Kit's Writing Advice
Even if it sucks, even if you hate it, even if you want to tear your hair out, even if you think it's the worst thing you've ever written, write it. You don't have to share it, but keep going. You can always delete it later, but get it out.
Read different genres, and styles of writing. Go to your library and let your librarian point you to some classics. Ask a friend to tell you about their favorite book. Find new fanfics that spark your interest even if you're not familiar with the fandom or you don't sail the ship as the captain. Maybe pick up a nonfiction book at the store that caught your eye. Just keep reading, and let the words settle in.
You can think of writing like a muscle, and working out and stretching will make you stronger, but if you're not reading, you're not nourishing your muscles to keep growing. So read as often as you can and write even more than that. Study the way writers use language, how their phrases twist together, how they convey ideas with images and ideas, the way they talk about people, the way they talk about life. Study the flow of the story, and why it grips you the way it does.
If there's something you want to write, but you're not sure how, read it first, and study it, pick it apart, figure out the layers of reader and writer and character and setting all lay together to make this canvas and how that works together.
Then try it. Try to write it. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. Keep reading. Keep writing. It's a muscle, you don't give up because you can't lift the heaviest weight, you start small and work your way up to your goal. So, start small, start with a sentence. And make sure you take breaks to read, because you need your sustenance just as much as you need to train.
And it's okay to take a break. It's always okay to step back and return to it when you feel ready to. It's okay. We'll be here waiting for you, that's the best thing about writing, you can always come back and pick right back up where you left off.
