The Journey to Writing a Successful Story: a tip book

The "I-Disease."

If you're writing in first person, you can't get rid of this word. You can, however, use "my," "myself," and "me." Otherwise, use description (details of the scenery; deep thoughts and emotions) to break out of this overuse habit of the "I-Disease."

So here's an example:

I walked to school and I went to my morning class. I sat down in the seat and I stared at the whiteboard as I waited for the class to start.

God, isn't this cringing? Doesn't it make you want to throw something at the writer - okay, not me. I try my best not to do this in my own works. Ha ha. But seriously now.

Your objective, should you choose to accept it, is to create this differently. Because not only is it cringing because of the amount of "I's," it's also lacking details.

Oh wow.

Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner! I've read many stories where it lacked details, and a good majority of them were first person. Now yes, sometimes it doesn't always deal with the "I-Disease," but it could be one reason as to why they have too many "I's."

Okay, so how can we change the example into a correct version? Of course there is many ways, which if you'd like, you could try on your own in the comments below. But the main point here is to make sure your character describes the scenery and other actions without using so many "I's." So, what could you describe?

- Well, first describe the walk to the school.

You don't necessarily have to describe every single little thing that happened, but note the details of the atmosphere. How was the weather? How long did they have to walk? Did they pass by anyone? Did they have to run away from creeps? Did they witness something? Were they talking to anyone on the way to school? You don't have to give full on directions either - I went this way and that... no. Just point out simple little details.

- Secondly, describe what happened when they got to the building.

Where did they go when they arrived? Did they go straight to class, to the gym, to the offices...? What was it like there - was there tons of students in the halls? How loud was it in the building? Did they go to their locker at all if they had one? Did they meet up with friends? Like the walk to the school, you have to give us some details.

- Third of all, describe the class.

You're basically mimicking the last two missions. What did the class look like? Who was in there when the character got there? Where did they sit? Where did they put their belongings? Did they talk to anyone?

So there's a quick outline for you to help you know where to focus on. Now, for the hard part... let's write it out.

Don't try to wing it. Writing isn't something where you just begin and end it when it's done. You have to write a sentence, read it as you go, end the same sentence, and re-read it to make sure it fits. Then continue on. Then when the paragraph is done, you re-read it multiple times to see how it is and if it's good enough for you to continue.

If you're new to writing, even in first person, you can try to go step-by-step, and just answer the questions as you go along - but, the tricky part is to be detailed and try not to use so many "I's." Ah. Yes. See, this is where you have to think outside the box and mix it up. And, for an exercise, you don't even have to think about characters like anything specific such as how they think and such. Use yourself. Describe it like how you would if you were in that same position of waking up and walking to school. You could even use actual scenery from your neighborhood to help, and even facts for the trip to the school like maybe you saw a car crash? You don't have to make it a non-fiction, but as an exercise, you could see how it would fit. But again, you could mix up facts and fiction to make it interesting.