THREE INGREDIENTS REQUIRED FOR FLAWLESS WRITING
I know it has been long since I have written anything. In fact, I did not intend to write anything soon. But some of you were pushing me hard to post something, even if it is one post per week. So, here I am. I will try my best to write something on the Art of Writing.
THREE INGREDIENTS REQUIRED FOR FLAWLESS WRITING
In several previous posts, I have written about the strategies, tips and techniques. But there are some on which I can't stress more. These are the things which you can call a 'starter-pack'.
One of the major factor behind a messed up essay or any other piece of writing is lack of practice. Like any art, the art of writing needs practice. Michelangelo didn't become the legend suddenly. It took him years of practice. Leonardo da Vinci took years to finally be able to paint Mona Lisa. I know that none of you wants to sound like Shakespeare or Shashi Tharoor, but even for passing Essay, you need a lot of practice.
A number of aspirants keep reading articles and posts on 'How to Write Essays', and on "Tips and Tricks to Pass Essay' or Strategies to Write a Winning Essay', but believe me it's of no use unless you really put the pen on your paper. You cannot expect someone to fly a plane after only reading tons of manuals on flying an aeroplane. I have never been in an operation theater, but I have read a lot about heart and heart diseases. Will I ever be able to operate on a cardiac case? No, because I have never practiced. So, instead of just reading about writing, go straight to writing right away.
But here comes another ingredient. The tools. Picasso couldn't have been the great painter had he not gotten the hold of right tools. When he wanted to paint, he knew exactly what colours he would need, and what would be the right proportion of colour mixture. So, what is the basic tool for an essay writer? Yes, its grammar. Grammar is the cement which you paste in between the bricks of your vocabulary. If the cement is substandard, the wall made with the excellent vocabulary would come crippling down.
Now I do not wish to frighten you with grammar. It doesn't mean you need to memorise all the kinds of verbs and forms of adjectives and learn all the usages and cram the Michael Swan's book. All you need is the grip over basic tenses and a few modal verbs and usages, with a little dash of vocabulary and phrasal verbs.
The last thing that you need is content. Yes, it comes at the end. We often exaggerate the importance of content. The content can be created even if you don't know the stuff, but if you know the stuff well, nothing can stop you from acing the essay. What most aspirants do is that they get inspired with the articles like the one you are reading right now and start writing. That is a very good thing to do. But it will be better if you pick up a topic and do a little bit of research on it. Give it at least an hour of reading, identify the angle or the aspect on which you want to write. This way, your well of ideas won't dry up. Without quality content, there would only be wordiness, and no pith. If you wish to shine, do a little research, sister/brother mine.
There is one more thing which I would like to mention here is consistency. See, I haven't been able to write anything since last 10 months, but today when I decided to write this, I could write around 800 words article within half an hour. But is it even possible? Indeed, it is. The consistent practice that I had done for almost two and a half years is still paying me dividends. Although I do not write frequently now and there are many gaps and breaks, I am still able to write with speed and relative grammatical accuracy. So the takeaway is keep writing consistently.
To wrap it all up, you need three things: practice, grammar and content. Do it consistently and brace yourself for good results. If the guy like me could do it, believe me you can do it too!
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| THREE INGREDIENTS REQUIRED FOR FLAWLESS WRITING |