1.

Descriptive Writing

People often assume that descriptive writing is about using fancy and flowery phrases.
However, strong descriptive writing is much more than that.

Descriptive writing provides details about things such as an event, a setting, or a group of
characters. More often than not, these writings are personal, short, and subjective.

The main goal of descriptive writing is to make the readers feel like they’re experiencing
everything in the storyline themselves. For that, you need to provide a vivid image of the
story to the readers.

You can use this writing style to set the scene and add some spice to your writing.
However, make sure that you don’t end up overusing it.

 Examples of Descriptive Writing

 Poetry
 Journal/diary writing
 Descriptions of Nature
 Fictional novels or plays

2. Persuasive Writing

Let’s say you want to write a book about the significance of eating green vegetables. One
way to convince people to adopt this idea is by using a persuasive writing style.

Persuasive writing is used to convince the readers to believe in an idea (and implement it).
This writing style is grounded in logical reasoning and works well for appealing to the reader
on an emotional level.

This writing style is usually used in advertisements, reviews, recommendation letters, cover
letters, company brochures, business proposals, and opinion columns.

You can also use it to gain support for a noble cause, such as using environmental-friendly
products or updating obsolete company policies.

Examples of Persuasive Writing

 Cover letters
 Op-Eds and Editorial newspaper articles
 Reviews of items
 Letters of complaint
 Advertisements
 Letters of recommendation

 3. Narrative Writing

 It is very easy to bore a reader with facts, figures, and examples that they can’t relate to.
That’s where narrative writing comes in. You might find it in novels, biographies, poems,
memoirs, and more.

Narrative writing is all about stories, connecting facts, teaching without explaining, and
helping readers relate to the content. It often has a very clear beginning, middle, and end.

Occasionally, writers also use flashbacks and foreshadowing as tools to engage with the
audience, while some even use characters and dialogues to tell the story.

All in all, narrative writing is great for keeping the audience hooked till the end. After all,
we all love stories and we’re hard-wired to pay attention to them.

 Examples of Narrative Writing

 Oral histories
 Novels/Novellas
 Poetry (especially epic sagas or poems)
 Short Stories
 Anecdotes

4. Expository Writing

Expository writing gives the readers important information and instructions about a topic.
It’s entirely based on facts and doesn’t include a writer’s personal opinions on the subject.

You can find this writing style in textbooks, newsletters, educational articles,
business/technical/scientific writing, recipes, newsletters, and more.

As expository writing is all about facts and figures, it does not always make the best hook.
However, as they say, there are exceptions to every rule.

For instance, if you begin your write-up with a shocking stat, it is bound to grab a reader’s
attention. You can even use it along with persuasive and narrative writing, adding the power
of logic to your stories.

 Examples of Expository Writing

 Textbooks
 How-to articles
 Recipes
 News stories (not editorials or Op-Eds)
 Business, technical, or scientific writing

5 Solid Tips To Improve Your Writing Style

1. Be Direct
Do you know what are the two key aspects of good writing? Clarity and conciseness. Filler
words, prepositional phrases, unnecessary adverbs…they simply take up space and weigh
down the sentence.

So, a good rule of thumb is to say exactly what you mean in a direct, straightforward way.
This will make it super easy for readers to engage with your ideas or your stories.

2. Use a Conversational Tone

Always write like a human, not a robot. Express the ideas with your own unique voice and try
to avoid clichés. Your writing style should always reflect your personality.

Use the same tone that you do when you’re speaking, and modify it a little according to what
you’re writing. This means, use simple sentences, easy structures, and natural phrases that a
reader can easily grasp.

A cliché (pronounced ‘klee-SHAY’) is a saying, image, or idea which has been used so much
that it sounds terribly uncreative.

3. Choose Your Words Wisely

There’s an assumption that rich vocabulary makes you a better writer, but it couldn’t be
further from the truth. You should choose words and vocabulary that are appropriate for
your audience.

Always remember that you’re writing for people, and if someone needs to look up the
meaning of a word before they read further, you are very likely to lose them.

4. Avoid Using Passive Voice

Every writer has heard this advice – use active voice and stick to the good old subject-verb-
object structure. Why? Because passive voice creates complex sentences and is not a good
way of delivering information.

Moreover, in active voice, the subject is doing something. This is certainly more appealing
than the passive voice, where something is being done to the subject.

 Take a sentence like “I want ice cream now.” It’s clear and straightforward—you know
immediately that the subject, I, wants an object, ice cream. Now, recast this sentence,
flipping it so that the object is in the position of the subject: “Ice cream is wanted by me now.”
It isn’t just longer, but it’s also more detached, roundabout, and a little awkward, too. 

In the active voice, the subject is performing an action:

The dog chases the ball. 

Notice how the subject, dog, is performing the action, chase, on the target of the action, ball.
This is a simple, direct example of the active voice.

In the passive voice, the action’s target, ball, is positioned first as the focus of the sentence.
The sentence gets flipped, and the subject is now being acted upon by the verb. In other
words, the subject is passive:

The ball is being chased by the dog. 

Active and passive are the two grammatical voices in English. 

 Active voice
As we’ve learned, in the active voice, the sentence’s subject performs the action. Here are
two examples of sentences in the active voice: 

Shira likes birdwatching.

She loves twilight. 

No matter what verb you use, structuring your sentence so the subject performs the verb is
writing in the active voice. 

The active voice has a direct, clear tone. Use it when you want the reader to focus on the
subject of your sentence and the action it is doing rather than on the action’s target.

Passive voice
In the passive voice, the action’s target is the focus, and the verb acts upon the subject. Or,
to put it in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the verb. Every sentence in the
passive voice contains two verbs: 

 A conjugated form of “to be”

 The main verb’s past participle

Take a look at the previous examples, now written in passive voice:

Birdwatching is liked by Shira. 

Twilight is loved by her.

5. Keep Your Sentences Short

A wonderful way to make your writing better is by limiting the use of long sentences.
Short sentences are way easier to understand – something that readers always appreciate!

So, avoid packing too much information into one line and make sure that every sentence
conveys one thought or idea. The easiest approach is to break up a long sentence into two
or more short sentences.