by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Read
- Write. It doesn’t even matter what you write. The more time you spend writing, the better you’ll get at it.
- Listen. Pay attention to how people talk, what they say, and how they say it. Dialogue is one of the most important writing ways of establishing a character. So, if you want to be able to write a good dialogue, you have to listen to what people really sound like.
- Pay attention to the world around you. It’s hard to describe, say, beautiful flowers, if you‘ve really never noticed them.
- Think a lot. This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people go through life without really thinking about anything. I’m not advising you to do, or say anything weird, necessarily, and certainly not to do anything wrong, but your imagination should be unlimited.
