How to Improve Your Writing

Character Development!

Unless your main character/narrator is the child of God and therefore knows right from wrong in every situation, they should be changing.

(1) Starting off
Pick certain traits that could potentially be problematic for your MC at the beginning of the story. Problematic traits help further the story and create obstacles, thus your MC has the chance to learn from his/her mistakes and grow as a character.
-Examples

1. Closed off
2. Arrogant
3. Rude/Mean
4. Ignorant
5. Self-absorbed

(2) Seeing a change and why?
Over the course of your book, your MC should either make mistakes that allow them to grow or have someone/something open their eyes.
-Examples

1. Someone completely opposite of them comes into their life (or becomes more involved) and slowly changes their viewpoints. This can be a love interest, which is probably most common, or simply a friend.
2. Maybe they witness problems outside of 'their' world. Say your MC is arrogant because (s)he has had everything handed to him/her and then they step out of their little bubble and see all of the problems that are truly there.

Do not make them change just for the hell of it. Have a reason for the change and make that clear to the audience.

(3) End result/moral of the story.
Not every story necessarily has a clear-cut message to it. Some have many: Love, live your life, be happy, etc. These usually want to leave it up to the readers—have them take what they will out of the story. Others focus on one that becomes abundantly clear over the course of the novel.

If you're the latter, make it abundantly clear by the end. Don't make the audience play a guessing game, but also don't be too obvious. What do I mean?

The moral of this story is blah, blah, blah.

No. Just no.

If it's in the first person, you can make the narrator reflect on how their life has changed from the start of the novel to where they are at the end. (That's not the only option, keep in mind.)

Now, if you're the first option—keep it up to the readers. Don't force a specific moral onto them if you're the first option. Have a bunch of morals evident in your story. Everyone will get something different out of it, which is the beauty of this option. Despite what you thought was most prominent, someone might get something totally different. It's really eye-opening hearing other people's take aways from your story.

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THIS IS NOT MEANT TO OFFEND ANYONE OR SINGLE AN AUTHOR OUT. THIS BOOK IS MEANT TO BE HELPFUL AND I AM REALLY SORRY IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY IT. I AM NOT AN ENGLISH TEACHER, I JUST HAVE HAD REALLY GOOD ONES IN THE PAST WHO HAVE TAUGHT ME THESE THINGS. IF YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG, PLEASE POINT IT OUT AND I WILL DO SOME RESEARCH ON IT/CORRECT IT IF NEED BE.