Ten Things Good Writers Do

  • 17 March, 2009
  • 16 Comments

I was asked to write the following for a local high school that wanted to provide some writing guidelines for its students. This might be of use to you, too. I hope so.

Ten things good writers do…

1. Good writers make a good first impression. They put extra effort into their introductions and first paragraphs because they want readers to read on. Consider this wonderful opener from E. B. White:”When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son was born, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse.” That simple sentence took a lot of work, but it sure makes you want to find out about Mrs. Little’s mouse-sized son.

  2. Good writers make their endings strong, too. No one wants to read a piece that doesn’t leave them feeling fulfilled and satisfied at the end, and good writers usually pull everything together with a rewarding climax or a thoughtful summary.

  3. Good writers organize their articles and stories so that readers can follow along without getting lost or confused. That might mean that a good writer writes stories with clear beginnings, middles, and ends, or that they use an understandable logical plan in their science essays. For some kinds of writing it is a good idea to tell the reader right up front what is going to follow.

  4. Good writers rewrite. In fact, someone once even said that good writing is bad writing that has been rewritten. It is very difficult to write something that another person can understand and enjoy, so good writers make a real effort to polish their work. Once they have a draft of what they want to say, they go back several times to add, delete, or change it so that it will be just right. Rarely are good writers happy with the first words they come up with, so good writing is rewriting.

  5. Good writers don’t just tell something, they show it. A good writer doesn’t just state an opinion without real examples that reveal why he or she holds that opinion. Similarly, a good story writer doesn’t tell you that a character is unhappy, he/she shows it (maybe the character punches a pillow or kicks over a garbage can – anything that reveals the feeling without the writer just telling it).

  6. Good writers use sentences that are varied and interesting. No one wants to read a paper that says, “A nanotube is very small. A nanotube can be used to make a little radio. A nanotube uses carbon. A nanotube….” Boring! Repetition can be effective in some instances, but in this case it doesn’t work. This is better: “Nanotubes are so tiny they can’t be seen by the naked eye. And, yet, it is possible to make a radio from one. Imagine listening to hip-hop on a radio that no one can see!”

  7. Good writers write for the ear, not the eye. That is, a good writer tries to make sure the text would sound good if someone were to read it aloud (in fact, good writers often read their stuff aloud when they are revising just to make sure it sounds like it should).

  8. Good writers elaborate; they try to share a lot of information and detail. It helps to be analytical, to be able to break a topic into its parts and then to tell about the parts. In a science class that might mean writing about a structure of an organism and then connecting the structure to the processes that the organism is involved in. Or, in a social studies class it might mean describing an involved chain of events that led to a particular historical outcome.

  9. Good writers get their facts right, even when they are writing fiction. It isn’t enough to sound right, it has to be right. In a report, that means checking that your facts are correct (and, if facts are in dispute, that fact should end up in the report, too). Truth in fiction is a little trickier, but it matters as well; even in far out science-fiction writing the imaginary worlds have to make sense (if an imaginary universe has no gravity, it can’t just magically have gravity later in the story—maybe something changed it so that it did, but the change has to be plausible).

  10. Good writers should know when to quit. When you’ve said what you wanted to say it’s time to stop. And, since I set out to tell 10 things that good writers do, I think this would be a good place to end!

Comments

See what others have to say about this topic.

Anonymous Jul 02, 2017 01:44 AM

3/19/2009


Excellent! I mentor a youth newsletter group and this is ideal to help them understand the importance of the what they write about and how they "say" it.

Keith Schoch Jul 02, 2017 01:45 AM

4/3/2009


I just stumbled upon your blog. I like your list! Just enough to get us thinking. I was fortunate enough to hear Ralph Fletcher speak about writing recently, although his comments were more directed toward teachers of young writers. Check it out at http://teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/ralph-fletcher-way-with-words.html,

wildhomestead Jul 02, 2017 01:46 AM

2/5/2010


Thanks for this nice list. I am working on revising a piece for a literary magazine and it's reassuring when you say "good writing is bad writing that has been rewritten"; I always forget that good writing takes a great deal of effort and patience, two things that I really struggle with. Instead, I am prone to dismiss the whole project as worthless. I'm going to stick with it this time. Thanks again.

Timothy Shanahan Jul 02, 2017 01:47 AM

2/5/2010


Sara-- This seems obvious to any writer, but it is not obvious to those who are learning to write or who don't write much. Once my niece wanted help with a letter she had drafted. I sat with her at my side and went through her prose, deleting, adding, moving things around from beginning to end. I did that about three times before I was satisfied with a final draft. Her response: "So that's how you do it!" I was surprised that she had no idea how to do more than a first draft (even teachers who model are more likely to model drafting than revising). good luck.

Heidi Smith Luedtke Jul 02, 2017 01:50 AM

8/12/2011

This is an excellent list. As a professional writer, I'm surprised by the number of people who want to be writers, but don't realize that writing is more complicated than typing. Perhaps writing instruction is too focused on the mechanics of text production and not enough on the process of thought production, refinement, etc.

George Song the Great Jul 02, 2017 01:51 AM

10/21/2011

thank you! But please tell me, what is the difference between editing and revising?

Timothy Shanahan Jul 02, 2017 01:51 AM

10/21/2011

Revising is a rethinking of a piece of writing; it can include adding content, changing content (like rewriting a paragraph for clarity, or reorganizing a piece), or deleting content.

Editing refers to putting a text into final shape for sharing with others (proofreading, fixing the spelling, making sure the formatting is right, etc.).

Casey Jul 02, 2017 01:51 AM

12/13/2012

I really like number four. "..good writing is bad writing that has been rewritten." Many times people just give up on something they think is bad, but they don't realize how much potential it has. Great list!

Debalna Jul 02, 2017 01:52 AM

4/2/2014

Hi,
I am student working on my phd in literacy Ed. I read your research articles but this is the first one about writing tips. I am an international student and it always remains a challenge for me to put my ideas in a paper. This helps a lot. I always feel lost with my ideas when it comes to writing. Thank you.

Debalina

B.Paul Jul 02, 2017 01:52 AM

11/9/2014

I took a course in teaching writing to elementary school aged children. My course could have been summed up with your checklist. Teaching writing is not an easy thing to anyone especially young people who are still gaining a command of the written language. The list is especially helpful to children who are still honing their writing skills and learning the art of good writing. Like any skill you want to become better at, you must practice it and learn the best practices of it. I believe this list is a good tool for young writers to use to evaluate their own writing and to help create the right mindsets about good writing. I must also admit this list is a great checklist for any writer to use to help guide their writing process.

Anonymous Jul 02, 2017 01:53 AM

1/11/2016

This is excellent. It helps a lot.

Vincent Bennett Jul 02, 2017 01:53 AM

12/7/2016

Useful article, I've seen these tips, they are practical and useful for every beginning writer. When I first got the assignment to write an essay, I immediately started looking for tips on how to competently do it. After a few successful attempts, I decided to go further and began to help others https://99papers.com/. It's a great experience, I advise you to appreciate these tips.

Timothy Shanahan Jul 02, 2017 01:54 AM

12/7/2016

Vincent--

Thanks for your kind comments. As you know I wrote this for beginning writers, and my sentiments about the piece matched yours. However, a while back Nell Duke invited me to present these points at a conference because she uses it with her PhD students. I made the presentation, and at the end a magazine editor approached me to tell me that she was distributing copies of it to her staff. I think that means that given the complexity of writing guidelines for beginners may just as well be guidelines for much more accomplished writers, too.

tim

Gary W. Deason Jul 02, 2017 01:54 AM

7/14/2016

Good work, deep thoughts, but not revealed until the end. I advise you to practice in this area, then you can try yourself in the role of the writer's essay, like the author of this artilce. I'm still at the institute realized that it can bring good returns, the main constructively and competently write on topics that you know and you understand what is being said.

Nazila R Sep 24, 2018 02:00 AM

I like the list because it ties into the rubric for content, organization, development, and conventions. I just explained a writing rubric to my students. Now, I can show them this list and ask them to identify where these suggestions belong on the rubric. Thank you.

suzan wikoff Jun 17, 2024 03:58 PM

Hello. My strongest recommendation to any writer is to read from the perspective of the reader. In a nutshell. Colored pencils help writers as a key to group information, esp in transactional and persuasive writing. I am currently writing materials for basic writing aids for teachers who are stymied where to begin with novice writers. Unfortunately, most writing in public schools is narrative - neglecting a varied curriculum with little attention to structure. Sad to reflect on the Writing Across the Curriculum push that was inaugurated in 1981. If colleges don't train future teachers to include writing in their class, how can anyone expect students will be assigned any writing? Anyway, I read most of your posts and recommend your site to teachers. Thanks.

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Ten Things Good Writers Do

16 comments

One of the world’s premier literacy educators.

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