Teen Writer's Network

Teen Writer's Network. Helping beginners open the gate to the writer inside them.

Tips for New Writer's

So, you want to be a writer, but you're having trouble getting started? Don't worry, you're not alone. Many beginners don't know what to write about, or simply don't have the patience to get through their first piece of writing. Just remember that once you write your first thing, whether it be a short story or whatever, it will begin to come easier each time afterward. Below are sections on how to find things to write about and how to get through your first piece of writing. My sections below will assume that you're trying to write short fiction since that is what most people have trouble with.

How to find things to write about

You've probably heard "write what you know" so many times that it's almost a cliche to you by now. Sure, it's easiest to write about things you know, but what if nothing you've ever experienced is interesting enough to write about? The trick is that you don't have to be truthful about what happened when you're writing fiction. You can exaggerate to your heart's desire. Use what happened as your base, but make some changes to it that will make it more interesting. For example, you could use a worst case scenerio of what could have happened. If wanted to write about the time you got lost on the highway for a half hour you could make it more interesting by having your character get totally off track and be lost for four days. Just use all of the thoughts and feelings you experienced to make your story more real.

Another way to get story ideas is to write about something you wish had happened in a given situation, or something you've always wanted to do. For example, I once knew some children who were neglected by their parents. My friend and I always wished that we could kidnap them and take them away. This would never happen, of course, but I could write an adventure story where the two of us took these kids and I could tell about all the complications we would encounter in trying not to get caught.

One more place where you can get story ideas is from your dreams. Even though most dreams don't make much sense, you can probably remember at least a few times where you had a dream that had order and sequence to it. Even with nonsense dreams, you can sometimes take a little piece out of it to expand into a story. If you have trouble remembering your dreams and don't have time to write them down, just scribble a few keywords or phrases down when you wake up in the morning. This will help the dreams come back to you later if there was part of it you thought could be turned into a story.
If you'd like specific short story ideas, please take a look at our Idea Center.

How to get through your first piece of writing

One of the most common reasons people don't write short fiction is because they aren't patient enough to get through the whole story. I had this problem too, but once I got through my first story, it wasn't difficult at all after that. Now I've written numerous stories, many around fifteen pages long. Below are some things to remember and some advice that might help you get through your first short story too.

The first way to make sure you'll get through writing your short story is to make sure it has the essential characteristics of a short story. The most important of these is a conflict. If your story doesn't have a conflict, your writing will be aimless and you won't be able to have a true conclusion to the story. Remember that the conflict doesn't have to involve action at all. It can be a struggle for survival, a person's emotional suffering, or even just a decision the character has to make. Once you have the conflict, you know where you're going. You could begin with everything going normally in the character's life and then introduce the conflict, or you could start in the middle of the conflict and just give a summary of how it all began. You could also begin the story after the conflict is all over and have the character play the situation back in his or her mind. Do whatever works for you. Once you've reached the turning point of the story, whatever it may be, lead back down to the conclusion. The conclusion doesn't neccessarily have to be what most would consider a happy ending, but it does have to solve the conflict in some way and leave the reader satisfied.

Once you get all of that figured out, you're ready to move on to the most difficult part of writing short fiction. This is writing the rough draft. The most important thing to remember is that a first draft is only that. Don't try to keep going back and revising while you write. Don't even try to make it good. Your only goal here is to get it out. Just get it out once and then you'll have the basic structure to keep expanding and improving upon. After you get your draft finished and you're doing revisions, take your time if possible. If you're only writing for yourself or entertainment and you don't have any deadlines, just remember that you have all the time in the world to finish it and do it at your leisure.

I just noticed that I have an introduction and a body to this webpage, and since it is about writing, I guess I can't leave without writing a conclusion. Okay, here it goes. If you would like to get into short fiction, please don't think it's beyond your grasp. The most common problems beginners face are not having anything to write about and being unable to make it through their first story. If you follow the tips above and just be patient, you should make it through your first story and if you do that, you'll know you can make it through more. Happy writing.

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