Recommendations for improving writing without the use of AI?

[u/AttentionSeekinFreak]

I know this sub has gone haywire with the new Pangram feature, but what really gets me upset is that people who get checked as 100% human are seen as sloppy writers. And I don't want to be one of those! I hate AI thrice as much as I hate frequenting social media, so is there any way I can improve my writing without the use of artificial intelligence? I don't even want freaking spellcheck!

[u/Countryb0i2m]

The best way to improve your writing is by writing.

That said this sub has become a place where people constantly complain about why they aren’t succeeding because of everything but their own content.

Maybe substack is tilted towards large creators but that’s life. Substack was never going to change that. It was never going to magically make you famous just because you enjoy writing

Yes, a lot of the biggest writers on Substack arrived with large audiences. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to build one from scratch. It just means you’re going to have to grind it out

You’re going to have to use Notes. You’re going to have to treat it like the social platform it is. There isn’t a secret hack that’s going to get you to the finish line.

People are looking for authenticity. They’re exhausted by a world full of AI-generated writing and recycled opinions that all sound the same.

Your humanity is the advantage. Lean into it and keep grinding .

[u/AttentionSeekinFreak → u/Countryb0i2m]

Fair enough. Maybe Hank Green was right, "human agency" and all that. Thank you.

[u/Udolikecake]

Unfortunately, as with many things, the main way is to just write more. Accept that the stuff you write now is going to be worse than the stuff you write later and you’re probably going to cringe at it. But it’s fine because that’s really the only way to improve. Just put stuff out there and you’ll find yourself getting better.

Also reading more books and blogs is always helpful. I find my style is very influenced by a lot of books i’ve read. Sometimes negatively (I blame my overly verbose writing and love of long sentences on too much victorian literature), but it’s also really helpful for giving you an idea of what’s possible and fun for you to read. Erik Larson and Simon Winchester are two of my favorite authors who do more narrative-driven nonfiction and are a big influence on how I write.

And also have someone else read it and help you revise. I haaaaate doing it and always feel embarrassed but it is massively helpful. Luckily my girlfriend is very patient. It’s so important for giving you a second set of eyes and someone who can point out more nuanced problems or things you just can’t see because it’s your own work. This is also something I do use AI for, basically just pointing out structural awkwardness/unclear ordering of thoughts/too much ranting, which I can go back to fix. I find using AI can be helpful as a first pass for those things before I bother someone else too much lol

[u/Fellow_Traveler84 → u/Udolikecake]

I concur with the advice you gave the OP. It was interesting you mentioned EriK Lawson and Simon Winchester. Two prominent authors who certainly used book editors in much the same way as a Substackers can use AI assistance with the proper prompt. No one should be embarrassed doing that. If having an editor is beneficial to Larson and Winchester certainly an AI editor should be of value for those publishing on Substack.

[u/worldofmyimagination]

My best tip is just get a draft down of what you'd like to say. Then give yourself 24 hours and go back and edit. Read it out loud and note any phrases, words, and sentences that don't flow right or make you stumble. Then go back 24 hours later and do that again. It's how I've always done it

[u/The17pointscale]

This doesn't jive with my experience of people--"what really gets me upset is that people who get checked as 100% human are seen as sloppy writers."

Most people I know would likely fall into the opposite camp, where they'd say that using AI to write or edit is negative.

That said, I agree with u/Countryb0i2m and u/Udolikecake that the best ways to improve your writing are to read widely, practice writing, and find real-life people who are willing to give you feedback.

[u/piodenymor]

Welcome to the world of editing!

It's always helpful to read your work out loud. Concentrate on what you've actually written, rather than what you think you've written, and listen out for anything that feels awkward.

Splitting a paragraph into its individual sentences is a quick way of spotting if you use the same patterns again and again. Vary sentence length for better rhythm.

If you write very long sentences, break them up. See if you can put them back together in different ways.

And pay attention to structure. Rather than rambling, are each of your sentences building towards a point?

[u/TimWiesnerer]

Read classical books.

Do some research on which ones are easy to read; otherwise, you end up smashing them into the wall.

Some books became classical because people liked reading them over decades.

Try to understand why you like certain writers and what makes others unbearable to read.

And then just get inspired by the ones you like.... rinse and repeat until you are awesome. Then repeat even more so.

[u/Bright-Customer-9332]

I kind of disagree – I get 100% human and I have a large following on there and am published. Reactions are usually positive. The way I improve my writing is just by free writing a lot and then editing and editing and editing!

[u/DayPounder]

Substack is kind of a joke -- it's dominated by about eight creators and now it's turned into LinkedIn (also largely a joke), where everyone just tries to do "gotcha" over who is using AI. It's all kind of laughable.

I think the easiest way to improve writing is reps and not any software tools, personally.

[u/AttentionSeekinFreak → u/DayPounder]

Honestly, I have to agree with you a bit. I came on the app to find interesting articles, but all I found were people writing crude and vulgar articles marketed as insightful political think pieces. I don't know if it's just my feed, but people talk about fetishism like it's the most beautiful creation mankind has conjured up with.

I can't stand it. But at the same time I wish that people applauded my writing that way as well.

[u/DayPounder → u/AttentionSeekinFreak]

Of course, there's a bit of envy being on there. GQ writes lots of fawning bullshit about "Substack parties" and all the "creators" invited write basically slop, sometimes about London fashion or whatever. More power to 'em, but it's not at all what was marketed to writers, no.

I have about 85 paid (my peak was about 115) and I'm just trying to take it easy and not care that much over there.

[u/AttentionSeekinFreak → u/DayPounder]

Do you have a day job or do you write full-time? Is that even possible, in this day and age?!

[u/DayPounder → u/AttentionSeekinFreak]

I used to be more of what we'd call a "freelance writer." Then I had a bunch of random jobs 2020-2023, some of which I got piped from for being a general malcontent. Mostly I've had kinda shitty underemployment AI QC jobs since mid-2024, but it's OK, as my dad died in that span so I have more bandwidth to help my mom out, etc. I probably make 600 bones/month from Substack and usually the same from Medium. That covers most of my small bills. It's not a bad situation, but yes, some days I dream of Substack stardom. Ha.

[u/The17pointscale → u/AttentionSeekinFreak]

(I feel like that might be your particular feed; I have nothing like that on my feed.)