One of the best books about writing I’ve read has to be “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser.
One of the chapters, for example, talks about the mistake many new (and sometimes even veteran) writers make regarding their writing style.
They try to write in such a way people instantly recognize their writing.
But what’ll end up happening is that these writers will artificially inflate their texts, add meaningless words, sentences, and even entire paragraphs which not only confuse the reader but also end up boring him.
They throw out the fundamentals of clear and simple writing (if they’ve even learned it in the first place) all to chase some imaginary goal of “building a style”.
First of all, you don’t build a style, you develop it through many, many years of writing. Writing for which the author had to work for, sweat for, and sometimes even bleed for.
Ask any experienced writer about their first experiences with getting a 10-page first draft of some project down to 5 pages—only to have to reduce it down again to 3 pages the following week.
It’s hard and painful work. Often, it even seems impossible.
But that’s the only way for an author to learn how to actually improve their writing.
Then, and only then, when they mastered the fundamentals of clear and simple writing, can the author truly focus on adding their personality, their beliefs, and their “voice” into the words.
Nobody becomes a best-selling author overnight.
Not even best-selling authors.
Will it take a long time? Undoubtedly.
Is it worth it? Well, that’s for you to decide.
I know it is for me.
Even more.
I’ve developed a whole system to make writing just a bit easier, a bit simpler, and a bit more fulfilling, in other words, a system to truly come to love the art of writing as a whole so you’re not forced to bleed behind the typewriter (or whatever modern replacement you’re using).
If you’d like to learn more about my system then check out the following link: https://alexvandromme.com/loving