Talented author and song writer, Jill Moore shares six fantastic tips for writers. Honing your writing craft is a practice of love and dedication. Rules are meant to be broken but it is important to learn the rules, know how they benefit your writing before deciding which ones to break for best effect.

Improving your writing skills is actually quite easy if you know where to start. There are some areas of weakness that afflict almost every novice writer. Here are six simple tips to help you avoid these pitfalls and increase the quality of your written work.

• Get rid of excess words.

Sometimes inexperienced writers can weigh down their sentences with extra words or phrases. Writers often refer to these excesses as “deadwood.” Evaluate your sentences and eliminate any words that are not required to convey the main idea. For example, instead of writing, “There were not a lot of horses left,” write, “Not many horses were left.”

• Don’t use words as fillers.

Some words should be used very sparingly because they are not of much use and only take up space. For instance, the following sentence is overly wordy: “I actually liked the class, but basically, I have no time to attend it.” The words actually and basically are unneeded because they do not add any worth to the sentence. Writers often refer to these extra words as “utility words.”

• Avoid Being Redundant.

Make sure your sentences do not contain two words that mean the same thing, such as, “We received a free gift,” or, “I needed to buy some things to purchase at the store.”

• Be Wary of Multiple Conjunctions

Conjunctions, such as and, because and but, connect words and phrases. Be very careful not to overuse these words, because they will cause your sentence to be overly long and wordy. Instead of writing, “She is very nice, and she is interesting, and she seems like she has learned a lot in her travels, and she lives in New York,” write, “A very nice and interesting person who lives in New York, she seems like she has learned a lot in her travels.

• Use Active Voice

Active voice, as opposed to passive voice, helps keep a sentence from dragging on and on. Here is an example of a sentence in passive voice: “A new road is being paved by the construction workers.” This same idea conveyed in active voice looks like this: “Construction workers are paving a new road.”

• Choose Words Carefully

Although some words are neutral, many words have specific connotations. For instance, although the words sweat and perspire can be defined in the same way, most people interpret the word perspire to be something lighter or daintier than the word sweat. In the same way, calling someone skinny is generally perceived as negative, while referring to the person as slender has more positive connotations. Choosing the perfect word can sometimes prove difficult. Good writers will often use dictionaries and thesauruses to make sure they have chosen the best word for the mood they want to create.

Putting these techniques into practice may take some effort at first, but don’t give up! As you continue to pay attention to your writing, these techniques will become habits, and your writing will be much improved.