W is for Words

I'm super excited to be testing my blogging stamina by taking part in the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Started by the awesome Arlee Bird, the challenge is to write a post every day of the month (except Sundays) based on the appropriate letter for the day. Sound confusing? Stick with me throughout April and you'll get it. My theme is: Things that inspire me.

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I LOVE words.

I love stringing them together into sentences, paragraphs, poems…stories. I really love stories.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading up on writing to learn how to get better. Here’s the top 10 most important things I have learned about writing (and words) so far:

1. Look for story ideas in real life, such as funny quotes, interesting people, or stuff that happens at school.
2. Stories must have: A sympathetic (someone your reader can relate to) character, who faces a problem that he/she must solve.
3. Each scene in your story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
4. Conflict is the most important aspect of a story.
5.  Don’t be nice to your characters. Create obstacles. The story is more exciting that way.
6. Dialogue is important but it shouldn’t substitute action.
7. Setting is vital – know some details about it. In this case, the Internet is your friend.
8. Start your story with a bang. Your first word, first sentence, first paragraph is important.
9. Stop procrastinating. Just write.
10. Save revisions until the end of the story – but know that you will need to revise. Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect.

Okay, those are my 10 top writing tips. Anything you would add?

Gotta jet!

- Chase Superman Duffy