Improving your writing?
By nageswari75
@nageswari75 (675)
6 responses
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
12 Jun 07
Just to add on, there are many kinds of writing. What do you want to write for?
For children's books?
Fiction?
Reports?
Newspapers?
Movie scripts?
Recipes?
The list can go on. You need to zero in on the style of writing you want to improve on and focus on it.
And most importantly, you need to practise. Especially for writing, it is a skill that needs constant practising. You can read tomes of books that teach you how to write properly. But if you do not practise, they are not going to do you much good.
Good luck and have fun! ;-)
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
13 Jun 07
Hi again,
It is not hard to find help on the internet though it may be likely that the real juice lies where the paid ones are.
Regardless, here are 3 sites dealing specifically with technical writing which you may find useful:
http://www.docsymmetry.com
http://www.klariti.com/technical-writing/User-Guides-Tutorial.shtml
http://www.school-for-champions.com/techwriting/resources.htm
As for copyrighting, try these:
http://www.copywritinghelp.net
http://www.smartzville.com/copywriting-help.htm
http://www.smartyes.com/12/copywriting/index.php
As for editing/proof reading, this is basically English in general. You don't need any special training except brushing up maybe your grammar.
There is a seemingly great site at http://www.bartleby.com/141 if you want to polish your grammar. It's not everything, but worth a look.
It's a lot of work. Good luck. ;)
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
13 Jun 07
My eyes are not too good nowadays; I might have missed it. :P
@nageswari75 (675)
•
13 Jun 07
Thanks lordy,that is great and useful info.I had posted a discussion about technical writing some days ago but never recieved any responses at all.This one is a great help for me:)
1 person likes this
@explorations (1712)
• United States
12 Jun 07
As far as books would go, I suggest the following:
(1) The Little Red Writing Book: 20 Powerful Principles of Structure, Style and Readability by Brandon Royal
(2) The Writer's Little Helper: Everything You Need to Know to Write Better and Get Published, by James V. Smith, Jr.
(3) The Elements of Style, by Strunk & White
(4) Grammatically Correct: The Writer's Essential Guide to Punctuation, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar, by Anne Stilman
(5) The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing, by Bonnie Neubauer
As far as courses go, The University of Maryland University College offer distance learning programs for people all over the world - including English courses. There's also many courses and workshops online that are extremely useful::
(1) http://www.absoluteclasses.com/
(2) http://www.writingclasses.com/
(3) http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/16712/seminar [FREE]
(4) http://www.coursebridge.com/html/courses/writing.asp
(5) http://www.write101.com/
The decision as to which is better, books or courses, is completely up to you. I've mixed the two and found very positive results, but I've known of many who have depended on one or the other with very good results.
@explorations (1712)
• United States
13 Jun 07
You're very welcome - I hope you'll post more discussions about this and let us know how you're doing with this challenge. :) Good luck!
@aissha (2036)
• India
13 Jun 07
hi nags how u doin? i'm sure u r an indian so suggesting u can opt for distance course from IGNOU for cfreative writing.i believe crearivity of any kind is very exclusive and given as a gift by god to few people like singing, dancing,acting etc but u can hone the skills thru the courses.but thats my opinion absolutely ,best wishes.
@nageswari75 (675)
•
13 Jun 07
Hey Aissha,I am an Indian.and IGNOU is a great idea.I will definitely look into it.Thanks for the suggestion.It never occured to me!:)
@kuting (885)
• Philippines
12 Jun 07
there are offers of short term english courses. i think you could try it out. its not very pricey and i think it would help you really improve not only on your writing abilities but also in oral communications.
