Storytelling: 5 simple ways to improve your writing

You can write. After all, you spent years in school learning how to put your thoughts down on paper. Now you want to improve your writing: maybe you want to write a diary you’ll look back on with pleasure; perhaps you plan to get letters or short stories in a magazine; or you could even be setting out to write that novel. Whatever you write, even business or technical writing, you'll be telling a story to a reader.


However good your work, you bet it can be better. So here are 5 tips on improving your writing:


Read everything you can, especially things you enjoy. If you like someone's writing, chances are their style has something in it that's a bit like your own. If their work is good enough to publish, the more you read of it, the more their good points will rub off on you. Notice what it is you like about their work and try it yourself.


Listen to people and watch how they behave. Spend too much time in front of your keyboard and you'll lose touch with the real world. Talk and listen to actual people to find out how to liven up your writing. They'll give you plenty of inspiration: that snippet you hear on the train may be the start of your work of fiction.


Keep a notebook and write down things you hear and see. Write down ideas that pop into your head when you least expect them. Keep lots of notebooks in different places so you're never visited by a genius idea when you can't write it down. Keep a notebook by the bed for that midnight revelation that you'll forget by morning.


Know your audience. If you've been watching and listening, you'll develop a clear idea of the person who you're writing for in each writing project. Write a pen portrait of her. What does she do for a living? What does she like to do for a hobby? What does she hate and what does she love? How old is she? Where does she live? Now you know her well, think about her everytime you sit down to write. She will help you focus your writing.


Sit down and write. Try free writing if you're stuck and can't think of anything to write about. Here's what to do:


Sit down comfortably. Close your eyes. Relax every muscle in your body, beginning with those in your toes and working upwards. Breathe slowly, counting your breath in and out, feeling your body sink down into a wonderful state of relaxation.


Imagine yourself in a beautiful place where you feel happy and calm. Let thoughts pass quietly through your mind. Slowly, when you're ready, open your eyes, sit at your keyboard and write the first things that come to you.


Keep writing, ignoring mistakes. Just let your ideas flow for at least ten minutes before you stop and look at what you wrote. There'll be something there you can use.


Whatever writing you're planning, start with these tips and your storytelling will take on a new lease of life.

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