Writing a Story for Dummies

Introduction

        Greetings, fellow writers. If you’re looking for a guide to help you hone your writing skills, then this is the book for you. This book will cover a wide range of topics ranging from the broadest topics to more specific aspects of the craft. For instance, this book will discuss the importance of setting and other large concepts while also describing how to handle their components.

        This guide is not geared towards any specific genre. Most of its chapters will focus on topics which are applicable to any kind of story. However, I will address some of the most common aspects seen in specific kinds of stories on occasion. These features are important enough to their genre that they deserve to be addressed. These genre specific chapters will be relatively uncommon since the things they will address aren’t as widely applicable as some of the other aspects of writing discussed in this book.

        Although this book is primarily geared towards addressing specific components of story writing, it will also discuss habits which are beneficial to authors. These habits will not only improve the quality of your writing, but they will also help you develop a writing schedule which will encourage you to write on a regular basis. Writing well is only half of the battle. Staying dedicated to your writing and completing your story are quite a different obstacle.

        Along with describing how to write a good story, this book will inevitably mention factors which could cause problems for your story and/or your dedication to your writing. In order to help you avoid such tremendous obstacles to completing an amazing story, this book will also address what these factors are, why people fall for them, and strategies for how to deal with them.

        The information in this book is based off of my own personal experiences as both a reader and a writer. As such, it is not the perfect guide. Even with the amazing advice of multiple teachers and other writers, I can’t show you a formula which will create a great novel or short story every time. That simply isn’t possible. All I can do is share what I have learned about writing over the years.

        If you have any requests for topics you would like me to cover, questions about the topics discussed, or anything to say about this guide in general, feel free to let me know in the comments below. All feedback is greatly appreciated.