The Main Pillars of Successful Writing

Writing is one skill that students can learn with time, self-criticism and consistency.

11:40 03 May 2019

Ironically, all schools and colleges are meant to work toward the betterment of their students’ future, i.e., until they enter the professional fold.

Unfortunately, they fail to teach one skill that is important and frequently asked and needed at every stage of one’s life: proficient writing skills. Students want to be good writers, but they don’t have a clear idea of where to start working on their craft.

Well, you’re at the right place because we’ve got the answer to all your main queries. Here is an overview of the main pillars of successful writing for students:

Just Start Writing

There are no short-cuts to improving your writing. You have to start raw to be an expert. Just like water won’t flow through until you turn on the faucet, don’t wait for the right moment or free hours. Start writing no matter where you are or what is going on in your life.

If you want to improve your writing, you have to go after it. Don’t make excuses. Instead, you can take guidance from your teachers and even peers. Students who are good at writing honed their skills over time, most of them starting from zero.

As Richard Bach says, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

Similarly, you have to start somewhere. If you cannot think of any specific topic, write about your feelings or your current life situations. Or maybe you can observe people on your way to work or school and write about them.

Soon enough, you will see a smooth transaction in your writing. Your writing will get better and effective with time. Plus, you will see yourself noticing every little detail about the people around you. This observation will contribute to your critical thinking skills.

Above all, if you start writing, stay persistent. You can always find who is ready to “edit my paper”. As Octavia Butler says, “You don’t write good stuff when you start out writing, because initially you write crap and think it’s good stuff, but gradually you get better at it. That’s why persistence is one of the most important traits.”

Write Content That You Like Reading

If you’re writing an assignment or essay, there is no need to engage with the readers. You are simply following the word limit and topic guidelines. However, you can be creative and hone your craft. Write a paper that you would like to read yourself. Surely, with writing that impresses you will stand you in good stead with your tutors.

But when it comes to writing for a general audience, there is only one requirement: you have to enlighten your readers with your fascinating writing skills. The content should comprise of short sentences, simple words, short stories and examples that they can fully resonate with your audience. This way, you can ensure that readers will read the piece to the end.

But remember you should not drift away from the topic. You have to maintain cohesion and coherence throughout the piece.

Read, Read and Read a Lot

To write good stuff, you need to read good stuff. You can only write if you know a lot about things and are good at research. Otherwise, your content will seem obsolete to your readers, and you can easily lose their attention.

Plus, reading would help you criticize your writing and help make amendments to certain phrases that don’t go well with your topic.

Moreover, if you worry about why you think so much while writing and usually you end up writing a few words or no words at all, then reading is the only way out of this problem.”

Are you struggling to read that boring novel about wars and history? Then don’t! Instead, start reading something you like. It can be a short article, blog post, etc.

Once you’re in the habit of reading, you won’t strive to read things you don’t like. You cannot ignore all the boring content, but you can get used to reading it. A good writer will be able to write about anything. And that is only possible if they read about everything.

Edit Until You Love What You Write

Every successful writer is a good proofreader for a reason. Once they finish writing, they don’t rush off to send it to their editors or publishers.

Instead, they tend to drool over that content for a couple of days, reconsidering every single word and finding better alternatives. Plus, they rephrase sentences that are not relevant or have grammatical errors.

Demanding quality from your content is not too much to ask. The process of cutting down every extra/exaggerating ounce can be hurtful, but you need to do it to ensure you capture your readers’ attention. Plus, editing your content until you love it will give a certain sense of satisfaction. After all, that is the ultimate goal every student or writer strives for.

Every writer‘s main purpose is to make their content sound like music to the ears of all potential readers. And this can only happen when after you finish writing, you recheck your content and change wordings of every awkward sentence. Plus, rearrange paragraphs, add several famous quotes or even facts.

A writer’s secret to attractive writing is to cut the required word count in half and write according to it. This step will not only prevent you from drifting away and adding irrelevant information but also help you think smartly as now you’ll only think and write things that are specific to the topic.

Bottom-Line

What are you waiting for?

Just jump right into it. You won’t get good at writing until you start writing. Take the first step, and the rest would follow. The key is to stay persistent and not give up.

Pro Tip: Work on your sentence structure, learn a lot of new intriguing words and believe in the use of short sentences.

And above all, believe in yourself!