Writing is Thinking

There is no difference between thinking and writing. You think by forming words in your mind. You write by materializing thoughts onto paper. If you improve at either, you will become proficient at both. If you don't know which you should improve first, start with writing. Writing, unlike thinking, produces an object you can share: words on paper. Show your work and ask for feedback. Feedback, analysis and review will accelerate your rate of improvement. You can also review your own writing after a week or two after you forgot what you wrote.

Another way to improve your writing is by reading. What should you read?

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker is humorous style guide bursting with linguistic advice.

Be concise. Pick your words carefully. Trim obese phrases. Use uncommon, vivid and colorful language. Respect your readers' time and eyes. Start by throwing away the word very. For example, instead of very big write gigantic or cyclopean. The meaning doesn't change, but the later summons an image of a towering mythological creature. Words like make, do and have are next on the chopping block. Scraping just these four will make a difference, but don't stop there.

Imagine a paragraph starts with: "Many people wrote about writing because writing is a complex subject. In this article, I'll explore ...". That's signposting: writing about what you will write next. State your topic as soon as possible. Answer what did you discover; what question are you answering; why should I pay attention? Soon after, state your point: what are you trying to convey? Reel your readers in. Make an entrance. Don't be self-conscious or announce the complexity of the topic. If the subject matter was simple and uncontroversial there would be nothing to write about. Assume the reader wants to explore the idea and go from there.

Imagine a reader talking to you. They'll ask questions. Don't answer, argue or talk out loud. Let the reader see the truth themselves. Create a window and paint the world on the other side. Engage the mind's eye: conjure images with unusual and precise descriptions. Think about actors and objects, concrete everyday events. Be direct.

It's difficult to image how someone else doesn't know what you know. Just trying to imagine the reader won't help: that's the Curse. But don't despair, there is a treatment. Show your writing to another person or after a week, show the draft to yourself. Gather feedback. Maybe you used an abbreviation or jargon. Get rid of it. Perhaps you used a fancy word where a plain one will do. Improve what you wrote and repeat the exercise until you are confident your readers will understand your topic or you run out of time.

Good writer are avid readers. . It doesn't matter if it's fiction, for fun or on the job. Expand your word pallet. If you just have green, everything will look like a jungle, a mess that can only be untangled with a machete. Splash another color by reading stories or news articles. It doesn't matter what you read so long as it's varied. You want to develop an appatite for poetic, direct and graceful wirting and be repulsed by illdigested robotic word soups.

Essay Writing Guide by Jordan B. Peterson is a pamphlet about how to write an essay.

Choose a topic to write about. A very hard step. You should note if something peeks your interest. You will know what it is when you are gripped by the topic. The topic can be posed as a question that you think requires an answer.

Research the topic. In order to write, you need to read. Find more knowledge or opinions about the topic. Just as before, note if something causes an emotional reaction while reading. That is an indicator that you want to explore the idea further.

Write. Produce words. Form words into sentences. Merge sentences into paragraphs. Don't stop writing to edit what you have written until you are finished writing. First, only produce. Editing will come later when you are finished writing.

Editing. When you are finished writing, take a break. Return reinvigorated and start improving what you wrote.

First: select a word. Second: create a sentence. Use precise words and place them in the correct place in a sentence. Third: merge sentences into a paragraph. A paragraph should present an idea. Your paragraph should be around 100 words long. Forth, and less obvious: paragraphs should be arranged in the correct order.

There are also fifth, sixth and seventh level of resoltion. They are essay, reader and culture. These should be considered as well.

If you find yourself bored while writing, stop. Something is wrong. Reconsider your topic or ideas. This is an indicator that either you have chosen an unimportant topic or you are approaching a good topic in an incorrect manner.

Choose a topic that is important to you. That way you will be able to enter into a state of mind where you will find writing exciting and beautiful.

Pose a topic in a form of a question.

Write down what you want to read. Start with this step if you can't come up with a topic.

While you are reading, note if something catches your interest. This might be something you disagree with or something interesting that griped you.

Write notes using your own words. Never borough someone else's language. Express the meaning and understanding of what you have read. Take down about twice or thrice as many words as you need for an essay.

For a 1000 word essay, you should write 10 outline sentences. Each sentence should be an argument. Outline sentences will decide the essay's structure. You can pose them as a question.

Complete each outline sentence with around 10 more sentences. This part is where you produce a draft. Don't worry about editing yet. That will come later. Write quick and dirty.

Don't beat around the bush. Grab your audience with the first sentence or two.

Try to rewrite every sentence. If the new sentence is better, keep it. Better means shorter, a result of deleting superfluous words. Better means more precise and elegant.

Write short sentences. Each word should be chosen precisely.

Read each sentence aloud. If it sounds weird, try to rewrite it. Rearrange the sentences within a paragraph.

Rearrange the paragraph. See if their ordering is any better then the original.

To construct an excellent essay, do the following: without reading your original work, write down a new set of 10 outline sentences. Cut, paste, reorder and delete. Make the essay better in every way.