How did you improve your writing style?

[BOWIESENSEI]

Did it come naturally over time or from reading? I want to get better but don't really know some good steps to take. I haven't had much feedback either in regards to story, just grammar. (I suck at that)

 

[TLCsDestiny]

Both. Over time and reading.
Nonetheless, I still feel noobish lol. *whispers* it might never go away!

 

[gaylolis]

try using grammarly. it can offer you some quick fix.

i dont have a good grasp 'bout grammar myself. as long it's easy to understand i'm good.

one advice i heard while back is to tell the story the way you naturally talk. it helps me a ton when my english is bad.

i don't know 'bout reading. i was never into the idea of reading to improve myself. if i don't like the story, i won't bother with it.

 

[Ninetailed_Furball]

Your writing is always going to feel noobish, but the only ways to improve are to write, read, and find writing advice.

Writing advice is easy to find, as it's everywhere online. I watch a lot of advice videos, but you need to take them all with a grain of salt. They're almost always heavily biased on the style of writing they specialize in, and their intended audience is often different from your own.

Writing is good, but it's mostly just practising what you already know. If you don't realize you're already making a mistake, you're not going to fix that. But rereading your own work a few times with a critical eye helps.

Reading is lastly probably the most important. I think it was Hank Green that said "As an author, your only teacher are other authors. So read. Read everything you can get your hands on."

But remember that you should include professional authors in that read list. Most of us here and other sites are amateur authors and are going to be making the same mistakes you make. It won't help improve your writing much, so take the time to read work from published authors.

 

[Chaaruzu_Corner]

Just write!

Writing comes in naturally, when you're writing more and more chapters over a span of time you begin to have certain preferences that you'd like to add for instance;

I began to write both the dialogue and the narration in the same paragraph next to each other during chapters 15-20 in my Black Witch story on the original Wattpad version. Previously I write them separate but I wanted a better flow between the words so I first experimented then added it in.

Then I always just did "You ate that." She said. Those types of things. But then I started to hate saying said all the time so I did, "You ate that." She called me out while I took the last bite. I described it.

Or just very recently I started to hate that I kept using the word "as" a lot when writing. Then from my English class actually I learned of semi-colons, these things (;) So I began using them in my writing and it made the narration less monotonous so now it's a new part of my writing style!

It's all little things at first, but it adds up over time and when you look back at your old work you begin to cringe at it; that means that you've improved as a writer. It all starts when you start to dislike something about your writing and change it around to improve it.

That's how you improve your writing style :)

 

[jinxs2011]

Reading a lot and practice. Some things are subconscious, you might be surprised as to how much you can improve just by writing a dozen chapters. Every time I go back and edit my older chapters, they look like they were written by an idiot to me... Every time...

 

[DalangTala]

Just write. You know you got better if you cringe at your past work.

*remembered the story I published as a 7th grader*
*vomits*

Lesson learned: Write now, die later.

Serious Answer:
Read a lot. Not everyone can have their own style right away. Take inspiration and feel free to use the style that you like reading. In time, you'll be able to have your own voice.

 

[Phantomheart]

My writing style drastically changed after taking a high school course focused on grammar and the English syntax. My advice is to use grammarly if you are just starting out, but think of expanding your knowledge about the English lexicon by buying a book about grammar and sentence structure. As while many might claim that grammar doesn’t make or break a story, it can definitely refine and define it. I found that by learning grammar from the ground up drastically helped by writing as it helped me understand flow, reason, and tact. A recommended book that I had to study during my class is Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation by Lynne Truss.
Trust me, learning from the ground up and investing your time into writing rather than letting it linger will drastically impact your writing style. Make an active effort, and even if it’s not through a formalized learning, simple YouTube videos are enough. Some of my favorite sites to use to understand grammar are OwlPurdue and the MLA official website. Though these are used for formal writing, I go by the standard that you should learn formal before informal, as it is a stepping stone that we come across in every way, such as in maths, languages, and science.

Learn the theory before you practice.

 

[tiaf]

Isn’t it good as long as it is enjoyable?

I started reading (web)novels about 2 years, even though I never really read a book before. They were like my nemesis, but then I binged them like my life depended on them.

The talk about writing style didn’t matter to me at the beginning, but as time passed, I grew tired of some. I couldn’t tell what bugged me until I read some comments/reviews and it dawned on me.

So I wasn’t the only one, who felt like this!

I began to notice flaws in writing and appreciated (for me) well written aspects of novels. Then I came across a relatively simply yet highly captivating original on Wattpad. It doesn’t need a high vocabulary to write, just good ideas for content, characters or twist.

Thus, I started my journey as author. I just nitpick, that it’s logical and there are alternations for the same action/beginning of the sentence.

It will come naturally. I don’t stress over it

 

[karsev]

I'm kinda destructive in a way that even though I could do better. I try to show, and don't tell. I don't think I'm good at doing it but I try nonetheless.
Though thinking about it depresses me a bit since I've been writing every day for eight hours at best for the past four years. But most of the time my greatest enemy is my punctuation's and commas.

 

[Chaaruzu_Corner]

Just write. You know you got better if you cringe at your past work.

Hey! That's my line xD

 

[awake1122]

My current strategy is writing down a summary of what I want in the chapters I plan to write for an arc. Also why I only have a prolog for my story at the moment, but this will likely help keep me from writers block in the middle of an arc.

 

[steve2116]

Or just very recently I started to hate that I kept using the word "as" a lot when writing. Then from my English class actually I learned of hyphens, these thingd (;) So I began using them in my writing and it made the narration less monotonous so now it's a new part of my writing style!

It’s going to annoy me if I don’t correct you. My english grammar isn’t the best myself, but I learnt in school what (;) is. I don’t know if it is different in America but in England (;) is a semi-colon. A hyphen is a (-), like a dash but used differently (idk how)

 

[Phantomheart]

It’s going to annoy me if I don’t correct you. My english grammar isn’t the best myself, but I learnt in school what (;) is. I don’t know if it is different in America but in England (;) is a semi-colon. A hyphen is a (-), like a dash but used differently (idk how)

(;) is a semi colon in all of the English lexicon.
There are two types of hyphen, a single hyphen - used when cutting off sentences and hyphenating words, is called an N Dash. The double hyphen acts as an interjection — it is called M Dash.

 

[steve2116]

(;) is a semi colon in all of the English lexicon.
There are two types of hyphen, a single hyphen - used when cutting off sentences and hyphenating words, is called an N Dash. The double hyphen acts as an interjection — it is called M Dash.

Thanks, I wasn’t sure on the difference since I hated English as a subject and never paid too much attention (#0.0)

Also I didn’t really mention writing advice. I’m not by any means good myself but I find learning other languages helps. I’m learning basic Japanese which helps me while a friend of mine is learning Spanish to a much higher level and they’re always talking about how much they learn about English alongside Spanish

 

[Chaaruzu_Corner]

It’s going to annoy me if I don’t correct you. My english grammar isn’t the best myself, but I learnt in school what (;) is. I don’t know if it is different in America but in England (;) is a semi-colon. A hyphen is a (-), like a dash but used differently (idk how)

Oops! Sorry got confused! I'll change it lol xD

 

[DalangTala]

Hey! That's my line xD

Belongs to every single one of us

 

[BOWIESENSEI]

Both. Over time and reading.
Nonetheless, I still feel noobish lol. *whispers* it might never go away!

Oh, the feeling always lingers! I'm beginning to wonder if it's something you don't notice but the readers do! A reason why I value feedback so much.

 

[BOWIESENSEI]

try using grammarly. it can offer you some quick fix.

i dont have a good grasp 'bout grammar myself. as long it's easy to understand i'm good.

one advice i heard while back is to tell the story the way you naturally talk. it helps me a ton when my english is bad.

i don't know 'bout reading. i was never into the idea of reading to improve myself. if i don't like the story, i won't bother with it.

I currently use Grammarly at the moment and I think the idea of writing how you talk is a good one that I'll take on board for sure. Sometimes Grammarly doesn't pick up on things too. ;-; Intense and precise grammar Isn't really my strong suit. Although I do feel what I write isn't a s**t storm to read.

 

[BOWIESENSEI]

Your writing is always going to feel noobish, but the only ways to improve are to write, read, and find writing advice.

Writing advice is easy to find, as it's everywhere online. I watch a lot of advice videos, but you need to take them all with a grain of salt. They're almost always heavily biased on the style of writing they specialize in, and their intended audience is often different from your own.

Writing is good, but it's mostly just practising what you already know. If you don't realize you're already making a mistake, you're not going to fix that. But rereading your own work a few times with a critical eye helps.

Reading is lastly probably the most important. I think it was Hank Green that said "As an author, your only teacher are other authors. So read. Read everything you can get your hands on."

But remember that you should include professional authors in that read list. Most of us here and other sites are amateur authors and are going to be making the same mistakes you make. It won't help improve your writing much, so take the time to read work from published authors.

I really appreciate your reply. It was genuinely nice and comforting to read to be honest. I do read a lot of professionally published books, though they're mostly within two of my favorite genres (Sci-Fi and Fantasy). I get a lot of criticism for liking Andrezj Sapkowski's Witcher books and I don't see why. Makes me feel a little bad since my work is heavily inspired by him (even if he's a bit of a twat heheh c;)