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Description
Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.
-Sir Winston Churchill

Now that we've gotten that out of the way....

Hello, and welcome to “Cooking With The Authors!” This is the show where we bring an aspiring author to our stage, set them in an electric chair, and give them the basics to writing a story. If they do it right, their novel or what have you is published. If they turn out trash not unlike the “bet sellers” of today, well, our contestants get to have a nice little meeting with Old Sparky! Today, our contestant is... you, the reader!

No, not really. I wish there was such a game-show, but who in their right mind would be a contestant on that show? Although, I know I'm being fairly hypocritical here. If there were such a show, a forcible one, mind you, I would be fried, then cloned, and then all of my clones would be fried. I haven't released a finished, decent story to my public yet. Which is why my house is currently surrounded by an angry mob, torches in hand, waiting for the next chapters of my unfinished stories.

Okay, so, now that I've awarded you with the Not Dying Prize, I'd like to thank you for reading this How Two article on how to write a story before you begin your masterpiece. I suppose that now all the formalities are out of the way, I can start with the bull-crapping and start trying to mold you into one of my evil clones! Mwahahahaha! *cough* Um, what I mean is, now it is time to spread the good seeds of writing into your fresh mind. Wow, that kinda hurt to write. Heh.

Titles

Okay, maybe not every writer begins their story with a title. I know that technically, I do not, but the bit that I do start with shall be mentioned later for that part is probably the most lengthy part of this article.

Now, as previously mentioned, not everyone begins with a title in mind. Personally, however, it annoys the crap out of me if my story is untitled. I hate it. I'd rather have an okay title, then come up with a more amazing one and rename it using that title later.

Now, how to find a title. Well, it's rather simple, as long as you've got your basic storyline in your mind. If not, you'll probably want to skip on ahead to the next section and then return. Anyway, if your story idea is in your head, try to make the title be related to what your story will be about. For example, one of my stories is about vampires. It is entitled Blood Red (totally © me!!!) because it deals with vampires, who like blood, which is red. See, the title sounds nice, but the explanation sounds idiotic. So it doesn't matter what it stems from, so long as it sounds nice. Remember, the first thing that attracts a potential reader is the title of your book. Try to give your story a catchy title. Which sounds more catchy: A Vampire Novel, or Stars Shine Black (also totally © me!!!)? Personally, leaving out bias for my own stories, I think that the second option sounds much more appealing.

Another way to get a title is to look at songs or poems. An idea for an unfinished story title that I got was “Mascara.” I derived it from two places. One was the song “Men and Mascara” by Julie Roberts. The second place was from the first chapter itself, which describes the main character walking in the rain, her mascara smeared on her face, but not from the rain. Try not to use the actual, entire title from the song or poem because the artist probably won't be too happy about it if it is ever found out that's where you got it from. Ooh, I just used one of those weird alliteration things and I didn't even mean to. Returning to the subject at hand, not only the titles of poems and songs can inspire you, but so can the actual content of the work of literature. Although it didn't inspire the title, the song “Men and Mascara” was also alluded to in my story Mascara. In it, the central theme that “Men and mascara always run” is hinted throughout the first chapter.

Story Idea

Okay, so you need an idea for your story? I don't like to be rude, at least not in this situation, but I have to wonder, why are you even here then? Whatever.

This is probably the hardest part of writing. Yes, even harder than the actual act of writing the story itself. Why? Because, for many people, they just can't randomly come up with ideas.

There are some special people that are born with a cast of characters and thousands of stories that play out in their head every day. Or, like me, they at least have random thoughts that can easily unfold into stories. Sorry you guys. If you're not, however, one of these special few, you'll need help creating an idea.

What I do is sit and think. I would advise you to think in “What if” questions. Like, for an example, “What if my dog, Rufus, started talking?” From there you go to creating the plot, which will come later.

Another thing that inspires me are other stories. No, I'm not saying go out and read something like Harry Potter or Twilight and do a story that's almost exactly the same. That, my children, is called plagiarism, and will result in your death.

What I am saying is that it can inspire you to do something similar, but not the same. For example, the story Uglies is about a futuristic world where, once you turn 16, you undergo an operation to become pretty. The only thing is, they put lesions on your brain to keep you stupid. And so the story goes. This story inspired me to write my story Specials (this is © ME!!!) My story takes place in a futuristic world where imagination is bad because the government wants everyone to be normal. The belief is that if you are creative, you will come up with depressing theories and conflicting views that will make society unhappy. See how my story is somewhat similar to Uglies without plagiarizing?

Yet another strategy is to listen to music. I have gotten several story ideas from music. As an example, the song Love Story inspired me to begin a small fan-fiction that is in the form of a Romeo and Juliet plot line, which is what the song is based around. Although, this may not be the best example, because, to write a good story, you want to do something original, and the Romeo and Juliet plot-line is too cliché. A better example would be my short story, Pink. It is inspired by the song In the Arms of the Angel. That short story's idea is uncommon and original.

Plot

Really, the plot of a story is intertwined with the story's idea. A story's plot is the backbone; the threads that hold the story together. It is the action of what occurs throughout the entire story.

I have one good rule for this, and it is as follows:
Begin with an ending in mind.

What does this mean? Begin writing your story with the conclusion in mind. It is often when the author has no ending in mind that a story is left unfinished. When you start without an ending, you've got no purpose in your head.

Now, this is not what I usually do, but, a tip of mine would be to write out the basic plot-line of your story. If you do this, do not go into detail, or you will lose the will to actually write the story for you will feel like you're just re-writing it.

As an example, using one of my own stories, Blood War:
1.We introduce the main characters, Michael and Lexie. We find out that Lexie has a form of depression because her brother was killed. We start the conflict by introducing some stranger that is annoying Michael. We go to Michael's house, where we learn that Michael and Lexie like each other.
2.We find out that Michael is a vampire. We find out that the man who is annoying Michael wants him to join a war. We find out what the war is all about....

And so on and so forth. You don't even have to get as detailed as I did. This is just so you know the purpose of each chapter.

Why don't I do this? I personally like the experience of not know what exactly is going to happen. Sure, I know what is going to happen, but I don't know how it will happen, or any other little details about it. It's like I have to write to find out just what happens next.

Characters

This is going to be the longest bit of the section, so be warned. This is also where I personally start with my story, other than, of course, the story idea.

So you want to make a character. I hope you will survive and have fun with it.

First of all, in my opinion, you should make sure to write all of your characters' information down. Yes, this I actually do. This is so I can make sure I know what my characters are like without having to go through the story and find their descriptions again. This is the form I use:

Name First, Middle, and Last. I oftentimes use a baby-naming website to find names for my characters. These are the ones I recommend: Baby Names World for First Names and Behind the Name for Last Names. (see artist's comment for links)
Nickname(s)
Age:
Birthday: Day, Month, and Year
Hair:
Eyes:

That's as simple as it gets for me, but I don't think you should stop there. I always have the character's personality and such things in my head. If you don't, you should also note down the character's personality, things they like, things they don't like, their history, etcetera.

One thing I must note (even if I didn't care for all decent readers/writers would hunt me down and stab me with sporks) is to please don't make a Mary Sue/Stu! What is a Mary Sue/Stu? The worst thing on this earth that you can ever create and I will bite you and give you rabies if you do.

A Mary Sue/Stu is a female/male character that is completely perfect in every aspect, be it morals, personality, or looks. They tend to have a tragic past. These characters go through the story receiving love from everyone and oftentimes have the opposite sex falling all over them, and when something bad happens, everyone around them (of course, excluding the archenemy who randomly hates her for no reason, even though everyone else loves them *BLECH*) hates the enemy.

As an example that will hurt my soul:

Mary Sue walked through the hallways of her school. As she passed the others around her, they waved, and some even shouted a greeting. She had a perfect smile, which she wore right now. She had blond hair to her shoulders, and her curls bounced as she walked. Her bright blue eyes were sparkling with her smile. In front of her, a rather small, mousy boy dropped his books onto the floor. The others around Mary Sue laughed, but she did not.

“Oh, I'm so sorry. Can I help you?” she asked, kneeling down next to him. The boy's eyes widened behind his large square glasses that had scotch tape in the middle at the sight of this goddess picking up his books. She stood, books in hand, and he scrambled to an upright position as well. She handed them over.

“Th-th-thanks!” stuttered the boy. Mary Sue gave the boy her radiant smile.

“It was nothing,” she replied. Suddenly, the boy was sent flying into the wall. The school's famous senior quarterback had shoved the boy into the wall.

“Get away from her, nerd!” he demanded. The boy scrambled to pick up his books and then scuttled away, rather than risk a beating. The quarterback turned is attention to Mary Sue. “Hey, Mary Sue, I was thinking, tonight, do you want to go catch a movie?” Mary Sue's face light up in a giant grin. Her heart beat madly. Finally she would go out with her major crush and most popular guy in the school!

no, No, NO, NO, NO, NO! Go directly to jail, do not pass GO, do not collect 200 dollars!

Now, this is a better example of a character.

Renee stood in front of her bedroom mirror, staring at her reflection as she brushed her frizzy red hair. Her attempt to straighten her hair had gone miserably and had made it much more frizzy than usual. Oh well, she had no time to fix that now.

She tossed her hairbrush on the dresser top and rushed into her bathroom. She opened the toothpaste, squirted a little on her toothbrush, but paused to examine her teeth. Her front teeth were bigger than they were suppose to be, and gave her a little bit of a buck-toothed look. No, they didn't hang out of her closed mouth, but they were noticeably over-sized. Just the other day, that preppy whore, Mary Sue, had made fun of her for her teeth. She'd taught her a lesson and gave her a bloody nose at the same time.

After that, she hurried out of the bathroom and into the closet and set to the horrid task of finding something to wear. Her impeccable taste in clothing made it a major ordeal to get dressed in the morning.

See, this character is more like your average teenage girl. She has flaws, such as her frizzy hair, large teeth, and hot temperament. But, she also has a balance of things she's good at, such as her taste in clothing.

That's what you want your character to be like. You want her/him to have flaws, but have strengths too. Your character could sing like crud but have straight A's. Or they could trip while walking on a flat surface, but have the most amazing artistic abilities imaginable.

Anyway, if you do inadvertently find yourself with a Mary Sue/Stu, set them up for a major fall. Have them experience a major tragedy that completely changes their prospect on life.

Think about how you design your character as well. Sometimes, how they look can lean toward how they act. You can go the cliché way this time, or do the exact opposite for something different. For example, a character with red hair would be thought to have a fiery temperament, as the character that I wrote about before. These clichés aren't too bad compared to the others.

One thing that you definitely want to remember is to keep your character's personality consistent. It doesn't make any sense for your character to be a total bitch that no one likes, and then the next day be a happy-go-lucky person. It just doesn't make sense. Readers like characters that are believable, and that type of thing isn't.

Grammar/Punctuation

Okay, this is what P.O.-es me the most when reading a story. Call me a grammar Nazi, and I will agree with you. If I am reading something in front of me, I will grab a pencil and edit any mistakes. So feel free to ask me to proof read your work, I'll happily oblige. When the author writes with awful grammar and punctuation. Here are some examples:

1.Thems girls right there ain't worth nothing.
The correct way: Those girls there are worthless.
2.He can't do nothing right.
The correct way: He can't do anything right.
3.She was walking through the hallway her best friend molly came up to her with a sad look on her face
The correct way: She was walking through the hallway. Her best friend, Molly, came up to her with a sad look on her face.
4.Hey said Ben what are you up to? Nothing replied Claude.
The correct way: “Hey,” said Ben. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” replied Claude.

And for God's sake, do not right in chat speak. Example:

Incorrect: She was walkin dwn de strt wen she saw dat guy dat had ben folowin her de other day
Correct: She was walking down the street when she saw that guy that had been following her the other day.

Incorrect: Hi My NaMe Is JeNnIfEr.
Correct: Hi, my name is Jennifer.

So, basics for grammar/punctuation:

-Declarative sentences always end with a period. This type of sentence is one that makes a simple statement. For example:
The dog was brown.
-Interrogative sentences always end in a question mark. These sentences ask questions. For example:
Do you know how to get to his house?
-Imperative sentences mostly end in a period. Rarely, they end in exclamation marks. These types of sentences are a command or a request. Some examples:
You have to clean your room before your friend can come over.
Be quiet!
Please come sit down.
-Exclamatory sentences always end in an exclamation mark. Please rarely use these sentences. These kind of sentences are meant to make an emphasis, and when you use an incorrectly placed exclamation mark, it makes the reader feel as though you are yelling at them. A correct example:
My, how big that cake is!

-I cannot give you a complete list of the uses for commas, but I can give you a couple of rules.
For one, in a list, commas come after every item listed. It is not imperative that you use a comma at the end of the list. For example:
She has apples, oranges, and bananas.
She has apples, oranges and bananas.
When speaking, a comma comes after a person's name so long as it is at the beginning. For example:
“Maria, could you come here, please?”

-Make sure to make sentences and paragraphs! It is confusing and quite annoying when the entire chapter is just one long block of writing, especially when there is no punctuation.

-Don't use capital letters unless your character is shouting. For example:
“HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO US? YOU KILLED HER!” screamed Tessa.

Please, for the love of all things good, use a spell check! It's annoying to read even the simplest of words that are misspelled. Reread your finished chapter at least two times before submitting it. That way, you can catch mistakes that you hadn't caught before, especially when you type it up, for the spell check doesn't catch everything. For example, you could mean to write stop, but make a typo and write top instead. The spell check wouldn't catch this because both stop and top are real words that are spelled correctly. I do this quite often for typos love me. It wouldn't surprise me if there were several of these typos in this very text.

P.O.V.

Also known as Point Of View. There are three types of P.O.V. First, Second, and Third. Here are some examples of each

-First:
I knelt down next to her.
We ran away.
In first person point of view, you are writing from the character's point of view.

-Second:
You leaned down and picked up the piece of paper.
This P.O.V. is not recommended. In it, you write as though you are telling the reader what happened, as though they are the character themselves.

-Third (Limited)
Fiona looked at the boy, her heart pounding. She wondered what he was thinking – if he felt the same way she did about him.
This P.O.V. Is where the author uses he, she, they, them, that sort of thing. It is also where you have limited perspective. You only know the main character's thoughts and emotions. A good example would be Harry Potter.

-Third (omniscient)
Tom looked at him, nose wrinkled in disgust. His hand curled into a fist, which shook slightly.
In this P.O.V., the author also uses he, she, they, them, etc. The author writes as though through a narrator's eyes that know everything that's going on, including all of the characters' thoughts.

Tense

There are three tenses, past, present, and future. You do not write in future tense. It makes absolutely no sense to read. For example:

She is going to go to the supermarket. She is going to get a carton of eggs. She will also get a gallon of milk.

It just sounds idiotic. I will explain the other tenses.

-Past Tense:
She ran as the rain slammed against the ground. Her shoes slapped against the asphalt and sent up small explosions of water each time they hit the ground.
When writing in this tense, you are writing as though the events have already happened.

-Present Tense:
I grab the nail polish and feverishly attempt to scrape off the bar code sticker. I finally ruin it, and look around. My heart is pounding in fear, but there is no one around. I shove the bottle of nail polish and shove it into my bag.
When writing in this tense, you are writing as though the events you are describing are taking place as the audience reads.

***

Well, that's all I can really offer you right now. I hope that at least one person can benefit from this tutorial.

Please note that this is an ongoing work. I will update this piece with more information and edits as I think of them.

Description
Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.
-Sir Winston Churchill

Now that we've gotten that out of the way....

Hello, and welcome to “Cooking With The Authors!” This is the show where we bring an aspiring author to our stage, set them in an electric chair, and give them the basics to writing a story. If they do it right, their novel or what have you is published. If they turn out trash not unlike the “bet sellers” of today, well, our contestants get to have a nice little meeting with Old Sparky! Today, our contestant is... you, the reader!

No, not really. I wish there was such a game-show, but who in their right mind would be a contestant on that show? Although, I know I'm being fairly hypocritical here. If there were such a show, a forcible one, mind you, I would be fried, then cloned, and then all of my clones would be fried. I haven't released a finished, decent story to my public yet. Which is why my house is currently surrounded by an angry mob, torches in hand, waiting for the next chapters of my unfinished stories.

Okay, so, now that I've awarded you with the Not Dying Prize, I'd like to thank you for reading this How Two article on how to write a story before you begin your masterpiece. I suppose that now all the formalities are out of the way, I can start with the bull-crapping and start trying to mold you into one of my evil clones! Mwahahahaha! *cough* Um, what I mean is, now it is time to spread the good seeds of writing into your fresh mind. Wow, that kinda hurt to write. Heh.

Titles

Okay, maybe not every writer begins their story with a title. I know that technically, I do not, but the bit that I do start with shall be mentioned later for that part is probably the most lengthy part of this article.

Now, as previously mentioned, not everyone begins with a title in mind. Personally, however, it annoys the crap out of me if my story is untitled. I hate it. I'd rather have an okay title, then come up with a more amazing one and rename it using that title later.

Now, how to find a title. Well, it's rather simple, as long as you've got your basic storyline in your mind. If not, you'll probably want to skip on ahead to the next section and then return. Anyway, if your story idea is in your head, try to make the title be related to what your story will be about. For example, one of my stories is about vampires. It is entitled Blood Red (totally © me!!!) because it deals with vampires, who like blood, which is red. See, the title sounds nice, but the explanation sounds idiotic. So it doesn't matter what it stems from, so long as it sounds nice. Remember, the first thing that attracts a potential reader is the title of your book. Try to give your story a catchy title. Which sounds more catchy: A Vampire Novel, or Stars Shine Black (also totally © me!!!)? Personally, leaving out bias for my own stories, I think that the second option sounds much more appealing.

Another way to get a title is to look at songs or poems. An idea for an unfinished story title that I got was “Mascara.” I derived it from two places. One was the song “Men and Mascara” by Julie Roberts. The second place was from the first chapter itself, which describes the main character walking in the rain, her mascara smeared on her face, but not from the rain. Try not to use the actual, entire title from the song or poem because the artist probably won't be too happy about it if it is ever found out that's where you got it from. Ooh, I just used one of those weird alliteration things and I didn't even mean to. Returning to the subject at hand, not only the titles of poems and songs can inspire you, but so can the actual content of the work of literature. Although it didn't inspire the title, the song “Men and Mascara” was also alluded to in my story Mascara. In it, the central theme that “Men and mascara always run” is hinted throughout the first chapter.

Story Idea

Okay, so you need an idea for your story? I don't like to be rude, at least not in this situation, but I have to wonder, why are you even here then? Whatever.

This is probably the hardest part of writing. Yes, even harder than the actual act of writing the story itself. Why? Because, for many people, they just can't randomly come up with ideas.

There are some special people that are born with a cast of characters and thousands of stories that play out in their head every day. Or, like me, they at least have random thoughts that can easily unfold into stories. Sorry you guys. If you're not, however, one of these special few, you'll need help creating an idea.

What I do is sit and think. I would advise you to think in “What if” questions. Like, for an example, “What if my dog, Rufus, started talking?” From there you go to creating the plot, which will come later.

Another thing that inspires me are other stories. No, I'm not saying go out and read something like Harry Potter or Twilight and do a story that's almost exactly the same. That, my children, is called plagiarism, and will result in your death.

What I am saying is that it can inspire you to do something similar, but not the same. For example, the story Uglies is about a futuristic world where, once you turn 16, you undergo an operation to become pretty. The only thing is, they put lesions on your brain to keep you stupid. And so the story goes. This story inspired me to write my story Specials (this is © ME!!!) My story takes place in a futuristic world where imagination is bad because the government wants everyone to be normal. The belief is that if you are creative, you will come up with depressing theories and conflicting views that will make society unhappy. See how my story is somewhat similar to Uglies without plagiarizing?

Yet another strategy is to listen to music. I have gotten several story ideas from music. As an example, the song Love Story inspired me to begin a small fan-fiction that is in the form of a Romeo and Juliet plot line, which is what the song is based around. Although, this may not be the best example, because, to write a good story, you want to do something original, and the Romeo and Juliet plot-line is too cliché. A better example would be my short story, Pink. It is inspired by the song In the Arms of the Angel. That short story's idea is uncommon and original.

Plot

Really, the plot of a story is intertwined with the story's idea. A story's plot is the backbone; the threads that hold the story together. It is the action of what occurs throughout the entire story.

I have one good rule for this, and it is as follows:
Begin with an ending in mind.

What does this mean? Begin writing your story with the conclusion in mind. It is often when the author has no ending in mind that a story is left unfinished. When you start without an ending, you've got no purpose in your head.

Now, this is not what I usually do, but, a tip of mine would be to write out the basic plot-line of your story. If you do this, do not go into detail, or you will lose the will to actually write the story for you will feel like you're just re-writing it.

As an example, using one of my own stories, Blood War:
1.We introduce the main characters, Michael and Lexie. We find out that Lexie has a form of depression because her brother was killed. We start the conflict by introducing some stranger that is annoying Michael. We go to Michael's house, where we learn that Michael and Lexie like each other.
2.We find out that Michael is a vampire. We find out that the man who is annoying Michael wants him to join a war. We find out what the war is all about....

And so on and so forth. You don't even have to get as detailed as I did. This is just so you know the purpose of each chapter.

Why don't I do this? I personally like the experience of not know what exactly is going to happen. Sure, I know what is going to happen, but I don't know how it will happen, or any other little details about it. It's like I have to write to find out just what happens next.

Characters

This is going to be the longest bit of the section, so be warned. This is also where I personally start with my story, other than, of course, the story idea.

So you want to make a character. I hope you will survive and have fun with it.

First of all, in my opinion, you should make sure to write all of your characters' information down. Yes, this I actually do. This is so I can make sure I know what my characters are like without having to go through the story and find their descriptions again. This is the form I use:

Name First, Middle, and Last. I oftentimes use a baby-naming website to find names for my characters. These are the ones I recommend: Baby Names World for First Names and Behind the Name for Last Names. (see artist's comment for links)
Nickname(s)
Age:
Birthday: Day, Month, and Year
Hair:
Eyes:

That's as simple as it gets for me, but I don't think you should stop there. I always have the character's personality and such things in my head. If you don't, you should also note down the character's personality, things they like, things they don't like, their history, etcetera.

One thing I must note (even if I didn't care for all decent readers/writers would hunt me down and stab me with sporks) is to please don't make a Mary Sue/Stu! What is a Mary Sue/Stu? The worst thing on this earth that you can ever create and I will bite you and give you rabies if you do.

A Mary Sue/Stu is a female/male character that is completely perfect in every aspect, be it morals, personality, or looks. They tend to have a tragic past. These characters go through the story receiving love from everyone and oftentimes have the opposite sex falling all over them, and when something bad happens, everyone around them (of course, excluding the archenemy who randomly hates her for no reason, even though everyone else loves them *BLECH*) hates the enemy.

As an example that will hurt my soul:

Mary Sue walked through the hallways of her school. As she passed the others around her, they waved, and some even shouted a greeting. She had a perfect smile, which she wore right now. She had blond hair to her shoulders, and her curls bounced as she walked. Her bright blue eyes were sparkling with her smile. In front of her, a rather small, mousy boy dropped his books onto the floor. The others around Mary Sue laughed, but she did not.

“Oh, I'm so sorry. Can I help you?” she asked, kneeling down next to him. The boy's eyes widened behind his large square glasses that had scotch tape in the middle at the sight of this goddess picking up his books. She stood, books in hand, and he scrambled to an upright position as well. She handed them over.

“Th-th-thanks!” stuttered the boy. Mary Sue gave the boy her radiant smile.

“It was nothing,” she replied. Suddenly, the boy was sent flying into the wall. The school's famous senior quarterback had shoved the boy into the wall.

“Get away from her, nerd!” he demanded. The boy scrambled to pick up his books and then scuttled away, rather than risk a beating. The quarterback turned is attention to Mary Sue. “Hey, Mary Sue, I was thinking, tonight, do you want to go catch a movie?” Mary Sue's face light up in a giant grin. Her heart beat madly. Finally she would go out with her major crush and most popular guy in the school!

no, No, NO, NO, NO, NO! Go directly to jail, do not pass GO, do not collect 200 dollars!

Now, this is a better example of a character.

Renee stood in front of her bedroom mirror, staring at her reflection as she brushed her frizzy red hair. Her attempt to straighten her hair had gone miserably and had made it much more frizzy than usual. Oh well, she had no time to fix that now.

She tossed her hairbrush on the dresser top and rushed into her bathroom. She opened the toothpaste, squirted a little on her toothbrush, but paused to examine her teeth. Her front teeth were bigger than they were suppose to be, and gave her a little bit of a buck-toothed look. No, they didn't hang out of her closed mouth, but they were noticeably over-sized. Just the other day, that preppy whore, Mary Sue, had made fun of her for her teeth. She'd taught her a lesson and gave her a bloody nose at the same time.

After that, she hurried out of the bathroom and into the closet and set to the horrid task of finding something to wear. Her impeccable taste in clothing made it a major ordeal to get dressed in the morning.

See, this character is more like your average teenage girl. She has flaws, such as her frizzy hair, large teeth, and hot temperament. But, she also has a balance of things she's good at, such as her taste in clothing.

That's what you want your character to be like. You want her/him to have flaws, but have strengths too. Your character could sing like crud but have straight A's. Or they could trip while walking on a flat surface, but have the most amazing artistic abilities imaginable.

Anyway, if you do inadvertently find yourself with a Mary Sue/Stu, set them up for a major fall. Have them experience a major tragedy that completely changes their prospect on life.

Think about how you design your character as well. Sometimes, how they look can lean toward how they act. You can go the cliché way this time, or do the exact opposite for something different. For example, a character with red hair would be thought to have a fiery temperament, as the character that I wrote about before. These clichés aren't too bad compared to the others.

One thing that you definitely want to remember is to keep your character's personality consistent. It doesn't make any sense for your character to be a total bitch that no one likes, and then the next day be a happy-go-lucky person. It just doesn't make sense. Readers like characters that are believable, and that type of thing isn't.

Grammar/Punctuation

Okay, this is what P.O.-es me the most when reading a story. Call me a grammar Nazi, and I will agree with you. If I am reading something in front of me, I will grab a pencil and edit any mistakes. So feel free to ask me to proof read your work, I'll happily oblige. When the author writes with awful grammar and punctuation. Here are some examples:

1.Thems girls right there ain't worth nothing.
The correct way: Those girls there are worthless.
2.He can't do nothing right.
The correct way: He can't do anything right.
3.She was walking through the hallway her best friend molly came up to her with a sad look on her face
The correct way: She was walking through the hallway. Her best friend, Molly, came up to her with a sad look on her face.
4.Hey said Ben what are you up to? Nothing replied Claude.
The correct way: “Hey,” said Ben. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” replied Claude.

And for God's sake, do not right in chat speak. Example:

Incorrect: She was walkin dwn de strt wen she saw dat guy dat had ben folowin her de other day
Correct: She was walking down the street when she saw that guy that had been following her the other day.

Incorrect: Hi My NaMe Is JeNnIfEr.
Correct: Hi, my name is Jennifer.

So, basics for grammar/punctuation:

-Declarative sentences always end with a period. This type of sentence is one that makes a simple statement. For example:
The dog was brown.
-Interrogative sentences always end in a question mark. These sentences ask questions. For example:
Do you know how to get to his house?
-Imperative sentences mostly end in a period. Rarely, they end in exclamation marks. These types of sentences are a command or a request. Some examples:
You have to clean your room before your friend can come over.
Be quiet!
Please come sit down.
-Exclamatory sentences always end in an exclamation mark. Please rarely use these sentences. These kind of sentences are meant to make an emphasis, and when you use an incorrectly placed exclamation mark, it makes the reader feel as though you are yelling at them. A correct example:
My, how big that cake is!

-I cannot give you a complete list of the uses for commas, but I can give you a couple of rules.
For one, in a list, commas come after every item listed. It is not imperative that you use a comma at the end of the list. For example:
She has apples, oranges, and bananas.
She has apples, oranges and bananas.
When speaking, a comma comes after a person's name so long as it is at the beginning. For example:
“Maria, could you come here, please?”

-Make sure to make sentences and paragraphs! It is confusing and quite annoying when the entire chapter is just one long block of writing, especially when there is no punctuation.

-Don't use capital letters unless your character is shouting. For example:
“HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO US? YOU KILLED HER!” screamed Tessa.

Please, for the love of all things good, use a spell check! It's annoying to read even the simplest of words that are misspelled. Reread your finished chapter at least two times before submitting it. That way, you can catch mistakes that you hadn't caught before, especially when you type it up, for the spell check doesn't catch everything. For example, you could mean to write stop, but make a typo and write top instead. The spell check wouldn't catch this because both stop and top are real words that are spelled correctly. I do this quite often for typos love me. It wouldn't surprise me if there were several of these typos in this very text.

P.O.V.

Also known as Point Of View. There are three types of P.O.V. First, Second, and Third. Here are some examples of each

-First:
I knelt down next to her.
We ran away.
In first person point of view, you are writing from the character's point of view.

-Second:
You leaned down and picked up the piece of paper.
This P.O.V. is not recommended. In it, you write as though you are telling the reader what happened, as though they are the character themselves.

-Third (Limited)
Fiona looked at the boy, her heart pounding. She wondered what he was thinking – if he felt the same way she did about him.
This P.O.V. Is where the author uses he, she, they, them, that sort of thing. It is also where you have limited perspective. You only know the main character's thoughts and emotions. A good example would be Harry Potter.

-Third (omniscient)
Tom looked at him, nose wrinkled in disgust. His hand curled into a fist, which shook slightly.
In this P.O.V., the author also uses he, she, they, them, etc. The author writes as though through a narrator's eyes that know everything that's going on, including all of the characters' thoughts.

Tense

There are three tenses, past, present, and future. You do not write in future tense. It makes absolutely no sense to read. For example:

She is going to go to the supermarket. She is going to get a carton of eggs. She will also get a gallon of milk.

It just sounds idiotic. I will explain the other tenses.

-Past Tense:
She ran as the rain slammed against the ground. Her shoes slapped against the asphalt and sent up small explosions of water each time they hit the ground.
When writing in this tense, you are writing as though the events have already happened.

-Present Tense:
I grab the nail polish and feverishly attempt to scrape off the bar code sticker. I finally ruin it, and look around. My heart is pounding in fear, but there is no one around. I shove the bottle of nail polish and shove it into my bag.
When writing in this tense, you are writing as though the events you are describing are taking place as the audience reads.

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Well, that's all I can really offer you right now. I hope that at least one person can benefit from this tutorial.

Please note that this is an ongoing work. I will update this piece with more information and edits as I think of them.