How To Boost Your Skills: Freelance Article Writing Tutorial
Often, a budding freelance writer will not have had a lot of experience in many different styles. Most students will have handled essays and other academic papers, and some may even have dabbled in more creative formats such as poems, short stories or even novels. Often, however, articles are neglected from the new writer’s repertoire, and being able to create these effectively is very important to getting jobs on the internet. This quick tutorial will help you learn how to create articles to a professional standard.
- Be original
- Get something on the page
- Don’t be afraid to try something new
This almost goes without saying. Do not plagiarize anything: you will be found out, and it really does not help you build a career if you are building it on lies. Besides, it is boring, and there is no challenge to cheating! Think of all your own material and try to think of new and interesting topics to think about. What has no one ever thought about before that you either already have some experience in or would like to get to know better?
There is nothing worse for creativity than staring at a blank page. So for the first couple of practices, just write anything. Let words flow through you. It doesn’t matter what you get down or whether there is a consistent subject or whether it is a collection of little observations or jokes. Whatever it is, it’s on the page, and it’s covering up that blank space. Once a few things are down, the rest will come much more easily. Now you can feel free to loosen up and write about something that really interests you.
Often as a freelance writer you will be expected to be able to write on a subject that your employer has selected. This does not need to impede that same creativity that was mentioned above, however. You still need to think of a new and interesting way to approach the subject matter. It is equally important that you do not shy away from a project because the subject matter is something foreign to you. Take it as an opportunity to learn something new and to engage in something you have never met before. Do not be afraid, either, to accept jobs that will require you to write about things you do not yet know about, especially if the client has said that no previous knowledge is necessary. Just go for it!