You should be writing something.

Many of the questions that these writers have can be solved with this simple two step process.

How do you make a novel readable? Follow the format that they use when reading a novel. A lot of things to read. Write what you have read.

How do you make a good captain? Start writing when you start watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. Paragraph breaks should be used whenever a new character starts speaking. See how many books open when you open them. Most of them do. It is a good idea.

Throughout your life, you observe things. The books you read are formatted correctly. You watch TV shows with tense scenes and read novels with tense scenes. You watch all of the starship captains and decide which ones are good, and you make your captain have some of the qualities that you admire, and they respond to the stresses of your story, and you watch them.

That one was a bit facetious. Not really. The best is Picard.

You watch more and read more. As a human, you grow. Maybe you take writing classes. Maybe you can get some help from a published writer, who will leave helpful notes, like this one I got from Heather Petty on my first novel. You write down something. Write poorly.

You put the question away. No matter how hard it is, you swallow back the worst of your questions. It’s not important how much you want to do right on the first try. You have to actually write the thing.

You stop worrying about it. I know that is not an easy thing to do. You have to stop worrying about it. You have to stop trying to make it perfect and go back and revise. You are trying to get it done.

That is correct. You don’t think about those questions. They are kicked down the line.

You write down something.