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You need to have a solid sense of what your story's world is like, who lives in the world, and what will happen in your story before you start writing full scenes and chapters. If you have a good understanding of your characters, which you should have after brainstorming, let their personalities and flaws guide your plot. For setting, ask yourself questions like these: When is it? Is it in the present? The future? The past? More than one? What's the season? Is it cold, hot or mild? Is it stormy? Where is it? Is it in this world? A different world? An alternate universe? What country? City? Province/State? For plot, ask yourself questions like these: Who is in it? What is their role? Are they good or bad? What flaws do they have? What goals do they have? What is the precipitating incident that made this story happen in the first place? Is there something that happened in the past that could affect what happens in the future? Even if you start in the middle of the action, it's important that you already have an idea of what happened beforehand. Even if you only imply or hint at the events that took place before the start of your story, it will be easier for you to be internally consistent and for your readers to fill in the blanks if there's an established backstory. Point of view is very important in fiction, because it determines what information readers are given and how readers connect to the characters. Although point of view and narration are very complicated subjects, your basic choices are first person, third person limited, third person objective, and third person omniscient. Although it's less common than the other choices, some writers also use second person. Whichever you choose, be consistent. Fiction written in first person (usually, the narrator uses "I") can emotionally engage your reader because they will identify with the narrator. You can't get into the heads of other characters as much, however, because you have to restrict the narration to what your central character could know or experience. Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre is an example of a novel written in first person. Fiction written in third person limited does not use "I" pronouns. The story is told from the POV of one character, relating only what they can see, know, and experience. It is a very common POV for fiction, because readers can usually still easily connect with the characters. Stories told this way can focus exclusively on the POV of one character (for example, the main character in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper") or can shift between multiple characters (for example, the POV chapters devoted to different characters in the Game of Thrones books, or the alternating POV chapters between heroine and hero in most category romance novels). If you do shift between POV, be very clear when this has occurred by using a chapter or section break, or clear chapter labels. Fiction written in third-person objective limits itself to only what is seen or heard by the narrator. This type of POV is difficult to pull off, because you can't go inside a character's head and explain motivations or thoughts, so it can be difficult for readers to feel connected to the characters. However, it can be used effectively; for example, many of Ernest Hemingway's short stories are written in third-person objective. Fiction written in third person omniscient allows you to know everything about everyone's thoughts, feelings, experiences, and actions. The narrator can go into any character's head and can even tell the reader things that no characters know, such as secrets or mysterious events. The narrators of Dan Brown's books are usually third-person omniscient narrators. Second person narratives draw the reader into the story by putting them in the role of the narrator/POV character. They use "you" instead of "I" or "he/she/they." For example: "It is November, but the early chill of winter is already creeping into your bones. You pull your scarf up over your nose to shield it from the frosty air." Use Roman numerals, and write a few sentences or paragraphs on what is going to happen in that chapter. You don't have to have a hugely detailed outline if you don't want to. In fact, you may find that as you write, your story deviates from the outline you had originally, and that's natural. Sometimes writers just note what the emotional beat of a chapter should be (e.g., "Olivia is distraught and questions her decisions"), rather than trying to figure out what specific events happen. You may want to try pen and paper instead of the computer for the first draft. If you're sitting at a computer and there's one part that you just can't seem to get right, you could find yourself sitting there for ages trying to figure it out, typing and re-typing. With pen and paper, you just write it and it's on paper. If you get stuck, you can skip it and keep going. Just start wherever seems like a good place and write. Use your outline when you forget where you're going. Keep on going until you get to the end. If you're more of a computer person, a software program like Scrivener may help you get started. These programs let you write multiple little documents, such as character profiles and plot summaries, and keep them all in the same place. If you try to begin by thinking to yourself, "I'M GOING TO WRITE THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL," you may be setting yourself up for failure before you even get started. Instead, take your writing 1 small goal at a time: a chapter, a few scenes, a character sketch. One of the biggest problems that beginning writers often have is writing dialogue that sounds like no words that a living, breathing human has ever said. This is particularly a problem for writers of historical fiction and fantasy, where the temptation is to make the language sound elevated and elegant, sometimes at the expense of allowing readers to connect. Dialogue should flow naturally, even though it will probably be more compressed and meaningful than real-life speech. While in real everyday speech, people often repeat themselves and use filler words such as "um" and "uh," use these sparingly on paper. They can end up distracting the reader if overused. Use your dialogue to forward the story or show something about a character. While people do have meaningless or shallow conversations all the time in real life, they're not interesting to read on paper. Use the dialogue to convey the emotional state of a character, set a conflict or plot point in motion, or hint at what's going on in a scene without stating it directly. Try not to use dialogue that is too on the nose. For example, if you're writing about a couple's unhappy marriage, your characters probably shouldn't explicitly tell each other "I'm unhappy with our marriage." Instead, show their anger and frustration through dialogue. For example, you could have one character ask the other what they want for breakfast and have that character respond with an answer that's not related to the question in any way. This shows that the characters are having trouble listening to each other and communicating effectively without having to have one of them say "We're not communicating effectively." Your characters should drive the action of your story, and this means that you can't have a character do something completely out of character simply because the plot requires it. Characters may do things that they wouldn't normally do if the circumstances are extraordinary, or if it is part of their arc (for example, ending up in a different place than they began the story), but they should for the most part be consistent. For example, if your main character is terrified of flying because she survived a plane crash as a child, she wouldn't casually take a flight to another state because the plot needs her to go there. Similarly, if your hero has had his heart broken by former loves and has become emotionally withdrawn, he can't suddenly decide he's in love with the heroine and pursue her without reservation. People don't act that way in real life, and readers expect realism even in fantasy situations. After you have the first draft all on paper, take some time off from the story. This advice comes straight from famous author Ernest Hemingway, who said he always took nights off because "if you think consciously or worry about [your story] you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start." Go to the movies, read a book, ride a horse, go for a swim, dine out with some friends, go for a hike and get some exercise! When you take breaks, you're more inspired when you return to your fiction. This advice is also backed up by Hemingway, who insisted that you have to "read it all every day from the start, correcting as you go along, then go on from where you stopped the day before." While you're reading it, use a red pen to make any notes or corrections you want. In fact, make lots of notes. Think of a better word? Want to switch some sentences? Does that dialogue sound too immature? Think that cat should really be a dog? Note those changes! Read your story aloud, because this helps you find mistakes. If an author tells you that she wrote her entire beautifully plotted, gorgeously executed novel in one go without any trouble, she's lying to you. Even masters of fiction writing, such as Charles Dickens and J.K. Rowling, write terrible first drafts. You may end up discarding huge chunks of prose or plot because they no longer work. That's not only acceptable, it's almost always essential to produce the refined product that your readers will crave.

Summary:
Figure out the basic setting and plot. Decide what point of view (POV) you want your story to use. Outline your story. Start writing. Approach your writing in chunks. Read dialogue aloud as you write it. Keep the action plausible. Take a break. Re-read your work. Understand that first drafts are never perfect.