3 Ways to Sharpen Your Writing Skills

Sometimes we roll along writing and writing, thinking there is nothing else that we need to consider. I mean, sure, we research the things we’re writing, but since writing makes us better writers, that’s where all our time should lie, right? Not exactly. 

Writing is great, and necessary. We can’t sell what we don’t write. Publishers don’t buy our thoughts. They buy the things we’ve written. But maybe don’t put all of your time in that one basket. There are a few ways to sharpen your writing skills this year, and some of these may surprise you. Let’s look at three of them.

The Science of Reading

Basically, the Science of Reading is research done through multiple fields of study that looked at how children learn to read. The research is ongoing so it’s not a set system. It isn’t a reading curriculum. It’s a study into what is involved in helping children read. So, why do writers need to care? 

Right now, an understanding of the basics of the Science of Reading research and the ideas coming out of it interests publishers of material for elementary-level students. That includes both educational publishers and trade publishers. Why are they interested? Because schools are interested. And schools buy books. Often lots of books. Now, it won’t (by itself) ensure any kind of success. But it does make you interesting. 

What does the Science of Reading suggest about reading? For one, it suggests that learning to read is majorly helped by teaching kids the connection between letters and letter patterns and sound. This is called Phonemic Awareness. One way this is taught is Phonics. Schools already used a lot of phonics in teaching children to read, but it was part of a mix of different techniques. And the Science of Reading is pushing it closer to the forefront.  

Beyond sound, the Science of Reading also suggests that building vocabulary is an important part of reading. By that, we don’t mean learning to sight read, but instead it looks at the importance of helping kids understand what words mean and how to use them effectively. Sound, vocabulary, and comprehension all play a part in fluency, which is reading with speed, understanding and expression. 

The Science of Reading isn’t some agenda or even a system. Instead, it’s a studied look at how children learn to read, and some guidelines for helping children read better. And writers definitely play a part in that.

Grammar and Punctuation

Since we’re thinking about how reader’s read, there is another area where many writers give far too little attention and that’s grammar and punctuation. These are the elements that make reading smooth and easy for everyone who picks up your book. If we don’t understand grammar, we’ll struggle with verb tenses, clauses, plurals and possessives, voice, and even capitalization. Not understanding grammar also makes writer fall into traps of “absolute rules” that don’t actually make any sense. 

For example, one I see over and over is “don’t use passive voice.” And most of the time, the people saying it aren’t even talking about passive voice. They’re talking about using any form of “to be.”  

Imagine you wrote: 

Joey was sorting through the yellowed files until long after darkness fell. 

Now, imagine you took it to your critique group, and they all fell on it and said, “Don’t use ‘was sorting;’ that’s passive voice.” Guess what? They’re wrong. That’s not passive voice. It’s not passive anything. In that sentence, Joey is actively sorting through the yellowed files. He’s been actively doing it for hours. It’s an active verb form.  

It’s also past progressive tense. Progressive tenses can be useful in giving a sense of continuous action. Sometimes you want that. Sometimes it’s exactly what you want. But there is a tradeoff. It’s wordy. And new writers sometimes lean heavily on progressive tenses because they think that form brings a feeling of immediacy. In actuality, any wordy form will slow down a sentence and lessen immediacy. So do look at it suspiciously. Ask yourself why you want to use it. Then make sure that verb form works for both the intended purpose and works grammatically. Then choose it if it’s what you want and need. 

Understanding grammar lets you make intentional choices. Sometimes you want to play by the rules, and sometimes you will want to be a grammar maverick for the sake of creating prose that will be read with the pacing, intensity, and voice you’ve chosen. But to be an effective maverick, you need to know what you’re doing. That’s what lets you decide when you want to be scrupulously grammatically correct, and when you want to play with words and forms for the sake of voice. And it gives you foundational reasons when someone pokes you and tells you never use passive voice when there’s not a lick of passive voice in your piece. 

By the way, passive voice isn’t bad either, not when it’s used intentionally and with good reason and understanding. Good writing is all about knowing what you’re doing.

How Reader Age Affects Books

Have you ever heard anyone complain about how books are “dumbed down” today? Maybe you’ve even said that yourself. I hope not, but I know it’s something that is frequently muttered, especially by newer writers who don’t want to change anything about their technique for the sake of the reader. But there’s another way to look at our writing, and it’s a much more helpful viewpoint.

Imagine you have been sick. Really sick. You’ve gone from specialist to specialist. You’ve had a bunch of tests. And now the doctor says they know exactly what is wrong with you. Then that doctor discharges every bit of medical jargon he would use when talking to another doctor. And you are almost instantly lost, so you ask questions. And the doctor rolls his eyes and says, “Fine, let me dumb it down for you.” How would you feel? There’s nothing wrong with your brain, but you haven’t been to medical school. You don’t live a life filled with medical jargon. You simply need the doctor to meet you where you are. 

And that’s what young readers need too. They are clever and inquisitive and often incredibly bright. But they haven’t lived the life you’ve lived. They haven’t had your experiences. They haven’t read the same books, watched the same movies. They can’t bring your life history into the book because they are younger. So, what they need you to do is meet them where they are. And they want you to do it respectfully. And the best way to do that is to give some thought to your perfect reader. 

Personally, I don’t think about my perfect reader when I’m writing. I’m thinking about the story. I’m writing to serve the story. I want to keep it engaging and keep the pace lively and interesting. I want it to hang together logically. And I want to make the balance of action and dialogue and telling exactly right. When do I think about the perfect reader? 

I do it twice. First, I do it before I begin. I recently wanted to write a ghost story that was set in the summer. It would involve a mother and daughter who were not getting along. And it would take place at the home of a kind of scary aunt who had been in an accident and was in the hospital. I had to decide if this story was an early elementary chapter books or a middle grade novel or a YA novel. 

I thought about the story I wanted to tell. It was going to involve the mom having not let the girl go on a trip to Paris with a friend, because she thought the friend was wild. That—all by itself—meant the story was almost certainly YA. I needed the trip to Paris to be reasonable, or nearly reasonable, so that meant I couldn’t have a really young character. I also was going to need her to be alone a good bit, which also ruled out a really young character. Early on, I had to think about my ideal reader because I needed one that matched my main character in age. 

The more I thought about the main character, the most I felt right about the reader age. My main character was really into art, as was her aunt. Art was a good match with any age reader, but I needed her to have a respectable skill level, which again leaned toward YA. And my main conflict between the mom and main character involved the mom not trusting the main character’s maturity—or that’s how my main character was going to see it. Again, that’s a conflict I could make work for any age, but in this case, it was really going to fit YA well. Teens often chafe at parents who still think of them as youngsters. 

Then I wrote the book. The next time I thought again about my ideal reader was during revisions. At that time, I wanted to make sure my ideal reader would find my main character’s voice relatable and authentic. I needed to ask myself what a sixteen-year-old person might know, because I had to decide what might need more description and what might need less. And I needed to make sure my main character’s art interest reflected the reasonable art interest of a teenager.  

One of the big disappointments for my character was that she would miss out on visiting the Louvre. That works for a teen who loves art but might not be a good match with a chapter book reader. Still, I know my teen reader might not know the Louvre like I do, or like my character does. So, I was careful to make it clear what I was talking about when I mentioned the Louvre.  

At no point did I do anything because I thought my reader wouldn’t be clever or bright. I did it because I knew my reader was living a different life from that of a woman in her sixties, and I needed to respect that, and meet the reader’s needs with respect and understanding. When I do that, my book is better received and better enjoyed.  

The answer for what needs to change to best meet reader needs will be different with every book. But it will always be about understanding that my reader isn’t unworthy of respect. I can’t think of my reader as a failure. Because if I can’t meet my reader’s need, I’m the one who failed. 

I’m constantly looking at young people today. I research trends in what different age groups are doing for fun. I research into what things worry them. I do this so I can be better at serving my reader when I dream up my stories, when I write them, and when I revise them. Because the more I know, the better writer I am.  

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• Exploring Learning Opportunities for Writers