Gavin Oswald
Read. Read a lot. Then, when you have a story of your own, you'll have an idea of what to do with it.
Unless you're writing academically, you can't take your cues from a text book. Knowing when and where you're allowed to break the rules is a little more instinctual. You have to build that instinct.
Apart from the mechanics of it all, I really do believe that learning how to tell a story has to be personal. Only you can teach yourself that part. Your first few pages are probably not going to be worth keeping, and that's okay. When you try again, you can make it better, but you have to be able to see your mistakes to fix them. Learn by doing, but always back up your files.
Unless you're writing academically, you can't take your cues from a text book. Knowing when and where you're allowed to break the rules is a little more instinctual. You have to build that instinct.
Apart from the mechanics of it all, I really do believe that learning how to tell a story has to be personal. Only you can teach yourself that part. Your first few pages are probably not going to be worth keeping, and that's okay. When you try again, you can make it better, but you have to be able to see your mistakes to fix them. Learn by doing, but always back up your files.
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