Reading is important but I wouldn't call it the ONE thing to do. In order to write more, you have to write. Practice makes perfect. And I disagree that without reading, your writing will never progress. I feel mine has progressed immensely without significant "book a day" reading.(It probably is still drivel, but it makes me vomit inside a lot less than when I first started out) Yes, reading more would probably push it even further along, but I'd have gotten nowhere without writing. All the studying in the world doesn't do anything until you put your skills into practice, hence the ONE thing a writer needs to better themselves as a writer is practice, practice, practice the writing. (At least speaking from personal experience) Maybe it's just that I've never found reading to help me as a writer much, or the fact that I am naturally rebellious. But writing to me seems the best way to better yourself, if we're picking only ONE way.
I’ve been lucky in my life and have visited many counties Met both very famous and very rich people, visited some of the most deprived areas of the world, as well as some of the most beautiful places on the globe I’ve run businesses, made loads of money and lost even more, been in love, a parent, a grandparent, a lover, an artist, a musician and lived a full an exciting life, and every second of my life improves my ability to weave the tapestry of my living into my story telling. Get a life and then you will get a story.
If you just write and write and write, you are very likely to merely reinforce bad writing habits rather than learning to improve.
Reading, definitely. However, I agree that practicing comes a very close second. I find in reading it helps to identify which writers I admire the most, and why - as well as those whose writing style is closest to mine, and how. But after all of that, it's practice, practice, practice. You can't get better without trial and error. In my opinion.
Reading critically, as Cog says, and writing as regularly as possible, taking on board informed criticism of my writing. There is no doubt in my mind that I owe much to people I have met on good forums such as this one--apart from the ideas and crits, it has been interesting watching other people on a similar learning curve. Researching my material thoroughly and focussing on where I am going with each piece I produce--and who it is aimed at--has improved the quality of what I write.
If you never show it to anybody, probably. But nobody is saying JUST write and write, just that in order to get better, writing itself is the most effective way to do that. It should be supplemented with reading and experiences as well as good critique. But the one most effective way to better yourself as a writer? Clearly writing takes the first prize here. Besides, "just" doing anything can reinforce bad habits. Whether I've reinforced bad habits or not, writing itself has made me grow a lot more than any of the things I've read. That's not to say reading has no benefit, it does. However, it's a supplement to the craft, and is useless in making me a better writer until I write. Hence, I see writing as the ultimate tool to better myself as a writer. It's not something you do all by itself, but it's the most effective way to better myself. Heck, practice at ANYTHING is the best way to better yourself in that craft. You can benefit greatly by analyzing the work of others(inspiration, see what you're doing wrong), but ultimately, practice will be what ultimately makes you better. This is true for just about everything in life.
Right, the question was what wast the number 1 thing, which is clearly writing. Without writing, you'll never improve your writing. Everything else is really good and helpful, but if you don't actually put words down, you aren't a writer and won't ever get better at writing I'd bet money that if you take two people with the same skill level (which is hypothetical since it would be almost impossible to find this) and one reads books for a month and one spends that month writing, then both sit down and write a short story, the one who spent the month writing will write a better story in all likelyhood. Practice practice practice. (And yes, the writer who spends that month writing AND reading will probably outdo both of the others, if s/he can read critically and absorb the lessons fiction can teach... but first and foremost if you want to be a writer, you gotta write)
I read and read, get well versed in the subject I'm writing about, then I begin writing. It's simple and it has helped me immensely hone my craft.
Read a lot. I am a prolific reader. Well when there is more money I am. Currently I've not been reading so much. Life has been pretty crazy recently. Life definitely helps your writing. Experiencing a wide variety of situations and emotions helps you to recreate those same emotions when you are writing. There are a lot of days I lament all I've been through. Then other days when I'm writing I realize how experiencing so very many emotions and situations has helped my writing tremendously. When I first started writing I didn't know what yearning that made your heart feel like it was being pulled in another direction felt like. I didn't know what sadness so deep it shook you to your core felt like. I didn't know what relief that made me want to collapse felt like. It all helps to make you a better writer.
I couldn't agree more. Recently, when I've been looking at my changing situation... a change I'm not happy with. I just think, "I have my writing." Not only does life help along your writing but it will drive you to write more.
The question was not what one single thing you should do exclusively to become a better writer. The question was what one activity will make the biggest difference in your writing ability. Yes, you should write. Yes, you should critique. Yes, you should observe other people and listen to how they talk. But the one thing that will make the greatest incremental change in your writing skills is to learn from those who have travelled the road before you, by studying how they write and how it works. No one is saying do one thing, and ignore everything else.
I second what Lemex said about living life. Sure, it's possible to write about things you have never experienced; writers do it every day. But if there is one thing that I find makes my writing better, fresher, and with more emotion, it is going out and living. You feel all of the emotions you want to write about, and then it gets much easier to find the words to describe them.
^^So what defines constant. Clearly if you read too much, you won't be writing too much. And what defines the "best" writing? Some of what the modern world considers the best bores me painfully to tears and actually hurts my writing as it just kills inspiration. Which is exactly why practice itself will be the ultimate difference in your skill.(And of course you can't ignore everything else. If you only read and ignored writing, you wouldn't be much of a writer. ) Seeing how it works from those who have traveled the road before you means nothing until you write. For example, I am sure I could learn much from listening to music of talented musicians, but unless I practice making actual music, I won't get better. I feel the same is true for writing. I can read the "good" writers until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, the stories I weave and write down are ultimately the greatest difference. If I screw them up, I learn from that. If I get something right, I learn from that. Everything else is just a supplement to this, which itself is the most important. So I maintain that practicing writing has the greatest effect on skill improvement. And since we aren't only doing ONE thing, the effects lack of reading might have aren't a factor. (Of course, speaking from personal experience, I have found the benefits of reading a bit overstated.)
Writing. There are lots of readers and critics but few writers. But I would like to answer: Hard work and lots of fun. Actively trying to find out what thing i should focus on right now to developer, combined with just enjoying all opportunists that pop up.
"The question was not what one single thing you should do exclusively to become a better writer. The question was what one activity will make the biggest difference in your writing ability." But this is the question: What is the one most effective way to better yourself as a writer? Not sure how much more clear it can be. The answer is writing. If writing doesn't count as a choice, then yeah, it's reading.
Strange, I seem to have a different experience than everyone else here. To me, having my work critiqued gives the most improvement. Of course, to do that I have to write something first, but writing more doesn't make much difference. It usually just produces more text of the same quality. Getting my work critiqued makes me spot the flaws and enable me to improve them.
'constant' means reading one or more books per week... 'the best' means those writers who are generally recognized as masters of the art...
Teach me the steps and I will produce the product. That strikes me as a very low-esteem approach, and if it were possible (it isn't), then whatever the process yielded would be of little value. For how could pre-programmed writing produce a gasp, or tears, or joy? You mentioned some interesting works in your short reading list. Now, tell us how they moved you. What is the lasting message you took away from "Fahrenheit 451"? Have you ever read something that was so compelling, you stayed up all night to finish it, because you simply had to? What was it that grabbed you, so? Have you ever gone back to read something a second time, and then a third, because the flow of words, or the story, or a character was so compelling that you just had to go back for more? What sentences have you read that were so compelling, they have stayed with you, cleaving to your mind because they express something elemental and vital? "Man is not made for defeat; he can be destroyed, but never defeated." I read that when I was 14 years old, and I've never forgotten it. 43 years later, it rings out like a Beethoven symphony. It compells me to continue to write, with or without commercial success. If you want to write, you need to decide if you have something to say. Do you?
At 20, you may not realize it but, your so, so young. At school my favorite subject was maths- because I was good at it. I hated English. because I found it difficult. I was married at 23. along with my husband we ran our own business I brought up four children and I never had neither the inkling or the time to write. I was in my fifties when I was bitten by the writing bug. At the age of 62 I had some articles published. So there is no need to be despondent. You have your whole life in front of your. If you're serious about writing, join a writing group or do a part time course. Get hold of some books on the subject, there are loads out there. But, first and foremost write, write, write. And looking at my last statement I should practice what I preach more. If you really want to be a writer you will be- you just have to work at it and some of us have to work a heck of a lot harder than others. Good luck
When I was four years old my parents sent me for piano lessons. One of the things I learnt then, which is still relevant 61 years later, is if you want to be good at something, practice every day. A few years ago I picked up a paint brush as an artist for the first time. The more I painted the better I became. Five years ago I started writing, initially for fun, but that quickly developed into a way of living and now I write everyday, both for pleasure and for income. The more I do something the better I get at it. I agree reading about it, having knowledge gained from examples, lookin at comparisons and even how-to books, all helps but nothing compares to doing it. Everything you write is initially conceived inside your brain and like any other part of the body it gets better with regular use, exercises, challenges and successes. One way I work at giving my brain a writing exercise is to visit forums, and to contribute to discussions, sometimes by being controversial, sometimes by being supportive but always by paying attention to what I write and the importance of writing in my voice. And you only improve your voice the more you use it. If you want to be a writer; write.
Meh, I'm too poor for that, and my library sucks. I've never felt reading that beneficial to devote THAT much time to it. Maybe when they invent the 36-hour day, I'll give it a shot. Oh yeah, school made me read them. It wasn't until I told the "best" to stick it that I started to finally enjoy reading. Yes I'm a rebel. I've read some of the best and I can't say it's helped my writing any. I'm more of a "get inspiration where it comes and if something doesn't dispense inspiration, it's broken and you move on" kind of guy. Reading the "best" has, for me at least, fallen into the latter category. Sparingly reading what I consider good has helped more than forcing myself to read literature somebody else told me was "good." And of course, I maintain that writer is the answer to the OP's question.
Thank you all for responding, no matter how long. The peer pressure to be creative made something in me snap, and I created "something." However, I can't imagine that anything qualified as good writing would be this this angry (and that would be saintly to call it angry, and not wrathful). It is possibly the start to a story, but I don't know if this is the direction I want to take! The excerpt will be now posted in the review room. Thank you Cogito.
