Many things are involved in writing; however, the act itself can be very beneficial to the writer. Writing helps you stay positive; you can express yourself and your thoughts more clearly, and it walks you through your feelings.
If you are just starting as a writer, it can be very hectic and challenging as well. However, the good thing is that you can continually improve your art. Two significant activities are recommended for people that want to get better at writing. Read and write. You need to read more and also write more.
You need to read more often to improve your skill as a writer because it opens you to different writing genres, different forms, voices, and styles. Also, you will come across other people’s writings that are better than yours, and you can use this to improve your skill.
As stated in an IED report, the fact that reading is one of the first skills that we learn from our nursery education is one of the reasons why many people think that this skill is easy and doesn’t need to be worked on or improved. Some people don’t even try to exercise their reading muscles for this reason. However, you must take every chance to read if you are a writer, esp6if you’re just starting.
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Bad Writer: Crossing From Bad To Good:
One thing that all writers need to note is that every writer starts as a bad writer. While it fits the narrative to say we all start as bad writers (writers with poor and unrefined skills), that’s not what this is about. Bad writers, in this case, refers to the writing habit or how writers go about creating the books that we read and love.
What we read online and buy in bookshops is the end product of a writer and not the beginning. Editors and proofreaders are the ones that are likely to see the worst of writers, not the audience. What you read is the final copy, and before it got to that stage, it has gone through different stages and requires a lot of effort.
The very first version of a writer’s work is a typical example of what bad writing is. It’s usually about putting down the ideas behind the work into writing. It lacks any sort of structure and arrangement and can be confusing to read. It is a mess, but it’s a necessary one to create the final copy. So the best writers and best-selling authors start as bad writers. They all needed to be bad writers to be great writers. To bring the best out of your work, you need to create the worst first. Here are ideas that you can incorporate into your writing to help you transition from being a bad writer to a great writer.
Start With Something Easy:
One mistake that you will make is trying to compare your rough work to another author’s final work trying to reach that quality initially. Everyone has their own “behind the scenes,” and trying to compare yours with their success story will leave you frustrated and disappointed in yourself.
So stick to your process and start writing the things that you find easy. Just start writing whether or not your ideas are formed fully; start easy and slowly. If you are not sure what you are trying to communicate, you will relax well by writing just anything.
It might also help you write out the lyrics of your favourite song or invent a fun poem. These are good ways to help jumpstart the process while you embark on a creative journey.
Plan Enough Time For Your Writing:
Working within a tight schedule, especially when you have to meet a deadline, can be intense. As long as it feels like you don’t have enough time on your hand, you won’t even be able to write those easy things. You only find things easy when you have enough time in your hands. You must create enough time before you embark on your writing journey so you don’t feel the pressure to write whatever words come into your head at the point.
Prolific writers can testify that there are different stages and versions of the work before creating the best and final one. It’s all in stages, and you need time to navigate these stages.
Embrace Your Mistakes:
This is the stage where you make several mistakes. We already said that the initial version of your writing could be messy. You should expect that there are mistakes in it to make it messy. It might be very easy typos, spelling errors, poor grammar, awkward phrases, or even bad punctuations, etc.
If you are thinking about your approach to the topic you are writing, you will include some fervour in it that could bring in these mistakes. Accept these mistakes and improve on them in the other stages.
Create Your Final Piece:
It is your work, your writing, and you will create it in the way you see fit. However, you are not publishing that initial mess. That’s your bad writing. You need to rework it and improve it into something extraordinary.
Since you are already sure about what you’re communicating, you only need to remove the confusing parts or make them more straightforward. Work through the initial mess like a sculptor works through the mud to create an object of choice. Do the same with your writings. That initial mess is the mud; make something beautiful out of it.
That beautiful final piece is what you publish and promote to the world. This is what the world sees as great writing, and as you do this over time, you start to create your audience and loyal followers.
Conclusion:
Every good work starts with bad and confusing work, and the best writers always start as bad writers. Being a bad writer is you creating the foundation for a masterpiece that you will be creating. Once you are done, the readers only see the great writer, but you have transitioned from a bad writer to the great writer they see.
About the Author:Arthur Evans is a veteran British writer and an assignment helper in self-development and digital marketing. He’s a firm believer in science and advocates intellectual freedom wherever possible. Arthur is an avid fan of history documentaries and old-school sci-fi TV shows.
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