Search Our Site  
Owned by Bill Platt: (405) 780-7745 9am-6pm CST, Mon to Fri



Improve Your Writing Skills by Reading

Copyright © 2006-2008 Dindy Robinson


If you want to be a good writer, you need to READ. This may seem self-evident, but you would be amazed at how many writers I talk to who do not ever read. I hear excuses such as:

1. I don't have time 2. I can't afford to buy books (libraries folks!) 3. I don't really like to read much

You read for several reasons:

1. To keep current in your genre 2. To absorb the art of writing 3. To learn how other writers handle various writing elements





If you have problems writing dialogue, then grab some of your favorite books and analyze the dialogue. See how it flows. How does the author handle interjections, long conversations between two people without resorting to "he said/she said" or, worse, "he said/he said." (With two speakers of the same sex it is very easy to get ripped up in trying to figure out which one is speaking.)

If you see a descriptive phrase that you like, write it down. If you write action scenes, then find a really good action scene to analyze and see how the writer pulls you into the scene.

If you like a book, determine why you like it. If you don't like a book, what is it specifically about the book that you don't like?

And here's a good tip: After you read a book, go to Amazon.com and write a reader review of it. This is a great way to focus on whether a book "works" or not and the book's main strengths or flaws. It's very simple-- if you have an Amazon account then you can write a review (you can even use your signature line to promo your own material!) After you've written your review and posted it, read through the other reader reviews and see if others agreed with you or if they disagreed.

So don't just sit at home in the evening watching the idiot box. Grab a book and improve your writing skills by reading!




About The Author:
Dindy Robinson is the Publisher of Swimming Kangaroo Books. http://www.swimmingkangaroo.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles

VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE

Needs Work >> 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 << Excellent Article

Tell our authors what you think about their article.


Automatically Post This Article To Your Blog by inserting your Email-To-Blog Address, as can be set up in your Blogging software:


"Link Back To This Article" Copy-And-Paste


Are You Using This Article? We want to know about it.

HTML Article Copy-And-Paste


TEXT Article Copy-And-Paste


Article Description Copy-And-Paste


Article Keywords Copy-And-Paste




*** Digital Reprint Rights ***

  • If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links).


  • Links must remain in the form that we published them. Clean links should point to the Author's links without redirects having been inserted into the copy.


  • You are not allowed to Change or Delete any Words or Links in the Article or Resource Box. Paragraph breaks must be retained with articles. You can change where the paragraph breaks fall, but you cannot eliminate all paragraph breaks as some have chosen to do.


  • Email Distribution of this article Must be done through Opt-in Email Only. No Unsolicited Commercial Email.


  • You Are Allowed to format the layout of the article for proper display of the article in your website or in your ezine, so long as you can maintain the author's interests within the article.


  • You may not use sentences from this article as an input for any software that steals sentences from others in order to build an article with software. The copyright on this article applies to the "WHOLE" article.



  • *** Author Notification ***

    We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Dindy Robinson can be reached at:
    dindy@swimmingkangaroo.com


    *** Print Publication Reprint Rights ***

    If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: dindy@swimmingkangaroo.com


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a
    Creative Commons License.


    (You are not required to show the creative commons license notice when you reprint this work.)




    Quick Links:
    Home | Article Distributions | Ghost Writers
    Article Marketing Blog | Article Marketing Ebook


    Unless Otherwise Noted, All Content On This Site Is:
    Copyright © 2001-2008, The Phantom Writers