Now for the record i can only give you advice on simple do's and do not's and help you with some of the basics. I cannot, however, grant you the ability to write a good story that falls onto your shoulders.

First of all DO NOT FORCE AN IDEA! This is an absolute no-no. Even if it takes a few months or a few years you should let the story come naturally. Have you ever wondered something like 'i can't remember what that actors name is! what is it? i know this...' and then a few hours later you yell out his name in a public place thus frightening the passers-by? This is because your subconcious is still working on the question after you've stopped thinking about it, the same goes for a story. You need to let the story come together, there are things you can do to speed up the process such as look at art or pictures (via google image search) related to your topic, or various other things like listening to music.

Do not get attached to certain ideas, remember this more than likely won't be your last story, and even if it is - remember - some ideas were meant to die. Sound harsh? well it's true. Some people become infatuated with ideas and try to incoorperate them where they don't belong. For example i knew a playwright who wanted to write a 3-person play encapsulating freedom summer. However he was commissioned to write a play about freedom summer with a minimum cast of 10 people. He liked the idea of using 3 people, because he wanted them to be symbols more than people, now that's not a bad idea and he's a good writer i'm sure he could do it, but this project was not right for it. He was so entranced by this idea that he ended up not writing the play he should have.

However much you love your work you need to be able to look at it objectively once and a while, know what's working and what doesn't. Don't feel bad about taking something out - remember you can use it in a different story!

Next be able to evaluate how much material you have and what format would most suit it. This can start at a basic level, depending on how many varied talents you have, by choosing the best way to portray a story - whether its a play, comic, poem, written story, or even music.

Now even if you don't have enough ability to choose between the categories about you still need to consider length. Do you have enough material to span an opera or will you just write a ballad? Short story of novel? Daily strip or full blown graphic novel? This is the largest mistake I've seen people make. This can also be another case of getting an idea stuck in your head and not letting it go, not allowing the story to come into being on it's own.

Some people think 'I'm going to write a novel' but they only have enough material for a short story. Now this doesn't mean go out and write more things and add more to make it a novel, although i suppose you could try. That just means that maybe this is a short story, don't worry you'll have the opportunity to write a novel later. It doesn't mean the story isn't good, longer isn't better. There are a number of widely acclaimed short stories, just because it's short doesn't mean you can skimp!

As for comics the same goes, would your story be able to be wrapped up in 8 panels at most? or will you have a plot that spans pages and pages? It can do both, i suggest you look at Mega Tokyo or Azumanga Daioh. In Mega Tokyo the comic started out as 4 panel punch lines, but each progressively told a story, later in the series it switched to full graphic novel format. Azumanga Daioh also had the 4-panel punch line but still had a continuous story. There's no law that says you have to do one or the other, your only limitation is your imagination.

Now you've more than likely heard this before if you've looked at other writing suggestions but always remember that detail is EXTREMELY important. This goes for anything, all forms of writing and drawing. For example in comics, especially if you one day make a living out of it, details are important even if they take longer. For example - i had a friend in high school who wanted to be a graphic novelist, but she never drew backgrounds. She'd do one of two things, both were pretty awful. One, she'd leave the background blank. You'd be in a room and there would be nothing in the room except for the people, even though this was their 'cozy house'. The other was when characters were outside she'd use a real photograph with her characters drawn in. Backgrounds can be difficult, i agree but the more details the better even if people aren't looking too closely, sometimes you don't want them to.

In one of my comics i added just a picture frame on the wall and a coat rack so that the wall didn't seem barren, and that's all it took. You don't have to draw anything too elaborate (but feel free to!) but enough so that its not naked.

And when writing you want your reader to be able to picture the room, it should be as if (forgive the harry potter reference) you've fallen into the pensieve and are actively looking at a memory.

The small things tend to be the biggest, I was in a play once (acting this time not writing) where my character kept trying to light a cigarette but the lighter would never start, it was surprisingly a large part of the character.

Now wait, stop right there - don't overdo it. Don't put a million small things in your work, and especially don't put bizarre references (unless it's just for fun, for yourself and for the lucky fan who catches the references) but don't rely on your reader catching them all. Have you ever had the experience of trying to make something work better by adding more features - and it ends up just falling apart. It's just like that.

That's all for now, check in for part 2 later on!