It’s interesting, writing is one of those skills that’s both an art and a science — you can write a novel, an article, an essay, or even a blog post with a formula, but if you follow it all of the time, the work is bound to be boring. You need to have a sense and feel for language, the flow of it, the interplay of words, and the musicality of language in order to bring your work to life.

Writing is a tough craft, and you’ll need writing skills anywhere you go in life, from college to your career. Anyone will tell you what a key skill good communication is.

A few months ago, a user on WhoQuest asked, “Who is the best writer?”, and the community poured in and endorsed people in their network who fit the bill. With 25+ endorsers so far, we were able to generate a list of 256 top writers.

Endorse someone for “Who is the best writer?”

Figuring everyone could use some writing advice, we asked some of the top results to give advice on how to up your writing game.

Tip # 1: Exist in your craft in the same way you want your readers to exist in your work. -Curtis Emery, Poet, Massachusetts

“Writing is as much about purpose as it is about pleasure. Good art takes hard work. Exist in your craft in the same way you want your readers to exist in your work. We all have a story to tell, but it is how we tell that story that defines each of us as an artist. It is the goal of the writer to perfect how we tell our stories. As you develop your craft, you will develop your ability to tell this story. Embrace your process more than your finished product — in doing so you will not only evolve as a writer, but as a storyteller as well. An idea is only a fraction of your writing project, the rest is how you decide to place it on the page.” (See Curtis’s Reputation)

Tip #2: Great writers offer up something from their most hidden corner. -Naomi McDougall-Jones, Screenwriter, Brooklyn, NY

“You have to find a way to wrench something that is essentially you — something deeply true about your own humanity — out of you and onto a piece of paper, in a way that at least some other people can understand. That’s what great writers do: they offer up something from their most vulnerable hidden corner and send it through a piece paper so that it can reach out and connect with a stranger’s own hidden corner and make that person feel less alone. Which, if you think about it, is nothing short of magic.”

Tip #3: Love your audience -Tara McCook, Blogger, Washington DC

“Know and love your audience, and write with them in mind. If you’re teaching, be plain; if you’re storytelling, be entertaining; if you’re selling, be respectful. Writing is a conversation. Remember who you’re talking with, and the rest will flow from that relationship.”

Tip #4: You can’t become a good writer without reading” - Ellen Stuart Kittle, Communications Professional, Boston, MA

“Read! Read everything, everywhere, all the time. It’s non-negotiable. You can’t become a good writer without reading, a lot, from many different genres. This is how you’ll figure out the mechanics and structure of different types of writing, how you’ll get a feel for rhythm and voice, how you’ll figure out what you like and dislike, and how you’ll determine what you want to write yourself. As an added bonus, non-stop reading is also how you get really, really good at pub trivia.” (See Ellen’s Reputation)

Tip #5: Transpose your experience onto your characters -Jordan Dumbroff, Filmmaker

“Write what you know. I don’t mean that if you want to write a sci-fi, you have to meet an alien. You can still write what you know, based on the universal human emotions we all experience. For example, your character meets an alien: this is something totally new, and unexpected, it would be an event that your character would always remember. We’ve all had these kinds of experiences, and so it’s about transposing that experience onto your characters. That is not to say you won’t have to do research sometimes, and if you don’t know anything about crime, you probably shouldn’t just starting writing a screenplay about it.

Also, keep it simple. Obviously, screenplays can be complex creatures, with ins and outs, and facets that one can only understand if they pay close attention. Overall, I mean writing in general. Your dialogue and character actions should reflect the character saying or doing those things. You don’t want your dialogue to be too on the nose either. If it feels like your character is conveniently telling the audience something they need to know, then there’s a chance it’s expositional, and will take your audience out of the moment. In these cases, it tends to be much more efficient to SHOW rather than tell.

Tip # 6: Your words aren’t precious - Brianna Collins, Nonprofit Communications Strategist, Brooklyn, NY

“No piece of writing is perfect the first time around. (This goes equally for both the people who hate everything they write and the people who think their initial drafts are brilliant.) But it’s important to get something on paper to react to. This is what memoirist Marion Roach Smith refers to as the “vomit draft”: just getting everything out. From there, you’ll make changes big and small, and iteration after iteration will get better.

Remember, your words aren’t precious. They’re meant to be cut and pasted, rearranged, experimented with. That’s part of the fun of writing!” (Brianna’s Reputation)

Tip #7: Write it how you’d say it - Elisabeth Anderson Rapport, Larchmont, NY

“Write it effectively how you’d say it. If you had a fairly complex topic at hand and had to describe it to a friend or relative, what would you say? Also, good grammar and spelling are just too important to overlook. You could write the best piece ever and readers will get so agitated by copy mistakes. They distract from the whole shebang.” (Elisabeth’s Reputation)

Tip #8: Success is a marathon - Simone Paget, Blogger and Writer, Victoria, British Columbia

“Stop comparing yourself to people who you think are more talented than you are. Success in writing isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. You just have to keep showing up everyday. To quote one of my favourite authors, James Baldwin: ‘Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.’” (Simone’s Reputation)

Do you know a great writer we should promote? Go endorse them on WhoQuest, and we may include them in our next round of tips.