How To Become A Better Writer

  Here's some tips to become a better writer. I know some of you might think that I don't know anything about writing because I don't have any stories on here but I will soon. If you take the advice, that's fine, good for you. If you don't, that's fine also.

1. Summary. This absolutely bothers me and other people if you don't have it: a summary. If you want people to even click on your story, at least put a summary of what the story is about. If you don't, face it: people are not going to be interested because they don't feel like going through the whole story to figure out what it's about. This isn't Clue.

2. Always indent your paragraphs. On Wattpad, you can't "tab" but usually pressing the spacebar twice is a good enough indent. Do this for the beginning of each new paragraph and for your dialogue.

3. Try to write every day. Don't start typing something and wait until a month later to add more unless you have severe writer's block. If someone likes the first few pages or whatever, they're going to want to read more and not wait forever to read page four because by then, they probably have already forgotten what the first few pages were about. I'm not saying to write every minute of the day, but at least try and write three times a week. If you don't have enough time on your hands to keep your story going: don't start it in the first place.

4. Write down your ideas. If one day you're just daydreaming in class or staring off into space or something and then...whoa! An idea just POPS! into your head, write it down. Don't be lazy and say, "Oh, I don't feel like scavenging for a piece of paper or my notebook. I'll write it down later." That's not going to cut it. You know why? Because you'll FORGET. Then you'll be all like, "Gosh, what was that idea that I thought of earlier?" It will eat away at your brain for hours until you figure it out. Keep a journal, or a notebook, or whatever you find laying around and write down ideas in it. Good ideas can appear to you in dreams too. So, if you can, remember your dreams. Keep a dream log. Unless your dreams are really weird and you have aliens armed with Nerf guns chasing after you in hula skirts...nobody wants to read about that, discard it.

5. No distractions. I used to do this alot, but i've learned to control it. No multi-tasking. When you're writing, don't have like five other tabs open and check your Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Blogger, whatever you use, etc.. It distracts you and knocks you off your rocker. Don't talk to other people while typing. When talking while writing, some people actually type what the other person is saying and not realize it. I've done this before too. Don't constantly get up and scavenge for food in your refrigerator. That means television off, phone off, desk cleared, and emails or IM's SILENCED.

6. Plan out your writing and be organized. Don't just get on and start writing without a sense of direction. It helps if you create your own folder on My Documents, label it "My Story" or whatever the title is, and store all your stuff in there. Make a list of all your characters, descriptions of them, places, sources that you used (research), times, etc. Do all this before you start writing.

7. Know you're characters. You need to know your characters like you know you're own parents. Know their first name, middle name (even if you don't use it in the book), and last name. Create them a birth certificate at build-a-bear, whatever. Create your character a Facebook or whatever, make them as real as possible. Here's a test: Favorite color? Favorite food? Favorite television show? Favorite chinese restaurant? Embarrasing nickname? Favorite video game? Religious views? Report card grades? What do they think about gays and lesbians? Political views? Their views on sex? Do they hate Sarah Palin? Gucci or Prada? Do they like small country towns or big citys? Birthday? You get where i'm coming from? Good.

8. Don't be afraid to experiment. Just because you think Stephanie Meyer or Cassandra Clare is amazing doesn't mean you have to be just like them. You may like the same genre they right about but don't just take the writing and change up the words. For example, City Of Bones: If you love the book (I do), don't name your characters Jason, Claire, Isabella, or Erik just because it sounds like Jace, Clary, Isabelle, and Alec. That's just ridiculous. Whatever people say, taking really small bits and pieces from other stories is NOT copying. Another example, if you're reading a story about a girl who all of a suddenly ends up being the greatest actress around and then ends up with the hottest actor in Hollywood, you might think, "Crap! Why didn't I think of this?! Too late now!" Ha, not too late. Switch it up: story about a girl who was born an actress and a model who ends up dumping the hottest actor in Hollywood. It's NOT copying.

9. Don't use too many details. It's annoying. Details are good, yes. But not too many. Example:

    NOT ENOUGH DETAILS: Whitney walked around the store and watched the man who was supposedly her father.

    TOO MUCH DETAILS: Whitney, who likes ice cream, walked calmly and quietly through the crowded and pink painted store and watched with blue eyes the man in the dark black trench coat with the aviator sunglasses who was supposedly her crack addict, weed-smoking, rockstar father who did a cover of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica on May 04, 2011.

    JUST THE RIGHT AMMOUNT OF DETAIL: Whitney walked hesitantly through the crowded store and watched the man in the dark trench coat who was supposedly her rockstar father.

10. Get noticed. Don't be afraid to ask people to read your story. If they tell you that they don't have time to read it, don't badger them about it. That means don't repeatedly keep asking that person. Ask for honest critiques. I can do that if you want, it's my favorite thing to do. Tell people to tell their friends about it. Broadcast messages to all your fans about new updates.

  That's all I have to say for right now, but i'll most likely come up with more later. If you think that managing to do all this is hard and difficult, welcome to the life of an author. No one ever said it was easy.