Hello! Recently @ap0l0 (May) shared the post on her short stories studio saying, “hi everyone! I'm working on a ‘Short Story Writing Guide’ and was wondering if anyone would like to contribute with any tips, methods of staying motivated, your inspirations, getting over writers' block, etc…” This forum (as I mentioned in the studio) is for what my tips are!

(ALL LISTS BELOW ARE MY PREFERENCES AND CONTAIN SOME WRITER'S BLOCK HELP AS WELL)

1. Tips
* I know everybody's English teacher has probably told them “SHOW, DON'T TELL” but seriously, I can't even begin to emphasize how useful this can be. Which would you prefer? “The girl was scared of the…” OR “The girl trembled at the sight of…” I know there are better examples out there but since this is kind of rushed, I won't go into major detail.
* Start from experience. If you want to write something, but don't have any idea what to think of, start from your own personal life. For example, the place you grew up could be the setting and your childhood friends the characters (obviously with different names). If you don't have that much to go off of, you can look into your feelings instead.

2. Motivation
* I'm going to be honest; this is one of the things I struggle with the most. I would recommend to just say to yourself, “The sooner this is done, the sooner others can enjoy it.”
* Think of how proud you'll be of yourself when it's done. Imagine how it'll make you feel proud and try to achieve it.

3. Inspirations
* My inspirations tend to come from real life. In the novel I'm writing down, a father goes to war. He leaves his wife and 5-year-old son, Tommy, at home. Tommy knows what's happening because his father told him before he left. How do I plan to have this come from real life? The father, the son, the mother even might develop PTSD. I have a cousin who was in the marines, and he (Rex spelled really weird that I can't even spell it, but if I had to guess I think it's Wrx or Wreqs) to help with his PTSD.
* Other people's work helps inspire me as well.