Writing Guidelines. Lesson Zero : Finishing your story.

[Sky Warden 2,243]

Hello everypony! It's me, Sky Warden. I'm thinking to make a kind of weekly writing tutorial to help Bronies who likes writing, but needs some tips or guideline on writing. It will be about writing styles, storyline, and the other elements in the art of writing. Don't worry, I will explain everything as detailed as possible.

You don't have to leave a feed back to this thread, but you may if you're willing. Just read and follow it if you want. I write this because I'm bored though. Okay, lets begin.

It's not about writing style yet. Before we start, I want you to write down your whole story and finish it. Why? You must write to learn how to write right? At this phase, forget about writing style, boring variety of words, etc etc. Those are just guidelines, not rules. Well, just don't forget about grammar and spelling. Writing is an art. Art is something to express our mind and creativity for fun. Just express your mind in that writing. Why? Because we like it! Write everything in your mind freely! Law protects our right to express our mind, so don't worry about any rules. If there's any, well, screw the rule.

Once again, those are just guidelines. I know, I know. It maybe sounds like a pirate.

Forget about hooking the reader in the first paragraph, before you have your entire story written. Even though your outline or synopsis is very detailed, you don't really know what your fanfic or novel is about. It's good to have a hooking first paragraph, but you’ll never know how to write the beginning part until you write through to the ending of it. I mean, if you haven't finished your story, how can you know what themes (Or things) are going to be important to introduce early? How can you know what secondary characters or subplots are going to come into play that need to be worked into the beginning part of your fanfic? Even though you really understand the main plot, write it. Write any scene, anything in your novel you can remember. Express your mind.

Before you post your story and get feed backs, how can you know that your story is already has enough conflicts, plot, thrill, without even writing it? The best way to learn how to write is by writing. Savvy?

Also, don't get too focused on going back and trying to make what you've written perfect. Just write it. Next scene, next conflict, next character, next point of view, next plot. When you're in front of your computer (Or paper) to write, do some re-read on what you wrote yesterday and you may do some light revision on it. Wrong spelling maybe, but don't do anything more than that. Just continue writing. Next scene, next conflict, next character, next point of view, next plot until you finish your story. Challenge yourself to write more than yesterday. You will write everyday, and that's how to be an expert. A pro is someone who writes, whether inspired or not, and keeps writing.

Don't buckin worry to write a garbage. In drawing, it's your first sketch. In music, it's your first, uhm, music. In martial art, it's your first move. In writing, it's your first draft. No need to worry about your garbage, because no one is going to read it, seriously, even proof readers. We will polish it as this writing guidelines goes and we will turn that garbage into a masterpiece and you don't have to be ashamed that no one is going to read that garbage before we turn it into a masterpiece.

Now complete your story!

If you have finished your first draft, I want you to get a wooden chest, keep your story there, lock the chest, bury it somewhere, and hide the map and the key, so you will be too lazy to look at it again and again. Why? I will explain it in the next writing thread.

I guess I forget to mention something about this first move, but well, I have a bad memory and I think that's enough already. This post is already so long after all. Don't hesitate to ask any question, even the silliest one. Seriously, you can't write anything if you don't even know how to hold a pencil or how to type.