Bevendre

I do love BBQ, and personally prefer smoked beef brisket.  I’ve had authentic Tennessee, Kansas City, and Texas BBQ, and I’ve gotta say that I’m more biased towards Texas BBQ if only because of the heat.

The best advice I can give for the writing of a blog, or of anything fictitious, is to know your character.  Understand how your character thinks, interacts, reacts and feels about just about anything.  Having a good and thorough understanding of your character makes it much easier to write them in whatever situation the story requires.

As for a story line, I tend to not worry about it too much, especially on an ask blog.  If you have an idea for a story, then begin by asking yourself if it is something that you would enjoy reading, that your friends would enjoy reading, etc.  You are writing it for you, but it doesn’t hurt to know that others can appreciate it.  Personally, I recommend NOT pouring over every detail and instance in the story, but instead letting it write itself.  Let your character react to stimuli, and react yourself in turn.  Planning things out far in advance works for some people, sometimes very well, but I just find it more fun to let the pieces fall into place on their own.

You can strengthen your writing in general the same way that you strengthen your skills in art: Practice, practice, blood sacrifice, and practice.  Writing can be a little harder to work with because it’s less visual, and as such it can be very helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to help edit your works.  If you do choose to go to someone for help, don’t go to your best friend, unless you know that they are willing to hurt you.  If you want to improve, then you have to be open to criticism, and it can hurt.  Badly.  The best editors are those who know what needs to be worked on, and how it should be fixed, and who, while supportive, aren’t too afraid to give someone a kick in the pants if they need it.

This applies to most forms of creative writing, not just writing for a blog.

Careful on claiming success on the skype front just yet, it’s not even been a day.  As for Catcher in the Rye, I’ve never read it so I honestly can’t say one way or the other.

Thank you so much, anon!  Why must people be so shy when being kind?  I want to see their face so I may love their kind words even more!