How to write in
English more quickly

Many of the ideas below are not only useful for writing that report, essay, etc more quickly, but also help get you into the routine of writing more quickly. It might also be worth regularly writing something very quick and easy like diary entries as both further English practice and something to switch your brain into quick writing mode. 

It is much quicker to correct yourself when you have finished writing than it is to change what you write as you go along, so you should avoid the eraser or delete button as much as possible, turn off grammar check until you’ve finished, etc. 

It is quite normal even when writing in your own language to be stuck for the perfect word, not be able to think of another way of rephrasing a repeated word, etc. In this kind of situation, the best tactic is to leave a space or something like “?????” and come back to that part later. This can also be true for whole sentences or even paragraphs. For example, first paragraphs are usually easiest to write after the body is finished. 

Taking a break will mean that you come back to it fresh. It should also mean that you come back to it with new ideas that your subconscious has been working on while you were away from that piece of writing (even if you were working on something else because you didn’t have time to take an actual break). 

It might seem quicker to write or at least plan in your own language first. However, this is likely to slow your English writing down, particularly if you then have to make the writing more English-sounding because of the influence of L1 on the translated version. Instead, do all planning in English, and write straight from there. 

In your work and other studies, the content of what you write is obviously decided and the most important thing. In contrast, when you are writing to practise English, it can be both quicker and more exciting to let the story plot, review content, etc, be guided by the words that pop into your head rather than by what you originally planned to write. 

Particularly if you have to meet a minimum word limit or your writing might appear lazy or rude if it is too short, you can quickly fill up the space with things that it is usually okay to use over and over again like “I will write about… before turning to…” in essays and “I hope this email finds you well” in formal emails. 

If you are writing something that is very fixed in English like a business email, it might be useful to see recommendations on how such sentences usually continue, e.g. letting Microsoft Outlook give you suggestions on what to write next. However, be prepared to turn that function off if it is mainly distracting, e.g. when you write the body of such emails.