Top Writing Tips From Top Writers.

People often ask,"How can I become a good writer?"

Diligently apply the working processes and writing tips of these famous writers and you'll not only become a good writer, but potentially an excellent writer, and definitely a more effective writer - particularly important to anyone writing online.

That's because the disciplines that have led to writing success over generations of hard copy publishing, are the exact disciplines that you must apply to your online writing, to break through the mass of mediocrity and succeed in the era of electronic publishing. 

Before we get to the famous writer quotes, I'm sure you've heard the quote attributed to Thomas Edison, that "Success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration."

To be a good writer, the rule is, "Success is 10% inspiration, 90% application."

Read the tips that follow, apply them, keep on applying them, and there's no reason why you can't become a good writer.

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Let's start with a very well known quotation, from a writer whose work has endured for a very long time;

‘Brevity is the soul of wit’.

Some people think that means, ‘shorter jokes are funnier’.

They may well be; but that’s not what the line means.

‘Wit’ is actually about smarts; as in, being smart enough to form cogent thoughts and opinions, and smart enough to convey the soul of your ideas clearly, concisely – with no waffle.

That's what it takes to be a good writer.

What makes those words of Shakespeare’s relevant to online writers, is that they represent not only the soul of a successful online article, but, in the ‘low attention span’ era of the net, the difference between success and failure for any piece of online communication.

It's vital to recognise though, that brevity for its own sake doesn’t guarantee success.

The objective is to convey your thoughts and ideas as concisely as possible, while ensuring that you communicate clearly. A better focus will very likely result in a shorter article, but make sure you take the time and space to say what you want to say.

Otherwise, there's no point in you writing it. And worse, no point in anyone else reading it.

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Experience is the best teacher. But you can learn how to be a good writer faster, from experiences others have already had.

What follows is a set of disciplines that I use myself when writing; but expressed through the words of more famous writers than me. (Though I have thrown in a few of my own, just to keep things honest).

You'll notice that all these quotes are,

Concise

Salient

To the point

Actionable.

Just as everything you write must be, if you are to be a good writer.

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Let’s begin with one that applies to many good writers.

"I quote others in order to better express my own self.'

Michel de Montaigne

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Here’s one that resonates with me, every time I review my first words on a new idea.

"The beginning is easy; what happens next is much harder".

Anon

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Here's why many good writers carry a notebook to capture those flashes of inspiration.

"Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself- it is the occurring which is difficult'.

Stephen Leacock

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'Getting started' means just that. Start writing.

"Just get it down on paper, and then we'll see what to do with it".

Maxwell Perkins

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"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good."

William Faulkner

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"How do I know what I think, until I see what I say?"

E.M. Forster

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For independent online writers, this is especially apt advice.

"I work every day - or at least I force myself into office or room. I may get nothing done, but you don't earn bonuses without putting in time. Nothing may come for three months, but you don't earn the fourth without it."

Mordechai Richler

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Forming a focus is fundamental to being clear.

“You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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"Who is apt, on occasion, to assign a multitude of reasons when one will do? This is a sure sign of weakness in argument."

Harriet Martineau

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Brevity pays dividends in clarity....

"The point of good writing is knowing when to stop."

L M Montgomery

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"Less is more."

Robert Browning

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....and in dollars.

"The more you say, the less people remember." (and) "The fewer the words, the greater the profit".

Francois Fenelon

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Every good writer knows that what you write first, should never be what you write last. You need to develop your thoughts, take the time to make it the best it can be.

"That's not writing, that's typing."

Truman Capote

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" What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure".

Samuel Johnson

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Readability is paramount. Don't make your reader stumble over poor technique.

"Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style".

Jonathan Swift

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"No one should ever have to read a sentence twice because of the way it is put together."

Wilson Follett

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Don’t gild the lily.

"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it."

Ernest Hemingway

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Don’t fall in love with your words, unless you know your reader will too.

"Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out".

Samuel Johnson

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“Murder your darlings.'

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Clarity comes from editing and finessing, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

"Gammy used to say, 'Too much scrubbing takes the life right out of things'."

Betty MacDonald

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“A writer wastes nothing.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Credibility comes from writing well, in your own style, your own voice.

"Observe, don't imitate".

John M. Ford

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"Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped upon the material at hand".

Andre Maurois

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Don't try to write to a demographic......

"I've never met an ''A B soc-ec 19 to 34 year old dual income mother with 2.5 kids'."

Advertising copywriter (me..) at a consumer research meeting

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.....write to a real person. One real person.

"Write for an audience of thousands. But to an audience of one."

writeronline

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If you genuinely want to be a good writer, and you're keen to improve the effectiveness of your online writing, I recommend you apply these principles and disciplines until they become ingrained; second nature.

And write, write, write.

"The mere habit of writing, of constantly keeping at it, of never giving up, ultimately teaches you how to write."

Gabriel Fielding

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"Practice may not make you perfect, but it will make you a good writer."

writeronline (slipped in another one of my own to finish..)

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Finally, don't stress. If you suffer from the delusion that writing is an exalted profession, to which you aspire, but are not worthy, remember this:

"In Ireland, a writer is looked upon as a failed conversationalist."

Anon

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