It doesn’t matter how good a writer you already are – you will naturally want to become better. There’s always room for improvement, after all. But how can we become better writers?

I think we often don’t realise that we are getting better at what we do until one day, we’re reading back a draft, we compare it to an earlier version and we realise “actually, this isn’t bad.” The process of improvement is often something we’re not conscious of, because we’re too busy focusing on the task at hand. Let’s say though that we are consciously trying to improve our writing. What can we do?

Write write write

It has to be top of the list. If you want to be a better writer, you need to write. You can read all the guides and blog posts you want about styles of writing and how you can improve and how to self-publish your book once it’s finished, but there’s nothing to beat actually get on with some work.

Learn to edit

It’s often said that editing is the hard bit, because that’s where we make our first draft good (or at least make it readable, depending on how that first draft turns out). Learning to edit properly is probably one of the most difficult things to do, not least because it can be hard to be critical of your own work – or at least it can be hard to be constructively critical of it. We can all look at stuff we’ve written and think “oh God, I hate it,” but sitting down and going through it to make it better is something else entirely. And it’s something we need to learn to do.

Try a class

There are different opinions on whether going to a creative writing class or taking courses is any use. Some people think they’re a good way of nurturing talent, others think that they just teach everyone to write in similar styles. Still, if you do think a class could help you, it can be a good way to develop discipline and good habits that could benefit your writing.

Start the story straight away

In a way, this is linked to the point about learning to edit. Something that many writers do, especially when starting out, is to start their novel before the story actually begins. Go back to the start, work out if it actually is the start and, if not, be ruthless about cutting it (and while you’re there, make sure the opening of the book is top notch).

Read lots

As well as writing as much as you possibly can, regular reading is also something that can help you become a better writer. Reading teaches about style and story and character, and you can pick up a lot about how to craft a novel from reading lots of them yourself.

Have focus

Distractions are aplenty, but when we’re trying to catch up with Twitter, cook dinner and watch the news at the same time as staring at the Word document containing our novel, it’s unlikely we’re going to be writing to our full potential. When you’re writing, focus only on your writing – and save those distractions for another time.