Hello everyone~ My name is Nena or better known as SleepingPrincess. I guess I am considered a judge around here, and no matter how tempting it sounds to be all cruel and evil while judging I like to help you guys out and give you tons of tips and tricks that could make writing easier and much more enjoyable to anyone who is just getting into writing or has a writer's block.

TIPS FOR NEWBIES/WRITERS HAVING A HARD TIME WRITING:

• Start from the middle - the beginning and the end of a story is the hardest part. What I learnt from my Croatian teacher (I'm Croatian btw XD) is that on essays the beginning is the hardest because you do not really know what you will write about anyway, so start with the parts that you are sure off and continue on, go with the flow~
• Read many other stories - Read other people's stories and get ideas and inspiration out of them. Do not copy/paste their stories, just get inspired
• Download grammar apps - there are many apps for your phones and computers that check the grammar for you. Obviously Microsoft word is one of the bests but there is also Office or apps that check your writing on AFF like Grammarly
• Make a playlist - I have a Kpop MV playslist on youtube that I put on shuffle as a write and when I don't feel like listening to Kpop I have a Pop version of the playlist too. It helps you concentrate on the writing and allows you to turn off the world around you
• Write for 10 minutes - If you make yourself write constantly for 10 minutes, without a break, you will be able to continue. It's a good thing for people who can't concentrate
• Imagine yourself in that world - if you got too deep into a story and do not how to get out of plot problem, imagine yourself as your main character, what  would you do on his/her place?
• Award yourself - I did this when I had to learn for my finals (awful times....thank God it's over), whenever you finished a chapter or a page give yourself a break, a chocolate cube (or a whole chocolate - that's cool too bro). It makes you feel veryyyy better

TIPS FOR WRITER'S BLOCK:

• Turn off the computer/laptop - Sometimes being online for too long causes your brain and ideas to block, due to the amount of information you receive to get away and catch some fresh air, instead of being online 
• Stop writing for the readers - I know the readers are the most important people for you, but if you keep on writing what they want and not what you want and imagine you will be unhappy with your writings and we don't want that, now do we?
• Stop planning your schedule - sometimes you can't post a new chapter every 3 days or every week, you need aware that you are not a machine that can write whenever it feels like it. You need to make the time and have the will power to write
• Write at a different place and time - Maybe moving the writing from the bedroom to the living room, from 2am to 2pm, can change up your mood for writing and give you new ideas
• Listen to relaxing sounds/music - When your mind is filled with random stuff you need to pull it all out and let your brain relax
• Read your old stories - Going over your past experience as a writer can show you how much you've changed or how much you want to go back to that type of writing and bring you new ideas

WRITING TRICKS:

• Use short words - not everyone needs to know how many big words you know, and many readers do not understand them. 
• Use active language - Active language is interesting. Passive language is boring. How do you know which is which? In an active sentence, the subject is doing the acting: "Emily cleans the room". In a passive sentence, the target of the acting becomes the subject of the sentence. For instance, instead of saying: "Emily cleans the room" you could say, "The room is cleaned by Emily."
• Write messily, re-write perfectly - The first edition can be a mess, because you won't post it right away. Later on when you're done, re-write the whole thing over again or go over the mistakes and correct them.
• Let your friends give you a feedback - it's always good to have an editor who will do the work for you, but who has that here? Instead, ask your friends to write the draft editions and give you a feedback on your work.

I hope these small tips and tricks made it easier for you to write all the stuff you are about to write in this little competition. If you ever need any help with anything feel free to send me a massege.

All the love, 

Nena