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Though “writing skill” is often used to refer to all aspects of story crafting, it best refers to the actual writing and technical skills that create the written word of a novel. Addressed in the previous post: Writing vs Storytelling Skills (link embedded), now I’m here to tell you how to work on that specific writing skill.

1. Study up on Literary Techniques: English class isn’t just for assigned reading and essays if you’re serious about bettering your writing. While essay writing and creative writing are different, the literary techniques and how they’re used and applied is good knowledge to have. Especially because a lot of them overlap with tropes and tie into storytelling!

2. Read a variety of books. Various authors, various genres, the more you expand your examples the better. Variation of reading means you’ll be exposed to more ideas, more ways of thought, more writing styles, more everything that you can draw ideas from and help develop your own skill. Even take up books you may not like. Give them a chance, and if the writing isn’t working for you then keep tabs on why.

3. Critique the writing of others. What did you like? What didn’t you like? How does the writing style affect how the book reads? When you critique others, you identify what makes and doesn’t make “good writing”. While a writer can only critique at a close level to their skill, the more they critique, the higher skill climbs, and the better they get. To become a better writer, you should get used to tearing other’s, and your own, work apart. It can help to keep a journal or some kind of record of critiques because as you gain more skill you may change your mind on some points. 

4. Tighten up your grammar. It’s fine to make mistakes, especially in a first draft, but if you have consistent grammar errors then it’s time to tackle the issue. Grammar isn’t optional; it exists to help with clarity of communication and a clearer writer is a better writer. It’s true that creative writing allows for the use of semantic grammar or a more fluid approach to sentence structure, but there’s a difference between using purposefully altered grammar for a reason versus just not knowing how to write properly. 

5. Try writing exercises. Many of these exist, from things like The Sprint (link embedded), which can help train you get work done, or The POV Swap (link embedded), which works on distinguishing character voice and perspective. Not all exercises are for everyone because there’s a variation to writing styles, but it never hurts to put in some effort to step outside our comfort zone to see if it could work. Further the benefits of writing exercises by developing a routine of regular use.

6. Read your work out loud. The mind has a tendency to put a haze of glory over some things and one way to help look at your writing realistically is to read it out loud to yourself. Reading out loud helps catch errors, some even grammatical, measure flow, evaluate pacing– it’s an amazing technique that gives the writer a better idea of what they’ve really put down. When reading, don’t be afraid to get into it and put emotion into your voice as long as it’s coming from the flow of the writing itself and isn’t forced.

All that said, there’s no such thing as a “perfect writer”. Brushing up on writing skills isn’t about being perfect, it’s about getting better relative to where you were before (and potentially helping close the gap between writing and storytelling skills).

Keep trying, keep practicing– keep writing.