I recently had the opportunity to deliver a short talk to theological students on the writing of assignments. To risk giving away my age, it’s been over four years since I submitted my last theological paper. However as someone who continues to write I was able to say a handful of helpful things—at least that’s what they told me, afterwards. So below are five tips to help you strengthen your writing.

Before getting to those, however, I think it’s worth pointing out that the reason my talk was well-received and relevant at a tertiary level—despite that fact that I rarely write anything longer than 1000 words—is that good writing scales. By this I mean that if you can write a decent paragraph you can string a few of those together into a short post; then by arranging and clearly linking a few of those posts you’ll have an article, or even a book chapter; and so on. Whether you’re writing 200 words or 20 000 words, the same principles apply.

With that in place, let’s turn to those five tips.

1. A Good Writer Is a Guide

On various occasions I’ve likened writing to taking your reader by the hand and guiding them through an unfamiliar place or something you want to share with them. That might be a hiking trail or your house, it doesn’t really matter. The point is that good writers guide their readers through the written piece, being aware of the spots where they might lose the track—or the flow, the trail of breadcrumbs.

Guiding a reader involves a host of what we might call techniques or tools, too many to recount here. But the most basic among those includes a clear thesis or purpose statement, an outline, an introductions, a conclusion, and the linking of sections or paragraphs to one another. Good writing guides, working hard to counteract its readers getting lost.

2. Learn From Your Mistakes

You won’t improve without correction. Importantly, this tip requires one to share their writing for critique. Theological students don’t have a choice in the matter; their papers are submitted for grading. But if it’s your ambition to improve as a writer it isn’t going to happen without feedback.

Then, as Simone Weil writes, “take great pains to examine squarely and to contemplate attentively and slowly [where you] have failed…without seeking any excuse,” and “get down to the origin of each fault.”

Even the greatest writers will acknowledge there’s always room for improvement. The challenge is that we’re often blind to our own weaknesses, unable or unwilling to see them, making constructive criticism necessary. Naturally then, as the writers of Charitable Writing put it, “Humility is the virtue that allows us to see not only our finitude and fallenness but also the goods of our communities. It allows us to recognise that we don’t have all the answers.” To turn that around, don’t let your pride get in the way of making progress in the craft.

3. Read Great Books

As I wrote in my guide to writing, “to be a good writer you need to observe better writers. These needn’t be theologians or pastors, but simply others who’re further down the track in terms of writing.”

People often ask me who those people are, and my ready answer is usually D. A. Carson, Herman Bavinck or Carl Trueman. Admittedly their writing isn’t electric or exciting. But you’ll be hard pressed to find theology that is more clearly outlined, well argued, and simple to follow despite its depths. You might choose different models. But we can all discern the difference between really good writing and lesser offerings; make a point of spending time with the former.

In the aforementioned guide I went on to say, “it’s not a bad idea to read across genres and categories, whether that’s philosophy or fiction. Spend time with the works of writers who’ve honed their craft. Learn from them.” Here, the world really is your oyster. Personally I believe that Marilynne Robinson is one of the best writers who’s ever lived. Every year I’ll read a handful of her books. Likewise, Friedrich Nietzsche is a scintillating—and always part-scathing—author, who I reread regularly. I’m not suggesting you read either of them. But bad company corrupts. And in this case, mediocre writing does too.

4. Make Notes and Mark Page Numbers

If the previous point was an encouragement to spend time with those who model great writing, then this is an exhortation to read for understanding and meaning, intellectual enrichment and learning. For growth.

On the one hand, this will serve as a guard against plagiarism, inadvertent or intentional—a serious misdemeanour either way (Exodus 20:15). But I’m not going to address that here. Instead I often tell authors to see writing as a conversation with other authors and their ideas. Forgive me for mentioning him again, but this has in part been the reason for my extended engagement with Nietzsche. I want to know what he says so that I can probe and critique his thought, at other times I’ll develop his insights and trace his philosophy to its contemporary iterations. This is an excellent way to improve as a writer. It’s also a profound learning experience.

So, as my heading says: make notes; write short summaries of a book’s ideas or thesis; copy out a paragraph or profound quote, then riff on it; mark up your books, underline, highlight and scribble in the margins. By doing this your reading will be closer and therefore more formative, inevitably providing fuel for the fires of writing.

5. Write, Review and Then Rewrite

Ironically, this last tip is one I’d do well to implement myself. First drafts are rarely as good as a written piece could be. So edit your own work. If you’re in the habit of publishing your writing, try to avoid putting out first takes—and hot takes, for that matter. Take time away from what you’ve put down, coming back to it with fresh eyes.

Lastly, editing and rewriting aspects of a piece will force you to evaluate the whole. Because if I change something midway, it will probably mean looking over my introduction again—or making sure the conclusion still fits.