Top 20 Writing Skills You Need (and Why They’re Important)

Writing skills aren’t just for those who want to be the next RR Tolkien. Although if you’re serious about writing a book that gets read by millions around the world (and inventing a whole new language for it while you’re at it), then honing your writing skills should be at the top of your priorities.

In the workplace, whether you’re a content writer, an accountant or any profession in between, conveying your thoughts in writing can determine how well you preserve your credibility, collaborate with your colleagues and maintain relationships with your clients.

In this article, we’ll talk about the top 20 writing skills, how to develop them and why they’re useful.

What are writing skills?

Writing skills are the group of abilities that determine a person’s aptitude at expressing themselves through writing.

Alongside verbal communication, written communication is one of the main ways through which we relay information to our colleagues and clients — although nonverbal communication, such as body language, also comes into play quite often (sometimes more than we realize).

Why are writing skills important?

Nobody works truly on their own; even freelancers depend on others to earn their living. It’s this very interdependence that makes communication skills so vital in the workplace. Writing skills in particular:

Allow you to communicate better

The biggest (and most obvious) advantage to being a skilled communicator is that you’re able to effectively pass on information and ideas to those around you. Whether it’s to give instructions or feedback, lead a meeting, or set a boundary, your colleagues know exactly what is expected of them, which makes everyone’s life easier.

Help you appear more professional

There are sadly no two ways about it: poor spelling and grammar can harm your credibility. That applies to both your personal brand as well as the one you are representing (ie: your employer’s).

But it’s not just customers or clients that can take offense at poorly written text: according to a survey, 76% of hiring managers say they would automatically reject a cover letter if it contained spelling mistakes.

Can enhance productivity

A study by Grammarly and the Harris Poll has shown that US businesses lose up to $1.2 trillion each year because of ineffective communication. Despite the figure being mind-boggling, it’s not hard to believe: effective communication acts as the grease that keeps the cogs of any organization turning smoothly.

Types of writing skills

Below, we’ll be outlining the different types of writing skills (including some concepts and principles) that can help you become a more effective communicator.

1. Spelling

Accurate spelling can help you appear more professional and focused. It conveys the sense that you pay attention to detail, which both your clients and colleagues want to see.

When looking to improve your spelling, it helps to read, play word games and memorize fundamental spelling rules — for example: I before E except after C.

2. Grammar

Whereas spelling concerns how words are written, grammar refers to how sentences are structured. Much like with spelling, grammar can be improved through reading extensively as well as solving exercises and jotting down some fundamental rules if needed.

Familiarizing yourself with common grammatical errors (like misusing “whose” and “who’s”) can also be an effective way of memorizing what not to do.

3. Punctuation

Where punctuation marks are concerned, there are two things to bear in mind.

The first one is to use each of the little symbols — such as your semicolons, your ellipses and your apostrophes — as intended. The second is to use them tastefully.

Although it’s totally fine to text your best friend “???” when they have been missing in action, you can’t really do the same if your manager has been ignoring your emails for an hour. In other words, think about the context, and keep the exclamation marks and question marks to a minimum in professional correspondence.

4. Style and tone

To get the style and the tone of a written piece right, you have to keep in mind who you’re addressing and how your piece is going to be used.

For example, if you’re writing a caption for a social media post on behalf of your employer, you might like to keep it short and sweet, and upbeat. On the contrary, if you’re writing a formal apology letter to a client, you want your words to convey sincerity and accountability.

5. Vocabulary

Although enriching your vocabulary is great, throwing around words like “accismus” and “consanguineous” isn’t necessarily going to make you more interesting to converse with — particularly in the workplace. Your colleagues and clients don’t need you to be a thesaurus; they need you to be able to convey your ideas concisely and with accuracy.

Still, reading books or blog posts often — especially ones related to your industry — can be a good way of picking up terminology and expressions that help increase your professional authority.

6. Active and passive voice

Whether it’s to negotiate a better deal with a client, navigate a misunderstanding or write promotional copy for a service, it helps to know when to use the active versus the passive voice.

The active voice can be especially persuasive, communicating your past achievements or inviting a prospective customer to start a free trial, for example.

7. Planning ahead

Sometimes, people speak before they think, blurting out the first thought that comes to mind, only to regret it seconds later.

Although this happens more often with verbal communication, it can occur in writing, too, if you don’t carefully consider what you want your message to sound like. This is especially true in times of heightened stress or frustration.

8. Understanding your audience

Knowing who you’re talking to is a must if you’re to write and deliver an effective message.

Much like when talking to people in our daily lives, we tailor our tone and words to match the context. We don’t sound the same when explaining something to a toddler as when we’re speaking to an adult — and our relationship with each adult also determines how we sound and what we say.

9. Eliminating filler words

When having a conversation, we often use sounds like “uh” and “um” to fill the space. Besides these filler sounds, which buy us time to think, there are also filler words which we often use subconsciously in writing. These include adverbs that:

• Convey intensity, like “very” and “really”
• Provide or clarify the context (but not really), like “literally” and “basically”

10. Structuring your writing

Structuring your sentences, paragraphs and overall piece effectively — whether it’s an email, an article or a report — can increase its clarity, making it easier for the reader to follow and retain key information.

If this doesn’t come naturally, it can help to get into the habit of condensing your message into a few bullet points prior to typing it out, ensuring they follow a logical order and cover all crucial information. Then, you can work that bulleted list into a message.

11. Persuasiveness

Although a lot of the time your professional negotiations will take place in person, sometimes you will be called to write persuasively, too.

Whether it’s to entice a prospective customer to try your product for the first time or to amend the terms of an agreement to maximize your personal gain, persuasiveness is a key skill to develop when looking to hone your writing ability.

12. Research skills

Many times, we’re called to research a topic before writing about it. After all, it’s impossible to write accurately about something unless you view it from multiple angles and gain a good understanding of it.

“Research skills” is a broad term that includes other abilities like critical thinking, problem solving, and data collection and analysis.

13. Editing

If there is one thing I learned during my creative writing postgrad, it’s that writing well is easy — compared to editing well, that is. And effective editing can take an unremarkable piece of writing and almost completely transform it.

If your role requires lots of external communication, you might want to get into the habit of:

• Reading your pieces out loud, as it’s easier to catch funny-sounding words or phrases that way
• Splitting long sentences into shorter ones, or rephrasing them entirely
• Keeping an eye out for inconsistencies like unintentionally switching from first person singular to first person plural

14. Clarity

A written piece characterized by clarity is one that’s easy to follow. There is no ambiguity as to the message the writer wants to bring across, nor who their audience is.

So, when writing, always be clear about who you’re addressing and what you want to say — and then try to phrase it in the most straightforward way possible.

15. Conciseness

A quote that’s often attributed to Albert Einstein says: “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

I take this to mean the following: the more familiar you are with a topic, and the more confident you are in possessing said knowledge, the less you’ll feel the need to “impress” by throwing around jargon and other nonsense. (Remember those filler words we mentioned?)

Indeed, keeping it simple can be a sign of confidence and competence — and the person reading your message will appreciate it, too.

16. Email etiquette

According to Statista, workers in the US and UK receive an average of 32 emails per day. That’s a lot of emails on the collective!

Still, not every sender knows how to make the most out of that little white text box on their Gmail or Outlook, resulting in communication gaps and extra back and forth. Generally, it’s good to keep emails brief and discuss urgent or important matters in a meeting.

17. Inclusive language

If you’re talking to (or about) someone whose gender and/or pronouns you’re unaware of, it’s best to stick to gender-neutral language until you have asked for clarification.

Sometimes, especially when in a hurry, we might say things like “Let the contractor know he can contact me by phone” despite having no indication as to that person’s sex. Making assumptions as to someone’s biological makeup based on their job description is not a good look!

18. Note-taking

When attending meetings, learning to use new software or getting briefed on projects, effective note-taking can be a lifesaver. When you have clear, concise and well-structured notes to refer to, completing your tasks becomes easier.

Plus, it’s looking like we can’t solely rely on our brains anymore to remember things: research has shown that our attention spans are steadily shrinking.

19. Feedback

While being open to receiving feedback is imperative to your professional growth, knowing how to give constructive feedback is also essential.

Besides being able to express yourself clearly and concisely, giving good feedback also requires some emotional intelligence. When telling someone what they could improve on and how, it’s important to also highlight what that person is doing right.

20. Attention to detail

Last but not least, when looking to improve your writing skills, invest in sharpening your attention to detail. How? Well, you can start by:

• Limiting distractions while you work
• Taking strategic breaks throughout the day
• Getting more organized to keep stress down and focus better
• Making healthier life choices, such as getting serious about fixing that sleep schedule of yours.

How to develop your writing skills

Much like learning to ride a bike or play the trombone, developing your writing skills takes practice and patience. But, if you put in the effort consistently, there is no reason you shouldn’t start to see improvements soon!

One of the best ways to get started is to read more — and read often. Although audiobooks can help you pick up new vocabulary or strengthen your grammar (if you’re really paying attention), seeing the same words appear on the page over and over can help you improve your spelling as well.

Writing more often, playing games such as word search and crossword puzzles, and finding ways to boost your memory and concentration overall can also be of help. Where the latter is concerned, eating well and resting enough goes a long way!

Final thoughts

Developing new skills takes time. Therefore, it’s important to have realistic expectations when attempting to do so; otherwise, you risk becoming disappointed and frustrated too quickly.

Given how demanding (and often draining) day-to-day life is, it’s only logical that the average adult will struggle with retaining new information sometimes. So, remember to adjust your expectations while setting new goals, and allow yourself time!

We hope our guide has been useful. How are you planning on getting started? Will you be going over the basics of grammatical rules or finally reading all those books you splurged on but haven’t touched yet? (I am so guilty of doing this!) Let us know in the comments section below.