First and Most Important Have Fun!!!

Find 10 or 15 minutes every day to write a diary or journal, a poem, an idea for a story, or one small scene of a story.

Study your favorite books and analyze: how the author developed the plot; who is telling the story; character descriptions and development; the use of actions and dialogue to show what is happening; and the use of descriptive words, strong verbs, nouns and adjectives.

Be creative and let your imagination run wild. Think of something new and different, and don’t be afraid to try out new twists on an old idea.

Write bite-sized pieces of your story so you don’t feel overwhelmed thinking about how you’ll ever get all the way to the end. You wouldn’t eat a whole hamburger in one bite, and the same is true with your story. Write one little piece at a time - one description of a place or character, or one scene where the action takes place.

The not-very-good first draft is for writing your basic story. Keep writing all the way to the end and don’t start changing things until you are finished. Once you finish, you can analyze your story as you did your favorite books, examining all the elements listed above. Revise and revise until you feel happy with it (it is never as much fun as writing the first draft, but it has to be done!)

Get comments and suggestions from a teacher, parent or friend. No one wants to hear their story isn’t perfect (including me), but learn to take good advice and use it to improve your story.

Take a risk and enter your story in a contest or submit it to a magazine or publisher. Don’t be discouraged by rejections. All authors get many rejections! You have to be persistent and keep trying!!!