How to become a better writer: 5 tips to improve your words

Improve your writing so you can communicate with confidence – and spend more time in your sweet spot.

So you’re wondering how to become a better writer. You’ve come to the right place. As your local word nerds, we’ll always be the first to encourage you to polish your writing skills. Because even if writer isn’t in your job description, we bet you’re writing every day – whether you’re sending an email, drafting a report or creating a presentation.

By improving your writing you can spend less time agonising over that one word, sentence, paragraph or page. All while making sure your message is heard and has impact.

The best part is, getting started is easier than you think. It’s just about implementing a few new habits. And to help you get the ball rolling, we’re sharing our top five ways to bring your writing skills to the next level.

 

1. Write how you speak

A great step towards becoming a better writer is to write how you speak. In other words, writing more like you’re having a conversation with your readers. By imagining your audience clearly, you can better connect with their needs and answer their questions.

There are a couple of simple ways to do this.

1. Cut the jargon. No more vague corporate abstract nouns like ‘deliverables’ They’re just making your words more confusing and unapproachable.
2. If you wouldn’t say it, don’t write it. Read what you’ve written. If it doesn’t sound like something you’d say, change it. By doing this, you’re instantly making your message more approachable, engaging and easier to remember.

 

2. Write better by organising your words

Though writing your ideas and thoughts as they come to you feels easier, it’s not a viable final product.* It’s a first draft.

Making sure your ideas and messages are all organised is one of the best ways to improve your writing. This is why it’s important to bring some structure in. You can either do this by creating an outline for yourself, then writing, or by writing in a stream-of-consciousness that you can edit and cut into a cleaner structure.

*This also applies to your emails – often the biggest offenders of stream-of-consciousness writing. You’re busy, but everyone benefits from you taking the extra moment to make sure all your ideas and action points are clear.

 

3. Think about your ideal reader

Whether you’re writing an email to a coworker or a core campaign message for your brand, you should be thinking about your ideal reader. Consider the tone or language you would use to talk to them. Think about the context, and the information already available to them. By doing this you can meet your reader at the same level, and provide all the necessary details to ensure your words connect.

 

4. Read more, write better

Reading is a fantastic way to learn more about paragraph and sentence structure, rhythm, and word choice – and get new ideas. Any bit of reading is useful, it’s just about incorporating more of it into your routine. Like taking an extra moment to read an article from a writer or brand that you like. Or reading the newsletter of a business in the same industry as you.

 

5. Find the right tools to improve your writing

Generative AI offers many amazing tools to help you become a better writer. Tools like Grammarly are here to help you catch sneaky typos and grammatical errors. Wordtune will shuffle a sentence you’re stuck on. And TextFX can lend a hand in getting the creative juices flowing.

But it’s important to remember that each AI writing tool has its place and purpose. Because the one thing it isn’t capable of is being human. So you still need to rely on your own experiences and emotions to connect.

Luckily, we have a writing challenge that’s here to help you become a better writer in just five minutes a day. Our 14-day writing challenge is full of tips, tools and actionable exercises to help you write better. So you can have confidence in your words and make an impact.