Everything you write makes you better. But if you really need a tip, here's one: a good story begins in opposition to its ending. That means you work out how it finishes first, and then begin the story as far away from that point - in terms of character development - as you can.

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The legacy of the fairy story in my brain is that everything will work out. In fiction it would be very hard for me, as a writer, to give a bad ending to a good character, or give a good ending to a bad character. That's probably not a very postmodern thing to say.

— Kate Atkinson

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I think a good story's a good story and a good character's a good character.

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It turns out that if you optimize the performance of a car and of an airplane, they are very far away in terms of mechanical features. So you can make a flying car. But they are not very good planes, and they are not very good cars.

— Gregory Benford

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I've gone very far, far away, but my character keeps me close to home.

— Fran Drescher

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Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.

— Amelia Earhart