Do you ever think to yourself: my writing is just so-so, it’s not like ….(famous writer you admire)…. they’re brilliant?
Welcome to the critical path of being a novice. Novice writers often judge their own writing very differently from how they judge other people’s work. This happens because of a psychological pattern called the Actor–Observer Bias.
Internally, you see every part of your own writing process — the messy draft, the awkward sentences, the second-guessing, the struggles to find the right word. Because you see all this, you tend to explain your “not-so-great” paragraphs as something born not made:
“I’m not naturally good at this”
“I must not be a real writer”
Attributing initial writing problems to your own abilities as ‘the actor’ is not where it ends.
When you are the ‘observer’, looking at someone else’s writing, you only see the finished, polished piece. You don’t see their rough drafts, their confusion, or their deleted paragraphs. So you assume they’re simply better:
“They’re so talented.”
“They make it look effortless.”
You attribute their success to their innate skill or talent, not the messy process you never witnessed.
Believing your success is due to luck rather than skill is also very common among creatives.
When I went to TAFE and took Language and Linguistics as part of a University Preparation pathway, I had pretty much zero experience writing essays. The teacher was fantastic; John gave critical feedback (the red pen) but also comforting support in the draft phase.
By the time I got to Reasoned Writing at University, I knew I had to work on my paragraph linkages. I tended to say something totally unrelated to the last paragraph far too often, which appeared jumpy. This problem is also hard to advise on, as there are only so many Howevers and Nevertheless you really want to use. None in my case.
So, it’s about clarity of thought. For this, you can do a little exercise.
Already Drafted – Making Thoughts Clearer
If the piece is already drafted, you can check for repeats and out of order by this content edit trick. It’s best done on paper.
Number the paragraphs, and select a key phrase for the paragraph — just two words.
Check the other paragraphs for that point or story or alliance. If you find a match at 2, rename the paragraph 2b.
Para 2b – can it be moved to be part of or after para 2?
Alliances: how they work. First we talked about how our “mind works”. Then we talked about drafting our writing. Mind first, drafts technique next, then next technique. If I now put a paragraph on another imposter effect, I would move it up to the “mind works” paragraph.
Clarity in writing is something you will get better at. The whole key is practising and moving points around. A similar technique is:
Check the Topic Bridges
Does this topic suddenly jump to the next, or does it have a nice bridge for the reader to walk over?
If we are writing long paragraphs on a researched topic, it’s wise to use many topic sentences to guide the reader too. That’s where you sum up the point in the first sentence, put the period in quickly and move to explanation. Add your metaphor, anecdote, quote, etc. Round out the paragraph with a nice simple topic bridge or your impression.
If I wanted to add about Singaporean writers here, my bridge would include some kind of segue. E.g., As we work more globally in terms of books, people in Singapore are learning to write at a higher level of English. They are reading this blog, for instance.
If you’re looking for more help in writing a non-fiction book, please see my introductory session offer and the book writing coaching package.
