Methods to story-write home about.

A paragraph should ideally be a smooth, succinct experience that goes through a bit of exposition, illustrates an idea, sums up the point, and primes the reader for the next paragraph.

Ideally.

In practice, a writer can get too caught up in all the things they have to say and fail to organize it all into bits an ordinary human being would be able to digest. The end result is a huge run-on paragraph that makes it difficult to recall the original point of it, if there was one in the first place. The reader's eyes glaze over and all they see is a Wall Of Text.

I am very wary of such a thing, which can lead to problems.

For instance, not enough words.

A character that is interesting is one who actively remarks upon their environment in a way that catches the eye of the reader. They could be simply describing a room or remembering a tidbit from their memory, to referencing their own mannerisms.

Actively.

That is not something I am very good at, and if you've read my work, you can see that plain as day.

I usually take bits and pieces of whatever I read last, and reflect on what feelings I have about them. If it seems good, I add it. If it seems bad, I work some worthwhile info I find in it, and forget the rest. In practice, this leads to issues.

Plot devices that go nowhere, information that has no relevance to the story, characters that either fall flat, have nothing bad happen to them, suddenly lose their character, events that don't line up properly, etc.

Hell, I'm doing better writing this blog than my actual story! So, if anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve, please tell me.

Because I have no idea what I am doing.

EDIT: As a final thought, I'm my own prereader.