You have a lot of brilliant ideas to write about. So you get to your keyboard, get to work, and start writing.
Well, perhaps your typewriter, pen, or pencil if you are still so inclined.
Whether you are writing fiction, an article, an essay, or even a poem, let your fingers do the talking because writers write.
With any kind of writing, your first draft of any text is about ideas. They are the most important ingredient. Readers want your thoughts, views, and opinions or to be mesmerized by your imagination. So let your ideas run free.
Start with your first draft
Without first drafts, there would be nothing for people to read.
An initial draft is the raw material and the foundation for a good piece of writing.
However, no reader should ever see a writer’s first draft.
Early drafts usually have errors, inconsistencies, and undeveloped ideas.
A good writer knows a draft is a draft and that it’s only work in progress.
Inexperienced writers might think that the job is over after the first draft.
But great writers know there is still a lot of work to do.
They understand that writing is an iterative process, requiring multiple drafts to refine and polish their ideas.
This process involves correcting grammatical errors, clarifying, rethinking structure, and checking that the voice and tone are consistent.
They also have excellent habits and a strict and set writing process, which can be captured in three words.
Create, Craft, Correct
The first draft is the creative writing stage.
It doesn’t matter if you are writing a book, a short story, or a high school essay.
It is not important if the writing is replete with grammatical or spelling errors and typos.
What matters most is the action of transferring the writer’s thoughts into text.
A real writer gets the story out.
Correction comes at the end and involves checking spelling and grammar, eliminating typos, and proofreading.
But in between these two stages, a fine piece of writing needs to be crafted. Every writer has a unique writing style.
However, the qualities of good writing are quite uniform.
Taking a rough draft and turning it into a fantastic piece of writing involves using various grammatical and lexical devices and structures.
Examples could include syntax, word choice, voice, language register, and punctuation.
The definition of poor writing is that it uses a very limited range of these devices. A poorly written text is often repetitive in structure and vocabulary.
The effects of poor writing are that a reader can become bored, confused, or frustrated, so it is not fun to read.
There are many ways you can improve a text. But if you want to know how to fix bad writing, five areas stand out as red flags.
If you can develop the habit of recognizing these five issues and learn how to fix them, you will be able to craft average writing into fantastic writing in no time at all.
1. This, that, it, and there
Compare these sentence pairs.
I wanted to buy a new car. This was because mine was old. It was ten years old. There were dents in the doors. This was why I bought a new one.
I bought a new car because mine was ten years old and full of dents in the doors.
There were over fifty people at our wedding.
More than fifty people came to celebrate our wedding.
It was after the accident that I got headaches.
My headaches started after the accident.
If one word stands out like a flashing red warning signal, it is the pronoun, this.
Whenever you see the word, try to rewrite the sentence.
Unclear antecedent pronouns, pronouns, relative pronouns, and adverbs such as there, it, this, that, these, and those can all interfere with clarity.
I went on holiday to Spain with my mother and her dog and got a dose of food poisoning. This is why it was a terrible holiday.
It is unclear from the example sentence above what this is referring to. Was the holiday terrible because of the dog, the mother, the food poisoning, or the selection of Spain?
Note meaning. Antecedent: an earlier word, phrase, or clause to which another word (especially a following relative pronoun) refers back.
New habit: Develop the routine of looking for and replacing unnecessary or unclear pronouns whenever possible.
2. Clearly and obviously, I am currently a writer
Stephen King’s quote about the road to hell being paved with adverbs still holds true.
She looked at him angrily.
She glared at him with her piercing green eyes full of spite and anger.
Fortunately, I have plenty of time to write.
I am so fortunate to have plenty of time to write.
Our wedding day passed quickly.
Our wedding day was over before we knew it.
My daughter screams loudly.
You wouldn’t believe how loud my daughter can scream.
The soprano sang beautifully.
How the soprano sang was beautiful.
The syntax of the last three phrases is subject-verb-adverb. A few small changes and you can change the syntax of sentences.
Any style guide will recommend that you use adverbs sparingly.
Adverbs are quick and easy to use. But they should only be used when necessary.
You can replace adverbs in most circumstances with far more descriptive language.
New habit: If you spot adverbs regularly, it’s a good idea to try to delete them.
3. Repeat, repeat, repeat, and then change
Look at these examples and how repetition can be easily corrected.
Just as I got home, the phone rang. Just my luck; it was my mother-in-law. She told me that she had just got some bad news about her cat at the vet.
As soon as I got home, the phone rang. It was my mother-in-law, worse luck. She went on and on about what the vet had told her about her cat earlier that afternoon.
You should correct word repetition by adding more variety.
Repetition is very annoying for readers. Always look for alternatives by varying your syntax and using synonyms to replace weak and repeated words.
New habit: All writers have tic words and phrases. Get to know yours and eliminate as many as possible.
4. The passive must be eliminated
The passive voice is almost always the wrong choice. Please have it removed.
My iPhone was stolen.
Someone stole my iPhone.
I got my car serviced last week.
The garage serviced my car last week.
Our meal wasn’t served until nine-thirty!
The restaurant didn’t serve our meal until nine-thirty!
I had my essay checked by a proofreader.
A proofreader checked my essay.
The passive voice and causative can usually be changed to the active voice without much effort. Using active sentences gives more information and is always more interesting to read.
New habit: You need to remove the passive and replace it with active forms.
5. Chop, chop, chop it up
Long sentences that fill a page or a screen can have the negative effect of boring a reader to death and having them turn the page in the shortest time you could possibly imagine because they get confused and can’t understand what it is that you are trying to explain or say about your acumen at pruning roses.
Keep your sentences short. Readers will find it much easier to understand. If you see a long sentence, chop it into pieces.
Also, avoid big chunky paragraphs and watch out for run-on sentences.
Short really is sweet, especially for online writing, so avoid long sentences and big words.
New habit: Keep it shorter and sweeter.
Summary
The difference between good and bad writing and good writers and great writing is the understanding that writing is a craft.
It needs to be fashioned with care into an interesting, informative, and readable text.
A good writer takes the time to craft a piece of writing after the first draft. It might take two or three more drafts to perfect a text, but it is well worth the effort.
It doesn’t matter if it is fiction writing, a short story, blog posts and articles, marketing materials, or a school essay. Crafting makes all the difference to a piece of writing.
Once you have finished, then is it time to correct it and have someone else proofread it for you.
For many people, writing seems so easy. The truth is that it is not.
But it can be made easier if you can recognize the danger signals and rectify them.
If you can create a new habit of checking for the five common writing problems I have outlined, you will be able to produce a good piece of writing consistently.
Your 5 new writing habits
1. Watch out for this and that.
2. Adverbs are out, obviously
3. Don’t repeat it, it, it.
4. Active is always better.
5. Chop it up.
Now you can write and craft your writing with confidence and feel good knowing that your readers will appreciate the effort you have made to write something wonderful for them to read.
Related reading: How To Avoid Repetition In Writing In A Long Manuscript
