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Writers: 10 Subreddits to Find Writing Tips You Need

As Maya Angelou said, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I’m sure that everyone reading this has had plans of writing, be it a story of personal heroic exploits, amazing dreams or life experiences. However, most of us are held back by a lack of writing experience and a lack of a general idea of how writing actually works.

Apart from those two factors, there is a third essential one: lack of opportunity to practice . If you are looking for guidance and direction to help take your writing skills to the next level , look no further than Reddit. It is home to a wide range of communities and even more subscribers, each contributing, critiquing, and encouraging each other to be master of the word.

Here are 10 writing subreddits every writer should subscribe to.

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1. /r/writing

The /r/writing subreddit is a general writing hub where the process of writing is discussed . It’s where suggestions, tips, and anything connected to writing are submitted by users and discussed by redditors. It’s the perfect place to get your "writing” gears running.

There is a weekly critique thread that is stickied at the top of the subreddit in case you want others to read your work. In short, /r/writing is a place for you to share tips, news articles , and anything related to writing for the community to read and enjoy.

2. /r/DestructiveReaders

This particular subreddit is dedicated to having your work deconstructed , mercilessly. The problem with most readers is that they hold back on giving critique – mostly because they think that they are not in a position to do so, since they aren’t writers themselves.

This makes it difficult for writers to develop themselves, since more often than not, they are being cushioned with fluffy commentary . This subreddit gives you an opportunity to have your work critiqued with all honesty and skepticism that a writer deserves .

3. /r/writingprompts

Writing Prompts is perhaps my most favorite writing subreddit. It is a breeding ground for creative prompts and short stories – and several times redditors found themselves writing full-length novels and getting published because of this community.

If you have a creative mind that you must set loose, go to this subreddit daily and try to write your own stories , or pitch your idea for a story for others to build up on. Who knows, a prompt here might just be the story you are looking for to write all along?

4. /r/CharacterDevelopment

Some of the most important parts of any literary piece are, without a doubt, the characters. A novelist can have a flawless writing style, but if the characters are flat and without any dimension, the piece will be about as memorable as a fly on a wall.

This subreddit focuses on developing your characters, providing a platform for exchanging critique and suggestions when it comes to building believable characters .

5. /r/WorldBuilding

This applies to fiction writers who prefer to build a world of their own instead of using real-life places, mostly for fantasy and science fiction writers. World building is an important aspect for these writers, it is the world in which their characters move around in.

This subreddit is the perfect place to discuss such matters – from actual world building, which entails setting up rules of the newly conceived world down to the tiniest of details that may affect the entire plot of the story.

6. /r/WriterMotivation

Every writer, without an exception, will encounter a writer’s block , sooner or later. It is the most terrible thing that any writer can experience. Imagine overflowing with ideas, only to find that no matter what you write down, it just can’t seem to flow , or perhaps you simply don’t have the "juice” to keep on writing .

This subreddit is aimed towards motivating writers to keep on writing, find their mojo, and ultimately get through their writer’s block .

7. /r/Screenwriting

If you’re aspiring to be a writer for a television network or you simply want to write for a film , /r/Screenwriting is the place for you.

Here, you can discuss screenplays, techniques, share and find resources , and basically have a merry time talking about anything that is related to screenwriting.

8. /r/PlayWriting

Writing for the stage is an art itself. Playwrights can share their work for thoughts and critique , submit resources for others and interesting articles to discuss, and generally talk about anything that has to do with the magical world of stage plays.

9. /r/ReadMyScript

And after you’re done with the previous subreddits and have come up with your own script, feel free to post it here for honest discussion, suggestions, and critique . This is much like the /r/DestructiveReaders subreddit, only for scripts (but you can also cross-post your script on /r/DestructiveReaders for maximum exposure).

10. /r/SelfPublish

The dream of every writer is to have their work published . Back in the day, you had to rely on a publishing house for this to happen – and you had to brave many painful and bitter rejections before you would finally hold a masterpiece in your hands. Most writers didn’t even get that far.

However, nowadays, because of the internet, and mostly because of Amazon, independent writers can now unleash their stories out onto the world without the bureaucracy .

Bonus: Genre-Specific subreddits

Most writers have this specific niche that they feel most comfortable in – their true genre, so to speak. Agatha Christie had mystery and crime novels, Edgar Allan Poe was the father of horror, Christopher Moore has the knack for comedy – sooner or later every writer finds their own genre.

To help in developing with whichever genre you’re working on, there exist several subreddits that can cater to your needs.

• /r/fantasywriters
• /r/comedywriting
• /r/WritersOfHorror
• /r/scifiwriting
• /r/crimewriters

As an additional tip, you can cross-post on other subreddits as long as you follow their rules. Generally, smaller subreddits like the ones mentioned above don’t get much attention unless you redirect readers to them . Cross posting is simply submitting the link of your original post to a different subreddit.

Writing is the most beautiful way to lose yourself. It gives birth to new worlds, to haunting characters, and to stories so captivating you may lose sleep just thinking about it. Everyone who has a dream can write, all they need is a little fuel to keep the passion burning , support, practice, and the preserverance to rough it out through the publication process .

Now that you have a starting point for where to go for your writing needs, feel free to tell us in the comments about your own experiences and successes as a writer .

Read more: 20 interesting Reddit communities to get lost in

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A Beginner’s Guide to Reddit: How to Get Started & Be Successful

This guide will help you learn more about what Reddit is, who uses it, what makes it different, and how to successfully get started on Reddit.

In this Reddit guide, you will learn what Reddit is, why it is such an important social platform, and what makes it different than all the other social platforms.

You will also learn what you need to consider in order to successfully get started on Reddit.

What Exactly Is Reddit?

Reddit is a social media platform, that allows any individual to create and manage their own community, which Reddit calls a sub-reddit.

The entire platform is a social aggregation site, where individuals curate content they either find around the web or create themselves.

They then submit it to their sub-reddit to allow other Reddit users to ability to comment, discuss, and ultimately vote on the content, pushing the most popular content up to the top of the page and moving less popular content down and out of view.

When logged out, Reddit’s front page shows a slightly filtered view of all “safe” communities, organized by most popular from top to bottom.

When logged in, the front page of Reddit shows you all the sub-reddits you have joined, again in order with most popular content from top to bottom.

Now that we have covered what Reddit is, let’s cover some of the key differences you need to understand about Reddit, to have success on the social media giant.

What Makes Reddit Unique?

Put aside for a moment, that Reddit has been responsible for:

• Shaping the Internet culture as we know it today.
• Creating many of the memes.
• Helping pave the way for crowdfunding.
• Creating the interview format we know today as AMAs.

As marketers, our goal is to get in front of potential customers, with a message that’s compelling enough for them to make a purchase, remember our brand, and potentially tell all their friends and family about us.

Reddit is unique in that of all the social aggregation sites that started this whole social media thing, it is the only one that has survived, continued to grow, and stayed true to its audience.

Not to mention it is one of the only social media sites around today, where people are not simply trying to catch up on friends and family or pass their time in a Starbucks line.

Instead, Redditors are looking to learn, read, and debate all the important issues in their life.

In fact, it is estimated that 32% of all Americans are on Reddit every month, with over 430 million monthly visits and over 30 billion screen views per month. Of that around 82% are English speaking and 60% from the U.S.

Furthermore, Reddit hosts an audience that is pretty evenly split between male and female, with 78% college educated, on average 35 years old, and with a median household income of $92,500 a year.

The audience is so potentially valuable, that the likes of Bill Gates, Snoop Dogg, Toyota, and a large number of celebrities, influencers, companies, and politicians, can be found regularly participating on Reddit.

However, for anyone to have success on Reddit, it is important to understand what makes Reddit unique and different from all the other social media platforms.

Every Subreddit Has Its Own Rules

Sure there are some basic overall Reddit rules, but these tend to focus on things like don’t hack the site, don’t post people’s personal details, don’t break the law, etc.

However, each individual Subreddit you want to participate in also has its own rules and they are more often than not super unique and specific to the Subreddit.

For example, you may be considering submitting your recent Infographic to /r/dataisbeautiful, which is one of the most popular Subreddits with over 13 million subscribers. However, the rules clearly state ‘no infographics or other unautomated diagrams.’

You have to clearly review and consider a Subreddit’s rules, when determining if you are going to participate in that community.

Not following the Subreddit’s rules will get you quickly banned and there is little to no tolerance for this.

Use a Pseudonym

Just about everyone on Reddit uses a pseudonym, including the founders, the admins (people that work for Reddit directly), and the moderators (the individuals who run the Subreddits).

Unless you are planning to create a branded account, for running ads, managing a profile, or creating your own branded Subreddit, then you should use a pseudonym when creating your username.

That said, even if you make a branded account, I highly recommend you make a second account with a pseudonym to engage and participate in the various communities outside of your branded account.

Don’t worry… Reddit allows you to make multiple accounts, so long as you do not use them to try to game their voting algorithms.

Understanding Reddit’s Algorithm

Reddit uses a combination of upvotes and downvotes, scaled logarithmically, to determine the popularity of content within both Subreddits and the front page of the site.

If you are not familiar with logarithms, think about it like this: The first 10 votes have the same impact on your submission as the following 100 votes do and those 100 votes have the same impact as the next 1000 votes, and so on.

What this means is that your first 110 votes are likely your most important votes and really determine how successful your submission will be.

This does not mean you should try to game the system and force those initial votes.

Reddit is extremely good at detecting this and it will likely get you Silent Banned.

It is important to understand though, so you can put the extra work into making sure your Title / Description is accurate and quality, as well as possibly getting a good comment or two to help the tone of your submission start of positive.

Become a Redditor

I know it may sound like common sense, but seriously take the time to really become a Redditor, so you can understand the platform, its features, and its users.

• Find the Subreddits you are passionate about so that you can better understand the conversations happening. Become familiar with the intricacies from one Subreddit to another and participate with a sense of authority around the topics and discussions you already understand.
• Take the time to really understand all the features Reddit has to offer, including settings options and the various sections of your profile.
• Learn the Reddit language, so when you are engaging in each Subreddit, you sound like you belong. Trust me, there are a lot of Reddit terms and phrases you definitely do not know but should if you want to have success on Reddit. Check out this handy Reddit Lingo Guide .
• Become familiar with the rules… not only for  Reddit itself , but also for each of the specific Subreddits you decide to join or participate within.

Comment, Comment, Comment

Commenting is probably the most important aspect of being a Redditor and fitting into the communities.

In fact, not commenting or replying, can mark you as a spammer if you are not careful.

Take the time to comment on threads in Subreddits you are passionate about and if you really want to hack the comment karma game, check the rising tab for threads on their way to becoming popular on Reddit and comment early.

You Might Be a Spammer If…

Unlike many social platforms, Reddit has an interesting take on what makes someone a spammer and it is not likely what you think.

Here are some of the things that could make you a spammer on Redditor:

• Submitting your own content is pretty obvious. Note that Reddit has always had a 9:1 rule, where about 10% of your submissions are allowed to be your own content. Also note that you can always submit content to your own Account and any Subreddit you control, without a penalty for breaking the 9:1 rule.
• If you do not comment or reply to comments on your submissions.
• Submitting off-topic content to a Subreddit.
• Submitting too much to a Subreddit, regardless if you own the content or it is high quality.
• Submitting content that keeps getting downvoted, but you continue to submit it anyhow.
• Submitting the same content to multiple Subreddits.

The Right Subreddits

Again, it is really important to join a couple of Subreddits that you are really passionate about, but after that, you are likely to start looking for Subreddits that you want to join for marketing purposes.

You want to have success with your content in these Subreddits, so let’s talk about some important elements to consider when picking the right Subreddits.

Find Subreddits Your Content (Or a Competitor) Is Already Performing In

To do this, use the site:domain.com parameter in Reddit’s search.

You will be shown a number of results for content from that domain and you can review the various subreddits to determine where the content has been regularly submitted to.

Once you have identified a few Subreddits, update your search to add in the Subreddit specific parameter; subreddit:nameofsubreddit , to see the selected content that was submitted to just that Subreddit.

Now just click on the content and see that users have interacted positively and then add it to your list of potential Subreddits to join.

For example, if I searched site:searchenginejournal.com , I would notice a lot of submissions in the Technology Subreddit, so I would then update the search to say site:searchenginejournal.com subreddit:technology , to see that domain in the Technology Subreddit only.

Check the Rules in the Sidebar for Each Subreddit

Check the rules in the sidebar for each Subreddit you have identified and make sure that the rules are conducive to the strategy you have in mind.

If you want to submit your URLs, but there is a Subreddit rule against the submission of URLs, then that Subreddit is not right for you.

Identify Up & Coming Subreddits

Consider identifying up and coming Subreddits, with open source tools like  RedditMetrics .

Getting in early on an up and coming Subreddit could open doors for your content to be more accepted, as well as the potential for you to become a moderator of that Subreddit.

The Best Content to Submit

Now that you have joined all your ideal Subreddits, both for passion and for marketing, you want to consider what content is going to perform the best in each Subreddit.

• Click on the TOP tab in each Subreddit, to see all the content that has reached the very top position in that Subreddit. You can filter the time period you want to review, but definitely consider each and every top submission, as it is the content the users in that Subreddit have voted the best at one time or another.
• Do that site:domain.com parameter in Reddit’s search again, using your own domain and competitors, to review all the content that has performed in the past. Use this as a baseline for content to select or create (and I recommend considering creating content just for Reddit).

Don’t Try to Game Reddit

It is understandable that while participating on a site where the success of your content is based on the number of votes you get, to want to consider a way to improve your chances by getting more votes.

However, I can promise you that in almost all scenarios, the risk of having your domain (and possibly your account) getting banned forever is not worth the short-lived success of gaming your way to the front page (if it even works).

Reddit has always taken a strong hand when it comes to fighting spam or attempts to game the system.

They are willing to ban ten people just to catch the one that might be breaking the rules and they have a number of anti-spam and anti-gaming systems that do a really great job at catching and penalizing you and your content for trying.

There are plenty of opportunities to market on Reddit without trying to game the system, so avoid the temptation and just focus on having success on Reddit the right way!

Image Credits

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita All screenshots taken by author

Managing Partner / Owner at Search Engine Journal with over 18 years experience in Digital Marketing, specializing in Reddit, Search ...

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How to Learn to Write by Reading

by Monica M. Clark | 47 comments

A pop-up bookstore opened up next to my job, full of used books. One antsy afternoon, I took a stroll around the store looking for anything on my “to-read” Goodreads list.

That’s when I found it: Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them . This helpful book shares how we can learn to write better by reading intentionally.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but I’m already inspired and am dying to share what I’ve learned so far.

Read to Learn How to Write

No, really. Read to learn how to write.

Yes, a writer should read, out of principle. But Prose (that has to be a fake name, right?!) tells us we can actually learn how to write by reading . That's how people figured it out before workshops or writing conferences were available: by studying the craft of their predecessors.

One reason Prose likes this technique, compared to writing classes or workshops, for example, is that it focuses on writing done well rather than on everything you did wrong.

It seems so obvious, but this basic premise alone (to learn to write from reading) had an impact on me. It made me want to devour all the books on my list and engage in this purposeful reading.  It was exciting!

Read Closely

If you’re going to learn by reading, you’ll need to read closely. If you're excited about reading like me, you may be tempted to speed up.

Don’t do that. Don't speed up. Rather, slow down. Read every word. After all, Prose reminds us, words are the “raw material” from which literature is crafted. At the end of the day, good writing depends on a writer’s a skill in choosing one word instead of another.

Next time you read, ask yourself, what sort of information does each word choice convey? And more importantly, read the words that are written!

Keep the Greats Close

There are some writers that endure the test of time. I’m sure a few (probably the ones you like the most) immediately come to mind. Read these greats again and ask yourself,  why did they endure?

When you’re done, Prose suggests, keep these greats close to where you write. I really like this advice. By keeping the greats close at hand, you have at your fingertips a resource of sentences written by writers who have worked “to revise and polish them into gems.”

Prose suggests turning to these brilliant sentences when you feel like your writing is getting lazy or vague: “you can open such books anywhere and read a sentence that will move you to labor longer, try harder . . . until it’s something to be proud of instead of something you hope that the reader won’t notice.”

Reading Is the Best Way to Learn to Write

We know that as writers, it's important for us to read. But reading intentionally can help you discover the specific techniques and tricks your favorite authors use so that you can learn more and apply that knowledge immediately.

Pick up a great book and read!

Which writing greats will you keep close? Let me know in the comments .

Francine Prose dissects paragraphs from literature throughout Reading Like a Writer . Now it’s your turn!

For the next fifteen minutes , closely read the paragraphs below from Alice Munro’s “Dulse.” What choices did Munro make? What do we know about her heroine? How does she convey this information? Share your observations in the comments .

Below, I’ve shared some of Prose’s notes on this excerpt, which you can read after you complete the practice. 😉

At the end of the summer Lydia took a boat to an island off the southern coast of New Brunswick, where she was going to stay overnight. She had just a few days left until she had to be back in Ontario. She worked as an editor, for a publisher in Toronto. She was also a poet, but she did not refer to that unless it was something people knew already. For the past eighteen months she had been living with a man in Kingston. As far as she could see, that was over.

She had noticed something about herself on this trip to the Maritimes. It was that people were no longer so interested in getting to know her. It wasn’t that she had created such a stir before, but something had been there that she could rely on. She was forty-five, and had been divorced for nine years. Her two children had started on their own lives, though there were still retreats and confusions. She hadn’t gotten fatter or thinner, her looks had not deteriorated in any alarming way, but nevertheless she had stopped being one sort of woman and had become another, and she had noticed it on this trip.

A quick summary of Prose's notes on the excerpt:

• “This is a compressed, complete, and painfully honest rendering of the complexities of a woman's entire life, her professional and romantic circumstances, her psychological state, as well as the point at which she stands along the continuum from the beginning of life to the end.”
• The writer chooses to call the heroine by her first name, creating some intimacy.
• In one sentence, we are informed about her romantic life and the undramatic resignation (“As far as she could see, that was over.”) with which our heroine looks back on eighteen months spent living with “a man in Kingston.”
• We discover her age, marital status, and that she has two children.
• How much verbiage could have been squandered in summarizing the periodic “retreats and confusions” that have stalled Lydia’s grown children in their progress toward adulthood?
• The passage contradicts a form of “bad advice” often given young writers—show, don’t tell.

Monica M. Clark

Monica is a lawyer trying to knock out her first novel. She lives in D.C. but is still a New Yorker. You can follow her on her blog or on Twitter (@monicamclark).

47 Comments

Yes, yes, yes. Something it took me a long time to learn, but now that I have it has enlivened my writing. I keep C.S. Lewis close.

I really like this quote: “One reason Prose likes this technique, compared to writing classes or workshops, for example, is that it focuses on writing done well rather than on everything you did wrong.”

C.S. Lewis – great choice

Yes, she makes that point several times! I agree that it’s a great way to think about it.

I was forced to write for my job. That was when I discovered how to read like a writer. I was to choose my favorite children’s author and then try a piece that reflected the author’s style. I chose Cynthia Rylant’s ‘When I Was Young in the Mountains.’ Now I love writing for children and I always read her books to my classes. I guess I’m killing two birds with one stone, reading to children and reading her works to keep my writing fresh.

Reading and writing just go hand in hand….

I totally agree with reading to write…… many years ago I fell completely in LOVE with Ted Hughes and his poetry…..he always inspires me….his words seduced me…..I read and re-read like an addiction…I was in awe of his ability to weave words across the page. Then some time after I had an affair with Shakespeare……and the revalation to me was I could see how Shakespeare had influenced Ted Hughes…….and of course we need the great writers to show us the way…….. These 2 men are always close to my desk and the pile of books by my bed…. (I’m having an affair with 2 writers…sshhh….don’t tell anyone) Hattie

Some writers I really love and cherish:

Charles Dickens: Reading Bleak House, which many hold to be Dickens’s best novel, I am astonied by Dickens’s rhetorical, linguistic fecundity and creativity. He controls two voices brilliantly, and his rhetorical devices, particularly the use of anaphora and parallelism, attract me, make me think that Dickens would be a great orator, or a speechwriter, as much as a fictional writer. His characters are superbly drawn too, his style rich, his storytelling bustling and energetic, his energy so beautiful.

Nathaniel Hawthorne: His short stories are so powerful; his lingering style, influenced by Samuel Johnson, Edmund Spenser, and classic models, has a leisurely syntax and diction, a stateliness bringing to his storytelling a sort of power of fantastical vision. “Young Goodman Brown” is a perfect little allegory. “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” “The Birth-Mark,” and so many of his stories are fantastic.

And yes, I love The Scarlet Letter. Love it, love it, love it. It’s Hawthorne’s fullest and best use of his creative powers – his leisurely yet clear style, his allegorical power, the infernal darkness, the vast power of the human consciousness in his stories, the tension between reality and fancy in his best work.

Vladimir Nabokov is also attractive for his beautiful style. Cormac McCarthy’s archaic, deep, exuberant prose (particularly in Suttree and Blood Meridian) casts a spell on me.

Flannery O’Connor might very well be a Southern Homer as well, for her startling use of simile and figurative language that pops in the brain. Also, her Christian vision is profound as well.

Others are Dostoevsky, Melville, Faulkner, Milton, Shakespeare

A very inspiring and insightful entry–thank you!

You are sounding very well read….

I have a PhD in English with a focus on Victorian Lit, so my go-to authors are Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, and Eliot. But I love many authors. One of my favorites is Louise Penny, who writes the Gamache mysteries. She is a superb conveyer of character. What other modern authors do people recommend?

Lydia sounds like someone who has had to accept things about herself after a lot of introspection. There is a certain control in her that does not push her to talk too much about herself or expect too much from others. There is a note of “growing awareness about one’s true self” or what one is turning into as an adult in these two paragraphs. She also seems to be the kind that does not want to attract attention, for fear of failing. Perhaps she has an inferiority complex as well that she doesn’t battle. There is also a quiet and “firm” resignation, or matter-of-factness to her acceptance of things. She seems like someone who stays in the background for fear of not wanting to be told that people don’t know who she is/that her situation is not so great. Alice Munro’s writing style mirrors what I assume about Lydia above – very matter-of-fact, empathetic, maybe and compassionate, but not pitying, towards Lydia, sometimes blunt, stark

So many of these things are how I also felt about Lydia, but none of them are laid out or expressed. I would like to know her thoughts on this and also how she got here. Obviously we will learn more about who she is.

What in Munro’s writing made you feel that it was empathetic and compassionate? Not an argument, just curious how you saw that.

Happy to explain, though the feeling that it’s empathetic and compassionate is more instinctive and not something I can dissect. I think there should be a certain amount of compassion and regard for the characters in your story, combined with the honesty to portray them as the misfits or unhappy persons that they might be. I’m not even sure I myself agree with this, it’s not a fully formed opinion – because how would you distinguish between “bad” and “good” characters in your story otherwise but I caught myself telling someone this recently when I critiqued their story, that everything seemed too decided and there seemed to be no scope to expand the story – I’m still mulling over that, actually.

It’s a great starting point. Being as that is how I would recommend treating people, I don’t see why treating your characters (who are supposed to be people) should be any different.

So to pull from my own experience, I would say that good and bad are not so much your guides as serving their purpose and being realistically portrayed. My current “hero” is actually the villain, slowly losing himself to power, opulence, and the desire for revenge. He’s a complete monster by the end and no one would say that he’s good. (At least not if I’m doing my job correctly).

Still, back to the point at hand, honesty and compassion. Why compassion? What are you gaining with compassion for your characters that you don’t get from an honest and accurate portrayal?

This question made me think even more about why compassion. I’m sorry to say I don’t have a clear answer even now. Did I mean patience? Maybe. As a writer, I don’t want to make a judgment about a character and not leave space to explain why I say so or why perhaps the character is as s/he is. This is also a problem I face in real life.I am always trying to put myself in other people’s feet (with a few exceptions to whom I have a closed mind) before I judge them, and I find often that I cannot take a stand on many situations, personal or matters of public interest. Extending this consideration to writing is problematic too, I think.

I agree with this, and especially like your comment “Alice Munro’s writing style mirrors what I assume about Lydia above – very matter-of-fact, empathetic, maybe and compassionate, but not pitying, towards Lydia, sometimes blunt, stark.” That mirroring technique seems like something I can employ in my writing.

When I read a story I pay particular attention to structure. The way a sentence is built is a thing of rare beauty. Like a newly discovered diamond.

I assume this extract is a summary. The following bit could be scene. In the first paragraph each description is followed by a comment (explanation, clarification — with a ‘but’ meaning). ‘She worked as an editor,…Toronto.'(Description, her job) She was also a poet (explanation, description), but she did not refer to that unless it was something people knew already.’ (explanation, clarification, ). This pattern occurs throughout the paragraph.

The second paragraph is a bit vague. For instance, we do not know whether she means meeting people as friends or as lovers. One type involves meeting people. The following sentences give facts that are not explanations for this. She concludes that has stopped being one type of woman (what type?) and became another. It leaves us wondering What kind of woman has she become? Did she expect to find a boyfriend? So there is reason to read on (What kind of woman has she become).

A writer might see in this a way of giving a description which seems to be an information dump (without the ‘but’s) but becomes interesting because of the ‘but’s (which is also a kind of parallelism.)

Yes! It’s a lot of “telling” as opposed to “showing.” Prose seems to think Munro effectively broke that rule in this case.

So, to add to the already excellent list of writers and stories already posted..

Tolkien is literally five paces away. However, I’ve actually found myself reading the appendix of the Lord of the Rings more than the actual books. So much good information there, I’m still trying to figure out how the man wrote an alternative history book about a place that doesn’t exist and got away with it.

I’m doubling down on C.S. Lewis. I know someone else mentioned it, but I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything more perfectly written than C.S. Lewis. My wife and I are currently reading Narnia to my oldest daughter. It’s making the whole thing come alive again. However, it is his argumentative books that I think really show his writing chops and his ability to write a fortress of words.

Alexander Dumas is my final addition to the list. While The Three Musketeers is well known, he has several other less well known works that are just as good or better that I would encourage reading.

Now to the exercise:

Lydia does not seem at all remarkable. She has a job, has kids, is on vacation, and seems to have found herself smacked in the face by a new stage of life she didn’t want to be at. Munro has revealed all of this in a well crafted piece of exposition laid in after enough action to disguise it. We know what she is doing, then we learn about her. The whole picture looks rather sad to me. I’m not sure if that is her intent, or just my feeling towards people and what their lives should look like. Lydia seems somewhere between dissapointed with her life and accepting of a new stage.

Something of interest to me, because it is a thing I find myself doing often, is that almost everything is fact based writing here. “She lives here, she does this job, she noticed this about herself.” There is no comment on how she feels about any of it or her desire for what these things should be. Perhaps it is unfair to expect this in 2 paragraphs, but I find it odd that there is nothing there on an emotional level, and yet it does still stir emotion. I find myself very sad for her, but I’m very curious if she feels sad for herself, or simply just accepts this.

(Read back on Prose’s notes. I feel somewhat vindicated.)

Hi Rodgin, I wouldn’t fully agree that there is nothing there on an emotional level, because I think there are some clues on how Lydia reacts to her situation (I discuss this in my post). But I agree that what makes the passage interesting is how restrained Lydia’s emotional response is. That’s what makes us want to read on.

Do you think the passage would be more or less effective if Munro had included more explicit statements on Lydia’s emotional state? Eg “Life was unfair. At forty-five she should have learned this long ago, but it never failed to rear up and surprise her.”

Not gonna lie, I’m not sure what the answer is there. I feel that being much more explicit would lose some of the allure, but from a writing standpoint this is almost bland. There is nothing there that excites me as a writer, but as a reader it raises just enough questions to make me want to read more.

You say that you disagree that there isn’t anything on an emotional level, but I’ve gone back and reread it and still have nothing. Even what you are saying in your post about the descriptions being coloured by Lydia’s personality seem a bit grasping to me. They are all straight written facts. I feel that she even picked her words carefully to keep them that way. “As far as she could see, that was over.” We can (and maybe even should) read deeper into that, but at the end of the day it is still just fact.

I feel that I’m sounding like I dislike this, and it’s not the case. I’m intrigued more than anything. This is some of the most technically basic writing I’ve seen in a while (especially by a professional) and yet it is doing everything it should be doing. It is making me want to know more about someone that looks pretty basic and straightforward as the description. Perhaps that is the lesson to be learned here.

We are analyzing The Grapes of Wrath in a Google Hangout in 30 min at this site: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c0urvg1ols6cb3o54eaebunqp5c

Just sayin’.

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” By Stephen King

What’s most effective about Munro’s prose is what she doesn’t say. Key information is hinted at but not elaborated on, which creates suspense and makes the reader want to read on. Eg:

What kind of change has Lydia made in her life?

Why did she create a small-scale stir before?

Why does she say that her life with the man in Kingston is over ‘as far as she could see’?

Yet the passage works well as an introduction because it gives all the basic character details, which in less skilled hands could become an info-dump. Name, occupation, interests outside work, home town, physical appearance, family and family history, character’s voice/view of the world. All in just two paragraphs!

I particularly like the parts where the description is coloured by Lydia’s own personality. Eg:

“She was also a poet, but she did not refer to that unless it was something people knew already.”

“As far as she could see, that was over.”

“It wasn’t that she had created such a stir before, but something had been there that she could rely on.”

In less skilled hands, these sentences could become something more generic, like:

“In her spare time she also enjoyed writing poetry.”

“But their relationship was over.”

“She had never been very popular, but now she was even less so.”

My ‘bad rewritings’ of those sentences convey the same information, but strip it of Lydia’s reactions. We lose the information that she’s a private person, that her relationship with the man in Kingston may not be a completely closed book, and that Lydia appreciated the attention she previously attracted.

That’s my two cents.

Respectfully, I disagree. I think the above is a beau ideal of what NOT to do. It’s boring. Concise, yes, but boring. Why would anyone use up 203 boring words to introduce a character just because it’s economical? It’s a waste of word real estate that can be put to better use. Yeah, you learn about the character in short-hand, but it’s not engaging, doesn’t create questions or a desire to know more about this character. I don’t get how this would teach anyone to write better.

I’m curious how you see it as not engaging or not creating questions? I’ve already put my two cents in elsewhere, but I’m curious how you come to that conclusion. Where is the line between boring and efficient? You seem to think this excerpt falls into the boring class. Why do you think that? What are you seeing that shows that?

I would say the difference lies in the place of energy, which is an ephemeral thing in writing. This doesn’t have any. As you noted, it’s all fact based. My interpretation is quite different than yours. The factual presentation didn’t make me feel anything. The distance of the omni voice made it seem like the narrator didn’t care, the word choice made it seem like the character didn’t care. Just all very ho-hum. I’m flummoxed on reading the comments by the number of people who think this is engaging.

There is also a really weird time issue going on. The first line makes it seem like she’s on her way to the island, and the first line of the second paragraph makes it seem like the trip is over and is now the subject of assessment, which is it? Is she headed off on a weekend of self-discovery or is she headed back to life after a realization that she has something to change about herself? Seat the reader, for goodness sake.

If Prose thinks this bit of “telling” is done well, what do does one say to that? Uhg, no. Why does the reader need to know all these things – unrelated things – right now? What does her being 45 have to do with being a poet or what does a being a poet have to do with her grown children’s lives stalling, what does that have to do with a terminating relationship? Outside of a quick sketch of this person, nothing. Because they are presented in this fashion none of them feel like they have any weight or importance.

One could start with almost any of them and get more power and engagement. Bring in a character voice and get more mileage. One could tie them together thematically (not done in Munro’s original) and it would be stronger/more engaging. Sitting here, I’ve thought of half a dozen ways to make this better — imho. None of them involve and info dump.

On the one hand, I see why a younger person wouldn’t understand what this woman is feeling. BUT I also have tried to read Munro on several occasions & she never captured my attention. I honestly did find her boring. I hope I don’t upset her fans by saying that. Sherrie’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc

Thanks for this handy post, Monica, which is what I’m trying to accomplish in my writing; that of cutting out wordiness. The paragaphs from ‘Dulse’ is a perfect example of how-to. One of my favourite writers, Ernest Hemmingway, writes without redundancy. I also like classics and the correct and beautiful language the authors use.

Great article. I started writing less than 2 years ago. I read more now than ever before. I also like to listen to the audio version of a good book. The voice talent reads the characters with different voices. This adds another depth to sharpening my writing.

I keep Pablo Neruda and Rita Dove on hand and nearby for poetry.

For fiction, I currently have The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey on hand and flip through it regularly. It’s not considered a great yet but it was a Pulitzer finalist in recent years and I absolutely love it. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is another. Although his work seems so far out of reach I don’t actually flip through it as regularly. I’ve tried analyzing a few of his scenes and have come away frustrated. But what a joy to read. I have to read Steinbeck in the near future. He seems daunting to me, but one thing I notice every time I flip through one of his books at the thrift store is his use of verbs. It is outstanding. So he must go on the list. Hemingway is in the TBR pile so we’ll see.

I don’t think there’s anymore I can add to the prose example that other’s haven’t commented on, but as a writer, I’m curious why she doesn’t ever mention that she’s a poet.

Francine Prose’s is one of my “go to” books. Important reading for any writer. I love the way she effortlessly condenses a woman’s entire life into a couple of paragraphs by “telling,” not “showing.” I am particularly struck by the poignancy of her realization that she is becoming “of a certain age.” She knows she has lost something intangible, but doesn’t understand how it happened.

1. What Choices Did Munro Make?

Answer: She lived with a man in Kingston. She took a trip to the Maritimes.

2. What Do We Know About Her?

Answer: She worked as an editor for a publisher in Ontario. She’s a single mother. I’m assuming the man she lived with in Kingston was her boyfriend. She’s either divorced or never been married. She’s a poet, but doesn’t want people to know.

3. How Does She Convey This Information?

Answer: She was living with a man in Kingston. The people treated her differently than they had in the past. They shunned her. The narrative talks about how there was something not quite right with her children.

My impression is that she is treated differently is primarily that she is aging, moving into a different stage of her life. Changes are subtle. She is hardly aware, herself, that it is happening. As to children, they are probably completely normal. Who does not have an occasional downside to what is thrown our way? Where does one go? Home , most likely, where one is loved.

I loved Jules Verne’s writing. His world-building is absolutely remarkable, as he managed to balance the surrealism of going to the center of the Earth or living for years on a submarine with perfectly believable “fact”, making it seem like such a thing could happen in reality. His characters are also very unique and memorable.

So many times I see the “show don’t tell” rule broken with amazing results. I believe the writer’s voice usually makes it possible to be successful.

I believe there is a time to show & a time to tell. I haven’t tried writing short stories much, but I think it is pretty hard to show a lot in that genre. Sherrie’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc

I don’t agree with the tell verus show. I’m a deeply detail orientated person who loves symbolism. I actually have to say, this condensded version did not move me at all, because, to me, there is no intimacy there. Yes, we know her name, and yes, not knowing the man’s name is important–we learned that from “Of Mice and Men” when he purposely didn’t name the farmer’s wife. I agree that we need to slow down on reading. I do that anyway. I was taught from 9th grade to underline and highlight passages and take notes in the book. It’s why I buy books as often as I can instead of on my e-reader, or I have a notebook close by when I borrow from our local library. I’m not saying I’m not learning anything from this, but I just don’t like the telling. I’d much rather see the beauty of the countryside she is seeing, listen to her thoughts, wondering where her love life went wrong, what issues are causing the kids into retreats and confusion,etc? This does not make me want to read the story, sadly.

I feel like the impersonal nature of this passage was indicative of the character”s thoughts and general attitude towards life. She is passė and the world around her is just moving on, just like you. She isn’t offering them something to sustain their interest. The passage even mentions that at some point, she had “become another woman” and “people were no longer so interested in getting to know her.” In that way, it works!

But I agree with you that it doesn’t inspire me to read on either. But maybe we are not the intended audience or maybe we haven’t reached an age where we can fully empathize with the character”s situation (maybe some sort of midlife crisis?) Or maybe it’s some of the middle passages so we are missing context and the story starts with a vibrant young person brimming with life who slowly becomes someone just living without really feeling alive.

I wonder if this is a short story or part of a novel. Likely, a short story as there would be less room for details. Things have to happen fast in a short story. Sherrie’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc

I personally ally want to read something that puts me there-physically as well as emotionally. For me, no one does it better than Pat Conroy. His description of Charleston in South of Broad-the first page and a half of the novel, is the best. Or Ray Bradbury’s description of tennis shoes in Dandelion Wine-he goes on for at least a page making those things seem like the answer to king-of-the-hill domination. I want a pair NOW! I’m tired of the advice that cuts prose so close to the bone and leaves me hungry for the emotion that makes reading enjoyable. I want to savor a place, fall in love with a character and go along for the roller coaster ride with him or her in the sequence of events. I want to write like that too. Most of the advice I read for writing doesn’t help me get there.

Munro evokes a mood or a feeling with set and setting. . This excerpt was from an earlier time—. But it is not just the time, or the mores. This maritime community or communities seem to metaphorically suggest that people are like islands to the strange and the alone. Not being a family woman of the fishing or boating community, she can be read as the strange. No longer living with the man in Kingston and divorced, she can be read as the (dreaded) alone.

That she had an elegant way with words but not with what may be perceived as the simple things in life, she felt was nobody’s business. A very private person. Perhaps she was ashamed of her talent or education for a woman of that time. You could also guess that the man fit in better … possibly MUCH better.

Thank you for this blog. You’ve helped me to understand the extent to which I’ve been doing this for yonks. Yes, excellent writing takes the reader along on a wonderland journey, full of delights and surprises, of Oh, is this realy happening, how is the Protagonist going to get out, survive? Then there is good writing, where the reader can pause, and marvel at the way an action, etc, is presented. Then there is also those not so good bits of writing in amongst otherwise okay writing. These once pulled me up short, irritated the hell out of me. How did this author get his/her work past the editior? But often the plot would be good. So I started to pause in my reading, rephrase, reframe the words to my satisfaction, then continue. I learnt a lot about good writing this way. Again, it’s practice, practice, practice. And no need to name author’s names, is there?

I read a lot, but the only time I notice structure or words is when they don’t seem to fit. But I believe somehow the structure & word use gets into my subconscious because people can see some of my favorite authors in my writing. Sherrie’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc

I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Toni Morrison, as well as some of the younger, new Latino authors. But I always rad for enjoyment. If it gets tedious, I stop reading. I wish I knew how to read for structure, etc. I only seem to do that when I take a class & then, I usually am not a fan of the work chosen so it is easy to tear it apart. Sherrie’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc

The excerpt from “Dulse” bored me. I realize Munro is establishing Lydia’s ennui, but I share in it so much I have no interest in learning more about her. Perhaps she reminds me too much of people I know? For me personally, this would be an example of how I don’t want to write.

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– 14 min read

How to write better: a quick-start guide for anyone and everyone

Anne Ichikawa

Just about everyone knows how to write — but writing well is something different. Great writers are formed through hard work and a passion for learning. But just like you, they all started from the beginning.

Problem is, a lot of “start writing well’ articles focus on the result. But good writing begins before you tippity-tap on that keyboard. Studying everyday practices, learning how to organize your thoughts, and then turning those ideas into effective writing should be your priority.

Whether you’re a blogger , an SEO writer, a marketer, or want to be the next Stephen King, these universal writing tips give you lots of ways to write better.

15 writing tips to help you write better

1. think before you start writing.

One of the best writing tips for beginners is organizing your thoughts in a logical, explainable manner before putting pen on paper. The biggest hurdle is often not knowing how to begin or what to say—everything is a jumble of ideas that probably look like a bunch of paint thrown against a wall (and not in an artistic way). It can be very frustrating.

Note: THIS IS NORMAL. Don’t get discouraged. There’s a reason the phrase “writer’s block” exists. Let yourself think about it for a day or two, especially if you’re doing creative writing. You’ll be surprised at how that paint blob slowly transforms into a recognizable shape.

2. Embrace the writing “brain dump”

In business writing , the “brain dump” signals the beginning of every new project or assignment. It’s the opportunity to get whatever is in your head out on digital paper in a stream of consciousness.

Avoid correcting misspellings, typos, sentence structure, or grammar—just type, type, type until your brain excavates all musings. You can use this creative writing skill for all kinds of work, from personal blogging and copywriting to essays and work emails.

Remember that at this phase of writing: bad ideas don’t exist. Your best creative ideas will come when you’re not held back by perfectionism.

3. Make an outline

Now that you have all your wonderful, messy thoughts on paper, it’s time to get more granular and organized. Some tips on how to edit your brain dump: do a first pass and delete the parts that are definite “nos.” Then go through again and highlight the ideas you like best. Revisit the “maybes” later.

Now, take your favorites and as briefly or as detailed as you like, make an outline that conveys your message. Start top-level with your biggest, overarching ideas, and then get into the details. Fill in missing parts, elaborate on other parts—rinse and repeat until satisfied.

4. Know your audience

This is a straightforward writing tip for beginners, but a lot of people forget it. For example, your voice and elements of style for personal blogging will be much more informal than business writing (i.e writing a proposal for a new client). Being mindful of your audience is key to improving writing skills and creating more impactful work.

5. Keep a journal

Being a better writer means writing more! Keeping a journal should be a very low-pressure thing. It can be as simple as writing a list of things you did that day, playing around with word choice for a LinkedIn headline, or recounting a conversation you had with a friend.

If you don’t want to keep a physical journal, you can start a note on your phone or a document on your computer. The point is—there are no journaling rules. Just start writing whenever you feel like it, because the more you do it, the more naturally it will come to you.

6. Pen a letter instead of texting

Great writers write letters for fun and for practice. Pen a letter (or an email) to a friend who lives in another city. A hundred years ago, people wrote long letters detailing everything from the mundane to faraway travel. Why not now? It’s the perfect way to get your creative writing juices flowing, rather than relying on boring texts.

Remember to check spelling, comma use, sentence structure, typos, etc. Your friends deserve good writing too. Spell-check is a nice starting point, but writing well happens when you use a reputable grammar or punctuation checker tool like  Writer  to support you.

7. Read more to do better writing

One of the best, passive ways of becoming a better writer is to read a book (Stephen King’s work makes for great binge reading). Not into books? Long-form business writing, graphic novels, or short stories do the trick as well.

Reading every day puts you in the fast lane for improving your writing skills. As  Roz Morris , the author of the bestseller book,  Nail Your Novel , puts it: “Reading exposes us to writing that’s better than our own and helps us to improve. Reading—the good and the bad—inspires you.”

By reading more, your brain will naturally pick up on things like good word choice, different writing styles, and good sentence structures. It also improves your reading comprehension and concentration levels (which comes in handy for the procrastinators among us, including me).

8. Keep your writing simple

As the legendary American novelist, Jack Kerouac, once said, “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

One big misconception about writing is that it should be full of beautiful prose and impressive words. Wrong! Sure, I can use the word 'floccinaucinihilipilification,' but most people will just think my cat walked across my keyboard. Click To Tweet

No matter who they are, you should empower readers with your words. Complex writing can leave readers feeling insecure, weary, or both. To simplify your writing:

• Replace adverbs with more powerful verbs (e.g. she talked quietly > she whispered)
• Get rid of unnecessary adjectives
• Opt for simple word choice
• Delete fluff (e.g. instead of saying “in order to”, say “to”)

Go ahead and make use of a thesaurus, but don’t try to be a Shakespeare or even an Ernest Hemingway—just keep it simple and true to yourself.

9. Tone up your tone in writing

Getting tone right is key to being a good writer. It’s the personality of your writing, influenced by the type of writing you’re doing and who you’re talking to.

Just like we said in “Know Your Audience,” business writing like an email might sound conservative, while a personal social media post can be friendly and casual. Your tone can and should change depending on your needs. An extreme example: don’t start a cover letter with: “Hey, dude! Wassup?”

10. Prioritize your key points

If you want to learn how to write good, sentence structure and word placement is everything. If you have a question to ask, don’t put it in the middle of a paragraph, because it could get skipped over. Similarly, if you have an important piece of information to share, make it into its own paragraph or strategically place it in the introduction or conclusion—the sections readers tend to pay attention to the most.

11. Break up your writing into bite-size bits

Long sentences that are full of fluff are boring to read! Like staring directly at the sun—you just have to look away. Instead of creating a heavy block of text, break down large sections of information into concise, punchy sentences. Bullet points in particular are an amazing tool. They help you:

• Communicate information effectively and quickly
• Emphasize important points that are more easily remembered
• Provide easily digestible information to the reader

(See? They come in handy) AI writing software  like Writer can help you be a better writer by identifying paragraphs that are hard to read.

12. Use active voice

Once you’re comfortable with sentence structure, punctuation and comma use, and word choice, it’s time to look at elements of style. One core element is passive voice vs. active voice.

An active voice is key for effective writing. It makes for a much more engaging read, conveying a strong and clear tone. Whereas passive voice pulls you away from the action, which can create an apathetic experience.

Here’s an example:

• Active voice: The thief stole one million dollars (subject + verb + object).
• Passive voice: One million dollars was stolen by the thief (object + past participle + subject).

See how in the first sentence, the subject performs the action? This eliminates extra processing time by getting to the point faster, unlike the passive voice example which puts the subject at the end of the sentence.

13. Edit (then edit again)

Now that you’ve overcome writer’s block and have the first draft, it’s time to move on to the editing process. Chances are, you’re not a professional editor, but that doesn’t matter—you can do a great job on your own. First, don’t edit immediately after writing. You want fresh eyes on that baby. Revisit it the next day and it will be easier to look for:

• unnecessary words (like adverbs and adjectives)
• long sentences that can be shortened
• passive voice use

At this phase, don’t worry about grammatical errors. Right now, you’re editing for clarity of your ideas and thoughts.

14. Proof your writing

Proofreading  is where you check spelling, punctuation (i.e. comma use), run-on sentences, typos … you get the picture. Spell-check is a good starting point, a reputable grammar checker tool like Writer gives you advanced support.

Whenever possible, ask a real human to read your writing. They’ll likely be able to point out any writing mistakes  and even offer suggestions. Over time, the lessons you learn from using these tools will help you become a great writer.

15. Reflect on your main point

We’ve made it to the very end. You’ve taken your idea and found many words to make into numerous sentences that communicate your intended message… or did you?

The last step is to always take an objective look at your writing. Pretend you’re a total stranger. Now ask yourself—does the narration make logical sense? Can you read it once and understand its message? Even better, can you sum it up in a few sentences? If so, you’ve written something you can feel good about.

8 exercises to improve writing skills

Here are fun activities you can do every day to become a better writer.

1. Write every day

This is the best writing tip for beginners. Write like it’s your job. Practicing every day is key to learning how to write good. It helps you stretch those writing muscles and learn from doing. Keeping a journal with you at all times also means you can write whenever inspiration strikes, like when you’re walking your fave four-legged friend.

Write every day, and you’ll turn it into a habit. That doesn’t mean you have to write ten thousand words every day, as the author of the children’s novel,  See You in the Cosmos , Jack Cheng says:

“When mastery is the goal, spending an exorbitant number of hours in one sitting will likely lead to burnout. We don’t go to the gym expecting to put on 20 pounds of muscle in a single, day-long workout. Instead, we do several short workouts a week, spread out over months.”

2. Turn long paragraphs into bullet points

Want to learn how to write better sentences? Sentences that are easy to read and get to the point right away? Practice the art of brevity by chopping up hard-to-read paragraphs into succinct bullets.

This is especially useful for business writing because your readers are likely short on time. They want you to get to the point fast! And they want easy to digest information.

There is a place for long sentences in your work though, especially when it comes to creative writing. Writology has a great guide on this full of ace writing tips for beginners.

3. Change passive voice into active voice

A little recap on passive and active voice: Active voice is when the sentence starts with the subject acting on the verb. Passive voice is when the subject is a recipient of the verb’s action. Active voice is more engaging because it takes less processing time from the reader, and also gives the impression that the action is happening now, not in the past.

Use an AI writing platform like Writer  to spot unengaging instances of passive voice and transform them into the active voice. This will help you draw readers in and make your writing easier to read.

4. Use grammar checker tools like Writer

Use a grammar checker like Writer helps you spot mistakes you may have missed. Mistakes such as misused commas, spelling errors, typos, incorrect use of words (we’re looking at you, thesaurus lovers), etc. Writer is also ideal for business writing. You can submit your company style guide and the app will measure your written work against it to ensure consistent and on-brand content.

5. Proof your friend’s or colleague’s writing

One effective way to improve writing skills:  Proofreading  other people’s content. You can pick up on  common grammar mistakes , different sentence structures, new words, word placement – everything that you might not learn from your own writing. It’s about getting a fresh perspective on all the different ways language is used.

Bonus: you get all the good feelings for helping someone out. And they might even return the favor one day!

6. Write fanfiction

Improve your creative writing skills by writing about stories and characters you love. Why? The more passionate you are about what you’re writing, the more fun and engaging it will be to read. Because you’ll naturally inject your love of the subject into your work. Plus, you can ensure your favorite novels or short stories live on through that amazing imagination of yours! It’s also a great place to start if your idea bank is running on empty, giving you the inspiration and direction needed to write freely.

7. Read out loud

Sometimes you can’t tell if a word or phrase doesn’t work until you read it out loud. Same with spotting mistakes. This is especially true if you’ve read your work over a hundred times (hello fellow perfectionists). Your brain will find it more and more difficult to spot mistakes – reading out loud can fix this!

When you read out loud, it requires you to slow down and focus on every single word that you’re saying, so that it can make its way from your brain to your mouth. When we proofread inwardly, we tend to rush through things and don’t actually read the text properly.

That’s because our brain already has a version of the content embedded and it wants to concentrate on the meaning rather than the words. As psychologist Tom Stafford, who studies typos at the University of Sheffield in the UK, says : “We don’t catch every detail, we’re not like computers or NSA databases Rather, we take in sensory information and combine it with what we expect, and we extract meaning.”

8. Read books on how to write better

These books on how to write better are simple, easy to read, and full of valuable info.

• Everybody Writes by Ann Handley – for business writing, marketing, and blogging
• On Writing  by Stephen King – for writing novels and improving your creative writing skills
• Write Tight  by William Brohaugh – for business and creative writing, with lots of writing tips for beginners
• The Sense of Style  by Steven Pinker – for writing novels, letters and understanding the sciences of mind when it comes to language
• You Are a Writer  by Jeff Goins – for business writers with great writing tips for beginners
• Nail Your Novel  by Roz Morris – for budding novelists who want to polish their first draft or write a book

That’s your next vacation reading list sorted!

Now you can write better

It’s time to unleash your amazing writing skills and creativity! Got a friend who also wants to learn how to write well? Share the tips you’ve learned today. By teaching them, you’ll embed them further into your wonderful brain.

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If you’re here, you want to learn to write—whether that’s poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or something in-between. Learning to write is a process, one that requires consistent hard work and determination—and perhaps some magic! But, as with any other skill, it’s important to work hard on the right thing.

Instead of providing a list of pointers on how to learn to write for general purposes, this guide will offer eight key tips that will help you learn how to write creatively.

Learn to Write: Contents

1. How to Learn to Write: Take a writing class

2. how to learn to write: read, 3. how to learn to write: set an intention, 4. how to learn to write: start, 5. how to learn to write: use writing exercises, 6. how to learn to write: understand the writing process, 7. how to learn to write: understand yourself., 8. how to learn to write: seek resources, learn to write with 8 simple tips.

If you’re learning how to write (or want to get started!), these 8 tips will set you up for success. 

A writing class is a great place for writers to begin—it’s also where this writer first learned to write! The writing class is great for all kinds of learners as it provides a range of learning formats, including lectures, discussions, and workshops. The most valuable aspect of taking a writing course, however, is that it provides a supportive environment for writers.

In my experience, taking classes helped me to get over my fear of the blank page by showing me multiple approaches to beginning a poem, short story, or essay. Having the structure of a writing course was particularly helpful, as it kept me accountable to my goals.

Writers.com has a great roster of creative writing courses . But, before you sign up for a writing class, I would suggest that you do some research. Some questions to ask include: who’s teaching? Are there prerequisites? What is the class size? If you’re looking for an online writing class, this guide offers some great tips!

Reading is bread and butter for a writer no matter what stage of their career they’re at. Reading is how we both discover what we gravitate to and, inevitably, learn to write. Writers read not just for fun, but also with a critical lens, noting techniques that we can apply to our own work. Indeed, reading as a writer is a skill that’s very different from reading as a reader, as a student, or even as a scholar. Check out this article to learn more about reading as a writer.

For a more comprehensive guide, I recommend Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer: a Guide for People who Love Books and for those who Want to Write Them .

Before you start learning to write, take a moment to think about these questions: in an ideal world, what do you want to write? Who would you like to write for? If you’re unsure how to answer these questions, I recommend first listing a few books and/or authors that inspire you. What do these books have in common?

The objective of setting an intention is not to pose an “endpoint” for yourself. Rather, it is to provide yourself with a direction with which to begin . Let’s say that I am interested in writing high-fantasy books like The Lord of the Rings . Although there’s nothing wrong with setting that as my goal and making a step-by-step plan to achieve that goal, having a specified endpoint, in my experience, often becomes debilitating for my writing process. For one, I may become discouraged when I find that my first draft has nothing in common with Tolkien’s epic. Or, I may find that realism comes more naturally to me and feel frustrated that I am not following the path I had planned to take.

In contrast, approaching The Lord of the Rings as a direction (rather than as a goal) looks more like amassing a set of skills. For example, I might begin by practicing the technique of worldbuilding, or the creation of a fantasy world. I might then decide to try my hand at crafting memorable characters . This way, even if your tastes or goals evolve in the writing process (and they will!), you will have developed a skillset that is transferable to other forms of writing.

Every writer has a different starting point. For Louise Erdrich, it is often the voice of a character that helps her begin her novel. For others, it may be a narrative situation or personal experience. It is a good idea to experiment with different approaches to beginning. This allows you to not only learn what helps you write, but also challenge yourself as a writer.

When you’re just starting to learn how to write, expect that what you write won’t come out the way you want it. This is natural – all writers, even experienced ones, undergo this process. The important thing is to start and know that your writing does not have to be perfect at first try. The beauty of writing is that you don’t have to show it to anyone until you want to.

With that said, I suggest that you keep all of your writing, even if you don’t like it. You never know when you’ll find it interesting again!

When the possibilities are endless, it can be difficult to begin. If you find yourself wavering, I recommend using a writing exercise to help jumpstart your process and learn how to write. Even if you don’t end up using what you generated, writing exercises are a great way to learn to write. To begin, check out this article !

If you’re in need of more prompts (and a supportive community!), our Facebook group is also a great resource.

To learn how to write, it is essential to understand the nature of the writing process, which is often not as straightforward or linear as you think. Make no mistake: even accomplished writers go through multiple drafts, as the writer Anne Lamott shares in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . The good news, however, is that there is absolutely no pressure on your first draft—in fact, Lamott actively strives to write a “shitty first draft.”

Often, a piece of writing goes through massive changes from first draft to last. It is hard work, but the bright side of this is that you do not need to plan out the details of your book before you start writing. As the novelist E. L. Doctorow once said, “ Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

In addition to working actively on your draft, it’s important to schedule in time for your draft to “rest,” too. Stephen King, for example, shares in On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft that he shuts his first draft up in his drawer for at least six weeks before revisiting it. This rest time, King explains, helps to create distance and allows the writer to assess their own writing in a more objective manner.

Of the eight tips in this article, this is perhaps the most important point. By “understanding yourself,” I don’t mean “discovering” your “true self” or “psyche.” Instead, I mean understanding your habits, strengths, likes, and dislikes. In my experience, the most challenging part of learning to write is starting. Understanding what helps you to write on a practical level can alleviate this pressure and create the conditions you need to help your creative juices flow.

To begin, here is a list of things you might want to experiment with:

• Writing requirements: Are you a pen and paper writer? Do you type? Do you do both? If you do both, do you write your first draft and type the second, or vice versa?
• Physical space: Do you need to have your own room—where you will have no distractions—like Zadie Smith, or can you write at the dining table with children running around you, like Suzan Lori-Parks? Do you write best when you have a window you can look out of, or do you need to minimize distractions in your environment?
• Daily schedules: When are you free and most productive? For Toni Morrison, who had young children when she first started writing, it was the time before sunrise. For H. P. Lovecraft, it was at night.
• Routines: Although many say that writers have to write in the morning every single day, the best writing schedule, in my opinion, is one that makes sense for your own life. Do note that even if you have an established writing routine, it may change according to life circumstances. It’s important to be flexible and willing to try new approaches when you feel like your established routine no longer works.
• Writerly tendencies: What genre captivates you, and what genre comes most intuitively to you? Note that these may not necessarily be the same! Personally, I started writing with the intention of writing fiction, but have since written more poetry and nonfiction. I’d encourage you to learn how to write in all three genres—what you find may surprise you!

While writing is mostly a solitary activity, don’t underestimate the power of having a community! A writing group keeps you accountable, teaches you how to learn to write professionally, and provides a safe space for you to workshop an early draft. An authentic writing community, however, can be difficult to come by outside of a writing course.

For more tips on learning to write, I recommend the following books:

• On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
• Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit
• The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

Learn How to Write at Writers.com

Learning to write can seem intimidating, but it’s important to remember that all writers started where you are: at the beginning. Remember to take things slow—habits are built gradually and consistently—as you build your writing routine into your everyday life.

For more resources on learning how to write, check out our weekly writing tips , as well as our upcoming course calendar .

Okay, I’m in. Writing has been the bane of my existence for six decades. Hopefully, “Writers.com” really can teach an OLD dog new tricks. Thanks for the excellent web site. Cheers!

V/r, NoNegativeWaves70

Hi,my name is Mercy. Stumbled on this site while searching for how to write. Although I have written short plays and poems,yet to be published, but I really want to go into writing, fiction and nonfiction inclusive. And am eager to learn. Thanks

Hi, I am Martin. I stumbled on this article while researching on how to write. I don’t have any works done yet and inspired by your write up I may focus on a project. My goal is to improve on my basic writing skills with regards answering questions either in class or for interviews and being able to write convincing letters. Starting the process has always being a challenge and I must say this article has helped with a blueprint of my writing adventure. I am very open to learning and I would really appreciate your guidance in this my writing odyssey.

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How-To Geek

How to apply text formatting on reddit.

Apply text formatting to level up your Reddit experience.

Quick Links

Reddit text formatting, basic formatting options, advanced formatting, formatting previews.

If you're a frequent Reddit user, you may have noticed others using formatting options on their posts. Here's how to apply text formatting to level up your Reddit experience.

Reddit is the largest discussion board on the internet , with millions of active users and thousands of subreddits. Reddit only allows you to use text in the body of posts and comments. However, they have various options that will enable you to add formatting to your content thanks to Markdown, a markup language that applies text formatting to the content on a web page.

Compared to other text formatting languages, Markdown is well known for being straightforward, easy-to-use, and intuitive, even for new users. If you're interested in learning more about the language, you can check out our Guide to Markdown . However, this piece will be focused on formatting options that frequent Reddit users will find most useful.

If you're using Reddit's new interface on desktop, you likely won't need to use Markdown as the interface has a visual editor. However, if you're using old Reddit, the official Reddit app on mobile, or third-party Reddit clients, you will likely still have to use Markdown.

Related: What Is Markdown, and How Do You Use It?

Here are a few basic formatting options that everyone can use when they post on Reddit .

-  bold italics

- strikethrough

The above formatting options are ways to emphasize parts of the text. You can wrap single asterisks (*) to italicize a block of text, two (**) to bold a text, and three (***) to put both bold and italics on text. You can also add a line through text with a strikethrough, using two tildes (~~) before and after.

Sections and Headers

The actual font size of these header sections varies from browser to browser. These are intended to separate different sections of a Reddit text post. This is especially true if the text post is fairly long and comprehensive, like a guide or a timeline. Like other documents, the largest size is header 1, followed by 2 and 3.

In-Line Links and Automatic Links

- Reddit Link

- r/AskReddit

To create a link on Reddit, wrap the link text in brackets ([ ]), then place the link immediately after in parentheses. These links must have "http," "https," or similar link schemes in them.

You can also have Reddit automatically create certain links for you. Typing "u/" followed by the name of a Reddit user will link to the user with that name. On the other hand, "r/" followed by the name of a subreddit will link to that community. These two are case-sensitive, so make sure to always type them in the lowercase.

Quotes and Code

To quote text from a different user or another source, place a greater-than sign or angled bracket (>) before the text. To add a nested quote within that quote, use two angled brackets (>>) before the text. To turn text into code, place a backtick (`) at the beginning and end of the text.

Line Breaks and Lines

Single line breaks are made up of four spaces (    ), while double line breaks, or paragraph breaks, are two spaces, which you get by hitting the enter button twice.

If you use three asterisks, you will also get a horizontal line, also called a line divider, which looks like this:

• Numbered Item 1
• Numbered Item 2

To create an unordered list, place asterisks (*), plus signs (+), or minus signs (-) before each item. Then add a line break between each item. For numbered lists, place a number and a period (1., 2., etc.) before each item. It will number these items starting from one. You cannot create a non-ascending list, so all lists will automatically be formatted to start from one going upwards.

If you want to hide a particular block of text so you don't spoil the ending of a movie or book, use spoiler tags. Wrap the text in ">!" and "!<" tags, and it will prevent someone from seeing a block of text unless the user clicks on it.

If you want to make sure that your text is good to go before you post it, you can try using a Markdown preview editor. A few examples of these are  Markdown Live Preview  , Reddit Preview , and StackEdit . If you're using the old version of Reddit on desktop, you can try using Reddit Enhancement Suite , a browser extension that comes with a built-in Markdown preview box, among other features.

Related: How to Disable Reddit's "Open in App" Pop-Up

• Uncategorized

Writing to learn vs. learning to write

by Purdue Global Academic Success Center and Writing Center · Published May 21, 2011 · Updated June 3, 2011

Every once in a while, you run across an article that hits home about something you’ve been thinking about for some time.  I recently had that experience with Writing to learn across the curriculum:  Tools for comprehension in content area classes by Kathy J. Knipper and Timothy J. Duggan.  I give a lot of presentations to faculty and students about writing across the curriculum.  I explain what it is and its importance.  But I am always struggling to find the right words, the right way to present the ideas, especially when it comes to why it is so important.  Then I came across Knipper and Duggan’s article.

Writing across the curriculum is one way to help students use writing to learn, as opposed to learning to write.  I suppose you could say it actually helps with both, but one reason why it is so important is that writing helps students think critically about a subject; but, we can’t expect critical thinking to magically appear in projects when we have not given them low-stakes writing assignments that lead them to deeper critical thinking in larger projects.

Writing to learn differs from learning to write in that there is no process piece that will be revised until it reaches the finished project stage.  Writing to learn, instead, is a way to provide students with opportunities to recall, clarify, and question what they know and would like to know about a subject.  It is a way for them to express their thinking in writing (Knipper & Duggan, 2006).

This all sounds good to me, but I still had the nagging question about how do you do this in meaningful ways?  And upon more reading, Knipper and Duggan answered my question.  Using writing to learn means that we provide examples and models of what we expect from students, and more important, we allow them to make decisions and make mistakes.  We allow them to experiment and explore a topic in writing without the fear of failure.  This is why low-stakes writing assignments are so important, and also how they help students process subject content.  Why do they have to do this in writing?  Because there is not one of us who works in a situation where our thinking does not have to be translated into writing at some point.  It’s how our world communicates today.

One key to helping students use writing to learn is that these smaller, low-stakes writing assignments have to be sprinkled throughout the course, and then students have to be shown how to use them as building blocks for the larger projects where we expect to see their big ideas.  And they have to be more than summary. Summary is certainly beneficial, but the whole reason anyone is in school is to eventually be a contributor to a particular field.  You can’t contribute if you do not know how to reason and critically think through information.  And this can’t happen only in the final project for each course.  Every week students have to be given the opportunity to wrestle with ideas in writing without the fear of failure. 

Next time, I’ll talk a bit more about the idea of failure and what Knipper and Duggan say about assessing writing to learn in the classroom.  In the meantime, I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.

Knipper, K.J. & Duggan, T.J. (2006). Writing to learn across the curriculum:  Tools for comprehension in content area classes . International Reading Association, 462–470. doi:10.1598/RT.59.5.5

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this made me to understand what am reading. thank you so much. I don’t know if you a Christian, but God bless you am Friday Victor.😇

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