You've decided you have a story to tell and you think others will enjoy reading it. You have everything you need in your hand and in your head. You're determined and you're absolutely positive that you can do this. You saw 'Field of Dreams', so you know that if you write it, they will come. (Or cum.) Spell it your own way. It's your story.
Hey, you're prepared. You've been lurking around reading stories for years. Now, you've even taken the first step of creating an account, reading the rules, and possibly, you've visited the Author's Hangout to see what little tips you could pick up before you ever begin writing your first story. That's a smart move. It's a safe bet not many new writers think about doing that before they submit their first story.
You tell yourself there's nothing to it. Some of the stories you've read were not even edited and they came off badly. The readers tore them apart in their comments. But, you at least know better than to make those silly little mistakes in grammar and spelling. You took four years of English in high school, and you remember most of what you learned. You know when to use 'who' and when to use 'whom'. You even know not to end a sentence with a preposition. (Wait! What's a preposition again?) There it is. That first little nagging doubt.
No need to make yourself look ignorant by asking that one on the boards. Google it. Okay, you've got it now. So, how do you rewrite that sentence that ended with a preposition? Hmm. You'll have to give that some more thought. Sleep on it. It will come to you after you're more rested.
Wow! You must really be on the path to becoming an honest to goodness writer now, because you suddenly find yourself sleeping on a lot of unanswered questions. For instance, there was that question about how to punctuate long quotations that extend past more than one or two paragraphs. You found the answer to that on the Author's Hangout board. (He-he-he! Those silly authors giving away all their secrets to proper writing!) Just wait until they get a load of your writing. It will be perfect and they won't even realize that they actually helped you write it.
Now, stop patting yourself on the back and get back to that opening scene you started. Three paragraphs. That's it? You spent half a night agonizing over words and all you've got is three opening paragraphs? Look at the calendar. You have seven days to meet the contest submission deadline. Too bad you spent a week trying to relearn all those grammar rules. At this rate, you might have the seven hundred fifty required word minimum by then, but your characters won't even have started taking off their clothes at that point. You should have started this sooner. Forget the headache and the eye-strain! You have to get this done.
You've decided to make the opening shorter, so you can get to the 'good stuff' sooner. That's what the readers want. You know that because you read it in the 'How to' submissions. So what if they don't know that your lead character lost his right arm in a terrible automobile crash when he was only eighteen? They'll figure it out sooner or later. Besides, you gave them a detailed description of what the waitress was wearing when he met his leading lady. You covered the details. Nobody is going to complain about a lack of details in your story. You had that waitress looking pretty hot and that's what the readers are worried about.
