How to get better at writing?

I recently came across these two tools that help you write better (via PH):

https://shosho.co/app
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

They are similar to each other. I thought they were really smart and would consider using. Hopefully at some point one of them will launch a Chrome extension to help you write better anywhere.

This might sound silly. It's really fun. And helps you write WAY better.

Open a new google doc.
you can type doc.new into chrome.

Now, Rewrite a book.
Your favorite book. character by character. Line by line. paragraph by paragraph.

Rewrite great articles.

Rewrite anything you LOVE.

Rewrite great emails.

Write it. type it. Write it out exactly as it.

I did this for a few articles and a book that I love. It helped me live in good writing.

OBVIOUSLY these books and articles have gone through edits. So they didn't start this way. When you walk in an expert's footsteps, at least you feel what it's like.

100% agree with scastiel on the "On Writing" book. It's excellent. Another great one to get the juices flowing (I read it once or twice per year) is "Writing Down the Bones."

In the end what sagunsh said is correct. The best way to learn to write is to write. But, if you're not invested in what you're writing you'll burn out quick. If you're not dedicated to the time each day, you'll never develop the habit. If you're not focused on the task, it will fade in your mind.

I say this as someone who has spent the last 20 years of his life writing for various reasons. I've published two books, a ton of tech writing and CS content, training documentation, and believe it or not I was a stand up comic for over a decade. Here's what I learned.

-Write every day. If you can only spare 5 min a day, fine. Do nothing else for those 5 min but write. Do not edit. Do not drink coffee. Do not listen to music. Write. And in the beginning, never stop to overthink something. Just keep writing and everything that pops in your head, put it on the paper/screen.
-Write what you know. If you don't know, don't write about it. The feedback you get for misinformation or stating the obvious will kill your motivation. Add value with skills or knowledge you have that you feel will help, tell an original story that you find interesting, or explain something from a unique perspective. But know it, don't stumble around in a world you just found out about.
-Write what interests you. If you're not passionate about it, it shows thru your words. People will smell it and ignore you. Make sure you're connected with it. If you don't connect with it, why should anyone else?
-Write in your own voice*. Again, if you're not being genuine they will smell it. So say it the way you would in a room full of friends. Use phrases you use, and don't try to sound like someone else. If the phrase is too "inside baseball" then use it anyway, and explain it. *But, sometimes we have a different opinion of our personalities than others. This is a time to be self aware. If you can sometimes be a bit dull, use this as an opportunity to spice it up a bit. Let the written word do for you what the spoken word can't.

And finally, read. Read a ton about what interests you, what you want to learn about, an author who has a style you want to study, whatever. Just read. As I recently heard the head of PR at NerdWallet say, "What? You're a writer and you don't read? WTF?"

The best approach is to start writing no matter what. Send your article to few of your friends and ask for honest opinion, even grammatical mistake or choosing right word. That's how you develop your skills. Until you get your hand dirty, no matter how many books you read, it will be hard to progress.

So start writing. Just don't write whatever you want, spend some time on research, show it to as many people you can and ask for honest feedback and improve.

Indeed “On Writing Well” is very good. I also enjoyed “On Writing” by Stephen King: half autobiographical, half advice about writing (mostly focused on fiction). Very nice and easy to read, and his advice is useful.

You can have a look at “Elements of Style” too, a reference in improving at writing any form of text.

A few tips:

• Write and edit loop
• Install Grammarly free add-in
• Use Microsoft Edge Browser and have the browser speak what you wrote Ctrl+Shift+U
• Remove as many words as possible
• Finish Then Add details http://kp4s.com/showlist2.asp?parent=45092
• See Scott Adams video on writing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDwm-UPILuw

Hey Ayush!

Great question.

There are of course plenty of books out there that are good for general writing stuff (I recommend On Writing Well by Zinsser for some stylistic stuff, Elements of Style is good for basic grammar, etc.).

As far as copywriting, a strategy that a lot of famous copywriters recommend is to read and write lots and lots and lots of copy. You can even try re-writing by hand the ad copy of websites and ads that you find really compelling. Dan Kennedy is a good person to read in this space: https://www.amazon.com/Dan-S.-Kennedy/e/B000AP7EBS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

There are lots of ways you can get more advanced after you get comfortable with writing, especially copywriting, and lots of strategies to dig into the psychology of your target audience, but the highest return activity you can do at first is just write more. This goes for all writing in general, but especially niche writing like copywriting that has its own style and its own format.

One important piece of advice that I haven't seen here in the comments is to decide who you're writing for before you write.

Sitting down to write "a thing" or "about a thing" tends to send most peoples' brains into a spin...even if they have lots of practice.

The challenge is when you struggle to imagine who's going to read it - or more specifically, you imagine alllll of the people who might read it - you compensate by trying to write for many people at once and possibly, different people who need/expect different things.

Compare that to writing an email where you know exactly who's going to read it, what context they have, what they know/don't know, what they understand, etc.

One of the ways I often help folks unstick from this is with this three-step approach.

The related issue is that even when you know who you're writing for...writing about the value your product brings assumes that they already care enough about your product to read, or believe that your product has anything to do with them.

Even if your product solves a problem they have, there's a good chance that problem isn't top of mind for them at the very moment they read the thing you wrote!

So instead of writing about your product (or answers or resources or whatever you have to offer), aim to get good at writing about their problems in their own words.

That means paying closer attention to the way they write, especially when it isn't in direct response to your potentially leading questions. Take notes. Actually write down their words with your own fingers to help train it into your brain (sounds hokey but it really works!)

The audience research and note-taking are skills that compliment the writing skills. All take practice!

"everybody writes" is the best book I read on writings. It cover writing methods for all sort of media.

After that it's a matter of hours of practice to find your own style and to become competent.

I wouldn't claim to be a great writer, not even good, but I was mediocre before reading that book and some 10000 hours of practice.

I'm currently building an app to help you with writing :-) It's called targetaudience.app

Hi @akumar0630 - You're not alone. I have talked with lots of engineers who find writing difficult.

This may help: I created SplashPad, a website that recommends language for your emails that improves your writing. https://www.getsplashpad.com/

Out of curiosity, what type of writing are you seeking to do?