Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice

The Very Best Way to Learn Grammar

There is one very, very simple way to learn grammar. 

Read.

Read good books. Read books that have been edited and have good grammar. Read bad books that have bad grammar and learn what not to do. Pay attention to the way the author uses grammar to express ideas and feelings, to create art. 

Read. 

As authors, we use words the way a painter uses paint. Not every painter paints in the same style. Van Gogh is nothing like Michaelangelo--but they both know the same fundamental principles of their art, and they both learned those principles by practicing and studying other works of art. That's what you should do as well--that's what every artist does. Our masterpieces are Shakespeare and Jane Austen, but they're also JK Rowling and Chuck Palahnuik and Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman and Suzanne Collins and Chinua Achebe. Read. Read them all. Read the books you love, and try to read books you don't. Read the genres you love, but sometimes also read a book outside your comfort zone. 

Read voraciously. 

Just read. Read as much as you can. Absorb the words, and you'll learn the way to make your own.