Help for writing: Q&A format

I want to tell a story, how should I begin?

• To make a compelling story, you must take the reader in and make them interested in the world and characters.
• Plan and map out your ideas and explore in your head before even writing anything. Do they feel interesting to you? Are they something you'd be interested in creating? If so, begin with those and see what you get.
• List subjects of which you have a deep level of understanding. Create a world where these are the concurrent themes. Imagine a world dominated by your elements. Does that create a world you’d be interested in exploring with your main character?
  If not, reshape your themes and study more about any field you find suitable for your story. The more you add, the more depth you create, thus more awe you give to your readers.

How does one make their story compelling, and not just a compelling story?

• No story is good without being compelling - otherwise it’s a dull story even to the creator, and no creator likes dull stories.
• Therefore the most crucial requirement is faith in your own story and thorough polishing, enabling the creator’s vision to shine through clearly.
• Thus one should write what their mind desires and polish that over and over again until satisfaction. Once complete, write part 2 instead of redoing all of your work.

How do I find a good idea for a story?

• The best stories are the ones with enough depth in them to be convincing worlds
• This means one should write within the themes that they’re most versed in
• Too much of a specific niche narrows down the audience and limits their level of understanding, therefore deep understanding of several fields helps create more diverse realms
• Our existence itself is a story of simulation, going through polishing for a better story to be told. Simulate your own as such and your results will better themselves.

What is a good main character?

• Main character is always the most important character not because of his characteristics, but because his actions and events are the ones conveying your story.
• You want a character who goes through all the events you wish to portray. Giving your character a personality which compliments this process is the more difficult task, and is often shaped through logic. Why is he going through this? How does it affect him? Going down the path of questions will flesh your character out.
• Depending on the chosen genre and tone, you may want to choose the character who is closest to the edge of your realm - the one who is the most in touch with your philosophies on how to be a successful dweller according to you, the creator. Note that this does not equate to being successful in life as viewed by others.
• Main character does not need to present your world flawlessly - it can be daunting otherwise to write the events surrounding them. Fleshing out your world with other characters brings different perspectives and helps the reader better understand the nature of your world, and gives more humane character overall to everyone as it becomes clear not one person has it all figured out.

What is a good place to start your story?

• Depends on plenty of factors; opening sets the tone of your story and serves as a proving ground for your writing. How do you wish to treat your readers? Give them as much or as little as is appropriate to your story's tone.
• It's appealing to the reader to start your story just a moment before action or at the start of a build up towards something else; this gives both suspense (even if it’s not your genre, suspense is a good way of generating immersion) and yet, at the same time, time for the reader to have a feel over the character and the world they're in.

I am stuck due to lack of creativity, what should I do?

• Are you at the start of a project, or in the middle of a segment? If latter, meditate upon what has been happening in your story so far. If you’re not happy with how things are, your creativity block could be caused by a story that is not thrilling enough. Change and modify after you identify what has caused your slump.
• If you’re starting a project and can’t bring anything creative about, you should start by planning, taking the logical and methodical route in creation. What is your genre? How do you wish to implement it? Ask yourself simple questions and write the answers down. Make guidelines on how to proceed in the story - don’t get caught in details, as those will write themselves as necessary once the time comes.
• All in all, plan, create, repeat. The mind is not always tuned in the way you want it, but you can always do something as long as you find the time and place to do it.