One overlooked way to improve your writing
✍️ Today’s tip: Copy out a passage by your favorite writer.
You know who knows a lot about writing? The bestselling author and New Yorker writer . And you know what she suggests doing if you want to get better at writing? Flaunting the code of grade school conduct and being a total copycat. Orlean writes on Medium: “When I first started writing professionally, I copied like crazy. Not literally copied — I didn’t lift sentences or ideas — but copied in the way an apprentice woodworker might copy a master woodworker, following the curves, mimicking the cuts and joinery, lining up my work against the model. I think it was a good habit. Quite by accident, I was teaching myself to write.”
Pick up a pen, or open a fresh document, and copy out some beloved passages by your favorite writers. Without even realizing it, you’ll start to absorb some powerful lessons in craft.
📓 More from Forge on writing better:
How To Write Anything
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How to Find Your Voice as a Writer
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How to Write 10,000 Words a Week
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