How to develop English Writing Skills?

Developing English Writing Skills

Writing is passive speaking. So, even this particular aspect of the English language needs to be refined as a skill. If you want to write well then you need to come out of the ‘thinking’ mode and actually pick up a pen and paper and start writing. It is as simple as that. Just as one cannot learn swimming by simply staring at the patch of pool one cannot learn writing by staring at a paper and pen. One needs to ‘write’, ‘write’ and ‘write’ and that’s all!

Hey, wait a minute. Before you start writing you need to ‘read’ a lot! Hmm well this process is mutual. According to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), mind starts modeling things in 20 days time!! Isn’t that great?? Well if you actually want to be a great write then you need to read a lot. Then over a period of time your brain will emulate some interesting styles- and all that subconsciously!

Spend some time writing daily. Do not make to yourself unrealistic promises. Have some time fixed for the writing activity and follow that religiously. You can start with a ten-minute daily writing exercise. You could get the write-up corrected by someone proficient and scholarly in the use of English language. You will see a great deal of improvement in you eventually.

When you have actually gotten your write-ups evaluated you need to sit back and think about your pluses and minuses. I mean your strengths and weaknesses. Try to transform your weaknesses into strengths. This will not happen magically you need to invest some time chiseling your skills. Improvement will be seen then.

Grammar is indispensable and inevitable to writing. Spend some time learning/revising grammar on a daily basis. This will make you very confident as a writer. You can refer to different grammar series and style guides in order to achieve this purpose.  Once you are well versed in grammar you can experiment on various sentence structures. As suggested earlier, request an expert to read your work and provide you with a feedback.

Form small groups of friends and share one another’s written work. Evaluate their work and have your work evaluated. This will also benefit you a lot during the sojourn of ‘learning how to write’.

Choose to write on various topics. This will instill a lot of creativity in your work. You could pick up travel writing, writing on food, writing book/movie reviews, writing historical events, writing scientific discoveries and procedures and many more. All these help in breaking the monotony which might otherwise creep in. Try various genres and various styles. They will help you evolve as a writer. Believe me!

Remember not to meddle with your facts. In your enthusiasm to write please do not however manipulate the facts. This may prove disastrous to your writing exercise. Bear in mind that lucidity in the write-up, a good introduction, exposition of facts or significant points in logical sequence and an effective conclusion will help you come with a brilliant write-up.

While writing, always focus first on what to express. Yes. Pay heed to what would you like to express and after that move on to how to add up the elements in order to make it more and more impressive and attention-catching.  

Remember, writing is also one of the major part of English learning.