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Learning to write better for adults

Good texts do not write themselves. If you want to learn to write better, you need patience, perseverance and the right know-how. That's why this article uses 18 helpful tips to teach all the important basics so that adults can get closer to their goal and formulate texts better.

Learning to write better and thus being able to write clear, catchy texts is a worthwhile goal. Everyday life, for example, is made easier in many ways if you have a higher level of writing competence and can consequently formulate texts better - whether at work, in business e-mail correspondence or in your private writing room when you want to turn to beautiful things and write creatively or literary.

At the latest when you want to write not only for yourself but also to attract a certain target group, how you write a text matters. After all, it is then a matter of striking the right tone and putting even complex content down on paper in a clear and understandable way - and in the sense of the readership - in an entertaining and entertaining way.

But even if your fingers are only tingling occasionally and you are really only writing for fun and for the drawer, it is an advantage if you can play the keyboard of language well. After all, if you spend too long struggling for words, you may lose a good thought before it can be written down.

Better writing: Playing the keyboard of language successfully Why learn to write better? Learning to write better for your job It is not only in management positions that it is advantageous to be able to write and formulate texts better, because after all, customer success depends on clear and comprehensible communication between business partners. If, on top of that, your writing style is convincing, you are sure to make a professional impression in business communication.

Learning to write better for your studies Especially for academic writing, both for students and in the real academic world, clearly structured texts are absolutely essential. This makes it all the more important to plan seminar papers and term papers as well as academic theses and journal articles from A to Z and to formulate them accordingly. Your readers will also thank you if you make complicated scientific issues as comprehensible as possible. Convoluted nested sentences, on the other hand, will not convince anyone - and certainly not your supervisor.

Learn to write better for everyday life Postcards, love letters, e-mails: there are more types of texts for everyday life than you might think. Those who write well and are in practice formulate all kinds of texts in no time at all, while others spend hours formulating a beautiful Christmas greeting. Apart from these more practical types of texts, your hands may have been tingling for a while: You finally want to write a story. If you are fit to write, you can start right away and give free rein to your creative streak. However, if you constantly get caught up in copywriting, you will quickly lose inspiration and joy.

Copywriter, conceptioner and editor Hello, my name is Martin and I am your copywriter and editor. Learn to write and express yourself better - be it for your job, for everyday life or for your studies. I hope my guidebook can be helpful.

About me: After studying German at Karl Franzens University in Graz, I founded Textprofil, worked as a freelance journalist for Wirtschaftsnachrichten Österreich and was chief of staff, editor and SEO consultant in a permanent position at the independent trade magazine LANDWIRT.

Learning to write - for adults The most important prerequisites if you want to learn to write better are appropriate know-how and the will to work hard - whether writing for everyday use, journalistic writing or the supreme discipline of literary writing. Because your writing skills do not develop overnight. Time shapes a beautiful, individual style, just as it takes patience to find good formulations in the beginning.

Well-formed formulations alone, however, do not make good texts. Better writing also means being strategic and doing some thinking before you start writing. If you start thinking about what to put on paper while you are writing, you are likely to get bogged down. In the worst case, the writing attempt will have to be abandoned.

Writing is a craft! So there seem to be some stones in the way if you want to get better at writing. But the good news is that you will gain speed and skill with each writing attempt. If you write a lot and often, things just come more easily. You will develop more and more know-how, writing techniques will become second nature to you, and you will have texting strategies down pat. Writing is - despite often contrary opinions - a craft. And, as the saying goes, you can't learn a craft without an apprenticeship.

That's why our writing guide is dedicated to both text planning and writing craft - in other words, how to write better texts. In the first part, you will learn the basics to better formulate texts - starting with finding a topic, researching and creating a promising text structure. After you have created a text plan and learned what problems lurk when writing texts, it's time to learn how to write. Here you will learn how to improve your writing style. To do this, we explain how to unfold a topic in such a way that the famous red thread emerges, how to write expressively and how to inspire readers with concrete word matter.

Then it's on to the sentence and the right choice of words. Learn how to combine nouns, verbs and adjectives correctly and how to design ideal pairings. Finally, we show you proven figures of rhetoric that can enhance the overall appearance of a text. You will also find numerous useful examples and links to help you learn the writing craft better.

Writing creative and professional texts - basics 1. find a topic Before you start writing, you should know what you are writing about. Otherwise, how can you formulate texts better? Texts that are started haphazardly provide relief to the soul, but unfortunately are often not finished. When writing texts for an audience, it is best to find a topic. You can basically write about anything and everything. You already have a topic in mind? Very good! If not, browse newspapers and the internet, look out the window, observe what's happening outside. Is there something you think is great or not okay at all? Find something that interests you and might also interest other readers.

2. research the topic Once you have found a topic, first write down everything you already know about it. Then research what others have already written about it, because it would be a pity if you later come across an existing text that treats your topic in the same way. Everything that you and your future readers find relevant, just write down. Don't worry yet about how you will use the information you have found later. Concentrate on what is exciting, interesting, worth knowing, sky-rocketing and explosive. Look for information that you and your readers will definitely want to pass on. Collect facts, data and figures that you can later use to support your thoughts and theories.

3. find keywords and catchphrases During your research, you will come across many words that recur in relation to the topic. Write these words down - whether they are nouns, adjectives or verbs. Often, keywords appear in pairs, for example, effective climate protection, advance swiftly or initiate structural change. You will need topic-relevant words and word combinations later when writing your text. They lend expressiveness, relevance and expertise.

4. planning texts Only very few people write an excellent text off the cuff. startup and structure their text. So put the results of your research and keywords in order. Think about what the main message of your text should be and how you can best support your thoughts. A topic always has several sub-topics that need to be dealt with. Answer the following questions for yourself: What is above it, what is below it? Based on these considerations, you create a concept that you attach to headings. The headings then stand for the individual chapters of your text. If you follow this pattern, your text will certainly have a common thread.

5. organise your thoughts Once you have created your chapters, you can start writing your text. However, it is often worthwhile to clear your head and do something else first after researching and planning. This allows your brain to process and sort out all the new information. You may notice that one or the other focus should be placed differently. New thoughts and ideas come up. Let the material sink in and grow with the topic. And don't worry: a plan that you have created can easily be changed again and serves primarily to give you a sense of direction in your writing.

How can I learn to write better? Problems with writing texts Writing as an outlet There are many problems when writing texts. Especially often, texts are discarded again if they have arisen from a spontaneous impulse. Creative writers know the following situation only too well: You're fed up, you can't watch any longer - now it has to come out! People need an outlet to let off steam, otherwise the barrel will overflow. Writing, in our opinion, is a particularly suitable means of providing relief for the soul, along with sport and music.

But when the hat is on fire, who still creates a text concept before getting behind the keyboard? In the introduction we mentioned that spontaneous attempts at writing often get bogged down and are abandoned. The reason for this is that the spontaneous flow of writing dries up at some point and you then lack ideas and topics with which to continue formulating the text - as long as it is not a short story. Then frustration sets in and the text ends up in the wastepaper basket.

Satisfy your creative streak But what can you do if your fingers are already tingling and you are desperate to give your creativity free rein? No problem - sometimes it just has to come out while the spring is bubbling. Then don't think for long, but write until your fingers glow. But be sure to take a break when you notice that the flow begins to trickle and dry up. Most of the time, your head is completely empty and what comes out of your pen later is usually not worth the paper it is written on. The text that has been written up to this point can perhaps be used later as the beginning of a novel and you can write a well thought-out story based on it.

Unleashing the creative flow of writing in a controlled way You will be spared such problems when writing texts if you have already created a plot and a chapter division in advance. This way you can control the creative flow as you see fit. Let's say your story has four chapters and you know roughly what you want to tell in each. If this is the case, you can focus all your attention on it and, no matter what you are doing or where you are, collect keywords and make notes. This usually only takes a moment, but when it comes to writing, these notes are more valuable than gold.

Put notes and keywords under your chapter heading one by one. This procedure can go on for hours, days or weeks, depending on the goals you have set for yourself. In your mind, however, the ideas become more and more condensed until it is finally time to unload everything. Unlike the spontaneous attempt at writing, however, you now have a thought guide and and numerous notes to help you. You will see how easy writing then becomes, because you have regulated the flow of writing and still have a lot of creative freedom.

Improving your writing style - practical tips Before you think about improving your writing style, remember that there is no such thing as one good style. Style is a matter of taste and, as we all know, tastes differ. What seems stylistically well-formed to some is hardly acceptable to others. Rather, assume that there are numerous functional styles that are suitable for different groups of speakers. Fans of fantasy literature, for example, are used to different styles than fans of the thriller genre, while readers of tabloid newspapers have different stylistic demands than readers of upmarket journalism.

Meanwhile, every functional style has corresponding characteristics. Just think of the official style. This is full of convoluted and reader-unfriendly formulations:

Machines cannot be placed on the market until they have been brought to the attention of the authorities.

Distinguish style values Many words also have different style values. Some are considered upmarket, some casual, while others are regional - i.e. scenic. Duden Online, for example, gives usage recommendations for the individual forms of words. The verb klauben, for example, is preferred in Bavaria and Austria as well as in the miners' language. This form has no place in a high-fantasy novel, but readers would probably not mind it in a Styrian daily newspaper.

So if you want to improve your writing style, think carefully about what and for whom and which target group you want to write better. Form your style accordingly and be aware that you will achieve different things with different stylistic values. Once you have perfected one style, it will no longer be difficult for you to adopt other functional styles much more quickly.

6. formulate texts better But now it's finally time to write. Sometimes it's good to wait for the right time, sometimes it's better to get started right away. Trust your instincts: often the idea for the first sentence comes in the shower or while you're tidying up. Don't hesitate if you've thought of a good opening. If you're on the go, make a memo. On the other hand, don't wait too long for an idea: lower your expectations, a bad first sentence or paragraph can easily be corrected later.

Because you have planned your text in advance and created a chapter division, you can in principle start anywhere. Think of the text in segments, which in the end form a coherent whole. Work through chapter by chapter. Pay sufficient attention to each segment of the text and take a break when your head is spinning. Keep at it when you are in a good writing flow. Feel free to switch back and forth between chapters if you spontaneously come up with a thought that fits better in another section of the text. It is particularly helpful if you put your keywords and word combinations under the chapters before you start writing. Afterwards, you simply pick up each keyword and write something about it. In this way, you weave a dense text structure that leaves no thematic gaps.

7. unfolding the text topic A proven method for coherently developing a text theme is the theme-rheme model of the Prague structuralists. The idea behind this is that every sentence consists of two parts: theme and rheme. The theme is the subject of the movement, while the rheme says something about the subject. In the movement Peter Plays Guitar, Peter is the theme and the rest of the movement is the rheme. In the following movement, according to the Prague model, the preceding rhema becomes the theme, such as The guitar is black.

Of course, blindly following this rule will most likely not result in a beautiful text. But the idea behind it is good: take a keyword relevant to the topic and write about it. This can be just a single sentence or a whole paragraph. From this in turn - if necessary - a new subject is taken and described. The bottom line is that the topic-rheme model is best suited to consistently answering questions that arise about a subject. The scheme is as follows: Item-question-answer / New item from answer-new question-new answer / etc.

Thematic progression of the Prague School

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