An image forming apparatus including a latent image carrier, a charger to evenly charge a surface of the latent image carrier, a writing device to irradiate a charged surface of the latent image carrier to form an electrostatic latent image, a writing device control unit to control the writing device, a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, a transfer device to transfer the toner image onto a transferred member, and a pre-transfer irradiating device to irradiate the charged surface of the latent image carrier during a period after development and before transfer. The writing device control unit controls the writing device based on a target image signal A and an image signal B output a single rotation of the latent image carrier after output of the target image signal A in a sub-scanning direction.