How to Write Stuff

My rules

1. A wonderful piece of advice I always use is check your clauses. If you are writing in past tense (saying things have already happened) use words like: he did, he used, he was, he went etc.
2. One of the most important bits: Always use the help of the spell checker on microsoft word. He will set you right.
3. Remember to use plenty of punctuation. If you’re not sure about comma use or full stops, say the sentence out loud. When you need to pause for breath, place a comma or full stop.
4. If you’re hoping to become an author, there are two pieces of advice you really need:

• Keep writing. Never stop, just write tons and tons. Eventually, when you have lots of short stories, poems or books written, you will realize you are a writer.
• The other piece of advice is plan your stories. I usually never plan short stories, as I like people to use their imagination, but for long books it always helps to write character descriptions and plot lines.

Separate your gold nuggets from the rest of the crap. You may think i’m mad saying this, but it is the most useful advice in the world. Your gold nuggets are the bits in your stories that are great. For example:

George is the invisible man.

Because in this story George is a homeless person, people don’t notice him. Once you have separated the nuggets, don’t explain them away afterwards. If you say ‘George was a homeless man on the streets’ the magic kind of goes away. You have to imagine everyone is as smart as you are.