I'm, as the title says, a beginner, and so I was wondering how my approach to writing a story would be and how I would even start.
I just wanted to know if I should build the world from scratch and try to make a long series, or make a short story with laws that are already used widely. If anyone has any tips to give to be able to improve starting from zero, then I would appreciate it a lot.

Whatever you want to do is what i recommend~

If it's your first story, I recommend writing shorter ones with clear outlines from beginning to end. If you're serious in writing, it's probably best to improve your skill slowly and not rush it on one big story. What makes a good story is good plot, interesting characters, and expansive vocabulary. Work on them first before trying out other things like worldbuilding.

But if you're just experimenting or simply write for fun, then go ahead and make your own version of middle-earth or something. You could just start typing and see where it goes from there.

Hi! I'm a fairly inexperienced writer, though I have been writing (and uploading on different websites) for a year now. I'd recommend to just write, write, write and find your own style. Do you prefer writing from one POV, male or female lead, what genre fits your style best etc. I've had dozens of stories written (unfinished) before I wrote my first complete story and uploaded it.

Once you actually are about to start uploading, to me, it's important the story has depth. Which basically means that there has to be a background to the important things, you know, simple details. They don't have to be mentioned, but you can always tell when a character is empty, and when a writer thought about them.

Lastly, create the outlines to the plot and decide on where you want to go. I always write a rough draft of one of the final chapters (to know what needs to happen to get there) and then a short five or six sentence long blurb of every chapter and it's contents to see if I didn't forget about anything.

One final tip: READ. Read as much stories as possible to see what annoys you, and what draws you into a story.

Best of luck writing a story ^^

I think if you're the kind who likes organising things and creating things, putting things in place, then I suggest that you start worldbuilding. It's really fun and it motivates you to do more and detail out your story. It also helps create plot devices and for yourself. 

Otherwise, begin with a short scene or a sequence. Then write on, build on it or keep refining it until you like the details you have in place.

I think the first thing should be to write about something you genuinely like.
Writing a story is like a marathon. If you aren't enjoying what you are doing, you are going to lose motivation as time passes.

Everything else is up to you, honestly. Subject, characters, world genre, etc...

Like other commenters, I would advise to start on a shorter story with well defined boundaries, to learn the ropes. Something about ten chapters long should do the trick. I started from a big story from the get go, and I'm returning to the older chapters to fix what I did wrong in them.

I agree that, especially at the start, just writing a lot is the most important. Ray Bradbury said you should expect to write a million words before you start figuring out the craft of writing, and I don't think he's wrong.

However, if you're interested in pushing yourself to improve in the craft, don't forget to spend some time editing and reviewing. A lot of how I've improved as a writer has come from looking at my own work and other people's work and understanding which bits I like and which bits I don't, then modifying my own work to fit that.

Too many stories with boring starts? I learned to write hooks.

Too many stories with overpowered/underpowered protagonists? I learned pacing.

Too many stories where important plot details never got mentioned? I learned foreshadowing.

Learning to analyze fiction will serve you well in the long run, both your own and other people's. So yeah, write a lot; but also look back on what you've written and think about it.

All good advice here.  Ultimately, only you know your own ability to deliver on goals you set for yourself.  I think sometimes people find themselves discouraged when they try to jump in with both feet before learning how to swim, and start the epic 7 book series they've been daydreaming about for years, and then get writer's block 5 pages in.

I think you'll find the best answer to your question by analyzing yourself, and other projects you've started.  What projects did you finish, and what did you move on from?  How does that translate to writing?  

Not everybody needs to start with a short story, but not everybody can tackle an ongoing series their first time.  Some people thrive on outlines and world building documents while others improvise as they go.  There is no right way to write.  There is writing, and not writing.

In the end, you just need to write.  It doesn't matter if the words ever reach another persons eyes or if you trash them in favor of something else - as long as you're writing.

Well the above is all good advice, but perhaps you're looking for some more basic tips since it sounds like you don't have an idea for a story yet?

I'm going to be very general and brief. Stories are about a character/s (that have goals, and actively try to pursue those goals) but they meet opposition (conflict, usually stronger than them), this conflict becomes most of the story as the danger escalates, eventually it will lead to a climax between the character and the opposition, and there'll be a resolution.

If I were you I would decide the genre I'd like the story to be, this will give you a basic idea of what will go into your own story. Ask yourself what it is about that type of story you like and what general patterns they follow. 

Also I would read a few 'how to write' books. Learn more about character, setting, conflict and plot structures.

When you have some of that knowledge you will know how to come up with an idea and how it could turn into a story, then you will just need to practice. Good luck.

There are a number of ways you can go about getting into writing (as has already been mentioned, but bears mentioning again), most amateur writers just wing it and start writing and see where the story takes them. Others like to have an outline of what happens, when it happens, and how things end. You dont need to be the next Tolkien in which you have a huge novel entirely devoted to building up the world and all the little details in it, or develop your own language. You can instead decide on a genre and general setting, then write several short stories of the various people within that setting. The short stories could be of entirely random people, and only reveal a few details of the world they live in. Alternatively, it could be the beginning of the heavyweights in your eventual novel, and show how the already established superpowers of your novel got to where they are.

For someone just getting into writing though, i'd like to give these bits and pieces of advice. Note: These are MY personal opinions, and there can very well be those here that very much disagree with my points. So you are free to take them with a grain of salt if you wish.

1) Just write. Write as much as you can, get feedback from people, have them point out grammar mistakes, learn from it, then write some more.

2) When you write a story (be it a short story or novel), it -doesn't- have to start at the beginning, (a common misconception for people just starting to write). You can write the ending first, or an important scene, or the event that sparks the adventure and sets things in motion. It can even be bits and pieces of dialogue, just remember that whatever you write can be pieced together into a greater whole later. By the time you have enough written, you'll know how you want to start the story.

3) Do your research, this is important for both fantasy and sci-fi settings. You need to know what you're talking about, or at least fool the readers into believing such. You wont fool the educated individuals familiar with the topics used in your story, but you can still fool the ignorant masses.

4) Unless you are writing a script, do not write dialogue like a script. Always show who is doing the talking in any line of dialogue. Its important to note also, people are always moving, doing something, or thinking something even as they speak. Portray that in your dialogue, don't just tack on "he said" or "she said" at the end or beginning followed by an adverb. Include the body language, this is incredibly important. Maybe the character's combing their finger through their hair as they speak, or maybe they're shifting uncomfortably in their seat. Show this to the readers. The characters are living, breathing, sentient beings, not robots.

5) Word Flow is incredibly important. When you use a word or combination of words that give your readers a mental pause in order to consider, or understand what you've written, this is bad word flow. When you have bad word flow, this means you should rewrite the entire thing, rearrange words, or use different words in order to deliver the same information, but in a smoother way. Don't stop till several sentences can flow off the tip of your tongue without any mental pauses.

6) Don't inflate your word count, make your words count. Each word has a value associated with it, the more words you use to deliver information, the less valuable they become and the more simplistic your story reads. Unless you're part of a chinese publishing company, there is no quota you need to meet in word count or chapter releases. So make sure every word you write matters. If you can contain 10 sentences worth of information in 8, 7, or even 6 sentences, then you're golden. If you can't, then that means you aren't trying hard enough.

7) Read, read, and read some more. Not the stories on this website, or any amateur writer website for that matter, but the works of real, well established, professional writers. Carry a dictionary around and read from it whenever you're bored or have free time, do whatever you can to expand your vocabulary. Believe you me when i say, nothing is more frustrating than having a word at the tip of your tongue, a word that would just fit so perfectly in that sentence, yet you're unable to remember what it is. As you expand your vocabulary, don't use every sophisticated word you can come up with, this just makes you come off as a pretentious author. Sophisticated words have their places and uses, but excessive use of anything for that matter is never a good thing :P Moderation is key in this case.


Anyway, those are all the bits of advice i can think of currently, i wish you the best of luck! :)

@HammieTheHamster If writing an entire book on world building and language made me into the next Tolkien, I'd be down! :D Good advice though.

In terms of dialogue, I would add that you don't want to add more than 'he/she said' too often. The readers eye skims over 'said', hardly registering it. If you add body language or words like 'exclaimed' it will mess with the flow and make it much harder to read. Terry Pratchett wrote brilliant dialogue, I would suggest reading some of his books if you want an example of it done well.

I would like to give the same advice as some others here, as well as some that I feel matters =^,^=
Set a start and goal...Start to write... See where it leads you... Enjoy what you are doing... Don't like where it´s going? Go back to a place where you feel you can take a different path... LIke it better?.. Start to write up key points that you want to have in the story (chapter by chapter, or however you prefer.)... Go on or rewrite the whole thing so you can get a better flow within the story...

Don't know if it will help you... Maybe?..
At least it worked for me, so it can work for others to =^,^=

Hey, this is Randomguy516, a novice-at-best writer who was in your exact situation a couple of months ago. While I'm not very experienced, and most likely shouldn't be offering any advice at all, I recommend listening to your readers' opinions, actively asking questions about anything your unsure about, and intense, in-depth planning.
I suggested listening to your readers mostly because they are usually either routing for your success, or criticizing your shortcomings. If you can look at these suggestions/insults without getting offended, which I know is incredibly hard, you can often find small ingots of wisdom that is useful to your specific situation. However, you should be very careful to avoid falling into the "everyone hates my stories, I should just give up" mentality, because becoming a great author IS an achievable dream in our current world, no matter how little talent you start with or what other people say.
Asking questions, a technique everyone talks about, but very few actually put into action. I HIGHLY recommend questioning those more experienced than yourself, even if you think it's stupid, they will, more often than not, answer with enthusiasm. Most authors tend to really enjoy writing, and the fact that someone came to them for help is pretty flattering nonetheless.
Know EVERYTHING about your story inside and out, this keeps you from creating plot holes, inconsistent characters, and a world that makes no sense. If you want to write something set in the real world, make sure you look into physics/politics/social dynamics/etc. If you're building a world from scratch, create your own rules, and make sure you stick to them, even on small, seemingly insignificant things.
What I am certain of is the unavoidable, gut-wrenching failure you WILL experience, and, in most situations, it WILL be your fault. Remember: you are going to fail, but you HAVE to keep writing ESPECIALLY when you want to quit. Freely accept criticism/insults and learn from it, but don't let it crush you.
I'm still very inexperienced, but I hope this helps you in your endeavors!

Start at the start, continue to the middle, and end at the end.  Unless you don't want to do that.

Writing long stories is a different skill set than writing short stories. They're related, but it might be good to know which skill you want to build first. You can of course work on them in tandem, and learning how to write in either sphere will help hone skills in the other. I might suggest starting with the stories you personally like to read. Do you as a reader enjoy longer or shorter fiction? Whichever pleases you more, that's probably a good place to begin.

For short fiction:
1. Figure out a concept/theme/premise that speaks to you. With short stuff, it's a good idea to keep it to one singular thing. A focal point for the events of your story.
2. Write a rough first draft with everything you can think of exploring that concept/theme/premise.
3. Set the draft aside for a day or so, then go back to it and see which ideas you want to keep.
4. Polish what you kept.
5. Edit for sentence structure, proofread, post (if you want to share your work anywhere).

For longer fiction:
1. Figure out a concept/theme/premise just like in short stories, but also think of counter-points and possible character arcs. Longer fiction is longer, so you have time to really delve into the implications of whatever you're writing. Think of it like a thesis where the proofs are in the unfolding narrative. With longer fiction, you can have more than one area of focus. As a start, you can have the initial premise (and all the things to be explored there), the character or characters (who should probably have an arc or arcs to explore their personalities, and who ideally should show some kind of growth as the initial premise is explored), and the world (which can provide depth and culture to either back up or challenge the premise or characters as the story unfolds).
2. Write a chapter. Figure out the implications of that chapter, fix any inconsistencies, then write the next chapter as a logical development from where the first chapter ended. Direct the story in such a way that all your focal points are interacting with each other, influencing the messages contained in the others through contrast or compliment. Be mindful of what you're actually saying with your work and it'll be easier to draw conclusions to continue the draft.
3. I'm of the mind that it's a good idea to have a buffer with longer stories before you post them, but some choose to post as they write. Figure out whichever method works for you. If you want a buffer, wait for a few chapters until you've got the feel of the story, then edit those chapters for narrative cohesion and post them. If you don't care whether you have a buffer, post each chapter as you write it and maybe some commentary from your readers will be insightful as to what areas of your narrative you want to explore next. In either case, keep notes about your initial vision and crosscheck them with how the story is actually unfolding on the page. If there are inconsistencies, consider whether you want to change your initial idea or redirect the story back toward its initial trajectory.
4. If there's stuff to fix, fix it. If there isn't, be happy! And keep working.
5. Continue writing, reassessing, (and posting if you want to share your work), until your story reaches its logical resolution.

In either genre, take what you've learned from the first project and apply it to the next.

Happy writing!

Close your eyes and listen to something that lightens your mood. (ex. instrumental music - songs) Nothing funny though. Clear your mind, and focus only on the best scenes you can come up with your mind in anything. Where its an epic battle against a dragon, a mecha blasting a star fleet out of the galaxy, or the most romantic romance scene you could come up with. Try to make it keep going for as long as possible to have a solid image. Once you have that, imagine the very beginning of how the character got to that point. 

Once you have those in mind, just type. and keep typing until your satisfied or you have your first few chapters. Accept constructive criticism and do your best to keep them in mind when you write - One at a time, seriously one at a time; you will exhaust yourself otherwise. Join a positive writers group and constantly keep an eye out for advice and small pieces of wisdom from authors far better than you. Find good habits and copy them. And most importantly speak openly of your writing to get some thoughts from other people; everyone tends to be better at critiquing others than themselves.

Slowly, you start with very bad writing, but as you continue it gets better and better, It will be super obvious. Until your tens of chapters in. You decide to look back at your previous work and think "Was I half asleep when I wrote this?" So you go back and rewrite your story, starting the process over again. 

Worked for a sculptor a long time ago who had been friends with Samuel Beckett, according to this guy he once asked Beckett “How did you become such a good writer?” And Samuel Beckett told him “sit down in front of a type writer and just write.  It doesn’t matter what you write, or if it is any good, or if it even makes sense, just write.  When you get to the end of the page take it out of the typewriter and cruple it up and throw it out.  Over time you will eventually lose your fear of the blank page and your writing will be better for it.”

'kazi223' Wrote: So you go back and rewrite your story, starting the process over again.

This is how to get stuck in Draft-Hell. Do not do this. I'm sorry for calling this out, kazi223 but while your comment in general was positive and valuable, this specific line needs clarification. While it is indeed something many aspiring authors do, it's also the prime reason stories don't get finished. 
Rewrites are a nasty feedback loop. You write -> You get better -> Early writing seems bad -> You rewrite -> You get better -> Early writing seems bad again -> You […]. Each time you give in, it becomes harder to resist because you've already given in before. So, so many authors get stuck on this. They keep going through Draft-Hell until they're so frustrated and fed up with it that they abandon their project.

So for beginning authors, the lesson you actually need to learn is this:
Always finish your first draft. Yes. It will be bad. No doubt about it. But in doing so, you've learned the most valuable of skills a writer can have: The discipline to finish their stories, no matter what. It comes with a sub-skill, namely the ability to easily resist writer blocks too. Only when you've finished your draft comes a time to lean back and ponder: Was this good enough to polish or do I move on to the next story? Do note: There's absolutely no shame in moving on. Sometimes, the early attempts are just so bad that no amount of rewriting can salvage them. But you'll know better what to do in your next story.

There are a few good ways to get started. But the one I think might help many starting writers is to transcribe a book. Not necessarily the whole thing: just a chapter, maybe even only a page. 
Transcribe what you see. Keep doing it. It's like reading, but on steroids, so you not only get into the feel of writing but you also understand the characters and setting much better. For whatever reason, it tricks your brain into thinking you're the one writing that story and gets you into that meditative state all the same. 

I try to transcribe a page three times to understand it. Invariably, I feel like writing afterwards and it's almost always better than if I go in dry.