Many people who want to write better have a shared belief: they’re not talented enough. They look at the writers they admire, the ones with shelves of NYTimes bestsellers and decades of experience behind them and wrongly assume that this is out of their reach. While not everyone will become a published author, there are valuable tips that can be ascertained from the professionals.
Learning how to become a better writer is not about possessing some rare gift. It’s about building the right habits and knowing how to apply them. Consistent progress matters more than perfection, and regular practice matters more than waiting for inspiration.
The tips below come directly from professional writers. These are writers who have published various types of work, including books, essays, short stories, and more. Many have been making the same case for decades: the way you get better at writing is by writing.
How to Become a Better Writer the Way the Professionals Do It
Before getting into the tips, one thing worth noting: professional writers are remarkably consistent in their advice. Across genres, eras, and audiences, they keep pointing to the same fundamentals. If repetition is the key to mastery (as many claim it is), they may be onto something.
Tip #1: Read a Lot of Everything (Not Just What You’re “Supposed” to Read)
Acclaimed author Stephen King has published over 67 novels and novellas. His total published works exceed 119 publications, including non-fiction pieces, short story collections, screenplays, and various other projects. In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, King puts it plainly: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
Reading makes you a better writer because it exposes you to more than you could ever consciously study. You gain more vocabulary, more exposure to different sentence structures, and more ways to open a scene, land a paragraph, or shift a reader’s emotion. Over time, you absorb it without even realizing it.
It doesn’t have to be literary fiction. King also mentions that he reads about 70 to 80 books a year and that he doesn’t read to study craft. He reads because he likes to read. There’s a lesson in that.
A thriller, a biography, a graphic novel, a well-written magazine profile; all of it counts. Reading widely exposes you to more ideas, more vocabulary patterns, and more imaginative territory than staying in one lane ever could.
Margaret Atwood, another esteemed author with over 80 published works in her repertoire, agrees. The author of The Handmaid’s Tale echoed King’s sentiment, saying, “Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice.”
If you’re looking to build a student’s love of reading as a way to enhance their writing skills, it would be wise to explore reading and writing curriculums that support both.
Tip #2: Don’t Overthink the First Draft
As one of the most well-respected writers of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway certainly qualifies as an expert in the field of writing. Hemingway’s most quoted line about writing cuts right to it: “The first draft of anything is sh*t.” The full context, from a conversation recorded by his protégé Arnold Samuelson in With Hemingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba, makes the point even clearer: “Don’t get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can’t get out of it. I rewrote A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. You’ve got to work it over.”
The point isn’t that your first draft will be bad. The point is that it’s not supposed to be the final draft. Overthinking your first draft (trying to make it good before it’s even done) kills the momentum needed to get through it. Editing and creating are two different modes, and the biggest mistake new writers make is trying to do both at once.
Get the ideas out of your head and onto the page. Once they’re written down and stored somewhere, then you can finesse and refine. An internal critic is a useful tool, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of getting started. Give yourself permission to be “bad” and “messy,” both of which are subjective anyway. Put the editing voice on hold until there’s something on the page to edit.
Tip #3: Just Write (Lower the Pressure)
One of the most freeing things a writer can do is write without stakes. Timed writing sprints (10 to 15 minutes with no goal other than filling the page) are a well-established technique for getting past the paralysis of the blank page. Set a timer. Write without stopping and don’t go back to fix anything. When the timer goes off, you’re done. The goal is to build your writing muscle.
Consistency beats motivation every time. A poorly-written paragraph written today is worth more than a perfect paragraph imagined but never written down.
Tip #4: Write First, Refine Later
This extends Tip #2 into a broader working philosophy: treat the first draft as a creative act and the second as an editorial one. Do not conflate them.
Stephen King’s instruction in On Writing frames it this way: “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” The first draft belongs to you. The revision is where you let the reader in.
A simple two-pass system for any piece of writing:
- Pass 1: Get it all down. No edits, no second-guessing. Just move forward.
- Pass 2: Come back after time away with fresh eyes. Cut what isn’t doing work and tighten what is.
Hemingway’s process went even further, as he reportedly rewrote the ending of A Farewell to Arms 47 times. The revision is where the real writing happens. The first draft is just permission to express the ideas.
Tip #5: Go Back to the Basics
The writers who seem most effortless on the page are usually the ones who have the firmest grip on fundamentals. Sentence structure, paragraph rhythm, active voice, and word choice are the tools professionals rely on at every level of their craft.
Going back to basics doesn’t mean you’re behind. It means you understand where the work is. Even experienced writers revisit grammar and mechanics when something isn’t landing the way they want.
King’s blunt take: “Grammar is not just a pain in the a**; it’s the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking.” Fundamentals are the foundation every piece of writing is built on, and reinforcing them always pays off.
Tip #6: Don’t Let Grammar Stop You from Writing
There’s a common conundrum burgeoning writers face regarding grammar: grammar matters, but not always immediately.
Grammar-first thinking (getting so focused on correctness that you can’t move forward) is one of the most common creativity blockers for developing writers. Worrying about whether a comma is correct, whether a sentence fragment is acceptable, or whether the clause structure is technically correct can freeze a writer in their tracks. It can stop them before they’ve even put a single real idea on the page.
The workflow that works:
- Idea dump: Get everything out without worrying about mechanics
- Structure: Organize the ideas into a coherent flow
- Grammar cleanup: Go back through and correct
Grammar should be the final step, not the first one. If you want to sharpen your grammar knowledge between drafts, our Intensive Grammar Review is a practical resource for students who want to work on mechanics without disrupting their creative momentum.
Tip #7: Build a Simple Writing Habit (Not a Perfect Routine)
Margaret Atwood’s advice to a group of Cornell students was simple and direct: “Write every day if you can, no matter how awful you think it is. Just keep doing it.”
She didn’t say write when you’re inspired. She didn’t say write when you have a great idea. She said write every day, no matter what comes out.
Professional writers treat writing like a job. They carve out a time, close the door on distractions, and show up. King writes every day, including on holidays and birthdays. Atwood’s take on writer’s block is that it doesn’t exist; there are just days when you sit down and write anyway.
The practical version of this:
- Pick a time: Morning is ideal for most writers because the day hasn’t taken its toll yet
- Set a duration: 15 minutes is enough to build the habit
- Protect it: No email, no phone, no interruptions during that window
- Keep it small enough to be sustainable
A 15-minute daily writing habit outperforms a two-hour Saturday session 52 times a year. Small and consistent always beats big and sporadic.
The Writing Life Is Built One Day at a Time
Becoming a better writer is a practice you sustain. The writers who get good are the ones who show up when the writing is bad, when the ideas aren’t flowing, and when it would be easier to do something else.
The same rules apply for students learning to write from the ground up. Structure, consistency, and real feedback create writers. At EIW, our Essentials in Literature curriculum pairs reading with the kind of analytical thinking that makes students better writers by making them better readers. It’s exactly the combination Hemingway, King, and Atwood all point back to. Reach out to us today if you want to further develop your writing.
