The Art of Writing
Article by Emeka Balakumar
Writing has always been my go-to hobby from a young age. Like other forms of art, it helped me express my emotions and creativity. From short stories to larger articles, my love for this form of art has continued to grow. Anyone can write, it just takes time and practice to find a style that resonates with you most. For me, writing from personal experience or research-based articles has always been my strong suit, but I only came to realize this from a lot of trial and error.
A lot of us think we don’t have a talent for writing, I did as well with how horrible I was at essay writing in high school. Writing comes from emotions and being passionate about a topic helps create a more compelling and interesting piece for an audience to read. Here are some steps with how I come up with ideas:
1. Get Inspired: Though this sounds very formal, it is just looking at different sources of information. We see pieces of writing everywhere, from Instagram captions to news articles. Reading helps understand how different topics are written, as some are more casual and personal as others are more formal. Reading how others take up these topics can give the writer ideas on how they want to approach their writing style.
2. Write a small piece: Once you have gotten an idea, start writing on a topic that you feel most comfortable with. This might be the hardest part, as starting a piece is sometimes the most difficult part of writing. Just relax and let your thoughts flow onto your paper. It doesn’t have to be a long piece, just keep writing until you feel that you have written enough for yourself.
3. Have it edited: Get some advice. It can be from anyone, but this will be very important to help you understand where your writing can go. Sometimes when we keep re-reading the same piece, we tend to not see the small errors just cause our minds know what we want to say. Having someone else read the article can help fine-tune the small details that you missed. Getting advice might also spark some new ideas and get your creativity flowing once again.
4. Repeat!: The best way to learn where you want to go and your style of writing is to keep doing it. Start small, try one piece per month and experiment with different styles and different topics every time. As you continue to read and write articles, you’ll learn about the different techniques used to write compelling articles. Writing is a very broad genre and gives the writer so much freedom to explore the topic, take some time to see what fits for you.
Don’t worry if you don’t have any ideas immediately or are feeling discouraged from the criticism that others give you. Keep trying! Writer’s block is normal, and just take some time to get over it. Go for a walk, watch a movie, or read a book. These are just some ways to find that creativity once again. At the end of the day, we all are writers at heart. We just need to put some time aside to writing those thoughts out for others to read and enjoy.