9 Rules to Write Better

Follow them, or don’t — it’s up to you.

Writing is like baking a cake. Every writer has his or her own recipe. One way to get better at writing is to copy the recipe of someone you admire. Don’t just read their work, read about their writing process.

Take a passage or an entire chapter of a favourite author and write it out word for word, it will allow you to sink into their style and see the tactics they use to keep the reader engaged. You will come closer to their style and rhythm when you write out entire passages and sentences. Their structure will be more evident as you become intimate with why the writing resonates with you. You aren’t passing this work off as your own, it is just an exercise to learn how great writers go about their craft.

All great writers are great readers. They read. You won’t find a great writer who does not read other great writers.

Copy a writer’s recipe while adding some of your own ingredients. Add less sugar and more salt than your mentor. Develop your voice, rhythm, and flow by coming up with your recipe. Honing your process — your recipe — takes time and a lot sitting in the chair writing.

While you are sitting in the chair writing, below are some rules to follow as a foundation for good writing.

Great writers always know the rules, but they don’t always follow them.

Rule №1: What isn’t said is just as important as what is said. Readers are smart. You don’t have to hammer them over the head with every idea or keep in two sentences that say the same thing. Pick the sentence that is the clearest and concise.

Rule №2: Misplaced modifiers. I struggle with this. Too often, writers have the tendency to move the modifier, like the word only, toward the front of the sentence typically, and it changed the meaning of the sentence when you have the modifier in the wrong place. It can either add ambiguity or completely change the meaning of the sentence.

For example:

I washed my hair.

If you want to add a modifier, like only, to that sentence, what happens? Well, you change the meaning…

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