Please not that everyone is different and some of these suggestions may or may not help you, though they've helped me so I'm going to mention them. Don't be bitter or leave me any harsh comments saying that you tried these things and they didn't work for you. If they did, then that's great and I'm glad I could, but if they didn't, then it's okay because like I said, everyone is different and maybe there's something else out there that might be more helpful to you.
Reading- It's actually fairly obvious, but reading is a great way to improve your own writing. The more you read and the more you study another writer's work, you can learn more about their writing style. You can also read their reviews and comments and see how famous they are. If they're famous, that means that they're obviously doing something that other people enjoy and if you paid attention to their story, then you might be able to figure out what it was. You should be careful about another author's signature style or creativity and not take any of their ideas or their styling, simply use them as your inspiration. There's a fine line between inspiration and copying, so please be sure not to cross it because it's very disrespectful to the author.
Short Stories- Short stories are a great way to improve your writing because they don't take as much time as an actual story and they don't take as much time. If you write a few short stories every once in awhile and keep them to compare them, you should see that your writing has improved.
Role Playing- Okay, so for those of you who don't know what this is, I'm going to explain it to you. Role playing is basically like acting only it's on the computer and instead of actually doing the things your character does like you would in a theatre or a stage, you get to write out what your character is going through. Get it?! Write. That's it. Writing! In my opinion, role playing is the best way to learn how to write in a more professional and elegant way. Trust me on this one. Before I role played, I had a lot of writing mistakes (If you don't believe me, then you obviously haven't read any of my stories because I can grantee that there are a ton of them) and it was simply because I didn't actually think anybody would read anything that I wrote when I joined, so I didn't really pay much attention to my actual writing, I was more focused on my plots. With role playing, it forces you to pay attention to every aspect of writing and it's a good and quick way to get better writing habits, but you have to be careful which role play you join because if you don't, then you might choose one that isn't going to help you with your writing. I would suggest finding a RP that requires "Novel Format" or "Third Person" because those are usually the more elaborate and professional ones and those will definitely help your writing. So basically, you'll only play one character and there will be other people playing their characters and there are different settings, plots, relationships and more. It's basically like one big story only you don't get to control the entire story, you only get to control your character. That's the fun part! There's other people on there to give you tips and make your character's plot more interesting.
So those are 3 really good things that have worked for me and I highly suggest them. If any of you want me to explain anything more about role playing, let me know and I'll include some links in case any of you are curious or want to give it a try. I happen to have a site of my own that specializes in novel format exactly like I've explained above.
Role Play Link: http://rosecreekhallow.com/index
