rather than a specific word-count goal. 

Work hard at your craft every day.

Write every single day if you can.

Learn from your creative heroes.

Publish your own work and get feedback from readers.

Learning how to become a better writer isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

I like studying the approaches of other writers and authors I admire to learn more about their style and approach to the craft of writing. I discovered that learning how to become a better writer takes time and discipline. Writing apps help too!

However, if you put the hours in on the chair and spend mental energy on your craft,  you’ll get better at telling stories, writing non-fiction, and selling your books or articles.

Do the work.

That’s all there is to it.

Image Credits

• Scott Adams: SF Gate
• Stephen Pinker: By Steven Pinker (Rebecca Goldstein) [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

FAQs About How to Become a Better Writer

Write every day for at least 15 minutes. Keep going until you finish a first draft of your article, story or book. Then, rewrite it at least three times until you’re relatively happy with the draft. Next, show it to an eagle-eyed friend or another writer and ask for feedback. After reviewing their suggestions, publish or submit your work. Finally, start writing something new.

The fastest way to improve your writing skills is to practice every day until you reach a basic level of competency. Write as if you’re sending a letter to a friend. Use the active voice, specific and every day language. Eliminate jargon and imprecise language from your work. Rewrite your work two to three times. Get feedback early and often. Then, move onto something new.

Many writers have backgrounds or formal training in english, media, communications and journalism. You don’t need a degree to become a better writer though. Study the classics. Read books by masters of the craft like Ernest Hemingway, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King. Study how they tell stories and convey ideas with economical language.

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

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Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

How do you become a writer? The short answer is: anyone who writes is a writer. However, becoming a writer who’s serious about their professional career requires lots of work, and if you’re wondering how to become a professional writer, you’re ready to start the journey towards a productive and successful literary career.

You don’t need a degree to be a writer, nor do you need to be a certain age. Becoming a writer simply requires an admiration for—and a longing to create with—language. So, don’t worry about becoming a writer later in life or lacking a formal education. (That’s what Writers.com is here for!)

No one can teach you how to admire the written word, but the instructors at Writers.com are experts at turning longing into language. That’s why this article covers everything you need on how to become a writer. From the personal to the professional, let’s dive into everything writers need to build a successful literary career .

Everyone Can Become a Writer

Even today, there’s a persistent myth that writers are elite, born-with-it Ivory Tower folks who possess some ineffable gift of the Muses. Yes, some great writers were born with greatness, but anyone who calls themselves a writer does so because they labor with the written word.

Becoming a writer simply requires an ardent exploration of language.

In others words, you don’t need an MFA from the University of Iowa to call yourself a writer. Becoming a writer simply requires an ardent exploration of language. If we had to boil a writer down to three requirements, it wouldn’t involve age or degree. The 3 traits for becoming a writer are:

• Passion for the written word,
• Desire to expand the boundaries and possibilities of language, and
• Willingness to grow and learn continuously.

Many writers who have these traits stop themselves from writing, because they’re wondering how to become a writer without a degree. Now, writers certainly benefit from a university education or a family legacy in literature, but countless writers have acquired respect and success without a degree or name recognition.

Ernest Hemingway never went to college, but he still won a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize; neither did Maya Angelou attend university, yet she’s celebrated as the “black woman’s poet laureate” and later accepted a professorship with Wake Forest University. Degrees are just paper; it’s words that matter.

It’s Never Too Late to Become a Writer

Becoming a writer has no age restriction; the act of writing is rated G for the General Public, and those 3 aforementioned traits are found in writers from ages 2 to 99+.

Many writers discover their writing talents in their later years. Why, exactly? Neurology reveals there are two types of intelligence : fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. “Fluid” refers to creative and adaptive thinking, including activities like writing and problem solving. “Crystallized” refers to the solidified body of knowledge people draw from—all the words, definitions, and experiences that build a foundation for the world.

Generally, younger adults have more fluid intelligence, whereas life experience builds one’s crystallized intelligence over time. The two intelligences tend to converge in a person’s 40s, since this is an age where the faculties for fluid intelligence haven’t declined, and crystallized intelligence abounds. Not-so-coincidentally, many writers see their careers flourish in their 40s and 50s!

Many celebrated writers didn’t put pen to paper until middle age or later.

In fact, many celebrated writers didn’t put pen to paper until middle age or later. Laura Ingalls Wilder didn’t start writing until her 40s, and her Little House series didn’t start printing until she was 65. Likewise, Most of Wallace Stevens’ work was published after he turned 50; despite being a poet, he worked at an insurance company, and most of his coworkers were shocked when he won a Pulitzer at 75. Nobody knew that he wrote!

Finally, many university students return for a writing degree after establishing a career elsewhere. BFA and MFA programs around the world educate students in their 30s and beyond; in 2017, the average age of a low-residency MFA student in the U.S. was 35.4, according to LitHub and AWP .

Whether you’re 19 or 90, you’re never too old to write. The best time to write is yesterday; the second-best time is today.

Where to Begin your Writing Journey

Rather than an If-Then structure, the writing profession follows a Became-Because structure.

How do you become a writer? Where do you begin? The writing profession is unlike most professions, which follow an If-Then structure. If you get a bachelor’s degree, Then you can work as a nurse, computer scientist, or accountant; If you join a worker’s guild or apprenticeship program, Then you can find work in a number of trade jobs.

The writing profession follows a Became-Because structure. Zora Neale Hurston became a writer because she obtained degrees from Howard University and Barnard College, encouraging her to dissect the African American experience through a literary and anthropological lens.

Conversely, Haruki Murakami became a writer because of a baseball game .

The qualifications for becoming a writer are unique to the individual, and every writer is formed by personal interests and experiences. As a result, no one can tell you where to begin your writing journey; however, if you’re wondering how to become a writer, you’ve already started your journey by thinking about it.

If you’re wondering how to become a writer, you’ve already started your journey by thinking about it.

How to Become a Professional Writer: What “Professional” Means

One distinction to help you think about your writing journey is the difference between amateur and professional writers. If you’re not sure what you want to become, start with the following question: what does “professional” mean?

There are, generally, two classes of writers: amateurs and professionals. Before describing the professional writer, let’s be clear: “amateur” is not derogatory, and professional writers are not “better” than amateurs. Amateur comes from the Latin amator , “lover.” An amateur writer loves the written word just as much, sometimes even more, than the professional; amateurs simply have less pressure, deadlines, and financial dependence on writing. It’s a pastime, not a career.

If you want writing to be a significant portion of your income, then you aspire to being a professional writer.

If you want writing to be a significant portion of your income, then you aspire to being a professional writer. Professional writers have to approach their writing as a business, building a literary audience and keeping a regular writing schedule. Professional writers need to understand the ins and outs of the publishing industry—which they often learn through obtaining a university degree—and it also helps to have formal training in the publishing world and experience operating literary magazines.

How do you start to work toward becoming a professional writer? Below are resources to get you started.

Some Resources for Becoming a Professional Writer

At some point, the professional writer needs to know the ins and outs of writing as a business. This list covers the essentials of how to become a professional writer.

How to make money as a writer

• Explore freelance writing opportunities (updated weekdays at F.W.G.)
• 6 writers explain how they make money (NY Mag)
• Self-publishing versus traditional publishing (Self-Publishing School)
• Writing to market (Funds For Writers)

Taxes as a self-employed creative

• Taxes on freelance writing and royalties (TurboTax)
• Tax tips and unique situations (The Balance Careers)

Resources on publishing

• Poetry journals
• Fiction journals
• Creative nonfiction journals
• How to get published in a literary journal (Reader’s Digest)
• Book: What Editors Do by Peter Ginna ($25 at UChicago Press)

Becoming a writer online

• Basic guide to each social media platform (Kindlepreneur)
• Building an author’s website (The Write Practice)
• Free website template for authors (Copyfolio)
• Running a mailing list (Your Writer Platform)

Things to know before taking writing classes

• Poetry courses
• Fiction courses
• Creative nonfiction courses
• Why take a writing course?

Additional resources for learning how to become a writer

• Setting SMART goals
• Reading like a writer
• The golden rule: show, don’t tell
• Overcoming writer’s block

Becoming a Writer: Developing a Writing Habit

How do professional writers spend their workdays? Perhaps the trickiest part about becoming a writer is establishing a writing habit. For example, Haruki Murakami runs a 10K every morning to support his writing, and Charles Dickens wrote (and slept) facing north to improve his creativity.

Perhaps the trickiest part about becoming a writer is establishing a writing habit.

What works for one person rarely works for another, so experiment with writing habits—and when you find one that works, stick with it.

Generally, you can parse the writing business into 3 separate components:

• The writing life—putting pen to paper at regular intervals.
• Scheduled time for “the business of writing”—literary submissions, applying for grants, etc.
• An active media presence—blogging, tweeting, emailing, etc.

You’ll want to schedule time for each of these elements in your daily writing habit. Of course, this is easier said than done. Budding writers often overestimate their ability to work: they think they can spend 3 hours writing, 2 hours replying to emails, and 2 hours submitting work to journals. Then they spend the afternoon watching reruns of BBC quiz shows. (Yes! I did do this recently.)

That’s why forging a consistent writing habit is essential—for amateur writers as well as professionals. Writing at the same place at the same time encourages your brain to write every day. And, if you can’t keep yourself focused on writing, try experimenting with different writing rituals. If a 10K helps Murakami write, something equally unique could help you, too.

Take Your Next Step with Writers.com!

The classes we’ve curated in our upcoming schedule will take your writing life to the next level. Whether learning a new writing style or mastering the business of writing, becoming a writer feels a whole lot simpler with Writers.com.

Sean Glatch

11 comments.

Brilliant review Misty

I hope, I can be a better writer with your support.

Yeah. Same thing as with all other fields. Practice, practice, and once again, practice! It’s like a sport, you should always find new ways to practice.

This really helped me out. Thank you so much!

I’m 14 and i hope to become a writer someday. Thank you so much for the info.

Thank you for the information About to start my writing journey and thus really helped.

I’m a senior that would like to turn my love of writing into a profession. The information you have presented here has inspired me to continue moving towards that goal.

I live in a rural area of Uganda with very little education but always aspired to write a book on families. I am much encouraged. started it but got stuck ..

I love writing and thank you for information you have given meand am obliged to say thank.

i am very eager to become a writer be that script know how or fiction. i am a sponge for knowledge so i learn as i work. i treat everyday as a school day. i want to learn every single part of the writing career-be that if the editor drinks tea or coffee and how they like there papers folded. i soak information as i do a task. i love to build the bullet points for a story because everything needs a beginning. if you are baking a cake the eggs and flour are needed before you think about putting anything in the oven. to prepare a cake you need a tray to put it in-before you build a story you need a starting and then ingredients to put in along the way. i really love to build a story from different snippets of things. i have a thirst for many different aspects of life having spent a majority of time in hospitals and then being taken advantage of my my family because of my brain injury. so i know more than most in a lot of different subjects and matters in life, i have lost more than most in life but i am here telling my version of it to the big bright world. 0874762400 is my contact number

Discovering the path to becoming a writer is both exhilarating and daunting. It requires a blend of passion, persistence, and honing one’s craft. From mastering the art of storytelling to navigating the intricacies of the publishing world, the journey demands dedication and resilience. Embrace every word written, every rejection faced, for they are stepping stones on the road to literary success.

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How can AI help us become better writers?

In this lesson, students compare AI and human-generated texts to analyze the affordances and limitations of large language models. They’ll score, guess origins, and discuss differences, then decide which aspects to adopt or avoid in their writing. The lesson culminates in a discussion of what aspects of the AI-generated writing students should emulate in their own writing and what aspects they should avoid.

• AI & Writing

Digital Materials

• Teacher guide
• Student worksheet
• How Can AI Help Us Become Better Writers?_ Slides
• How Can AI Help Us Become Better Writers_Model Texts_Teacher Version
• How Can AI Help Us Become Better Writers_Model Texts_Student Version

After this experience, students will be able to

• Evaluate model texts using a rubric.
• Hypothesize which texts are AI-generated using evidence to justify their position.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of AI-generated texts in order to reflect on how they can improve their own writing.

Questions explored

• How can we distinguish AI-generated text from human writing?
• What are the strengths of  AI-generated text? What are the weaknesses? 
• What elements are present in human writing that are not present in AI writing and vice versa?
• How can we apply these learnings to our own writing?

• Share full article

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How Exercise Strengthens Your Brain

Physical activity improves cognitive and mental health in all sorts of ways. Here’s why, and how to reap the benefits.

By Dana G. Smith

Growing up in the Netherlands, Henriette van Praag had always been active, playing sports and riding her bike to school every day. Then, in the late-1990s, while working as a staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, she discovered that exercise can spur the growth of new brain cells in mature mice. After that, her approach to exercise changed.

“I started to take it more seriously,” said Dr. van Praag, now an associate professor of biomedical science at Florida Atlantic University. Today, that involves doing CrossFit and running five or six miles several days a week.

Whether exercise can cause new neurons to grow in adult humans — a feat previously thought impossible, and a tantalizing prospect to treat neurodegenerative diseases — is still up for debate . But even if it’s not possible, physical activity is excellent for your brain, improving mood and cognition through “a plethora” of cellular changes, Dr. van Praag said.

What are some of the benefits, specifically?

Exercise offers short-term boosts in cognition. Studies show that immediately after a bout of physical activity, people perform better on tests of working memory and other executive functions . This may be in part because movement increases the release of neurotransmitters in the brain, most notably epinephrine and norepinephrine.

“These kinds of molecules are needed for paying attention to information,” said Marc Roig, an associate professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University. Attention is essential for working memory and executive functioning, he added.

The neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin are also released with exercise, which is thought to be a main reason people often feel so good after going for a run or a long bike ride.

The brain benefits really start to emerge, though, when we work out consistently over time. Studies show that people who work out several times a week have higher cognitive test scores, on average, than people who are more sedentary. Other research has found that a person’s cognition tends to improve after participating in a new aerobic exercise program for several months.

Dr. Roig added the caveat that the effects on cognition aren’t huge, and not everyone improves to the same degree. “You cannot acquire a super memory just because you exercised,” he said.

Physical activity also benefits mood . People who work out regularly report having better mental health than people who are sedentary. And exercise programs can be effective at treating people’s depression, leading some psychiatrists and therapists to prescribe physical activity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week is a good benchmark.

Perhaps most remarkable, exercise offers protection against neurodegenerative diseases. “Physical activity is one of the health behaviors that’s shown to be the most beneficial for cognitive function and reducing risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia,” said Michelle Voss, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Iowa.

How does exercise do all that?

It starts with the muscles. When we work out, they release molecules that travel through the blood up to the brain. Some, like a hormone called irisin, have “neuroprotective” qualities and have been shown to be linked to the cognitive health benefits of exercise, said Christiane Wrann, an associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School who studies irisin . (Dr. Wrann is also a consultant for a pharmaceutical company, Aevum Therapeutics, hoping to harness irisin’s effects into a drug.)

Good blood flow is essential to obtain the benefits of physical activity. And conveniently, exercise improves circulation and stimulates the growth of new blood vessels in the brain. “It’s not just that there’s increased blood flow,” Dr. Voss said. “It’s that there’s a greater chance, then, for signaling molecules that are coming from the muscle to get delivered to the brain.”

Once these signals are in the brain, other chemicals are released locally. The star of the show is a hormone called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or B.D.N.F., that is essential for neuron health and creating new connections — called synapses — between neurons. “It’s like a fertilizer for brain cells to recover from damage,” Dr. Voss said. “And also for synapses on nerve cells to connect with each other and sustain those connections.”

A greater number of blood vessels and connections between neurons can actually increase the size of different brain areas. This effect is especially noticeable in older adults because it can offset the loss of brain volume that happens with age. The hippocampus, an area important for memory and mood, is particularly affected. “We know that it shrinks with age,” Dr. Roig said. “And we know that if we exercise regularly, we can prevent this decline.”

Exercise’s effect on the hippocampus may be one way it helps protect against Alzheimer’s disease, which is associated with significant changes to that part of the brain. The same goes for depression; the hippocampus is smaller in people who are depressed, and effective treatments for depression , including medications and exercise, increase the size of the region.

What kind of exercise is best for your brain?

The experts emphasized that any exercise is good, and the type of activity doesn’t seem to matter, though most of the research has involved aerobic exercise. But, they added, higher-intensity workouts do appear to confer a bigger benefit for the brain.

Improving your overall cardiovascular fitness level also appears to be key. “It’s dose-dependent,” Dr. Wrann said. “The more you can improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, the better the benefits are.”

Like Dr. van Praag, Dr. Voss has incorporated her research into her life, making a concerted effort to engage in higher intensity exercise. For example, on busy days when she can’t fit in a full workout, she’ll seek out hills to bike up on her commute to work. “Even if it’s a little,” she said, “it’s still better than nothing.”

Dana G. Smith is a Times reporter covering personal health, particularly aging and brain health. More about Dana G. Smith

Let Us Help You Pick Your Next Workout

Looking for a new way to get moving we have plenty of options..

To develop a sustainable exercise habit, experts say it helps to tie your workout to something or someone .

Viral online exercise challenges might get you in shape in the short run, but they may not help you build sustainable healthy habits. Here’s what fitness fads get wrong .

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Is your workout really working for you? Take our quiz to find out .

To help you start moving, we tapped fitness pros for advice on setting realistic goals for exercising  and actually enjoying yourself.

You need more than strength to age well — you also need power. Here’s how to measure how much you have  and here’s how to increase yours .

Pick the Right Equipment With Wirecutter’s Recommendations

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The best new science fiction books of April 2024

There’s an abundance of exciting new science fiction out in April, by writers including The Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu, Douglas Preston and Lionel Shriver

By Alison Flood

1 April 2024

The last remaining free city of the Forever Desert has been besieged for centuries in The Truth of the Aleke

Shutterstock / Liu zishan

There are some huge names with new works out this month: Cixin Liu and Ann Leckie both have collections of shorter writing to peruse, plus there’s a dystopic future from the award-winning Téa Obreht and a world where woolly mammoths have been brought back from the bestselling Douglas Preston. I also love the sound of Scott Alexander Howard’s debut The Other Valley , set in a town where its past and future versions exist in the next valleys over, and of Sofia Samatar’s space adventure The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain . So much to read, so little time…

A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu

This is a collection of short works from Liu, the sci-fi author of the moment thanks to Netflix’s new adaptation of The Three-Body Problem , ranging from essays and interviews to short fiction. I love this snippet from an essay about sci-fi fans, in which he calls us “mysterious aliens in the crowd”, who “jump like fleas from future to past and back again, and float like clouds of gas between nebulae; in a flash, we can reach the edge of the universe, or tunnel into a quark, or swim within a star-core”. Aren’t we lucky to have such worlds available to us on our shelves?

3 Body Problem review: Cixin Liu's masterpiece arrives on Netflix

Cixin Liu's novel The Three-Body Problem has been turned into an eight-part series for Netflix by the Game of Thrones team. There is much to admire so far, but will the adaptation stay on track, wonders Bethan Ackerley

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie

Leckie is a must-read writer for me, and this is the first complete collection of her short fiction, ranging across science fiction and fantasy. On the sci-fi side, we will be able to dip back into the Imperial Radch universe, and we are also promised that we’ll “learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls” in a brand-new novelette.

The Morningside by Téa Obreht

In a catastrophic version of the future, an 11-year-old girl arrives with her mother at The Morningside, once a luxury high-rise, now another crumbling part of Island City, which is half-underwater. Obreht won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011 for her debut, The Tiger’s Wife .

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

Samatar won all sorts of prizes for her first novel, A Stranger in Olondria . Her latest sounds really intriguing, following the story of a boy who has grown up condemned to work in the bowels of a mining ship among the stars, whose life changes when he is given the chance to be educated at the ship’s university.

A boy grows up working in a mining ship among the stars in The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

D-Keine/Getty Images

Extinction by Douglas Preston

This is set in a valley in the Rockies, where guests at a luxury resort can see woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths and Irish elk brought back from extinction by genetic manipulation. But then a string of killings kicks off, and a pair of investigators must find out what’s really going on. This looks Jurassic Park -esque and seems like lots of fun. And if you want more mammoth-related reading, try my colleague Michael Le Page’s excellent explainer about why they won’t be back any time soon.

Mania by Lionel Shriver

The award-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin brings her thoughts about so-called “culture wars” to bear on her fiction, imagining a world where a “Mental Parity Movement” is in the ascendent, and “the worst thing you can call someone is ‘stupid’”.

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

This speculative novel is set in a town where, to the east, lies the same town but 20 years ahead in time and, to the west, the same town but 20 years behind, repeating endlessly across the wilderness. The only border crossings allowed are for “mourning tours”, in which the dead can be seen in towns where they are still alive. Odile, who is 16, is set for a seat on the Conseil, where she will be able to decree who gets to travel across borders. I love the sound of this.

The best new science fiction books of March 2024

With a new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mars-set romance from Natasha Pulley and a high-concept thriller from Stuart Turton due to hit shelves, there is plenty of great new science fiction to be reading in March

What If… Loki was Worthy? by Madeleine Roux

Many will question whether the Marvel superhero stories are really science fiction, but I’m leaning into the multiversal aspect here to include this, as it sounds like it could be a bit of fun. It’s the first in a new series that reimagines the origins of some of the biggest heroes: here, Thor died protecting Earth from one of Loki’s pranks and, exiled on our planet, the Norse trickster god is now dealing with the consequences.

The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi

The second book in the Forever Desert series is set 500 years after The Lies of the Ajungo , following a junior peacekeeper in the last remaining free city of the Forever Desert, which has been besieged for centuries. It was actually out in March, but I missed it then, so I’m bringing it to you now as it was tipped as a title to watch this year by our science fiction contributor Sally Adee.

Anomaly by Andrej Nikolaidis, translated by Will Firth

It is New Year’s Eve on the last day of the last year of human existence and various stories are unfolding, from a high-ranking minister with blood on his hands to a nurse keeping a secret. Later, in a cabin in the Alps, a musicologist and her daughter – the last people left on Earth – are trying to understand the catastrophe. According to The Independent , Nikolaidis “makes Samuel Beckett look positively cheery”, but I’m definitely in the mood for that kind of story now and then.

Martin MacInnes: 'Science fiction can be many different things'

The author of In Ascension, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, on why he wrote his novel, cultivating a sense of wonder and the role of fiction in the world today

Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton

In this techno-thriller, Mal is a free AI who is uninterested in the conflict going on between the humans, until he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary and becomes responsible for the safety of the girl she died protecting.

• science fiction /

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Sponsored content | crews battle duplex on fire in lansdowne, sponsored content, we’ve identified the top seven online essay writing services, picking only the cream of the crop based on a multitude of genuine reviews and comprehensive research from our side..

PaperHelp has very high customer service ratings, with a 4.7 out of 5 rating according to more than a thousand reviews as of April 3, 2024. Ease of use, quality of custom papers, and value for money are the most-cited reasons for the high ratings given to the company by undergraduate students.

We consider PaperHelp to be the best essay writing service in the United States and beyond due to the consistently high quality, originality, and value for money it provides to its customers.

The company allows the customer to be involved in the paper-writing process from its very beginning. You can get updates from the writer, review the essay while in progress, and request free revisions if needed. You get three revisions for free, which is usually more than enough to get the required result.

PaperHelp offers a variety of writing services, including essay, research paper, thesis, and dissertation writing for every level of academia.

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• Great value for money, affordable
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• Most essential extras are paid and expensive
• It takes quite some time to find a suitable writer for Master’s degree assignments

No matter the level of academia you are working in, PaperHelp can provide high-quality, original, written-from-scratch, plagiarism-free essays at a great value. We highly recommend PaperHelp to students as the top college essay writing service in the United States.

    2. BBQPapers — The Best Essay Writers, Premium Service

BBQPapers offers high-quality research papers and essays, plagiarism-free, and a high level of customer service. In addition, the company claims to have professional-level editors in the top 2% of academic excellence write and review your essays.

BBQPapers have a process whereby each paper is checked against the web and its own database for originality. BBQPapers also offers free revisions within ten days, accurate citations, professional editing, and a 60-day money-back guarantee.

BBQPapers offers incentives in the form of loyalty program discounts and a “pay as you go” zero-interest plan option for projects priced over $500. The company also offers standalone editing and proofreading services and custom services for odd academic assignments.

This service guarantees security and confidentiality to its customers and guarantees the quality of the papers it produces for students.

Pricing is around $6 per 100 words, with editing and proofreading priced separately as standalone services. This is a bit pricey for writing services in the United States compared to the others we reviewed.

• The best quality among all essay services, writers are Ph.D. and M.A. degree holders
• Extra long money-back guarantee (60 days)
• Pay as you go option for expensive papers
• 99% of the writers are native speakers of English
• Essential add-ons are free
• Prices are above average
• Writing samples are not available

Customer satisfaction with BBQPapers is high. Students appreciate the quality and security this essay service offers to them and have been largely pleased with the final results, garnering good grades for their submissions.

   3. MyAdmissionsEssay — The Best Service for Application Essays

Even though the name suggests that this company specializes solely in admission essays, this website offers writing assistance with various academic tasks to all levels of academics, from high school to Ph.D.

In addition, this professional essay writing service boasts a pool of diverse writers with a variety of language skills. Your paper will be written from scratch by a well-educated writer in that particular field of interest. College papers are delivered quickly, as soon as 3 hours turnaround time.

Students may give specific instructions and have access to the writer during the process, as well as opportunities for revision to get the paper edited to their satisfaction.

This company guarantees confidentiality, safety, and plagiarism-free original content written according to scholars’ instructions.

MyAdmissionsEssay has some great reviews on the site, but there are not many available. Customers appreciate the quality of the writing and the quick delivery times.

The pricing of this essay writer service is competitive and affordable, and the service offers 24/7 online support to its customers. The company’s online pricing table is transparent and easy to navigate.

• Best and affordable option for personal statements
• Professional editing & proofreading service
• Quick turnaround
• Truly confidential service
• Limited payment options, the service doesn’t accept PayPal
• Minor typos and grammar errors found in final product

This service seems best for personal statements and simpler essays. Some customers complain of minor mistakes or formatting errors, and students dislike the limited payment options offered by MyAdmissionsEssay.

   4. WritePaperForMe — The Cheapest Paper Writing Service

WritePaperForMe made our list because of its reputation as a truly cheap essay writing service with good quality and customer support.

This service provides the best value for money. If you’re a student on a budget, this is a great service to consider for a simple and original essay with fast delivery at an affordable price.

WritePaperForMe promotes customer-centered service with round-the-clock support as well as free revisions to get your paper exactly where you want it before you submit it. This essay writing company also offers complete confidentiality to college students using its essay services.

Using WritePaperForMe is safe because it has been rated 4.8 out of 5 stars for customer satisfaction, according to hundreds of customer reviews on SiteJabber and other review platforms. In addition, most reviews state that students received good results. Generally, quality and efficiency were also highly rated, but mostly with simple requests.

WritePaperForMe is a place where you can hire a cheap essay writer who is knowledgeable enough to write a short, simple essay that you just don’t have enough time to write yourself.

This site has hundreds of writers online and takes pride in the speedy delivery of good-quality papers. The WritePaperForMe website also provides quite a few essay samples listed by category. Students have free access to these essays and excellent customer support for ordering the perfect paper to suit their needs, regardless of topic.

Some customers complained that some of the writers struggled with research-intensive assignments like research papers and dissertations, but the general response to this service was positive.

• Quick and truly affordable
• Great customer service
• Might not be the best option for anything but essays
• Plagiarism report is a paid add-on

We would advise hiring a more professional paper writing service for more in-depth and important papers. WritePaperForMe might not be ideal if you need someone truly knowledgeable to work on your STEM research/term paper, thesis, or dissertation.

   5. GradeMiners — The Fastest Writing Service

This college paper writing service has gone through some changes over the last couple of years. With time, customer reviews of this site are becoming better and better.

GradeMiners is striving to improve its quality, and it shows. This academic writing company is getting high ratings for speedy delivery, updated satisfaction guarantees, and incentives for return customers.

Those incentives are now present in the form of daily discounts and exclusive email offers for return customers who sign up for the newsletter, something that wasn’t available back in the day.

In addition to academic writing services, GradeMiners also offers homework help and problem-solving assistance for high school and college-level students.

This service has fewer professional college essay writers than other sites, and the company generally employs ESL writers. This service offers writing in everything from academic papers to thesis and dissertations.

GradeMiners offers a money-back guarantee as well as free revisions for up to 30 days. The company received a 4.6 out 5 customer rating and claimed to deliver 70% of its orders earlier than the specified deadline.

In spite of claims, discounts, and guarantees, reviews on some services are mixed. Pricing is of great concern because there is no dedicated pricing table for services.

• Great option for rush orders and last-minute papers
• Extra long revision period of 30 days
• Writers are professional enough to handle most papers
• The prices are somewhat high
• Mostly ESL writers

Overall, GradeMiners prices out as a more expensive option than other comparable services. For some students, the trade-off for fast delivery makes it worthwhile.

   6. EssayPro — One of the Most Popular and Reliable Services

EssayPro offers features and perks that other essay writing websites do not. For example, it allows you to browse its writing staff and choose your own writer based on their academic qualifications, areas of interest and expertise, as well as past customer ratings and reviews.

Once you’ve chosen your paper writer, you have access to free unlimited editing, a free title page, and around-the-clock customer support.

EssayPro is certainly a legit essay writing website that offers professional services and has the best reputation for quality, security, and customer satisfaction.

In addition, the company guarantees confidentiality and anonymity so that no one ever knows that you outsourced your essay.

Some customers complain that this service is overpriced, but we found EssayPro to be quite competitive in terms of price. Papers with a shorter return time will be more costly. The more lead time you give, the more writers will garner you a break on the price.

Access to the writer during the process and unlimited editing capability make EssayPro one of the most highly regarded and popular college essay writing services out there.

• Popular and trusted site
• There’s an option to choose your writer yourself
• Round-the-clock support
• No phone support
• Isn’t the best option for theses and dissertations

To make its services affordable, EssayPro mostly hires ESL writers with excellent academic credentials, giving customers a pool of talent to choose from and making the best fit possible for the subject matter being addressed.

   7. EssayNoDelay — Legit Writing Service for ESL Students

EssayNoDelay is a reputable college essay writing service that comes highly recommended. It is an international company based in Bulgaria that employs hundreds of writers, most of whom are ESL.

The company provides excellent customer service via live chat and email. Turnaround times are fast for delivery, but customer service response to student emails can take up to a week, even for emergent requests.

This service, out of all the ones we reviewed, has the deepest discount for first-time customers and returning requests, but you can expect to pay significantly more for subsequent orders.

This online paper writer service has decent pricing but could do better by adding loyalty programs or better discounts for returning customers.

The quality of work from EssayNoDelay is generally good, and reviews are positive. This service boasts that 91% percent of its clients have returned to place more than 5 orders. Most complaints are with regard to minor grammatical or formatting errors in the work.

This company guarantees to provide an original, plagiarism-free paper, with a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee on its work.

• The best loyalty program among other sites
• Good quality
• Mostly caters towards ESL students, it’s hard to find a writer from the U.S., the UK or Canada
• While first order is cheap, repeat orders are way more expensive

EssayNoDelay has proven to be a cost-effective custom essay writing service that provides professional writing assistance to students at all levels of academia.

Paper Writing Services: Common Questions, Answered

How long does it take to have my essay written for me.

Depending on your chosen service, your essay can be written within hours, days, or weeks. The longer the lead time you allow for some services, the deeper the discounts. You can expect to pay more for rush orders.

The complexity of the paper you order can also impact the turnaround time. If you need to monitor the process, make suggestions to the writer, edit the work, or request revisions after the paper has been produced, it will add time to the process.

We suggest you don’t wait too long to place your order, there are sometimes unexpected issues that can delay the delivery of your paper, and since deadlines and due dates in academia are mostly fixed, it’s up to the scholar to make sure there is enough time for the professional writer to complete the order including proofreading, editing, and revisions if required.

It’s recommended that you keep in contact with the writing service and the hired writer, in particular, to make sure that everything is to your satisfaction to avoid delays.

The responsibility falls to the student or scholar to ensure that essays are submitted to teachers and professors on time with all requirements met regardless of academic level.

Will my essay be written by a professional essay writer?

Some of the reliable essay writing services we have listed hire professional writers at all levels of academia.

Most services will allow the customer to choose the writer based on their field of expertise, academic credentials, and customer reviews posted on the website.

In addition, most websites enable the customer to select either a Native English speaker/writer or an ESL expert.

Some colleges consistently check students’ writing styles, so if you’re an ESL student, it makes sense to hire an ESL writer so that your paper only stands out a little from your own writing.

The most popular sites profile the college essay writers who are the most requested and most highly reviewed to promote them to customers.

Other services will assign the best essay writer based on the type of paper, subject matter, and level of academia needed to complete the task.

All of the services we reviewed guarantee their results and hire experts who are true professionals in their fields or have the academic experience to write with authority on the subject they specialize in.

Most of the services allow you to monitor the process. If communication is an issue, or if you are unhappy with the results, their guarantees allow you to substitute another professional to satisfy your requirements.

How much does it cost to purchase an essay?

If we’re talking about undergraduate writing assignments, the typical price for a single page is about $11-20. It usually varies depending on how fast you need your essay written. On average, a typical three-page college essay written in three days will cost you $50-110.

We advise you to be wary of some cheap essay writing services selling papers for prices lower than $9. While the price may seem appealing, it’s best to steer clear of such sites because they hardly ever deliver papers of subpar quality, let alone high-quality, plagiarism-free essays.

Is it safe to buy essays online?

Yes, you can be reasonably certain that buying papers and essays online through any of the academic writing companies that we have reviewed here will be safe and secure. By using any of these sites, your personal data will be kept confidential and fully protected.

Your school should never learn that you hired an online essay writer to produce a paper for one of your classes. This is a valid concern when employing a writing service to write a paper for you. The possibility that your teacher or professor will learn that you bought your paper online is small.

Here’s the thing. The only way these college paper writing services can continue to thrive and stay in business is to keep student data confidential and safe. Most of them post a security and confidentiality guarantee on their websites. Some students opt to give a pseudonym or merely their initials to help guarantee themselves anonymity.

The companies we mentioned in this review keep their databases secure and do not sell or share student data. In most cases, they have a customer satisfaction guarantee which covers security and quality.

If a company is offering a 100% money-back guarantee, you can wager that they are doing their utmost to avoid giving any refunds.

Are online essay writing services legit?

As with any kind of service you employ, it’s always a case of “buyer beware.” The responsibility falls on the customer to do their due diligence in choosing a reputable and honest and online essay writing service from which to purchase papers.

However, be wary of basing your decisions solely on customer reviews, as many of these companies are plagued by scores of negative reviews from scam sites provided by rival essay writing companies.

Look for well-established websites with a large pool of writers, and be sure to utilize the live chat feature that is on most of the websites, to ask the questions that are pertinent to your situation.

You want to be sure that you employ a writing service with professional paper writers who specialize in your field of study. At the higher levels of academia, you need to be sure that the writers have the academic experience and credentials to produce the quality level required for a thesis or dissertation.

When special formatting and citations are required, you will need to do diligent interviewing of your essay writer to be assured that they are able to produce the quality of content that you require.

What if I am not satisfied with my paper?

The majority of the services you will consider have a process whereby you get edits and revisions for free within a specified period of time after the completion of the work.

In some cases, future edits and revisions will be charged a fee.

Many services also offer a customer satisfaction guarantee which means that the expert essay writer you engage (that the service contracts with) promises to revise the finished product to your satisfaction, or you are entitled to 100% of your money back.

We understand that it rarely goes to that extreme. Most of the time, you will be able to obtain a final product to your satisfaction on the first try, even without asking for a revision.

If you want to achieve that, please provide the most descriptive order instructions that you can. This way, you can avoid the revision process and save yourself and your writer some time.

Part of making sure that the best outcome is to choose a writing service that employs proficient and professional essay writers in your area of study and that you give clear and explicit instructions as to the formatting, citation, and style of essay you require.

We also recommend that you check in regularly with your writer throughout the process so that you may be able to catch any issues that may arise and be able to correct them right away.

What are the main drawbacks of essay writing services?

The main drawbacks of using companies that write essays for you are the expense and the risk of discovery. While most essay writing services online are not too costly, getting into larger projects with extensive proofing and editing can become expensive, especially on a student’s budget.

While these sites generally guarantee security and confidentiality, there is always the chance that your professors/teachers may notice a change in the quality or style of your essays and figure out that you purchased the work rather than producing it.

The other drawback of using the services of essay writing websites is that you don’t benefit from the work the same way you would have if you had done the work.

If you are doing the research and the citations, you will be enriched by the process and gain knowledge in the subject from doing the work.

Using a writing service only gives you the benefit of the result, the grade, or the points you gain, rather than a more profound knowledge of the subject matter.

This has the potential to trip you up later in life when you may be called upon for that knowledge in your field of study and lack the expertise because you paid someone else to do the work.

Professional essay writing services fill a need in providing writing assistance to students at all levels of academia, but they should only be used infrequently and in urgent or timely situations where the student or scholar is unable to provide a quality essay on the subject assigned.

We understand that there are circumstances where a writing service can be a real lifesaver. Still, we caution students not to abuse these services or use them as a replacement for acquiring knowledge in their chosen field of study. Instead, when the need arises, choose a reputable service that guarantees good quality work.

The news and editorial staff of the Delco Daily Times had no role in this post’s preparation.

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Introducing AI+, the ultimate AI chatbot assistant built on OpenAI technology. With AI+, you can quickly access the power of ChatGPT on your phone and get instant help with your work, school, or even personal needs. At work, AI+ has got you covered - whether you need help with email, copywriting, brainstorming, summarizing text, or writing project proposals. For school, AI is your convenient and instant learning assistant. It will act as your tutor or draft essay writer. The app can provide you with expert advice and guidance to help you achieve your academic goals. AI+ is also incredibly fun and useful for your personal life. You can get dating advice, meal plans with shopping lists, or write poems and songs. It will even listen to you and give support without judgment. AI+ is designed to be your go-to assistant for all your needs, no matter how big or small. So why wait? Download AI+ today and experience the power of AI in the palm of your hand. Features: - Conveniently access the power of ChatGPT from your phone - Work help (email, copywriting, brainstorming, summarizing notes, writing project proposals) - School help (essay writer, tutor) - Personal help & fun (dating advice, meal plans, shopping lists, write poems and songs, listen to you and give support without judgment) - Text to voice speech - Easy-to-use chatbot interface Do not enter personal information. May generate offensive or dangerous content. AI+ is not liable for content generated. Terms of Use: https://www.aipluschat.com/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.aipluschat.com/privacy-policy SUBSCRIPTION PRICING & TERMS AI+ is free to download. - Subscribing to AI+ Unlimited gives you unlimited access to the app - There may be various subscription options and prices available. Check the up to date details in the app before purchasing. - Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of your subscription - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and at the cost of the chosen package - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication - At the end of your subscription, you will be able to keep any content that your received while your subscription was active

Version 4.8.2

New AI avatar voices are now available!

Ratings and Reviews

10.8K Ratings

ChatGPT helping students with language deficits

Young students and adult learners who struggle with language deficits find the help they need by using ChatGPT. They are free to write what they want to express using their own language without the handicap of struggling with debilitating issues of their disability. They are able to express their thoughts and ideas and feelings with freedom, dignity, independence and confidence. Their work can be edited by ChatGPT and presented back to them with corrections and suggestions allowing them to make choices and allowing them to be heard as they intended it to be. This is a magnificent tool for anyone with a language deficit disorder, it offers them independence dignity and freedom from the constraints of their disability. Dr. P.

A Disappointing Mac Experience for AI Chat

As an avid user of AI Chat on my iPhone, I was excited to try out the Mac version, hoping for a seamless transition between devices. Unfortunately, my experience with the Mac version has been far from satisfactory. Over the past week, I have encountered numerous frustrating issues while attempting to get the Mac version to function properly. It is disheartening to see that the same results I am used to on my iPhone are not replicated on my Mac. I had hoped that using AI Chat on my Mac would alleviate the constant need for copying and pasting between devices, but it has only added to the inconvenience. I sincerely urge the developers to address the issues with the Mac version promptly. It is crucial to provide a consistent and reliable experience across all devices and platforms. The current state of the Mac version hinders its potential and leaves users like myself feeling disappointed. On a positive note, I must acknowledge the effectiveness and efficiency of AI Chat on the iPhone. Its functionality and convenience have greatly enhanced my productivity. The ability to copy and paste my review from the iPhone app for this very review is a testament to its usefulness. In conclusion, while AI Chat remains a valuable app on the iPhone, the Mac version requires significant improvements. I hope that the developers take immediate action to fix the issues and provide Mac users with the seamless experience they deserve.

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

Wow! And I mean wow! This is an amazing app! I had no idea what I was going to write as a plea for votes in a beauty contest! I was reaching out to my Facebook, family, friends, and neighbors asking for votes in a beauty contest, that I recently entered. All the proceeds from the contest go to help fight breast cancer at a loss for words, as to how to put it all together A1 said what I couldn’t! Amazing app download it believe it or not you’ll use it more times than you can imagine! Five star rating from this grateful beauty contestant!

NOW AVAILABLE

App privacy.

The developer, Curious Creators Co. , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Used to Track You

The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:

• Identifiers

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

• User Content

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

• Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

English, French, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Turkish

• AI+ Pro $6.99
• AI+ Pro $49.99
• AI+ Pro $89.99
• AI+ Pro $24.99
• AI+ Pro $9.99
• AI+ Pro $29.99
• AI+ Pro $31.99
• AI+ Pro $7.99
• Developer Website
• App Support
• Privacy Policy

Family Sharing

Some in‑app purchases, including subscriptions, may be shareable with your family group when family sharing is enabled., more by this developer.

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