Becoming a Better Writer by Reading Widely

It is a commonly held adage that reading makes you a better writer. Many of the best writers through history have been avid readers, and in fact it is an interest in reading that often drives people to consider becoming a writer in the first place.


Assuming you’re already a writer, whether a budding novelist or a freelance writer at someplace such as custom writing service propaperwritings.com – by reading widely you could improve your writing skills further. If you’re still an avid reader you may already be doing so unconsciously too.

Expanding Your Influences

One of the best places to start is by expanding your influences. Odds are you’ve already dabbled in reading the great literary authors such as Shakespeare, Dumas, Tolstoy, and so on – but there’s more to expanding your influences than that.

By finding writers, even lesser known ones, who are great storytellers with their own particular style – you could learn valuable techniques. For other types of writing this holds true as well, so for example if you were to want to learn how to write a PhD dissertation then reading some of the work of more prolific academic writers may help.

To accomplish all of this you’re going to need to have access to a lot of books – and a good place to start is by locating free eBooks that you could sink your teeth into. Honestly, you’ll be surprised by the selection that is available nowadays, and it won’t cost you a single cent.

Some writers even find that keeping a notebook (or a notes app on your smartphone) where you can jot down interesting turns of phrase or writing styles that you discover while you read is helpful too.

Experimenting with New Styles

As much as reading can help improve writing – rolling up your sleeves and starting to write will help even more than that. Everything you learn as you read needs to be used in order for it to hold any value – and that is where it is important to set time aside every so often to experiment with new styles.

If you’re looking to improve your writing in a certain area, you could focus on that area. Alternatively if you just want to generally improve and are open to experimenting across many areas it might be a good idea to find a diverse range of mind-expanding books and draw inspiration from them. That way you’ll gain exposure on multiple fronts.

No matter how busy you are, be sure to try to read at least a little bit every day. Cultivating a good reading habit is essential if you want to improve as a writer, and now that you know exactly how to use that habit to improve your skills – you should be off to a great start. All that’s left now is for you to pick a book, start reading, and then use what you learn and experiment with it to see where it takes you.