Let me get this straight for you — I hated reading as a child.

Throughout my years in school, I never liked reading because I found reading... boring. I didn't have a personal book that made me want to read, they only made me find reading as a waste of time. The only times I went and read a book was in school, or when my parents insisted on me reading a book.

That was until I found a murder mystery series — "Murder Most Unladylike" by Robin Stevens. Since then, I've been much more interested in reading, particularly romance and mystery.

When I started creating this short dystopian, it made me realise how much research and techniques that I could do. Maybe if I actually went and read other books, I would have been better in creative writing earlier.

So, my very first tip is to read a book that actually interests you.

Ask yourself question about your story. Does the story plot make sense? Do you have good enough vocabulary? Would you need to go back to check for spelling/grammar mistakes? These are questions that you should constantly be asking yourself to make sure that the text is readable and clear towards your reader.

I would strongly suggest thinking about character development, and what oppotunities you could bring each character into. Don't just develop the protagonist! Obviously the protagonist is the most significant character of the story, but put the spotlight onto other characters too.

I believe that this tip may be my million-dollar tip. And you may be asking why?

Well, the number of times that I've heard teachers saying that you need to 'use techniques' to make your stories more interesting. I wouldn't say it is wrong, but you need so much more than that to be able to create a thrilling story.

This is why I say when you are reading and going back through your story, you need to act like you are the reader. When you are constantly asking yourself questions, think about what the readers would ask at this point of the story.

If you are considering on whether to put a technique in, then stop. Not saying you are putting it in the wrong place, but don't try forcing in a technique if you don't think that it would work. I always say that you should "put a technique in when it flows with the text," and if it doesn't, don't bother, that may not be a suitable slot for it.