How to Become a Writer
Everybody has a story to tell, an insightful perspective or an enlightening anecdote to offer.
The ability to successfully express an opinion or describe a series of events requires structure and format to engage with an audience effectively. The power to communicate beyond your immediate social circle and project your personality, introducing personal ideas and beliefs is a powerful tool.
There are numerous online platforms which offer space for aspiring writers to upload their words and connect with audiences. Medium, Reddit, Lulu and Wattpad are just a few great writer and commentator communities which help refine an aspiring writers ability to inspire their readers.
By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your wording and writing style, the refining processes may commence. Establishing a narrative which identifies your writing uniquely, yet remains concise and easy to read is challenging.
The most tempting habits new authors give into are to over word, overthink and overindulge their writing. In truth, simple, straight to the point sentences are so much more engaging. Over superfluous, long winding sentences which require concentration and re-reading will switch your writer off.
Like any new skill, master the basics and aspire towards greatness. An accomplished writer does not suddenly arrive, many a draft copy is created and destroyed before the final edit is delivered.
There are numerous apps which also track the progress of your writing. A firm favourite within the writing community is Grammarly. This revolutionary tool analyses the strength of your work based on the clarity, correctness, and how engaging a body of text is. Grammarly takes you step by step through suggestions and offers alternatives to weaker elements of your wording.
Hemmingway App is an excellent way to scale down your sentences if you’re a wordy writer. Forcing you to choose between two adjectives, Hemingway challenges the writer to use one word to convey meaning, instead of two, which can weaken the intention of the sentence. Different colours are used to easily and quickly identify issues with your writing from the tone of voice to grammar.
So now you’ve identified your platforms, critiqued your copy with an intelligent writing app, what comes next? Well, more writing. Write, write, write every day, read back your work and reflect on the subjects which inspire more coherent narratives and engaging copy. Reading blogs and following online magazines is useful for comparing your standards of writing.
If you enjoy a particular publication, such as this one, get in touch! Most blogs and websites have ‘contact us’ sections which encourage potential contributors to get in touch and submit articles. Be prepared for rejection, unanswered emails and criticisms. Nothing worth having ever came easy! Invite feedback if you don’t strike it lucky.
If a piece which has taken considerable time and effort to create is left unpublished, upload to your Medium page and share with your followers. Remember though; most websites will not publish pre-posted articles, so do not submit content already online.
So now you are ready to begin making it as a writer, enjoy the journey and send us your words!
Register to be able to submit blogs and articles – https://over50s.com/join-the-community/
