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 Susan Orlean. 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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