Practice Writing

 
 
 

Vocabulary

way (2)	ultimate	master (2)
outlet	motivate	discouraged
classics	practical	literary analysis
effect	impress	de-motivated
buff	grueling	fashion (2)
literary	exception	presentation
post (3)	structure	vernacular
jargon	privilege	comprehensible
avoid	stuff (2)	complicated
scratch	toil away	appropriate
reward	purpose	book review
main	enthuse	fundamental
lest	rewarding	up to scratch
domain	field (2)

 
 
 
 

Write . . . Write . . . Write

If you want to master writing, the ultimately way of doing so is . . . to write. A lot. The more you write and practice writing, the better you’ll become, just like in soccer or other sports.

But what should you write about?

Interesting and Boring Things

Well, it must be something interesting, in order to motivate and enthuse you.

In school our teachers had us study classics and do book reviews and literary analysis on them.

Unfortunately, being forced to read and write about difficult and boring stuff (for me) had the opposite effect of turning students into good readers and writers: I felt de-motivated and discouraged.

Again, not only are classics grueling for most people, but in the real world nobody writes like that!

Clear, Vernacular, Colloquial

Contrary to widespread belief, the most effective write the way the speak: in an “ordinary” fashion, whether they are business reports … technical instruction … speeches and presentations … news articles … short stories … blogs … posts. The only exception would be legal documents, philosophy, religion and classical literature.

They should be clear and vernacular; avoid using complicated sentences and big word to try to impress your readers — it will only turn them off (technical and business papers use jargon that is incomprehensible to non-specialists. Yet they all follow the same fundamental writing structure).

Therefore, in school, students should learn and practice the basics of general writing; later in life, you will write what is appropriate in your particular field. But when you have mastered the fundamentals of writing, you can easily apply it to any situation.

Of course, if you want to write classics, poetry, drama, by all means do so.

Many Short Texts

For practical purposes, texts should be about 150 to 400 words in length, with an average of about 250 words (it’s better to practice writing many short texts and stories than toiling away on a few, very long reports; you will have plenty of opportunities to do so in university or later in high school).

Websites, Blogs, Social Media

The main outlets of for people’s works have traditionally been books, newspapers and magazines.

In the modern world, we have websites, blogs and social media. Posting articles and stories on online for the whole world to see and appreciate can feel more rewarding and enriching than writing on paper and keeping it only to yourself.

Blogging also means that your writing must be up to scratch, lest you won’t be taken seriously.

In the past, writing was the domain of a privileged few. Today, everyone can have a say in anything.

 

 

Questions

1. The best way to become a good writer is listening to lectures on writing. True or false?

2. People should read and write about classical literature. What do you think? What should they write about?

3. How should people write?

4. Is all modern writing understandable to laypersons?

5. To master the basics of writing, should you write a long report or many short essays, compositions, stories?

6. Most people should submit their writings to magazines, newspapers and book publishers. Is this right or wrong?

7. On blogs, websites and social media, you should contract words, use slang, make spelling and grammatical errors. Is this correct or incorrect?
 
 

A. What sort of writing assignments do or did you have in school?

B. Do or did you have to read, study and write about classical literature?

C. My friend and I enjoy writing. Yes or no?

D. What will happen in the future?

E. All my friends and I have a blog or social media account. Yes or no? Are you active on them?