Brainstorming

Unless you're an absolute writing genius who can think up of everything on the spot, chances are at the start of your writing journey you're going to have to do a crapload of brainstorming.

A few pieces of advice for brainstorming can be seen right below.

1) While writing a story is usually a solo mission, brainstorming for a genius idea doesn't have to be. Gather a close group of friends, or family members, or if you're really bothered, even pick out some randoms on the street. Say hey, what do you think about this idea for a story or would you buy a book with this story-line? Either you'd get positive feedback, negative feedback, constructive criticism or if you picked the last option with randoms on the street, probably a few blank stares/being ignored/running for your life, all depending on which street you live in.

2) Now you've received a lot of feedback from people all around you. It's time to pick and choose what ideas you'd actually want to use in your story. After this a good follow up would be to research your heart out. You do NOT want to write a story about a terrorist led by Osama Bin Laden fighting America in Venezuela. Nor will you want to write a story set in Morocco where the people there are eating rib-eye steaks with mashed potato and gravy. Research the food, the places and every tidbit you can so you're well-versed about what you're going to write on.

3) Now it's time to make a character outline and a plot outline. Group all the ideas together and organise them into chapters (this can obviously be changed as you're writing if you come up with a new idea which would definitely improve the story) as well as starting a character profile on all the different characters you will have in the story. What makes them different, makes them unique, their place in this world you're creating and so on.

And there's your brainstorm done, time to get cracking on some writing! Good luck!