Why you should improve your persuasive writing and literacy skills
The way we communicate with the world around us is important. But we are not born knowing how to write. Yet, maintaining and growing our writing skills should be encouraged for everyone. Language is a powerful tool that can persuade, inspire and compel people to act in ways favourable to your narrative, business or life in general. Being able to persuade someone of the merit of your argument or point-of-view is an essential skill whether you are in high school or university, run a business or are a freelance writer, breathe politics or just like a good healthy discussion about ideas.
In the age of the 140 character tweet, informal email and instant autocorrect text message, good writing and literacy skills are becoming highly sought after. Unfortunately, many people can no longer use clear language to convey information that is easily understood. Being able to write well requires a broad range of writing skills such as understanding context, syntax and structure, as well as storytelling. Improving your persuasive writing and literacy skills will help improve the way you communicate. You will impress your readers and can be confident in your storytelling.
Persuasive writing skills are invaluable as they enable you to present your case. You try and convince others to agree with your facts, share your values, accept your arguments, and draw the same conclusions that you do. As an author, by writing persuasively, you can encourage your readers to adopt and believe in the world you have created in your narrative. This can be important to writers of science fiction, fantasy and magical realism where you need your readers to be immersed in the imagined new places and peoples.
Literacy skills are all the skills needed for reading and writing. This includes elements such as awareness of the sounds of language, awareness of print and the relationship between letters, and sounds. It is also your ability to think critically about the written word, and for that you also need to understand vocabulary, spelling, grammar and comprehension. Bad grammar will put people off reading your work. If your characters have limited vocab or don’t sound authentic then your audience will have difficulty believing in your story. Also, if your grammar and spelling are poor, it is much more likely that your manuscript will remain at the bottom of the publishing slush pile. A manuscript that tells a compelling tale AND is well structured with minimum spelling mistakes will leap ahead of others.
Enhancing your literacy skills can be part of the creative process. If you are able to write effectively and clearly communicate your ideas, you will have an advantage over many other writers. So whether you want to perfect your use of pronouns and adjectival phrases, or are looking to improve the way you present your story to your readers, consider enrolling in a specialized writing course. Writing programs such as those offered at Gaps Writing are designed to help you to strengthen and broaden your literacy skills. By continuing to expand your writing skills, you will broaden your readership, as well as your own horizons.
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