Frequently Asked Questions
For quick answers scroll down to one of the following: Why writing is important, Why learn how to write, How to learn writing stories, How to write speculative fiction, Why science fiction is important, How to start an advice blog, What advice would you give? Blogging where to start, What blog should I start?
Why writing is important
Writing has many, many positive benefits. Here are the most important ones: It can make clear your ideas for self and others. Writing can solidify bonds with others. It allows you to explain things more easily. It can reveal an important truth for you and others. Writing can advance you in you job. Concise writing increases your communication skills. In part you will be judged by how you write. Writing down your fears and worries can lessen them in your everyday life. Writing can enhance your memory. It might clarify your purpose. It opens doors to more creativity. It feeds back to help you improve your writing skills. It leads you to be objective.
Why learn how to write
One word - share. Only by practice can writing become easy and familiar. The good news is that you can learn to write. What makes you into a writer? “Writing” is the simple answer. The purpose of writing is to share your thoughts. Okay, thinking comes first. Then we write. What is great about this is that through writing we improve our thinking. That is the “why.” If we improve our thinking, we will solve problems easier and faster, be happier, communicate better, make more money and advance ourselves in our own mind as well as in the minds of others. So, we have this: think what you want to communicate, write, and the writing will feedback to help you think easier and more lucidly. What environment can you create that will make writing easier? Choose a safe place, write every day, read more, make it a habit to outline your thoughts first. Follow this advice and you will be well thought of. Won’t that be worth it?
How to learn writing stories
Choose a clear central message for your story. The next step is to discover your niche, and from that you will know what your readers will want to read. Choose your story’s main emotion and come up with an idea that can be expressed as a premise for your story. If you use real places and environments, you must get them right. If they are about a place you know, observe. If not, research in books or on the Net. Plot your story with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning ends with the inciting incident, which poses the major conflict to be resolved. Included will be bridging conflict from the first line to the inciting incident. In the middle, you make the conflict more complex and put in lots of action that tests your main character increasingly to the end. That end is the resolution of the conflict established by the inciting incident. It should leave readers feeling satisfied. Write convincing dialogues that further the action and tension. Compare your story with those of good storytellers then revise like a demon.
How to write speculative fiction
Write speculative fiction out of the definition of speculate where the writer conjectures about events, the world in which they take place and the beings involved. These conjectures flow from the writer’s imagination. He or she does not limit ideas to the facts of our world. However, because the writer lives in the world as it now exists, she or he asks what if something changes in that world, and thus a premise comes to life. The premise fuels the story that results: a tale that seems real and internally consistent to readers although taking place in a world that vibrates differently from the world and beings as they currently exist. To achieve this, a speculative fiction writer takes certain steps: 1) Thinks of something in his or her world that could change in some way, bad or good. 2) Researches to learn how things currently stand and how they may turn out. 3) Formulates a premise based on the question "what if." 4) Writes a story with characters carrying out a plot that answers the premise in an inevitable but a surprising and enjoyable way.
Why science fiction is important
Science Fiction holds a vanguard position in Speculative Fiction. Its starting point lies in science and technology, which most would agree, holds a relevant and very important role in society. Imagine a world without science and technology. What would we do then? A few science fiction books have delved into such a lack. However, most deal with what our world would be like if science and technology expanded into one of its many possibilities. You might think that science fiction writers lead the charge with their new ideas on the question. Let’s take another look. If science fiction fans did not exist and read, that would mean no writers would work in the field. So, the fans drive the genre by being receptive to the ideas and stories of the writers. Science fiction lies in the minds of millions of fans. Some of these fans will become scientists and technologists, but more importantly, their ideas, thoughts and feelings will filter into our future world.
How to start an advice blog
A blogger must understand his or her audience. Must like them. Must think so much of them that he or she will accept their ideas and blog around them. However, the blogger will write for herself or himself first. That will be the only way the blogger can be true to her or his voice. So, be yourself and tell stories to illustrate your points. Write headlines that grab your reader. Be consistent and keep the same style with each post. Short better than long because the reader will only spend a small amount of time on your post. Yet make it worth referencing. Pepper your blog with keywords so it can be found. Keep to a schedule that fits your style and what you want to say. Correct typos. Give your email list priority. Expand it. Majorly, your blog readers will be your list members. You can mine their ideas and opinions and what they want to hear. Give stuff away. Give away your knowledge. Give your blog time to grow. Don’t quit - get better.
What advice would you give?
Advice about blogging? Here goes a condensed version: Ask successful bloggers for help. Ask your readers for feedback. Be dedicated enough work daily on your blog even if for ten minutes. Learn something outside your comfort zone - say you hate grammar, study it. Have enough integrity to thank people, give back and network. Narrow your focus - don’t try to know everything. Persist, don’t quit. Help other bloggers. If you get angry or giddy, count to ten. Be confident. Have pride in your blogging. Without action, remember, an idea is just a dream, Treat others the way you want to be treated. Trust your expertise. Believe in yourself. Pass on advice that worked for you.
Blogging where to start
Choose a name for your blog that is short but describes it well. Pick a blog host and platform. Your can even set up a blog on your own domain. (There are several good blog hosts and platforms. Google for them.) Use a free blog design template and tweak it. (You can change to a pay-to-use one later on.) Register your blog. (It will have its own dedicated number.) Start hosting and share your thoughts with the world. Catalog useful resources for blogging. Promote to get people to read your blog. (Lots of help on this can be found on the Net.)
What blog should I start?
Do the following, and you will know: What are you passionate about? Make that your niche. Now you have your favorite subject so you can give your readers tips, advice and guidance. Keep learning yourself. That way you will never run out of blog ideas. As long as you’re providing information readers can use, you can make money from your blog. Share with others your expertise and what you would like to learn more about yourself. Focus on what you have done and learned and offer that to others. What do you really enjoy? Pass it along. Give back.