7 Writing Types To Improve Your Skills

Understanding Poetry 

Poetry is the most purely unbridled form of personal expression, it is one of many writing mediums which makes life easier to understand and portray from the eyes of an emotional being. In the truest sense, poetry is only verses of rhythm, uninteresting metrics of simple words; until it is imbued with thoughtful and imaginative perspective. Poetry is considered poetry when it is a subconscious understanding and interpretation of the world from an individual. Keep in mind, you do NOT have to rhyme or have rhythm involved in order for to write poetry. You must merely use language as creatively as you can.

Poetry is a difficult thing to grasp, in terms of both reading and writing. The ambiguous nature of its beauty in the world of writing is what allows it to be a powerful thing to be interpreted in many ways, and read in just as many. That being said, to be able to write poetry, one should be able to read it just as well. Thus, being able to comprehend these convoluted pieces of personal art is a skill that is necessary in order to write some of your own. When you start reading, it's okay to automatically guess how poems are going to continue, or end; doing so is a form of poetry all on its own. Just make sure that as you are creating your own imaginative assumptions, that you read slowly, aloud, and as many times as possible. Try to understand the pattern of intent in the poem.

Once you have mastered reading poetry, you will find that writing it isn't so different. No one knows how to perfectly do it, but so long as you think deeply and look closely at the subject matter you can write poetry. Make sure to avoid overly sentimental subjects, like how cute cats are or how much you love ice cream. Clichés and overused formats that seem to make your poems generate significance through structure are less useful than you would think. 

The Short Story Experience

Short stories are the direct imaginations of a fictional world created by the writers. Given that they are short, normally one wants to be able to finish reading a short story in one sitting. To compare, a novel is a whole movie, major events rolling one after another into a grand end; whereas short stories are a mere scene, with all the essential elements of a story involved. When writing a short story, there should always be a consistency of perception, especially regarding a human perspective. A sort of universal absolute that is never broken and creates a balance within the story. Though, remember to stay true to your imagination as well; break stereotypes, reverse idioms, discover alternate possibilities of your world.

When creating or revealing the "absolute" within your story, it should never be simply spoken of, or revealed from the fourth dimension of narration at the end. The unbreaking truth of your story should always be hidden within the details, as obvious as the emotions fueling your poetry. Short stories are an introspective look into a reality of your own understanding and creativity. In a short story, there is character, and their characterization. A person in the story will have character, while an author will do characterization. Since people in stories have character too robust and meaningful to fit into a mere paragraph of description, the author characterizes them by utilizing an extent of language precisely while referring to a character. Certain character will only be described by dark, dismal words if their personality is corrupted by negativity, and others will be flaunting sunny dispositions from the words which describe their every gesture.

Though, in the world of story writing, you never want to do certain things, such as relying on stalwart or repetitive characterization, or failing to create plot. Keep a stable and constant characterization, but do not disable your character from being able to learn and experience new challenges. As a plot is not merely driven by the perpetual movements and actions of character's with no troubles, but by conflict and struggle. Introduce tension, experiment with your imagination. Let actions blend with setting, and allow that tension to change how the scene you describe is felt. Do not tell the story as you write it, but allow a voice unlike yours to display what happens, and perhaps how certain characters may feel behind their actions. 

Writing Real News

Only the most powerful and grand news stories will have an impact on potential readers. News stories are a lot like most stories in their methods of attracting attention: First, one must have a strong lead, a strong, attractive, and efficient summarization of the whole story into a pure lure for interest that will leave the reader asking questions. Afterwards, the body of the news story will be the overall answers to these questions, from most relevant answers to the least. In which case, all information can't be treated as first priority, despite the necessity to gather as much as possible. There has to be a structural method of knowing what to look for, and which questions to answer. That task is more simple than you may think, as all you have to do is ask the basic who, what, where, why, and how. 

When coming up with these questions, remember that all information has a certain value applied to it. Consider how valuable a piece of news is: who is affected, who will have further questions or concerns? That is who you are writing for. Make sure to stay with the trends of modern society, and never write about last weeks news. Stay local with your news as well! Write for those nearby to you, as they will most likely be the first to react and bring it the attention it needs. Answer the questions of the public with relevant answers, do not include the unimportant details that offer information about things that aren't directly involved with the story you are writing. Be careful with your research in such a case of irrelevant information! When writing news stories, you want to be concise, the normal sentences and paragraphs are reduced. Be clear, have all the complete details and leave no information regarding the prominent questions out. Try not to have bias, or include your opinion too openly in your story, as you must only have the fact proven, cold facts in your story. So, include quotes and sources as well!

Reviewing Literature 

A book review is not a summary of the plot, an unsupported and unprofessional opinion of the book and how well you think the author did at writing, nor a discussion as to whether or not you enjoyed the author's art. A book review is an unbiased informative writing which judges the key elements of any fictional writing: Plot, characters, setting, theme, and other uses of figurative symbolism. Of course, a reviewer can include their opinion in their review, however, it must be an opinion of how the author best used the key elements, along with including the why and how. Provide evidence for your opinion, have quotes and record excerpts of the specific passages that caught your attention. In your review, you want to provide your reader with an intuitive apprehension onto the inner nature of the story you are reviewing.

When reviewing books in general, you are looking to gather information that will help the reader decide if they would like to read the book you have analyzed. Make sure that you do not reveal any discoveries from the plot, any twists or changes in character. Nonetheless, you must have a vast knowledge of the book and its background. Reread your book, know its genre and understand what makes a piece of literature of that genre particularly "good". For example, you don't want to criticize a biography for having a lack of plot, just as you wouldn't want to place a science fiction book in negative light for not being realistic enough. 

When you are reading your book to review, \you want to have a step-by-step basis of things to consider and take note of. This list includes

•  Determining the purpose
• Find the meaning 
• Take Notes 
• Collect Samples 
• Summarize Each Chapter 

Of course, doing each of these things may have a specificity to it, where you may be unable to find a method of doing so easily as a more experienced book reviewer. When determining the purpose of the book, you might find it in the preface or intro; the author usually includes or implicates their reasoning for writing the piece towards the beginning, especially implicated when they dedicate their writing towards a significant person. The meaning of the book can usually be held in the title, or the subtitles of the book. When you take notes, always include moments in which stood out to your understanding of the key elements, things such as good descriptions and effective traits of plot driven literature. When you collect samples of writing, you want to consider both weak and strong examples. As you reach the end of each chapter, note how well you enjoyed the chapter, highlight particular excerpts of the passage that gave you the enjoyment. 

The Business Letter

Business letters are a straight, to the point form of message directed at anyone who may be concerned by the subject. Being able to write a letter is an essential part of being able to insert yourself into a professional situation. You can correct and edit your thoughts before sending the letter, time is on your side when conducting business through letters. Be specific in your intent of the message, remind both yourself and the reader when and why you are writing your letter so as to make the entirety an official record of your discussion. A letter of business can be written for a variety of reasons: requests, ordering materials, filing complaints, applying for jobs, and many others. Your letter should fit on one page, and generally have an organized format, style, and spacing consistently. In your letter, the general order of its form should be as follows:

• Salutation
• Body
• Complimentary Closing
• Signature

Seeing as how most other primary elements of a business letter are already covered by the advanced features of modern email, the mentioned sections are the only ones which can be focused on by the writer of the letter more specifically. The salutation is a sort of direct address to those receiving the letter. Normally, you begin with a "Dear..." followed by the name of the company or direct receiver. Otherwise, you can use the specific prefix such as "Mr." or "Mrs." when not addressing multiple persons. The salutation should be followed by the body of the letter. The body of the business letter is the same as any other letter. A single spaced array of paragraphs (obviously separated by double spacing) that are precise in the message and its intended receiver. The closing is a courteous conclusion to the letter, meant as a departing regard to the reader. Usually writers will use closings such as "very truly," "very truly yours," "yours truly," "sincerely yours," the closing is a stand alone gesture which is followed by the age old comma and spacing.  Once you have your closing, you should have your signature next. A signage of the letters writer that will allow the reader to better understand from whom they received the letter from. 

Before and as you write your letter, you might want to consider a small step by step basis of guidelines to follow. Firstly, a purpose. Is there an overarching reason for your letter? Are you focused on that reason and refusing to yield to the natural tangent of language? If not, it may help to write that reason down, so you can look back on your purpose just in case you get lost in your letter. Have your information ready. You know what your purpose for writing the letter is, so have a clear plan on what you will say and how you will deliver the purpose of your letter. More often than not, the experienced writer will have the required information prepared in their letters in anticipation of the feared back and forth between two parties. Be mindful of your tone. You understand why you are writing your letter, and what you will be writing. However, are you aware of how you are writing it? Tone is a consistent element within all forms of writing, so being able to read back on your letter from a different perspective while observing a positive and courteous tone is very important.

Resumes

Your resume is the epitome of a professional summary based and expanding information on your experience, qualifications, and achievements for any career you desire to dedicate yourself to. Generally, your resume should include a multitude of facts including education or talents; especially those which will benefit your tasks involving the job you apply for. In which case, you should always highlight and present information in your resume based on the specific employer that will receive the resume, place the important skills first, and those less relevant last. Yes, this does mean that you should tailor your resume depending on the job, as the simplest and most minuscule changes in your presentation of professional range could mean your hire or disregard. 

Along with information regarding experience and qualification, an inclusion of your goal in the case of the job you are applying to would greatly effect the choices of the hiring team. Simply stating your intention for the job you desire and making your long or short term objective obvious to your employer would make it easy for them to see just how well you could benefit their company while in your own pursuits. Do you want to grow within the company, or perhaps gain experience and income; employers enjoy knowing what their employees want out of their job. Other than your intentions, employers enjoying having information regarding your work history and experience. Especially when you highlight the implicit experience most relevant to that job. Though, there is no need to limit your given experience to jobs you have had in the past, feel free to include things such as military participation and volunteering.

Of course, when there are things that you should definitely do for your resume there are going to be things that you should not do. For example, you never want to emphasize what you expect from a job to give or do for you. An employer is only focusing on what you as an employee can provide for the job, not vice versa. Nor is there any need to include the extreme information regarding your personal statistics, such as your weight, height or age. These things have no significance to your work when you have extensive skill. Remember, your resume is not an essay, you do not have to use any complicated or lengthy words to make yourself seem more qualified for work, it will just make your resume harder to understand and thus more likely to be ignored by your potential employer. Don't mention your past wages either, having your history of pay does not make any difference to a separate job, especially if it is not involved in the same company or industry. 

Resumes alone don't always assure that you get a job, sometimes it helps to provide a further letter of application, or a cover letter to your employer. A cover letter/letter of application is essentially a form of resume, in which you provide the same information if not more that a resume does, directly addressing your potential employer and emphasizing your drive to be hired. 

A Game of Roleplay

Roleplay is an incredibly modern and social form of writing, in which a group or community may come together and use their combined imagination to create and write for a reality that forms with every instance of content that they write. Roleplay is comparable to a game known as Dungeons and Dragons, as it involves creating your own Original Character and using them to perform actions otherwise unknown to any form of restrictive reality that we as humans live in. Roleplay also works by a turn based method, by allowing one writer to detail a certain set of actions regarding another before the next writer details the actions of their own character. In a sense, roleplaying with friends is a method of writing a scene by scene screenplay; every 'post' further enunciating the greater imaginative story that involves all the varied forms of amazing characterization and development of story that teamwork can create.

Roleplay has been around for quite some time amongst writers, often not having any bounds of position or exact action. Anyone can roleplay so long as the site they use allows them to create and send text publicly or privately amongst others. You can roleplay on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Discord, and so many other available sites; so long as you know where to look for these communities. There usually is not a judge or master of events, as the story in general is created along the way of the actions described and events detailed by the multitude of writers. It is a means of using writing as a creative hobby while better emphasizing the characters that you as a writer create. Since one person cannot write for everyone's characters, the turn based system is implemented. Every writer includes information on the thoughts, observations and actions of their Original Character, usually including others in dialogue or giving them an opportunity to initiate in some form of interaction between two interesting characters. 

Just as there are many forms of writing stories, there are many genres and intents within roleplaying. Characters can be two people caged within a forbidden love that they cannot help but to indulge in, or they can be two superpowered bounty hunters chasing one another down and using their peak skills to attack and defend. Roleplay is only restricted to either the synergy between characters or the imagination of their writers. After all, ones writing needs to be understood in order for it to be effective in the story as a whole. Roleplaying is an amazing hobby, with eccentric users and controversial discussions of tiers, methods of writing, along with general understandings of the hobby overall.

If you want to try roleplaying, just contact a fellow writer and discuss an interaction between your created characters. Make sure that you do not control the actions or abilities of your partner's character without their permission, and be as consistent to your character's background as possible. Roleplaying is an expansive hobby, if writing brings you joy; you might want to consider trying it out.