Look, no matter what anyone says, writing is hard. There are so many things to think of, it takes tons of practice to get it right, and even when you know everything there is to know about writing, there’s still more to learn. Because yes, even in this age of “anything goes,” I believe there’s still a difference between good and bad writing. The only difference is that now, bad writing gets published and is sometimes even praised! 

That doesn’t have to be you, though. Whether you’re a novice writer or you’ve been writing for decades, we can all use a refresher on some writing basics every now and again. While I have many, many, many writing tips to offer (just read through my hundreds of blog posts!), after some thought, I boiled the basics down to these five things that can improve your writing immediately. Spoiler alert: the opposites of these are the most common things I see wrong in bad writing! So if you get these things right, your writing is probably pretty good already. 

1. Be concise

This is one of the most popular pieces of writing wisdom out there (although I’ve saved the best for last—don’t peek!), but it’s true. I’m very guilty of babbling, both in writing and in speech, which is why Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:7-8 always come to mind when I think about conciseness: “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Even God appreciates conciseness!

The point holds true in writing: your writing won’t be known for how much you’re able to say, but how you say what you need to say. No one wants to parse through a jungle of words to get to the point. When we read, we want to be captivated. Words shouldn’t get in the way of what you’re trying to say. Think about this: do you remember the exact wording of phrases from your favourite book? Probably not (apart from perhaps a few quotes), but you certainly remember what it was about, don’t you? You remember the lessons, themes, and characters that most greatly impacted you. A book is truly great when the words are “invisible” and bring the most important parts of the story to the fore. 

So learn how to write concisely. Practice explaining a concept in as few words as possible. It’s a fun exercise!

(Read more on conciseness here!)

2. Learn correct grammar

You’d be very surprised at how many seasoned authors still don’t have a clue about grammar!

To my dying breath, I’ll always say that to be a great writer, you also have to be a great grammar-er. (Pardon my bad grammar, but you get the point.) You must know your language inside and out to be able to write it flawlessly. You don’t want to be wondering about where to put the quotation marks or which version of “lay” to use when you’re in the middle of constructing an epic battle scene, do you? 

Many people think, “It’s fine, my editor will catch that.” But, first of all, even editors make mistakes—yes, even in some of the biggest published books out there! Second of all, with self-publishing becoming more popular and preferable to traditional publishing, you might prefer to save some money and self-edit if you get good enough at it. And if you do hire an editor yourself, it’ll cost you a lot less if your book is well-edited to start with (take it from a freelance editor!). 

The bottom line is that you need to know the basics before you can truly write masterfully. Don’t skip out on grammar!

(Read more on grammar here and here!)

3. Read your dialogue out loud

We’ve all been there in the movie theater, haven’t we? That moment when a character says something on the big screen and you just cringe because… Did someone really write that in the script? 

Good dialogue can be difficult to grasp. It’s a piece of cake for some and an endless struggle for others (remember—we all have our own strengths and weaknesses!). For those who find their writing often criticized by “stilted,” “unrealistic,” or “cheesy” dialogue, the feedback can be a huge shock because most of the time, they don’t even realise there was a problem with their dialogue. It’s not any fault of theirs, just the way their brain works. 

So if you’re caught in the dialogue trap, how do you know if what you write actually sounds good? There’s a very simple solution: read it out loud! It’s even better if you have someone to read it to. Even if it’s difficult for you to tell what good dialogue sounds like, you’ll almost always know the answer when you actually say it out loud. 

And even for those who don’t struggle as much with dialogue, your writing can still benefit from this! I’ve often found that reading dialogue out loud helps me to hone in on each character’s voice and tweak certain words and phrases to make the dialogue even better. 

4. Don’t forget your theme

You all saw this one coming, didn’t you? You could say that my whole theme for this blog is don’t forget your theme. Similar to what I said in the first tip, it’s not really the words that matter as much as what message the words are conveying. Without a theme, without intention to tie everything together, your words don’t mean much—it’s just babbling!

If you truly want to make an impact with your writing, take time to think about what you want to teach people before you write. It doesn’t matter what it is—a book, an article, a script—every story needs a theme. It won’t be memorable or meaningful without one!

(Read more about theme here and here—and in pretty much every other post on my blog!)

5. Show, don’t tell

Ha! I told you that you’d love this one! 

While this is without a doubt the most overused writing tip in the history of ever, that doesn’t make it any less true. To make your writing engaging (and therefore get your theme across to your readers), you must learn the art of “showing.” Despite the popularity of this adage, I still see so many writers trying to get away with only passive writing. Consider these examples: 

• “Harry was happy.” 
• “Harry jumped for joy, clapping his hands as a wide smile spread across his face.”

Which one do you like better? Yep. Me, too. 

“Show don’t tell” is the one exception to the conciseness rule. While you can certainly be concise while showing, sometimes, it might take some extra words, and that’s okay. 

The key is balance. Good paragraph structure tells us that the best-case scenario is to have a mix of long and short sentences so that they don’t all sound the same. So yes, sometimes you will simply tell! “Harry was happy” might be perfectly acceptable in certain contexts. 

The moral of the story is that showing is key to creating something that people actually want to read—but don’t be afraid to use a passive sentence every now and again.

(Read more about “show don’t tell” here!)

What writing tips do you think are the most important? Let me know in the comments! I always love to hear your thoughts. And if you need any further guidance on these five writing essentials, look into my book coaching and feedback services. They start at just $10!

Happy writing!
—E.J.

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Photo by Zan on Unsplash