Scribd
Upload
14 views1 page

25 Writing Tips

Uploaded by

samphorsphea9
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
14 views1 page

25 Writing Tips

Uploaded by

samphorsphea9
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

25 Tips for Writing

1. Practice often. The more you write, the easier it gets to put your thoughts on paper.
2. Read a lot, especially the kind of writing you like to do. This is how we learn the language of readers
and writers and listen in on their conversations.
3. Seek to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange—for yourself as the writer.
4. Start your project as soon as you can. Your writing process is every bit as important as your final
written product.
5. What comes to you first doesn’t have to end up in the lead, or anywhere else for that matter. Just
mute the critic and write.
6. Use your natural voice. Afterward, revise for your audience or discipline. Over time your natural
voice will change as it needs to.
7. Don’t be afraid to follow your rabbit holes; you never know where they’ll lead.
8. Support your thesis with research, but first research to develop a thesis. This is also called listening
before you talk.
9. Talk about your writing with someone. Get them to ask you questions so you can see what you say or
what you need to say.
10. Imagine an audience beyond a teacher.
11. To avoid being distracted by a length guideline while drafting, screw up the margins and font size.
12. Use the senses. Show what you saw, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted, so the reader can think and
feel the same as you.
13. Learn the standards before bending them, and don’t bend them without a good reason.
14. Revise. Ernest Hemingway rewrote the final page of Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times.
15. Put some daylight between drafts. Walk away, reinhabit your life, refresh.
16. After you have a draft, outline what you’ve written to see whether the path you’re on is the one you
want to take.
17. Active verbs energize the prose. Where possible, use them to replace adverbs, adjectives, be and
have verbs, and passive voice. For example—
Replace these with Active verbs
Michael walked awkwardly away. Michael lumbered away.
Toby’s eyes were bloodshot. Pink veins crawled Toby’s eyes.
The request was approved by Jenner. Jenner approved the request.

18. Use precise words. Sometimes that means choosing a big word, sometimes a small one. It almost
always means nixing clichés.
19. Vary your sentence structure. Too many essays and too many sentences begin with I or there is.
20. By the end of the process, make every paragraph about one thing.
21. Read your draft aloud to someone; among other things, this gives you a sense of audience, lets you
hear the way you come across in the piece, and it can help you vary your vowel and consonant
sounds.
22. Readers pause at commas, but writers don’t put a comma everywhere they pause. Study the current
punctuation standards.
23. When proofreading, say each sentence aloud, working from the final sentence to the first.
24. Write the truth as you experience it—your truth. And be transparent about it.
25. Remember that ultimately, writing is more a conversation than a performance.

LWC Writing Center


Slider 200, 270-384-8209 • Every Writer, Every Message, Every Point in the Process • Welcome to the Conversation!

You might also like