Create your own story

Great minds create great ideas!

Writing a story is both simple and tough.

If you have ideas flowing from your head to your pen to your paper effortlessly (or head to keyboard to computer screen for today’s writers!), it’s easy.
If you have trouble getting started, it could be tough.

But don’t fret. The first step is to be aware. Anything around you could spark an idea for a story.
For example, let’s say you are visiting a petting zoo and feeding a goat.
Ask yourself some questions that could lead to a story frame.
-Is the goat shy? Does she have friends?
-Is she new to the zoo? Where did she come from?
-How would she talk to other goats? What would she say to them?
-If she could talk to you, would she thank you for the food?
And so on…

Just let your train of thoughts flow and don’t restrict or criticize any idea at this stage.

Write your first draft. Then read through it. Make changes to it. Improve it. Delete what you don’t think is good.
Remove repetitive words and replace them with synonyms where possible. Try to improve the story-the beginning, the plot, the end, anything. Make your characters loveable. Think of how you can make it more interesting and captivating to the reader.

Read. Edit. Read. Edit. Follow this cycle over and over till you feel you’ve done your best (your inner voice will tell you when the story is ready).

Let the story sit for a few days and read it again. You will be able to give it a fresh perspective and perhaps new twists that didn’t occur to you the first time.

As you write along, you will find your style. You probably like to write humorous stories. Or your stories are whimsical. Maybe they are based on real-life.
Or they all turn out to be poems. You are a poet!

Find your style and have fun writing. Once you lose yourself in it, it can be quite like meditation!