The first draft
The first words you write are the first draft. Writing is thinking. You'll rarely know what exactly you want to say when you start writing.
The time you put into editing, reworking and refining turns your first draft into a second draft, and then into a third. If you keep refining it over days or weeks or even years, it eventually becomes something great.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Most writing mistakes are widespread, but good writers just get better at spotting them. Some things you'll learn to watch for are:
- Overuse of jargon and business-speak, like "utilize" or "endeavor" instead of "use" or "try."
- ClichĂŠs are stale phrases that have lost their impact and novelty through overuse. If you are used to seeing it in print, don't use it.
- The passive voice. The subject of the sentence should be the person or thing taking action, not the thing being acted on. "Harry wrote this article," is better than "This article was written by Harry."
- Rambling. When you are not sure what you want to say, it is easy to phrase it in three or four different ways. A single concise sentence is generally better.
When you write something, you get very close to it. It is nearly impossible to distance yourself from it straight away to edit properly.
The longer you can leave a draft before editing, the better. Half an hour to two days is enough of a break to edit well. When you do edit, read your work out loud. You'll catch more problems and get a better feel for how everything flows.
It is more likely you've written too much than too little.
The rule for most writers is, "If in doubt, cut it." If a word, sentence, or paragraph isn't necessary, delete it. It will clarify what you're trying to say.
The beginning of anything you write is the most important part. If you don't catch someone's attention at the start, you won't hold it later.
You should spend a disproportionate amount of time working on the first few sentences, paragraphs, or pages.
The structure is what your writing hangs on.Â
- A topic sentence that is followed by supporting paragraphs and a conclusion work best.
- Break up a series of paragraphs into concise points and, where necessary, insert subheads.
- For longer pieces, the structure will need a lot of work. Narratives need to flow, and arguments need to build.Â
A recommended how-to guide on writing good, clear English is âThe Elements of Styleâ by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.
- âPolitics and the English Languageâ by George Orwell is also worth studying to avoid âugly and inaccurateâ writing.
- A writing assistant like Grammarly can flag common writing, spelling, and grammatical errors.
- A good thesaurus is also essential for finding just the right word.
- A second pair of eyes. Ask relatives and friends to read over your work.
RELATED IDEAS
George Orwell thought a good sentence means trimming as many words as possible, Virginia Woolf found power in verbs, and Baldwin desired 'a sentence as clean as a bone.'
We can learn from celebrated writers that a good sentence is plain, undecorated and visible. It gets its power from the tension between the ease of its phrasing and the surprise of its thought. Each added word reduces alternatives and narrows the reader's expectations. But up to the last word, the writer can throw a curveball.
Writing should be a spontaneous activityâidea to pageâbut we dream too long and the idea is lost in the haze and never hits the page.
The Cure
Writers must outline their work. We need to plan the major plot points, understand their characters in minute detail, and then walk them through the plot.
The idea of being a Pantserâwriting without a plan is a romantic notion. Very few people are able to pull it off.