Writing is a lot of fun, and I wanted to pass on a little of what I know about it. First: Do you know what writing is? There are a variety of answers, but what it really is is communication. That’s all. In this small lesson, I’ll tell you a bit about it.
Characters
No one wants to read a story with unlikable or unrealistic characters! When you make the story, elaborate their life. Really think about who they are, what they do, and how they do it. When you’ve come up with the characters, imagine being friends with them. Not the person in your mind, though, but the one you’ve put on the paper.
Settings
The setting is how you bring everyone together. A beautiful forest? A deep cave full of monsters? a space station overridden with aliens? You must put as much detail into this as possible, because when I read a story with a background that isn’t very thought out, I get confused. Make sure your readers know where you are.
Plot
This is the most important element. I like stories because of their plots, the way the story unfolds, the twists, the turns, the problem, and the solution. They need to be good, or else you leave your characters and settings wasted. Do NOT mess this up.
Time
If you want to make a story, think about how many pages, how many words, all of that. If you will make a 3-page story, don’t elaborate on it too much, or you’ll fill up the space half-way to the end. If you want to make a big novel, let a conversation last a page, allow it to engage the readers and make them want to keep flipping the pages till they realize they better stop. You don’t want a dream of an 800-page novel to become a 200-page one in reality, nor a 3-page short story to end up 10.
Poetry
Poetry is a bit different than prose. Characters still need to be developed, as well as the setting and plot, but it won’t be in a standard form. You have to think about whether you want to have a building form, a rhyming story, a limerick, a haiku, a diamante, all that. It needs to be in a form of sorts, though, even poetry that is supposedly free verse still has a form to it.
So…
So, once you make your story, who will it be for? A blog, a newspaper/magazine, a novel? Whatever you do with it, just remember, all writing is, is communication.