To all of you who ever sit in a stupor thinking to yourselves "How do people write stories?" I'm about to try and attempt to explain a slice of my chaotic mind and share how I write mine :)

In case you haven't noticed, my writing has improved A LOT over the years. Welcome to literally any skill: it gets better with time.

But sometimes it's hard to know HOW to improve your writing. Here's some tips I use when it comes to writing a book :)

1. PLOTS AND PLANNING
Yes, I know, I know, the thing we all hate. Coming up with the plot. You just wanna sit down and get writing and never stop and keep going until you physically cannot write anymore or until your caffiene/motivation runs low, whichever comes first-

Trust me, life is so much easier if you have an outline. You don't have to write some massive detailed description or have a massive mindmap with all the plot twists and everything. I literally use dot points.
For example,

I don't even write the whole plot in one go, just starting with a section of the book works. It's a good to have a general direction of where you want the book to go. If not, it gets easy to lose where you're going. Plus, it's so much easier to have a guide to keep you on track.
And you're allowed to change it! If you get a new idea, work it into there! (If its not too late.)

2. GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION
I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!!
How any people here have tried to read a story on here, but couldn't finish it because it was so hard to read due to lack of grammar and punctuation?

*raises hand slowly*

It's a bit of a pain, especially since I am a bit of a grammar Nazi... ANYWHO-

It's important that you use Google Docs, grammarly (actually no, don't use grammarly unless you have the creative writing thing),  word, anything like that to make sure your grammar and punctuation is correct. Once you add that, the story will be so much easier to read, and it'll flow nicely too. And make sense.

We all know the classic "Lets eat, grandma!" and "Lets eat grandma!" example, right? SO USE IT- sorry.

Some extra stuff to remember relating to formatting and grammar etc.
- new line/paragraph every time someone different speaks, e.g.

"Time to go!" Liza called.
"Coming!" Jack said.

NOT

"Time to go!" Liza said. "Coming!" Jack said.

- Make sure you're in the right tense. There are three main ones in english: past, present and future. We generally write things in past, sometimes present, hardly future.
Past: "I swam."
Present: "I swim."
Future: "I will swim."

Do not change tenses halfway through the book/chapter/sentence. Please.

3. TITLES
Titles, to me, are a key part of the book. A lot of you know Percy Jackson and the wonderful titles in there.
Keep your titles consistent. If its a simple "1. 2. 3. 4." Then keep it that way.

HOWEVER
Feel free to get creative! I have one book where the titles are all song names, another where the titles are the same pieces of music correlating in that section of the movie it's from. Titles can also help you keep track of what you're doing and set the mood for the chapter.

(Dang it it's sideways-)
This is a list of some chapters in one of my books which I then use...

...to plot out the chapters!
And these pictures lead me on to the next bit...

4. NOTEBOOKS
My rule of thumb: carry a notebook everywhere. School, dance, band, anywhere. Especially at school, take an actual notebook so you can write in class. I have two notebooks: one is full of random snippets that I may include in books/random writing and the other is more focused on ideas for plots  titles, etc. It's always handy to have something to jot down stuff when it comes to your mind. And the best thing is that teachers aren't fazed by it (at least for me.)

5. CHARACTERS
One of the biggest problems I've noticed is that people don't know their characters. Sure, they know what they look like and who they're best friend is, but they don't know what their biggest fear is. They don't know when their breaking point is. They don't know when their optimism fades.

People tend to write very basic, one-sided characters. The characters are the same  no matter the situation or people they're with.
Think about your favourite character. Do they have the same personality constantly? Are they always happy? Are they always sad? Apply these questions to you.
I know people act different when they're around their friends than when they're around their parents. Write your characters the same way. Make the three-dimensional. Make them complex. Make them have flaws. Make them different. Make them real.

For me, I love to create playlists for the different books/characters to listen to while I write so I get their vibe. My favourite one is probably "Boh." for when I'm writing my book "Dahlia" which is based on Michelle Jones and includes songs based around her and her personality. From rock to Billie Eilish to Sleeping At Last, everything that reminds me of her. It helps to get into their mindset and see the story from their perspective rather than your own.

5. EDITING
we are all guilty of not doing this. I know I am.
But trust me when I say that editing will save your life.

The best way to improve your writing is to go back and re-read it. Read it like your the reader who has no context as to where the book is going, and make edits and changes if you need to. Every single book that has been published by your favourite authors have been edited over and over again with a fine-tooth comb.

If editing is stressful, then wait for a bit and come back and read it again before writing. It's a great and easy way to regreshbyour mind and have a new perspective on your work.

6. SETTING AND DESCRIPTION
Setting is key to formulating a good book. The best way to set up a scene is description. But one of the problems with descriptions is that people felt heavily on one sense: sight.

The grass was a bright green. The trees were tall. People were everywhere in the park. There was a colourful food cart under the brightly shining sun.

COMPARED TO

The squeals and laughter of children rang through the park, mingling with the soft breeze that swayed the towering trees gently. The grass was soft beneath his feet, enticing him to lay in the warm sun. A food cart rambled on nearby, mixing the toasty scent of chips and hotdogs to the mix of flowers and earth.

Which one was better? If you said the second one, them there are several reasons.

Reason 1: it entices all senses. Rather than just focusing on what one would see, I focused on all the senses. This creates a scene that the reader can easily place themselves into because it's described so distinctly.

Reason 2: show, don't tell. We've all heard this, and it works wonders. The easiest way to fix this is to no say "there was".
For example: "there was lighting striking through the sky."
OR
"Lightning struck through the sky."
Tadaaaaaaa, it sounds better already :)

Reason 3: Word choice, or to be fancy, dictation. The choice of words is important also. I could have said that the noise of the children mingled with the wind, or the soft grass made him want to lie in the sun, but that removes the mood a bit because the words are too general. Replacing "noise" with "squeals and laughter" told the audience that the kids are having fun, and "enticing" is more welcoming and luring than "made him want". However, I can change the mood by switching some words.

The shrieks and chatter of children rang through the park, mingling with the wind that swayed the towering trees. The grass was hot beneath his feet, luring him to lay in the baking sun. A food cart rambled on nearby, mixing the stifling scent of chips and hotdogs to the mix of flowers and earth.

Already the mood has changed dramatically just by changing some words. Word choice is important, so get specific! Get that dictionary or thesaurus up and get creative! Set that atmosphere and mood for your audience.

That's all for now, there will be some more advanced stuff next like pace, allusion, literary techniques, etc.

Hope this helps!