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Author: Izuchukwu Ugwu            

Reviewer & Editor: Chinyere Nwosu 

Writing Tips To Guide Your Writing Journey

Writing has become a part of our daily life, and people write for different reasons. Written works come in many ways. It is just for you to find your way around it. Some write for the love of it, some write to bury their secrets, while others do it to make a living. All these texts fall within different niches. Writing in every form can only be appreciated by a reader. Readers, therefore, define, explore, and expound on the beauty of writing niches.

Generally, we would learn some basic skills you need to become a good writer yourself.

Writing Tips

Reading: This is one of the best writing techniques that people underrate. While surfing the internet, you will learn other basic techniques, only a few talk about reading vastly. Reading improves your vocabulary and builds words from it. It is a relevant writing foundation. To perfect your niche, you read related works of good authors. These authors have already developed writing skills for you to learn from, and by so doing, you will turn out to be a great writer someday.

Niche: In writing generally, one has to discover his niche. Niche is your area of specialization – the field of writing you love more; what you scribble down the paper when you find your pen. There are several niches or writing styles in writing. These include:

1. Descriptive writing style: In this type of writing, the writer describes the topic, character, and event rather than showing it. The common saying – “show not tell” applies in the writing field. This writing style is used widely in poetry. The poets tend to fill a reader’s mind with decorative landscapes and pictures. They present their words beautifully and make the reader marvel at the nature of their works.

2. Persuasive Writing Style: The persuasive writing style is for writers of SOPs (Statement of Purpose), Recommendation letters, Cover letters, and academics. In this form of writing, the writer persuades his targeted audience to do his bidding or consider what he is proposing.

3. Expository Writing Style: This writing is where a writer illustrates a fact or passes information to his reader. The information conveyed in this type of writing is the truth, and they are from news articles and technical writing.

4. The Narrative Writing Style: This is the writing style that novelists and essayists use in their works. They narrate a story or an event. This story may be fiction or nonfiction, depending on what the writer wants to write. Also, in this type of writing, we have the first person point of view, second person point of view, and third person point of view. That would be a discussion for another day.

After discovering your niche, the next step would be to consider the following:

Writing tips – make your writing concise and easy to understand.

1. Simplify your language: Often, this is where learners make their first mistake. The urge to be perfect or the fear of rejection makes these writers use big, verbose, and redundant or repetitive words. Using simple English words makes your reader flow seamlessly with your work and enjoy it, while big grammar bores readers out. Don’t be afraid of mistakes. You can edit and review them later as many times as possible.

2. Use short sentences and paragraphs: The use of longer sentences makes readers tired. As much as possible, contain your words and thoughts in a single sentence or paragraph before starting another. This way, your readers will find each sentence or paragraph worthy as they constitute a different thought that makes the whole story.

3. Be Clear and Concise: Clarity and concision mean making your work apt and short while retaining the meaning you wish to convey. Brevity is important. It brings value to your work, and readers enjoy such works.

4. Mark your tone: Create your unique style and avoid cliches. Cliches are phrases or idiomatic expressions that lost their value over time – an example is “a greener pasture.” This expression, at a time, enjoyed its prime but not anymore. Knowing your tone also applies to your writing language when writing different genres. The language of a blog post is more informal than the

language of a news article. Also, the descriptions used in poetry differ from the ones used in a drama. The tones are different. Writers who write extensively know how to mark tones when working on several genres.

5. Edit and review: This is often the final part of any literary work. At this stage, the piece is complete but needs the final touches. It is where you edit what you have written and check for typographical and punctuation errors. After that, you ought to have another person of higher knowledge reread and review it. Now your work is ready for submission.

Conclusion

Writing is a gradual process that can be perfected over time by several attempts. Consistency in extensive reading only

widens your horizon and arms you with ideas and words to use when

writing your work. With these tips above, you of to a good start on your writing journey.