Here's the mistake most aspiring writers make... Most of their writing is dull and uninspired. I blame grammar and education, seriously... stiff, formal, 'intelligent' writing just bores the crap out of most people. Started writing like you talk - be crazy, funny, passionate, controversial, challenging. Heck, it's better to even come across as half insane than be dull and boring - true? The point is you want to engage the reader on a PERSONAL level, make them FEEL an emotion and stand out from the crowd! Think of it this way, you're not really writing, you're in a bar right now talking about a topic to someone whose only semi-interested in that topic, so you better be able to keep them engaged, fascinated or at least deeply connect with what they already believe to be true. Pretend you're scripting a long rant in a bar room conversation, that will naturally make you use humor, wit and emotion unless of course you're happy leaving the person you just met bored out of their minds half way through the conversation, or your article... which is what most writers do anyway! Good luck and keep writing P.S If I could only recommend ONE book to read on writing I'd say Mark Joyner's book "Hypnotic Writing", it's not about hypnosis, it's mostly about how to write in a fantastic, compelling way. If you're serious about taking you're writing and copywriting to the next level, go to Amazon and grab yourself a copy.
Great advice Dima K. And one of the best ways to follow this is to write about something that you really are passionate about. You can't be passionate about everything, but practicing with the things that you love can help improve your style when it comes to other topics.
I think you can be passionate about everything. I liken writing to acting- sometimes you have to get into character. See things as your clients or readers will. That can help you to understand and care about subjects that you normally find boring.
Take some time to write every day, and proofread the hell out of your work. Write small samples for yourself, and think of a number of other ways to word it, rewriting it each time. Start using a thesaurus to do this, as it will help to stretch your vocabulary, while giving you the chance to test the flow of your words. Reading a lot also helps. I know quite a bit of my writing skills have come from frequent reading, ever since childhood.
One of the best things you can do to improve your writing skills is to use a good editor. It might sound like a complete cop out, but even the best writers, especially those that can turn out pieces in a hurry can save themselves a lot of copy editing time if they find an editor that they like with a good spell check and grammar system and to input non standard phrases common in your writing field (such as acronyms) so that they can be seen as standard usage by the editor. I use OO almost exclusively now, but my old favorite while using Linux was AbiWord. If editing code, I use Crimson Editor. It was just freeware that stuck. Your choices are numerous.
I see what you mean. I am definitely not passionate about everything, but if you can get into character it helps to understand why you are writing what you are. I like to try writing about everyday things sometimes just to practice this skill of turning an apparently boring topic around. I think rewriting your own stuff is a great tip. You can also choose certain paragraphs to practice expanding on them, as well as going the other way and reducing them as far as possible. It's a great skill to write concisely.