Tips for New and Aspiring Writers: One Way to Make What You Write Better

By Joyce Shafer

Anytime you decide to write anything, whether it’s an article or a manuscript, you should congratulate yourself. Some people find writing easy, while others feel less sure about the process or their skills. Either type of writer is courageous. You know that when you write, especially if you intend to share it in any way, you open yourself to comments from readers.

One of the best things you can do for your writing is to have someone read and critique it. You may feel hopeful the person will like the story, perhaps even anxious that she or he may not; but your primary goal is to get feedback that will help you create a quality result.

You want someone who will take this effort seriously, and need to expect that what you get back may have a lot of notations and questions. At first, you may not be thrilled about this. As you read through the notes, you should see tighter ways to write sentences, inconsistencies brought to your attention, and some things you didn’t give thought to as you were writing. No writer thinks of everything during the first draft, and every writer edits and rewrites.

When we write non-fiction, we sometimes forget that readers don’t know what we know and we leave things out or don’t put things in the best order. In fiction, we may get so caught up with the story we miss inconsistencies or leave questions unanswered. We hopefully concern ourselves with punctuation, grammar, and the technical aspects of writing, but miss something or several things that could make our writing go beyond good and become excellent or, at the very least, accurate. One definite benefit is that you learn and hone your skills as a result of getting such feedback.

The thing you want to do is rely on someone who not only has the skills to do this but is objective enough to do it so that you get what you need. Writers sometimes ask the wrong people to do this for them and it often results in frustration. Many projects get shelved because of this. Do everything you can to nurture your creativity and move your project forward until you get your desired outcome.

Get what you’ve written critiqued or learn more about services for writers offered by Joyce Shafer, author; weekly columnist; and freelance proofreader, editor, and rewriter at http://www.freewebs.com/write-onwriting.

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