To be completely honest, the best starting point is to be writing "romance." The first time someone told me to try, I thought he was a total weirdo. Then, he explained that romance scenarios (as you should probably try to simply write a single believeable scene) are super tough to write because it deals with both the psyche, use of language, and elaboration. Since this is a website primarily visited by dudes, most would probably think that romance novels are rubbish but to be able to create a believeable character takes a nuance that most amateur authors would fail to ink.

Write a single 3-5 page scenario without repeating that garbage you hear in adult movies. Ask a girly female friend to judge it and get honest feedback. They will be able to pick up on blocky conversations, lack/missing details and "that doesn't happen" material.

Another tip, stop watching your favorite show. Just stop. I don't really care how awesome it is. Stop watching it. Instead, get the script and read it. No visuals -simply dialogue. It will teach you what works and what doesn't to create a scene without the use of props or body language (which conveys 85-90% of our communication -numbers vary from src to src but it's always more than 3/4).

Lastly, don't read any of the people mentioned. They are bad for your creativity.
Copying a style might pigeon hole you and prevent you from learning your own style. Inspiration is great, but reproduction is not the best form of flattery. Too many writers fall in love with a particular source and end up creating stories within other people's worlds. By going to the greats, it's too easy to fall into that trap. You are better off to create a world that might suck/not fleshed out enough but is entirely your own. You'll get better at creating worlds the more often you do them.

Kinda the opposite of Lovecraft who writes as if he sits on your lap and whispers in you ear "Be scared! See, it says "aeons"! Be scared!..."

Yeah Lovecraft had an absolute gift for making almost ANYTHING seem spooky and mysterious. I'm convinced that he could narrate a old ladies' bridge game and make it unimaginably frightening.

That's not very hard now, is it?

Okay my attempt at short story :

Requiem for Grumpy
Whole town was quiet. So quiet, a cricket song would seem like shots from a cannon, but unfortunately all crickets were extinct. It was night, but it was hard to recognize since radioactive gloom was shining around everywhere where the eye could see. One lone guard was standing at a stash where food and water was kept, what's left of it anyway. All reserves of the whole town at one place. Nobody knew his real name so he got a the nickname Grumpy, he never talked, all he did was grunting noises. Little did they know his tongue was cut off. The town is quiet - too quiet. Grumpy thought to himself. He was standing on one spot, guarding the stash for several hours. He liked his job, it was nice and quiet. The town was in middle of nowhere, so no bandits or mutants were seen in months. Everyone knew everyone in this small town, and Grumpy liked it that way. Since there hasn't been any danger in months, he didn't think that anybody would attack the town, so he went for a piss break. He wouldn't dare to do it in first weeks of his service, but now he really didn't care.

There were public toilets, but if you didn't want to get radiation sickness, or any sickness for that matter, you would do best if you stayed far away from them. He went for quick stroll into the desert, not too far from the town, but far enough so he could do what needed to be done in private. He unzipped his very old pants which had more holes then Swiss cheese and started doing his deed. Grumpy heard weird noises, but he assumed that it was just a shrubbery being blown by the wind. He felt a cold metallic thing on back of his head. *Click* *BANG*. Grumpy was too far away from the town. Nobody heard last sounds Grumpy heard before his death. Whole town was blazing before Sun could rise to its place in the sky. That is life on the Wasteland. People kill people for a drop of water. No morals, no laws. Survival of the fittest.


What do you think?

EDIT: Added continuation of the short story to show you how I handle dialogues.

______________________________________________________________________
"Another town bites the dust!" One of the bandits grinned with his toothless smile on leader of their little pack.

"We were mainly lucky that they weren't awake, I would hate to bury more of our comrades." Whimpered one of the bandits that was sweating and shaking.

"Shut up both of you!" Their leader shouted at them. He was one ugly bastard on first sight. He was missing his left eye and his whole body was covered in scars. "Stue, how much food and water did this town have?" The leader shouted at a bandit that was handling the stolen supplies.

Stue got his nickname because of his constant stuttering. "Th-th-the town wasn't t-t-too rich, bu-bu-but we are g-g-good for f-f-few days ch-ch-chief." Stue answered and was happy that he didn't have to talk anymore.

Leader of Bandits was relieved. He wouldn't admit it to any of his subjects but he didn't want things to end bloody. He was a kind soul, but to keep himself on top he needed to be cruel. If any of his minions would see just a tiny bit of doubt they would overthrow him. But to burn each town to crisp, without any survivors -- it was killing him from inside. There was no other way to do it. They needed the supplies to survive and the town needed them too. They couldn't hire any more people to their gang, they had enough thirsty and hungry throats as it is. It was either let them die slowly from starvation or quickly from a gunshot. He just hoped this nightmare will end soon. Even though he didn't believe it himself.

Start with grammar.

The best advice I could give, is just write. Write a lot, share it, ask for constructive criticism and see what works for you and what honestly doesn't. Not everyone is going to like what you write, it's just a fact of life, don't let that get to you. Write short stories of anything that comes to mind, or bits and pieces of a story you'll never finish or let out. The most important exercise is to write, find your own voice and style, and polish it.

Sure I can share short stories here from time to time, what do you think about the one two posts above yours?

Bumping this thread with this -

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A21herj0OdjtRu_hCt4D_u4HVsm1jKvfhECRKTz414o/edit

My entry for Fenixp contest. What do you think? Do you like it or not? Any tips how to improve my style?

I would also recommend writing book reviews. I'm doing that at the moment with "Giant Thief" by David Tallerman; it's helpful in that, as you use your own words to explain your understanding of someone else's story, you're looking at it in a way that you might not if you're just simply reading something for pleasure.

It can help to understand how people construct stories and the paths they take, what you like/don't like, or even think along the lines of "Well, I wouldn't have done that!" or "If this was mine, I would have done this instead."

And hey, it's writing. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably end up with a 3,000 word review. Easier than writing 3000 words to an original story? Sure, but it'll definitely help.

If you can, try to pick up a Kurt Vonnegut book or two.

I can easily recommend "Breakfast of Champions" or "Slaughterhouse Five"

He's a cross between sci-fi and satire. Really hard to describe his works. I would recommend looking for a Czech-language version of his novels just so you don't have to flip through a dictionary (referring to your post about Terry Pratchett..)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A21herj0OdjtRu_hCt4D_u4HVsm1jKvfhECRKTz414o/edit

No opinions about my work? :(