Every blogger has a different writing style. That’s what makes every blog unique from the other – a different author with a different perspective and style of writing.
However, there is one thing that many bloggers share and do the same. All bloggers have their own writing habits, and some may have the same habit as another. Just keep in mind, habits, and styles are different.
Every time I write a post, I usually find myself thinking how I can improve it. My two major habits when writing are using a lot of heading tags, and using lists. Those habits are shared by just about every other blogger out there because it adds structure to the post. So you and me aren’t that different at all – we like to do a lot of the same stuff in our posts.
One day I just thought about doing something different. Like, switching it up a little bit. I came up with some neat ideas for some habits I would like to pick up on while writing. I have been trying these out for about a week now, and I have to say that some of these have helped me become a better writer.
Here are some of my “experimental” writing habits. Try some out, maybe you’ll find something that will help your writing style. They’re experimental, so they may not really work for you, which is totally fine.
Habit #1: Write Content before you write the title
I mentioned this in a couple of other posts, but never really expanded so much into it. For me, I always find it easier to write your post out, then write your title. It opens you up to a larger variety of keywords you use throughout your post, and also the content may change from your original idea, thus changing what the title would be. So logically, I think it makes more sense to do your title last, because you may end up with an inaccurate title compared to your content.
Habit #2: No “on the spot” spell checking!
Whenever you make a spelling mistake that you notice immediately (usually a little red line will appear under the misspelled word), don’t spell check it. Look at it and see if you can find the mistake yourself. It’s an excellent way to get your brain thinking deeper, because you may not see the mistake immediately. If you can’t get it, then just use the spell check. It’s okay, there’s no way you can spell every word in the dictionary.
The only downside to this habit is that it may be time consuming, and can very possibly break your post flow.
Habit #3: Disable Visual Editor in WordPress
The Visual Editor is kind of a hassle to use. You can’t use HTML or any other language but BBCode in it, and will often mess up link breaks or images. I don’t think it’s good to use the Visual Editor when you write your posts. You can disable the Visual Editor by going to your User Profile and checking the box at the top.
Habit #4: Use more capital letters in your post titles/headings
I don’t really do this all of the time, but I find that sometimes by writing your post title “With A Capital For Each Word” can make the title stand out more then it “Would like this.” It’s a personal preference really, and I do this on and off with my posts.
Habit #5: Using a Thesaurus for cliché words
A Thesaurus (had to use habit #2 for that word!) is a reference full of synonyms. Simply look up a word in the Thesaurus, and it will give you a usually good number of synonyms to use in place of the boring word you gave it.
Words like “I think” can become something like “I believe”. There’s really no limit on what you can do. Just try to keep the words within simple understanding.
I always keep a Thesaurus widget on my Mac's Dashboard for quick access.
What About You?
What are your writing habits? How do they affect your writing style? Share them all with us. I would love to make this list go on for more than 5!
Photo by Owen A.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally outline my content before I begin writing, and I usually have a title in mind. I have to disagree with disabling the visual editor, simply because it’s easy to see how the post will be formatted thanks to the convenience of “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editing. I would say that on-the-spot spell checking is definitely a weakness of mine, however. I spend time fixing up words and rearranging sentences while trying to develop the content, which might slow things down.
Nice ideas about writing content. I definitely think using a thesaurus to improve your vocabulary is a great idea, so long as you know what you’re doing!
Corey Freeman’s last blog post..How to Create a Pillar Article
WYSIWYG is a great editor, but I think the one WordPress uses is crap. I usually just constantly hit the Preview button to see how it actually appears on the blog.
Thank for the input Corey!
As always, another great post and advice! I tend to agree with your content is more important than the title although others tend to disagree with this.
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The thing is, if you want someone to actually read your content, you have to have a great title. So with that being said, do you still think the content is more important than the title? Or vice-versa?
#3 is a pet peeve of mine. The first thing I do on a fresh Wordpress install is check that box! Oh how I hate the horrible “feature” known only as The Visual Editor (of doom).
Stuart Conover’s last blog post..Don’t Forget To Use Tags While Blogging
Haha, I love that name man. T.V.E.O.D for short.
Seems the WP Visual Editor is one of those ‘love it or hate it’ things. I wonder if it’s something to do with how much experience/familiarity you have with coding and stuff. Personally I use it all the time and only go HTML if it messes up (it does happen). But HTML is still a foreign language to me (to say nothing of php and anything else that goes on behind the scenes) so I’m lost without the Editor.
I use lower case in my post titles simply because I think it looks better. As you say it’s personal preference.
I’ve noticed that my best posts (and seems to be matched with the viewing stats) are those I write without too much planning and do in one sitting. I go back and edit, of course, but the flow seems to be much better that way. Where I’ve put posts together over a couple of sittings and with planning I find it hard to get the flow right and I’m never really satisfied with it.
Ian Peatey’s last blog post..Stop making me happy!
You’re right Ian, you may need to keep the Visual Editor active if you don’t know HTML. I guess it may have been a little biased of me to just say “disable the visual editor” without thinking of the people who aren’t as familiar with HTML code as I am.
Isn’t that always a little funny, to put less work into something and getting greater results than it is to put loads of time and get less results? I guess it becomes a matter of over thinking something!
I just think it’s easier to hit apple+B for bold and apple+I for italic and whatnot. The visual editor makes post formatting so much faster for me. But I can see how it could be a love/hate thing.
Corey Freeman’s last blog post..30 Post Ideas for Writing Pillar Articles
That’s the one thing I don’t like about the HTML Editor, it doesn’t use those commands. Instead I guess that annoying ‘beep’ sound whenever I try it, haha.
Great post. I regularly use all five of those tips when I do my own writting.
Great to hear that we’re on the same page!
Do you have anything else you could add to the list? Like any other habits you find yourself repeating over and over again?
That widget for the Mac Dashboard looks really handy!
Do you think there’s an Windows equivalent? Perhaps not a widget, because XP doesn’t have a dashboard, but a program perhaps?
I’ve been looking around, can’t seem to find anything suitable.
I’m sure there is one. I’m not sure where one would be, but there has to be at least one.
Maybe check on the Microsoft site?
With the spell idea you suggested, working out the idea before using spell check, I like the way you are thinking. It gets you using your brain more! To be honest, I never correct mistakes right away. If I found myself doing so, I usually lose my train of thought and forget what I am writing about – so I leave all fixing of mistakes to the end.
I also use a few ideas such as the thesaurus, content before the title and also capital letters in the title.
Nice work!
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Yes, the spelling habit can be weird to do because like you said, you can forget what you’re doing. But like Corey said above, mapping out your post beforehand could really help you with losing focus. But hey, all of these habits are up to you. Whatever works best for you is the best thing to do.
No doubt there a lot of different writing styles out there, and it all depends on whether you acfually want to put effort into what your write or not and your willingness to write your material.
Your also write about the thesaurus, it’s one of the greatest tools a writer can have!
Yeah, definitely man.
The Thesaurus is very valuable. But which is more useful: Dictionary, or Thesaurus? :p
Hm tough to decide, have to say the dictionary for me. I try to keep my writing short sweet and to the point, without using some big troubling words!
I never thought of using thesaurus while writing But Now I will try it . I just write what comes first in mind and post it in that way only . and I try to divide my post in points so that its easy to understand . And also try to do as much research as I can for the post
Let me know how it goes for you. Just be careful not to use these huge ridiculous words though. You can find some pretty hard to understand words in the Thesaurus, and some of your readers may not know the synonym of it.
I use the visual editor first, mainly because I end up with i instead of I a LOT and it’s easier to spot in the smaller box…I use the preview when I think I’m done.
As for titles – I always use CAPS and always write the title first. I may change it after, but otherwise I’ll just be staring at the empty space and it irks me. lol
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That thing with the “i” happens to me too. And the stupid thing is my Firefox spell checker doesn’t catch it, and neither does the Wordpress spell check (well, that’s broken).
It will sometimes if it’s i’ll. lol
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That last one is a really good tip, never really thought about using a thesaurus, although I have sat there pondering for words for some silly amounts of time. I find that once you get into that mindframe of not being able to think of words, you start to get frustrated and then have even less chance of finding a word!
Not so sure about number one though, I think it’s best to let the readers see what they’re about to read about… a bit like having a good title.
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For #1, I meant you write your content first, then you write your title. Not put your title after the content, that wouldn’t make sense at all! :p
I found myself sometimes writing pieces before I come up with a good title. It’s hard enough getting a good hook for your readers, let alone coming up with a catchy title!
Here’s a good tip I always fall back on… using these types of sentence openers…
http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/grammar_mechanics/how-to-improve-your-writing-style-with-grammatical-sentence-openers/
Every blogger has a different writing style. That’s what makes every blog unique from the other; a different author with a different perspective and style of writing.
However, there is one thing that many bloggers share and do the same. All bloggers have their own writing habits, and some may have the same habit as another. Just keep in mind, habits, and styles are different.