Ask HN: How to Get Better at Writing? - sellingwebsite
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JohnFen
The best pieces of advice I got about this were (I think these apply equally
well to technical and nontechnical writing):

1) Write a lot. At first, write without any intention of showing it to others,
and without any judgement about how good or bad it is. Just write.

2) Sit down and analyze examples of good writing and what techniques/habits
they employ.

3) At first, emulate the style of authors you admire. Your own style will
emerge later.

4) Recognize that most of what results in a piece of good writing is good
editing.

~~~
mindcrime
_1) Write a lot. At first, write without any intention of showing it to
others, and without any judgement about how good or bad it is. Just write._

In _On Writing_ Stephen King talks about a mindset of "Write once with the
door closed, and then again with the door open". I interpret this to mean what
you say. Write for yourself first, _then_ revise / edit / rewrite with the
intention to share with others.

 _4) Recognize that most of what results in a piece of good writing is good
editing._

Two of my favorite writers, Stephen King and Dean Koontz, have both made very
similar points at times. Koontz famously said he writes his books one page at
a time. That is, he writes about a page worth of material, then revises /
edits until he believes that page is good, and only then does he move on. King
also emphasizes that you don't start out writing prose that reads like the
(published) prose of your favorite authors.

So yeah... just write, and then revise ruthlessly.

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mindcrime
It was in the context of writing fiction, but Stephen King (who knows a thing
or two about writing) said - in his book _On Writing_ \- something like "the
best way to get good at writing is to read a lot and write a lot."

I'd actually recommend reading that book, even if your interest isn't fiction
(and definitely if it is). There's some good stuff in there.

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jppope
Read a lot... and specifically people that are good at writing.

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caryd
Read all types of books, not just what you gravitate towards. Study the
language. Understand your audience. Learn new words every day.

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drpgq
Maybe use grammarly to find any common mistakes you make?

