5 ways to improve your writing skills

There is a simple way to improve your writing skills - write and keep writing.

But, there are also exercises, strategies and tools that can help you to hone your skills. It's also helpful when you're plagued by doubt or rejection letters to have some positive feedback. These are some

of my favourite strategies:

1) Zoetrope writer's community

This site allows you to post your short stories, where they are reviewed by other writers. Before you can read your reviews, you have to read and review short stories. The feedback is positive, and constructive, and offered by other writers, so I have found it invaluable.

2) Writer.ly on Twitter: @WriterlyTweets - Six word story

This Twitter hashtag offers a writing prompt, and invites you to write a story in six words. I have found this a great way to teach myself to make every word count - when you only have six words to tell a story, you chose each one carefully! You also learn to edit, refine and rework a sentence until it's perfect. And of course, when you gather followers or retweets and likes, it affirms your skill as a writer. Reading the work of others can show you how it's done. The current prompt is: In six words or fewer, write a story about the first day after escaping a cult. #amwriting #sixwordstory

3) Adhoc Fiction - Flash Fiction in less than 150 words

This site is wide open to all participants, and if you're lucky enough to win, gives you free entry to the Bath Fiction competition.

Adhoc fiction run weekly competitions, where you're given a prompt, and have to write a story using that word. The story can not have more than 150 words.

If you are starting out as a writer, writing 150 words may seem a much smaller goal than the 60 000+ of a novel, so feels more achievable. Equally, telling a story in 150 words is challenging. Again, you learn to make every word count.

Stories are selected for online publication, and readers vote for their favourites.

4) Reading about writing

This is a great way to learn from the experts. There are many great books out there to help you, and a plethora of websites and blogs. Read widely, but critically, and use what you read to shape your skills. One of my favourite author books on writing is Stephen King's "On Writing." If there is one thing I have learned, it is that each writer has their own strategy and method, but reading the strategy of others can help you find your own.

5) Read

Whatever type of work you're writing, read widely. This helps you to see what is currently being published, and familiarise yourself with the conventions of your chosen oeuvre. Equally valuable is seeing how the greats do it, and by deconstructing, and even emulating their style, you can improve your own work. But be careful not to copy (not just because of plagiarism,) but also so that you find your own unique voice.

If you want to be a writer, you need to write.