Which one will help us more to improve the writing? Textbook or fiction?

as a person from non-english spoken country, i care more about how to improve listenning ability. it is really a tough work for me. frustrated is what i feel most of the time.

Writing fiction is different than writing non-fiction, but both are good practice. But I'd concentrate on what kind of writing you want to do and use that for practice.

I think that both are equally valid although fiction tends to be far more enjoyable. I personally love reading fiction and I find that this helps with my writing skills. The very fact that we are writing here on My Lot on a daily basis, this also helps improve our writing skills. I don't really like reading too much in the way of text books and nonfiction. When you read fiction you tend to notice how the author writes and also his creative writing style. If you love to write and I do then there's a tendency to practise creative writing, especially when you read a lot of fiction. Andrew

Hi, hiddenwing, you are interested in writing, eh? Textbooks give us the basic, but for good writing, we need to read a lot more books in a variety of categories, including fictions. Accumulating vocabulary and get the feel of smooth writing takes long time. An optional way is to choose from the well selective list, and try to memorize the classic articles and paragraphs. That is what quite some successful writers have done, but hard to do nowadays. Good luck!

To improve writing i think you should practise to write but not read i think, i did not get your question that correctly.For writing mostly you ofcourse need to have good communication but communication is 5 percent needed, more you need is writing.So practise more writing may it be anything.

I would say textbooks will help you improve your writing. The textbooks are boring but teach you the basic of how to write and how not to write. You can still learn from the fictions because of it flexibilty in the writing.

I think you should use both books. Everything will has some special function. We should know how to use all books effectly. I usually read book when I have a free time. Reading book is the best way for you to understand what is the grammar use and the mean of sentences is. You can use some sentences in these books in your writing skill. Before you write, you should read some books to consult and have some ideals to write. After you write, you should read your writing again to check mistakes of words, grammars, etc ..

As you have already realized, both fiction and textbook have their place. You need the textbook to learn grammar and to find the mistakes authors make in their works of fiction. The textbook should also help you to determine what they did right, and maybe, why it worked. However, the principal purpose of fiction is entertainment. If you get too bogged down in the mechanics of prose, you lose the entertainment value.

Hey hiddenwing! I think that reading anything will always be of use no matter what type of reading you decide on! I no longer read textbooks, but I do read plenty of different types of books! I ready mysteries, fiction, novels, autobiographies! I really don't think that it matters as long as you just READ! I read just to keep busy and my brain going! If it helps with writing then all the better! I love to write and if my reading something helps then I am happier! It never will hurt to pick up a book no matter what kind of book it is! Even if it is just a humourous book! You never know what you will learn in the form of style by reading so just keep reading!

Hello Hidden...I think a combination of both is ideal when one wants to learn the basics of becoming a good writer. Karen

Depends on the person reading. Both are good. I enjoy text book, but every once in a while fiction is fine. For textbook, they can be boring, but right now I love my school textbook for Vet Tech. I can only get into certain fiction books, not sure why that is, but if it is long and drawn out forget it. Like I said it depends on the reader.

for me is fiction. it really depends to you but for me thats my one way. i remember when i was still a child since english is not our local language here. i found difficulty of understanding english as i only know a little and those are the basic. then i saw my big cousins and siblings reading english novel and so i trie it but i cant understand some deep english there. and i dont like the story. then my brother handed me a fictional book about a journey of a child and they think that he need to go on a journey to learn a lot of things as he will be their future leader. then while on his way he encountered a lot. its quite funny and get my interest. but the problem is those deep english. then my brother told me to check dictionary if i cant understand it. so i used to have dictionary with me everytime i read it. then i used into it that i can even read without dictionary as i already understand the whole content. that is where i started my writing skills.

I think different types of writing require different kinds of skill. If you intend to write fiction, I think it's best for you to read more fiction although there are textbooks that teach you how to write fiction. But to be able to write fiction well, you have to have a model to emulate and reading other writers' works will help in that. Writing non-fiction I think is easier since there's not much descriptive words that you need to use to express a character's feelings and attitudes. You just need to make it readable and easy for the readers to understand.

I think I'll go for the "textbook". It is more meaningful and you can understand it more that a fiction. It's like a notebook or something that you can read anytime. Although textbooks have less pictures (which some do not like), you can get valuable thoughts and understandings. And for the fiction side, you'll learn something that you haven't learn anything from before _