Love to write? Have a passion for jotting down ideas for future stories you could write? I bet you want to be an author when you grow up. Don’t worry, you’re not a nerd, don’t be embarrassed to express yourself as a future author. All you are right now is a… misunderstood writer.
Are there times you’re just sitting at your desk with a pen/pencil in hand and a blank paper in front of you, not knowing what to write about? Don’t worry, you’re not stupid and your brain did not die on you! This is just a natural phrase for young writers known as “writer’s block,” when we authors don’t know what to write about.
Know what this means? First of all, eat a snack and get some rest, you can’t write with an empty stomach and a tired mind! Also, you might get a vision that helps you strike an idea, like me. Whenever I’m in writer’s block, I usually sleep on it and have strange dreams… But these strange dreams give me great ideas for great stories! I mean, if you dream about candy mountain and unicorns and rainbows… Yeah, you could write a story about that, but I suggest you don’t…
But how do you know if a story is good or not? Well, first of all, write it! After you’re done writing, or until you’ve written when you have no more ideas for the plot, read it over and edit it (spell check, grammar issues, etc.) It would also be a great idea to get an adult or close friend to revise it for you, and for you to get some feedback. If they say the plot is interesting, good for you! But if they disagree, don’t get down! Just tweak the plot a little and make it more gripping, then reread it and revise it again if you’d like.
Continue this process as many times as you’d like. Just a tip: I would suggest you type up your story on a word document if you can, because it would help you with grammar issues and spellcheck.
When you’re ready to publish, you should get an adult or close friend to revise your story again and let them give you some more feedback. If you are very proud of this story but your editor isn’t, just tweak it again, or don’t if you really like it. If you’d like other people to give you feedback, the following sites will post your story publicly which people from around the world can read and comment: mibba.com, deviantart.com, fanfiction.com (these websites are mainly for young writers, not professionals).
But remember: there are critics out in the world who will judge your work. They’ll kick you around, bring you down and make you feel… well, like garbage! Trust me, many people have judged me before, and they say my stories are no good and that I’ll never become a successful writer and blah, blah, blah.
But no, I am an excellent writer. I may still be a novice, an amateur, but I will mature, and I will become better…
And so will you. So don’t give up your hopes just because one person says “you’re a horrible author” or “your story was no good.” Take advice from friends and family who suggest you need to edit your story to become a little bit better, then publish your story and forget those critics; many are just jealous of you.
Extra Tip: Let your imagination roam; you’ll never know what you can come up with until you let your mind wander!
IMAK
Krueger
KSAT
NEISD
