General things I know about writing

• ​You can always make bad writing better. You can’t improve nothing.
• Good writing = rewriting.  
• Read it aloud to help make it .better.
• Sometimes when you start out, the story loses steam partway through. That’s normal. 
• If you really want to be a writer, force yourself to finish a story, rather than abandoning story after story to chase after a new idea, or just polishing the first chapter over and over.  

Once you have an idea, ask yourself: 

• ​How can I make it bigger or worse?
• What research do I need to do?
• What can I steal from myself?

When you're writing

• Don't spend a lot of time setting the stage.  Start with something puzzling, mysterious, scary, new, interesting. Start with the day everything changed.  
• Appeal to all the senses. 
• Don’t tell us he’s mad, happy , scared, etc. Show us his emotions by how he acts.