So today, I was asked if I had any writing tips to share, and I wrote so many that I thought you guys would like to see them too! :) Enjoy!

•The NUMBER ONE rule about writing is that whatever you do, you have to LOVE doing it. If you don't LOVE a scene or character, there's probably a reason and you should either take it in a new direction so you love it, or cut it out completely and absorb whatever role it filled that you still need into another aspect of your story.

For example, if Character B is supposed to steer Character A to the dark side, but that's Character B's ONLY purpose — meaning they don't add to the story as a whole in any other way and is just kind of there for the rest of your story — and there's another Character, Character C who could do the exact same thing but had more personality/effect on the story, you can cut Character B out and have more of Character C in your story in their place. It's a way to keep your ideas and your story concise.

•Keep notes on your story. Whether you do then on paper or online, make sure that as you write each chapter that you write a summary in your notes of what happens in the chapter. (Ex. In Chapter 5, Character D and Character F, who are longtime rivals, put their differences aside in order to save their common ally, Character E.) It helps you stay organized and keeps you from repeating ideas. 

•Never be afraid to change your plans! Some people religiously write out summaries of what happens in each chapter they PLAN to write, but that doesn't work for everyone. There's nothing wrong with planning a lot and there's nothing wrong with hardly planning at all, it's about personal style and you have to decide what works for you.

HOWEVER, no matter how you write, you MUST know where you want the story to go. You don't have to know every detail, but you should have a vague outline and direction you want to take it. If you can pin point a beginning, middle, and end and the very least, you're in pretty good shape.

I prefer to break my stories into 3-4 parts and I think about it like a ruler.If you look at the inches side, there are inch lines, half-inches, quarter-inches, eighth-inches, and sixteenth-inches.  In terms of plot structure, the inches are the biggest plot points of your book and typically, they should be the big ending moments of each part of your story. (Ex. Part 1 of SAS ends with the ball where Tam dies. Part 2 of SAS ends with Sophie and Fitz bleeding out on the throne room floor.)

Each inch is bigger than the last (2 inches > 1 inch) and so should the endings of each part of your story.  Then to look further, you have half-inches. These are the midpoints of each part of your story. They're not AS intense as the inch chapters, but they still are important pieces to moving your story forward. 

You get the gist with the other fractions of inches, but you don't have to keep the story structure so rigid. Your midpoint of Part 2 might be closer to the beginning than not. It's about how your story ebbs and flows and where it takes both you and the characters. Just remember that some moments are bigger than others and your story has to grow over time in intensity/risk.  

•Always write what you want to read. If you don't want to read it, it'll show, and no one else will give it the time of day.  

•Practice! Writing fanfiction really helps you hone in on story building and dialogue crafting, and it's best to choose a fandom where you understand the characters and their voices well. 

•Write when you're emotional and edit later. USUALLY the intensity comes through, but it ALWAYS needs refining after.  

•Have fun, play god, and write for YOU. Don't write so other people can hear your story, learn from it, and learn from your characters. That's a bunch of bull crap. Write because YOU need to tell your story. Write because YOU'RE learning more about yourself/others/the world as you're writing it. Write so YOU can learn about/through yourself/others trough your characters.