Teen Author: How Much Can You Chew?

Man, oh, man.  This is the writing advice I wish had gotten when I first started out...

Food for Thought...

Today's teen author advice is short and sweet. 

Don't bite off more than you can chew.

You probably have this great, epic, Harry Potter length story brewing in your head, right?  

Well, run away.  Run hard.  Run far.  Sure, scratch notes for it, keep a notebook or file or pinterest board, or whatever floats your boat.  But for the love of literature, put that awesome idea aside.  

When you are just starting out, you need to learn tons of stuff.  How to write a full length book.  How to finish.  How to plot.  How to check the structure.  How to publish.  It goes on, and on and on.

And one of the most important things you need to learn?  Is that yes, you can do this.

And let me tell you, that is a whole lot easier when you are looking at a story that can be wrapped up in a single book.

So let that awesome, epic plot simmer on the back burner and set yourself up to succeed in the long wrong.  Tackle a story that you can have fun.  Series are awesome, but start with the kind that you can come and go from as you please.  Thrillers, mysteries, and even romance are some starter ideas: all of them you can write two books or twenty.

And after you've done the learning on your come and go series, then you'll be bursting with confidence to tackle that epic.