All the resources listed are great, and 2Wycked's are pretty much required reading (everyone says Strunk & White's makes dry writing or is outdated or the grammar points are iffy, and that's all partially true, but the tone and attitude of the book work to improve 95% of any beginner's writing, and it cleans up some serious flaws that many people make when they first start out).
And this thread is a dupe.
But whatever, if you want specific tips for starting out in fiction, here's what I would suggest.
-Cut into the flash fiction market. It's hot right now and if you can master forming compact stories, especially under 500 words, you can gain a great sense of what you need and what you don't need in a story (i.e. what the moving pats really are).
-
Submittable is a great site for keeping track of where your submissions have been sent to.
Duotrope is a great tool is finding sites to match your specific market (flash fiction, horror, humor, etc.) and submit to them. There's a free (but clunkier) wesbite like Duotrope with the extremely homosexual name
The Grinder as well.
-Classes on writing are not necessary. They are sometimes helpful, but you should always be writing. Before you go, while you're going, after you've went. Do not ever wait on sometime to start writing. It's never a waste of time. Start writing.
-Experiment with story development methods. Every story has a sperm cell--an abbreviated idea, concept, or even feeling that every writer works with before anything else. Forcing that sperm into the egg of paper, and incubating it into a full blown story, is the most important skill of fiction writing. Some writers are
only good at developing a story, and have a shit style, poor grasp of English's grammatical framework, and work with boring, damaged (or flat unoriginal) sperm. But they can still make best-sellers (think any popular fiction book today) because they know how to develop a story. Some writers start expanding on their sperm idea by sketching out the logical conclusions of the idea and planning how the story will unfold before writing. Some writers take the idea and expand completely in their heads before ever putting pen to paper, then follow a kind of general direction for the story that has already been mentally prepared. And others just start writing with the idea and mind and develop it as they go, letting the story surprise them as much as any reader.
-Spend every day thinking of story ideas. Pay attention to news stories, conversations, random encounters, and noteworthy events. They can be exciting, they can be dull. You need to be attentive, you need to question everything (why did that person say something? what motivated him? why did the hummingbird fall to its death across your yard? who saw it? how does it make them feel? what time of day did it happen in? if God made it happen, why would he do that?). Being a writer is being God. You need to get in God's mind, observe God's world, and understand what the master plan could be. That kind of thinking will help you pay attention to the unlimited amount of story ideas all around you. An old man I know always said that writer's bloc is a bullshit excuse for a lazy or unskilled writer, and I believe him. When you can see twenty or more good story ideas (or sperms) every day, then you've mastered this skill.
-Write a lot every day. While I personally don't think you necessarily need a quota of words, you do need to write every day to get as could as you possibly can be. And you have to be
improving. Not just writing to write. And that means reading good fiction for reference. All kinds of good fiction.
-Listen to people talking and write it down. If you can't write believable dialogue, either keep the dialogue sparse in your stories (like Stephen King notes H.P. Lovecraft does in On Writing), or learn how to write good dialogue. The latter is always preferable. It can be done.
-Improve your writing, always. Not just when you're writing, but when you're not writing. Think about how drama in your life plays out, what makes it intense. Think about how small and big things can fit into a greater plot. And try to unpack the devices used to make your favorite movies entertaining. In short, constantly think about
how you would incorporate what you see into a story. While observing your world will help open your eyes (a point touched on above), knowing how to fit the pieces into the puzzle is just as important. Always, always be dwelling on and figuring out your craft.
-Good and great writers are not always born. They
can be made. Assume you're a bad writer. Work your ass off to become great.
-The reason great writers are usually born as great writers, and the reason bad writers usually do not improve, is because they reject criticism. It is scary to let people read your work, and it hurts when people criticize it. You feel like you always know best. Of course you do. But you don't. Send your work out to paying markets, listen to the editorial remarks, find readers you'd be targeting, get their opinions, and even ask on the forum if some guys here would read your stuff. Steer clear of shitty aspiring writers. Always look for better writers than you.
-Master writing short fiction before novels. It's easier to understand story development that way.
-Do not jerk yourself off with too much flowery, poetic language. Some guys, like Faulkner, love to write with this artsy kind of approach, and it works. But so many people these days think that's all you need to make a good story, and when you peel back the pretty language, you realize you don't have a story. Use whatever style you want, but make sure you aren't using pretentious ass language as a crutch because you really have nothing in your story.
-Understand now that not all rich writers are great writers, and not all shit writers are poor writers. It's extremely likely, in fact pretty much guaranteed, that some terrible writers will always make more off their writing than you ever will. It's not because people love terrible writing per se. It's just the way it is.
-Listen to music when you write if you feel uninspired.
-Write in a place where you can concentrate. Follow
Victor Pride's advice on setting up a workplace that helps you concentrate. When you're writing, you're working from home. It doesn't matter how much you've made or if you've made anything off your writing. When you are putting words together, your ass is at work.
-Don't spend a dime learning how to write from anyone that doesn't have a PhD in English or sold a shitload of books (the latter is vastly preferable).
-Understand writing as an art. That means don't be mechanical with it. Don't write just to call yourself or writer or just because you see guys on the forum talk about why every man should write. Write because you want to express yourself. Writing is expression. Without anything to express, your writing is shit. Reading that kind of work is like having sex without an orgasm. Put some expression and emotion into what you do.
-You'll know you wrote your story write when you're terrified to let another person read it. But that's when you have to let other people read it.
-Be willing to kill things that aren't necessary in a story, and have the balls to experiment with cutting things out that you really like but no one else does (or gets in your way of building the story as a whole).
Examples of amazing short stories to emulate:
"Big Two-Hearted River" by Hemingway
"Clean, Well-Lit Place" by Ernest Hemingway
"A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver
Heart of Darkness by Conrad
"A Dead Body" by Chekhov
"Guests of the Nation" by Frank O'Connor
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