7. Edit Like a Pro

Write the first draft of your story  in as short a time as possible. If you’re writing a short story, try to write it in one sitting. If you’re writing a novel, try to write it in one season (three months).

Don’t worry too much about plot...

When something interesting happens in your story that changes the fate of your character, don’t tell us about it. Show the scene ! Your readers have a right to see the best parts of the story play out i...

Think about the last five novels you read. In how many of them did a character die? Good stories often involve death. Harry Potter ,The Hunger Games ,Charlotte’s Web , The Lord of the Rings , and more all had main characters who died. Death is the universal the...

Good dialogue comes from two things: intimate knowledge of your characters and lots of rewriting.

Each character must have a unique voice, and to make sure your characters all sound different, read each characte...

To create suspense, set up a dramatic question . A dramatic question is something like, “Is he going to make it?” or, “Is she going to get the man of her dreams?” By putting your protagonist’s fate in doubt,...

Good writers know all the rules and follow them. Great writers know all the rules and break them . However, the best writers don’t break the rules arbitrarily. They break them because their stories require a whole new set of rules. Res...

You write better when you know someone will soon be reading what you’ve written. If you write in the dark, no one will know if you aren’t giving your writing everything you have. But when you share your writing , you face the possibility...

The best way to defeat writers block is to write. If you’re stuck, don’t try to write well. Don’t try to be perfect. Just write .

Sometimes, to write better stories, you hav...