Young Writers Society

Some advice that I wish I'd taken into consideration years ago:

KEEP A JOURNAL.

It helps, I promise. Really, it does. I've been keeping one recently, and I've found that my plot structure, grammar, and thought organization has improved noticeably. If you can't write every day or even twice a day, just write in it whenever you can. Seriously, try it out.

Hope this helped, PM me if you want.

xx Penni xx

Well, as a voracious reader, I will recommend some great writing books for you. Seize the Story by Victoria Hanley, The Art of Styling Sentences by Ann Longknife, The Writer's Idea Workshop by Jack Heffron, Creative Writing Demystified by Sheila Bender, Conflict Action and Suspense by William Noble, and Live Writing by Ralph Fletcher. You can get these at a library or bookstore near you, and I also recommend looking up the six trait writing system online. It will be a great help to you. Good Luck!

Just keep writing, that's it. The next trick is finding a space where you can get some good feedback so you know you're going in the right direction. Some sites like InkPop have real editors and authors providing feedback on your work, not to mention if the stuff is good enough, it could get published -- I hear.

The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them. A young writer must cross many psychological barriers to acquire confidence in his capacity to produce good work--especially his first full-length book--and he cannot do this by staring at a piece of blank paper, searching for the perfect sentence."

Believe it or not, posture effects how you feel, if you slouch, you'll become depressed, so first of all:
1. Find a good place to write that is comfortable and that you feel focused in, it can help if you decorate this space in inspirational pictures. For example, my bedroom wall has posters of Doctor Who which I love.

You don't have to have a clear plot when you begin, but it really helps.
2. Plan your story: Is it a short or long story? Where is it set? What happens in the beginning? What is the problem? How will the problem resolve? Who are the characters? And remember once you decide the plot you can ALWAYS change it.

3. Visualize what you want to get out of the story, is it the feeling of completion? Do you want to publish it? Make money out of it?

4. Choose some music to listen to while you're writing, (if you can concentrate while listening to music.) Choose music that suits the scene you are writing. Choose inspirational music, and choose between wordless or lyrical music, or both. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKLpJtvzlEI - this is the type of music I listen to.

5. Start writing: Choose paper or computer, if you prefer the pen, write first and type later (of coarse you don't have to type it up later unless you'd like to publish it)

6. Read a lot, learn new words and begin to feel your style of writing.

7. Write what you'd find interesting to read, if you wouldn't read it then the reader may not like it either.

8.This is probably the scariest bit, let people read it and seek for advice and criticism, other people's opinions are very important.

9.Write as often as you can, it helps, trust me.

10. In most paragraphs include not just sight, but smells, sounds, tastes (if possible that is(same with smell)), touch, feelings, actions, reasons behind these things and so on.

11.Love what you write, and remember, not everyone will like what you like, simply because we're all different.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, if you need any help just ask, I'm always happy to help.
Good luck! From Em XD

I hear you, but I'm struggling with writing myself. My best advice is this:

1. Relax, and try different inspiring writing excercises, such as listening to song and writing based on the song. Music is a huge inspiration.
2. Free yourself from other people's thoughts and let your sense of humor flow as you write a comedic rant for awhile, then when you're sure you're "writing like no one is watching," start writing deeper truths.
3. And lastly, read and write fanfics or stuff like that. You don't have to write anything major right away. Just be creative.

My only advice:

Write and be happy with it.

I didn't read the whole thread, but the story idea from the topic creator sounds similar to a manga/anime called 'Monster'. In that story, the main characters travel all over Germany/Czechoslovakia meeting different characters along the way (some for only a single episode) while attempting to complete the overarching plot that ties all the characters together somehow.

It is a very interesting read/watch. I was immediately reminded of it by the opening post.

Well, I'm not the best writer in the world, but I consider myself a decent one. I could give you some hints.

When using dialougue, whenever you change who ever is speaking, start a new paragraph. It annoys the reader when you don't and makes it hard to read.

Another thing: Whenever you are using dialougue, take out "dead" words like "said" and "asked" and insert dramatic words like "prompted" or "exclaimed."
It helps add emphasis on your quotes and gives details that are hard and often boring to explain.

NEVER have the words "put" or "get" in your story, for they are words that are used way too often and have no emotions in them what so ever, again, another one of those "dead" words.

Now to get into the perhaps more difficult part. A decent story has some dialougue and way too many details and explaining or not enough details and explanations and way too much dialougues. Take the Lord of the Rings, for example. It is a great movie, but not very many people have read the book. I am an avid reader and I could not get interested in the book very well. The reason: at the beginning, there are way too much explaining and detail and no dialougue basically what so ever, and then, once you get further into the book, it basically become nothing but dialougue. Not very interesting. Somebody read it in enough detail to make it into a movie, but for me, I couldn't get into it.

To have an exeptional book, you MUST have the perfect combination of dialogue and details. Since that is very hard to do, most just settle for one of the extremes. I'd advise you not to.

So basically I have racked my mind for anything else to put, and I can only think of one thing. watch out for those "dead" words, they really kill a story, eh?

Another thing I would recommend for you to do to proofead your story is this: Read it aloud, like you're talking to someone, or actually read it to someone. One of my English teachers told me that you can understand things better if you read with the book at eye level, not laying flat.

Another thing: Whenever you are using dialougue, take out "dead" words like "said" and "asked" and insert dramatic words like "prompted" or "exclaimed."
It helps add emphasis on your quotes and gives details that are hard and often boring to explain.

Or, use "dead words" excessively because readers skim over them, don't notice they're there, and they don't distract from the story because they are the norm. Only use more "dramatic" words when you really are being dramatic.

Put another way, in the scope of general prose:
"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite." -C. S. Lewis

Well, first i think that to really do a good job, you need to let the story grow in your head before putting it on paper. You need to love what you write to finish it and make it good. For a first time writer, maybe base the main character off yourself or maybe your alter ego (or like me when what my character becomes as she grows is my alter ego). If your having a hard time starting your story then skip ahead to the climax and write that. Writing is like making a movie, you can cut it all together and you don't have to go in any order.

Great advice ELven-Maiden but 58%+37%+7%=102%

Get a clear plot in mind and let it just flow through on to the paper. Need a topic? Watch your fave. T.V shows and movies and such and see what they are about. Be very descriptive and try to get a pic into the readers mind. Make the drama and plot want somebody to read it all night (Harry Potter). Cliff Hangers and time/P.O.V changes are your friends.

Hope I helped

The best tip that I can give is to limit the words Like, really, and oh my gosh/god, unless you are using like for a simile or are using it in dialogue when an annoying or preppy character is speaking.

If you want to do something really good, you'd better concentrate on quality but not quantity.
Let it be a small novel, but it's every word has to be maximally correct to make your story a really concentrated creation.