Tips on Starting Your Own Story

So you've always wanted to write your own story but there's one thing stopping you, or several, and now you've been discouraged from even starting. It happens to the best of authors and getting the confidence and dedication to begin formulating a complete story can seem daunting.

-FINDING THE STORY-
What inspires you in life? Is it the kindness you see everyday in people? Is it the hardship you see people from across the globe suffer, and wanting to help them? Beginning a story can be simple if you draw from what is already inside your brain. Take a passion you perhaps enjoy talking, thinking or even arguing about and brainstorm. Maybe you'll get something. Whether it be a fantasy novel, a non-fiction short story or an erotic tale. Try something that grabs your attention.

Taking the journey to begin a book may sound like an arduous one but if you delve into the experience with passion and determination you will be rewarded tenfold. Writing is the greatest outlet and can set a troubled mind free- even purge a mind with too much in it. If you have writer's block even, don't hit your head against the wall hoping an idea will bleed out because even if it does, you'll be injured from the head-smashing. It is the same with starting a book, don't beat yourself up about it, maybe your not ready or you've just been waiting for the perfect opportunity. Either way, take a step back and look at the things that interest you because a reader will know the difference between a surfer writing about nail-polish and a surfer writing about surfboarding. Your passion will create the best stories. With characters, who are people in the real world that interest you? What traits do they have that interest you?

After finding your story, your next endeavour is to plan what it is your actually willing to finish. Do you want a novel containing thousand of words and descriptions? Or maybe a short article to quickly make an impact on the reader? Think these things through because great pieces of literature come from the ones that were thoroughly planned and researched before people decided to read them.

-BEGINNING THE STORY-
Okay, so you've rectified any problems you may have encountered during writing this next masterpiece but you're thinking, 'Where do I start?' Introductions are vital to the success of any written work. If the reader isn't enraptured by the end of the first page how you intended them to be, you might want to edit your work. A story may gradually lure the reader and a good way to do this is by immediately establishing intrigue. Curiousity gets the best of humans and we need to know what happens next. With your story, try the first chapter from the point which made you want to write the story. As in, did you like a certain character? Did you like the mystery and intrigue? Make the beginning of the book relevant to the rest of the story, but most importantly keep the reader reading. What would keep you reading a book? Your own reasons will most probably apply to every else, especially if you have a target group your writing for.

-CHARACTERS-
Establishing characters early on will also give readers an insight into the story before it unfolds, and therefore, creating a foundation that will want them knowing what happens next. Create diverse, disparate characters that touch on almost every aspect of human nature and entail all the stereotypes found in books like an Elf Magician, but with an original twist like, an Elf Magician with an allergy to spells. One avenue is to draw up character traits that are generally found in life and make up faces to them. Some authors create a scenario and introduce a character in that scene that will make it worth reading, and in doing so, produce more story and plot. Characters must also feel real to the reader and create the exact mood you want when describing who they are and if they're a bad guy, or a good guy. If you want alluring characters with a past or attitude that is hard to discern entirely, create a scenario where the reader would find it hard to figure out what that character may turn out like. For example, an assassin who is hired to kill a civil leader of his own country. He kills the leader but it is to pay for his ill daughter's food and medicine. Is the assassin a bad guy or good guy? These characters will keep the reader guessing.

-SO NOW WHAT?-
Well you've designed a rough template for your desired story so get on with it! Take your time when writing though and don't overwhelm yourself. Make notes of new plot points you have added into the story and write down character descriptions and backgrounds to help you when you need to think of how they'd react in certain situations/conversations. An important note is to remember that story is key! It is the vital source of a books success. Your passion in life and hobbies will make for the best stories- most likely- and will give the reader new information. For example, an astronaut will have in-depth knowledge and knowhow to appropriately describe the interior of a shuttle and could write an extremely informative chapter on traveling through space, more so than an accountant could. Although, if you research fervently, you may just be able to write as the astronaut would.

In conclusion, good luck with writing that masterpiece and don't be shy to ask for friends or family members to proof-read and edit your work. Someone else's input is very helpful because they don't know the story to begin with and will basically count as the people who will end up reading your book.