3 Disciplines for Better Writing
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.”
It’s fair to say regarding the writing process that we are acquainted with the fear and even frustration of getting the ball rolling. We are also acquainted with “being in the zone” and the creativity workflow simply gets better.
A key factor is not simply to wait for inspiration; moments of inspiration may come, and you must not squander that opportunity when it arrives. For the most part, the ball gets rolling and you enter the flow state when you sit down and get to work.
In this post, I share 3 disciplines for better writing, disciplines that will sharpen your writer's edge.
Learning to Write is a Life-Changing Journey
When our daughter started elementary school, she would come home each day frustrated. Specifically, she was frustrated with her experience in English class. As parents, we would sit with her and try to find the root of her frustration.
Was it classroom dynamic?
Was it a negative experience with another classmate?
Was it a lack of clarity or confusion related to what was expected of her?
We discovered that the frustration was related to feeling inadequate for the writing process. She would try and complete assignments based on the teacher's guidelines, but it wasn't sufficient. We called for a parent-teacher meeting to see what we could do to help. At the meeting the issue became apparent.
The students were told to "Make sure you write good sentences." That was it. That was the instruction. That was the guideline.
As problematic as that instruction is in itself, there was yet a deeper problem, which was the root of our daughter's frustrations. She wasn't taught what the components were to a well-written sentence. She wasn't provided any examples to follow or samples from which to learn how to recognize well-crafted sentences in their various forms. Immediately, we went home and started our daughter down the journey of grammar, syntax, figures of speech, etc.
Alongside the composition lessons, we imparted a simple additive as a starting point: Someone doing something (possibly somewhere).
(For an elementary student, that was a great starting point ... just enough to get her heading in the right direction. A starting point, a launching pad, a diving board.)
From there, through many rounds of turning her attention to the same sentence, she would add other elements to that sentence fleshing it out adding more clarity and life to that simple starting point. Her writing improved tremendously and continues to do so now as she becomes more familiar with different forms of writing from different eras, more proficient with language, and more comfortable with the editing process.
Now as she enters her high school years, I still ask her, "Do you remember what makes a well-written sentence?" She answers, "Someone doing something."
From this experience, 3 healthy disciplines emerge that will greatly improve your writing. I have applied these rules in our home, in the classroom, in workshops, and in personal writing projects. To this day, these disciplines prove to be effective and beneficial to young and seasoned writers alike.
Imitate Your Way to Better Writing.
The apostle Paul instructs the Corinthians church, "Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). The main principle for discipleship is that the student follows closely to their teacher and servant to their master.
I believe the Biblical prescription for spiritual growth and discipleship is applicable to learning how to improve your writing: The writer needs someone to follow, someone to imitate.
Embracing the heart of an amateur and the humility of a student. Entrust yourself to others to lead you.
The Writer’s Workshop: Imitating Your Way to Better Writing (Gregory L. Roper) should have a place in your library alongside The Elements of Style (Strunk and White) and On Writing Well (William Zinsser) as foundational resources on this topic.
Imitation is different from plagiarism. Gregory Roper briefly addresses the concern of plagiarism - stealing someone else's ideas and words and pretending that they are yours (The Writer's Workshop, pg.10) and imitation as a practice. Imitation can cross that line very easily, if we forget that imitation is for the sake of learning, practicing, and developing skill. Imitation is an "exercise" as Roper puts it, where the writer can borrow the skills and patterns of another in order to adapt it to your own writing to create something new. Imitation does not steal, whereas plagiarism is a deceptive effort to falsely represent another's work as their own.
Imitation takes a sample text, analyzes its elements, follows the patterns and structures, and crafts a fairly original piece by following closely to another. The student follows the original author’s “formula” and practice as close as possible. In doing so, the student learns grammatical rules, syntax variations, macro-structures, micro-structures, and new vocabulary. Ultimately, imitation allows the student to have a sample and standard that opens the student’s mind to the vast array of writing techniques and expression.
Consider writers past and present as your present-day teachers and tutors leading you into writing adventures you have yet to travel.
Truly, imitation is your apprenticeship into better writing.
Write. Rewrite. Repeat.
Rewriting has become a lost art nowadays. Whether it's laziness, or the individual's devaluing of its importance, or shortage of time, rewriting is overlooked as a necessary component of writing well and neglected.
William Zinsser in his book On Writing Well admonishes, "The essence of writing is rewriting."
I agree with this instruction. With each round invested in revisiting words, sentences, paragraphs, sections, structure, the final writing assignment begins to take the form that it ought. We are not talking about the practice of over-editing and never coming to completion (we as perfectionists need to embrace the discipline of knowing when to stop and simply finish). The rewriting process simply needs to be a part of our expectation of writing well.
Here's a hint regarding rewriting that I believe will yield results: Complete multiple rounds of editing, but focus on one element to edit at a time.
The great discourager and killer of rewriting is attempting to rewrite and edit everything in one fell swoop. I suggest selecting one element of writing that needs to be edited and rewrite with that one edit in mind. For example:
Simply edit punctuation in one round;
In another round, tackle capitalization mistakes;
In another round, simply correct misspelled words;
In another round attempt word replacement and find the best term for the meaning you're attempting to convey;
In another round, work with different figures of speech to add life to your writing;
You get the picture.
Here’s a pro-tip about this write-rewrite-repeat process: Take your final draft and contrast that to your original version (yes, keep your drafts so you can do this).
This is similar to Stephen King’s philosophy, “When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.“
I have challenged students to write the same paragraph nearly a dozen times before moving on to the next until they have completed the entire essay. Yes, it took a little longer than expected and required a lot of coaching and encouragement. At the end when they contrasted their final draft to their first, the difference in quality was evident.
Students were amazed at what they were able to accomplish.
The same occurred with a recent student after receiving word he had won an award placement for his essay after spending weeks of writing, rewriting, and repeating.
Write Yourself Clear.
This discipline may not directly apply to a particular assignment or task, but a discipline that lays a foundation for continual improvement. This discipline can be practiced with any medium - journaling, letter-writing, notes, reflections, etc.
“Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and fingertips.”
With this discipline, you simply want to empty your mind onto a page and ruminate on the ideas. It doesn't have to make sense at the beginning or even as a whole; simply get your thoughts out of your head and onto a page. Once your thoughts are on that page, select a particular thought and attempt to bring more clarity and precision to that thought through complete sentences, word selection, figures of speech, varying sentence structures. In other words, you're trying to see what seems to work best in conveying what you're trying to say or feel.
You are here challenging yourself to express meaning in ways that are concise, coherent, and cohesive.
You'll quickly see your thoughts taking shape and finding clarity.
BONUS: Write in Community.
As you discipline yourself to imitate other writers, to rewrite toward better writing, and to write for the sake of clarifying thoughts, always have other sets of eyes on your work.
All of these disciplines find new life when practiced with friends and loved ones who share the same passion and appreciation.
New perspectives are discovered.
New techniques are shared.
New realizations are communicated.
New resources are made available.
New possibilities are fathomed.
Truly, as Stephen King reflects, “Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference.”
Implement these disciplines and will begin seeing immense progress in your writing. Write in the comments what other disciplines you implement in your writing process so we can learn from one another and grow together.
Linus Nguyen is the founder of Of The Way Ministries and serves as lead pastor of Emmanuel Bible Fellowship (Houston, Texas). He has taught in, developed curriculum for, and written on the subjects of Biblical Studies, Theology, Discipleship, Spiritual Formation, Philosophy of Religion, Missions, Humanities, Rhetoric, and Communications at Secondary, Undergraduate, and Postgraduate levels. // Follow him on Podcast, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook.