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Goodreads asked Daren M. Stottrup:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Daren M. Stottrup Write. Do you have an idea? Start writing! Just go for it. Write that first chapter, that first scene. Then step back and find the story.

Once you've found the story, STOP. Make sure you know how to write. If you don't, you'll end up finishing that story only to cringe while reading it later on.

I always suggest reading "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, 2nd. Edition" by Renni Browne & David King. It is a tremendously helpful book that completely turned my writing around.

After that, get back to writing. If the writing still sounds awful when you're done, don't worry. Put that story in a safe place--never destroy it! You can salvage it for ideas in later projects, or one day rewrite it completely.

The important thing is always be writing, and always be improving.

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