I need a lunch break while finishing my move, and since i'm getting into writing again I felt I would write some basic tips.

*generally this is story advice. if you're looking for poetry or straight up pornography it won't work as well.

1. Write the story people need to hear:

Ask yourself why you are writing the story. Why would people want to read it? Is the world in danger to be saved? Is there some secret society in danger? Is there a character people must know?

Writing should always be fun, so write the story that pleases you, but if you're sharing with others remember that you'll need to make it appeal to them as well.

I have plenty of little stories about rp characters that make no sense nor interest to anyone not in the group. If you're writing your pet character or world and want to share just step back and ask "would i read this if I wasn't writing it?"

2. Get them with the hook:

Going off of 1, people reading need to be interested in what you are trying to say. You have roughly a half page to get someone's attention at first.

This doesn't mean you have to dive in with "it was a dark and stormy night, and the world is going to end". For example Hitchhiker's guide starts with a man waking up with a hangover and within one page we see his house is going to be torn down.
It starts of relatable (hangover) then goes into a conflict that the reader wants to see the end of (bulldozers v. house).

Once you have someone hooked you build up toward the larger plot. Generally for this after you hooked them on page one you have a couple pages to get them into the bigger conflict. Again with hitchhikers, that bulldozer bit leads directly to the destruction of earth and the plot carries one along smoothly.

Rather than one major bump, view the plot as a mosaic, pieces that come together to form one smooth rise and fall. Each piece is its own part, has its own hook to carry into the next piece.

2.2 Make sure the plot is interesting enough to be worth it:

A combination of 1 and 2 to get the point across.

To get people hooked it doesn't have to be huge, but it does need to be interesting. Ask yourself "why would the reader care? what is the motivation here?"

"The motivation is they want adventure" well that's just vague and basically telling the reader "I promise it will get better, trust me something interesting will happen" well no, I'll got invest in the story that gave me interesting things up front.

"They need money" well I need money too but no one is going to read about me doing paperwork and grading.

In general being too vague or general does not make a good hook. If your story is a young woman, you don't want her to be a prude requiring months worth of bland small talk dinners before she gives you a kiss at the door. You also don't want her to be so open that when she sees a guy on the street she shows him her dragon apocalypse, there's nowhere to go from there. I'm losing track of this metaphor, but the point is, let your story be that girl that invites you to dinner to get you interested, catch them with a kiss, and in time build up to the grand things.

3. Write what you know:

This doesn't mean "you literally had to be a viking to write about them" but good lord don't call a tiller a "turny stick"

Stories are about immersion and a lot is lost if you have no damn clue about what you're meant to be writing about. It's shallow, it's equivalent of a cardboard cut out. Do research, learn what you're talking about.

Tolkien is a golden god of writing for a reason. Not only did he make languages and a whole world with a history for his works to take place, but he was a master scholar in anglo saxon, celtic mythology, and other solid foundations of western literature.

"knowing" is more than facts. It's the way people act and speak. A haughty duke is not going to ask for a plain cigarette, vodka is not served in mugs (someone wrote this once, srsly). Don't say the character enjoys pipeweed, then have them talking about tobacco later. It's the same thing but you end up mixing tropes, accents, and dialects and the character is no longer real.

When you write ask yourself why you're using that word instead of a different one. If the answer is "I think it sounds neat" that's probably not a very good reason (unless its a character that uses whatever word they think is neat)

The reader shouldn't look over your work and think "yes I also played Elder Scrolls" or "I remember DnD as well"

Read. A lot. Live. A lot. Use all of this information to inform your writing.

4. The loaded gun must go off:

This is generally used to mean that, if you describe something it should probably hold some importance. If you take time to point out that there's a loaded gun, the gun should go off.

It's more than just physical objects that are important. For instance if you reference zombies rising, take time for the characters to investigate an ancient cemetery and find reference to the zombies, give a journal from a old priest going mad as he slowly delves into necromancy, and end with an implication that the priest is alive and hiding in an ancient crypt
DO NOT JUST LEAVE THERE!
This is the equivalent of literary blueballs. It's a magnificent waste of the build up!

This doesn't mean the characters have to be idiots and go "hey let's run towards the screams!" but you are the writer, you are the god of the world you are creating and you should adjust the plot so such a plotline is settled. Maybe they run away and run into the priest, lookit that, some sort of build up!

Point is if you bring topics up people want some sort of conclusion with it.
Now the more skilled writer can play with it, reference the gun and reference later that the trigger jammed, haha metajoke the loaded gun can't go off.

It's easy to tell when someone is aware that there is a plot hole and it's left there on purpose and when someone just leaves it hanging. This is why the ending of lost was utter bullshit. It is not good writing to open up so many plot lines and leave them to dangle like the body of the victims of the serial killer that's on the loose but I don't feel like investigating further.

5. Making up words does not make the mundane interesting, it makes it tedious:

http://xkcd.com/483/

Tolkien gets a pass because he's better than you, or me. (apologies if you are Shakespeare or Lewis carol reading this from the dead).

Point is, a lot of new fiction writers, particularly in fantasy settings, will substitute a mundane thing with some made up nonsense.

It's not interesting for the characters to just talk about some whoopaloo causing trouble, I dunno what the shit that is.
It works with Harry Potter because for 3 books it's "that's a grindeefuck" "What the hell is that?: explanation

This one has the most wiggle room, making up things is part of writing, but just remember using made up things, or obscure stuff that people don't know, is not a substitute for substance.
If it's between battling a dragon and a vamplefukyu which is like a dragon but it farts lighting and has a lion head, the dragon would make for a better enemy.