Well, I get popular articles at least once a day, so I figured I might give my thoughts on writing fiction. Mind you that I'm a stinking awful writer. As in I never wrote anything other than one short story worth anything, and I look back on that one as sub-par. Maybe I'll re-write it someday.

    First, I believe that in writing you should have a sort of gritty realism. For an example of this, I write below (sci-fi, Battletech/MechWarrior style):

    Joseph stood in the middle of the frenzy, watching the titans war, oblivious to his own plight as the titans fell and fought around him. Whenever a shell landed too close to him he would stumble but he generally kept running. He could let nothing stop him from reaching his mech. (This is very engaging for an average reader)

    Second, I believe than in writing you do not have to describe everything mathematically, let its uses be proof of what it does.

    Joseph activated his mech, and it slowly lurched up from the ground, its motors whiring and its gyroscopes balancing it as it shot up like a bird into the sky and stood like a monument to the wonder of man's machines. He fired his laser at the offending Titan and split it neatly down the middle, putting a beam of coherent light through his enemy's engines. (Notice how the mech feels extremely powerful, though only the laser feels actually dangerous.)

    Third, kill off the hero, by all means. Please do, it provides an unexpected twist, but you should definitely make the reader feel rewarded for it. You do not have to state that the hero dies.

    The colony ship took off as Joseph attacked the Titans' artillery units, allowing the ship to leave safely. Joseph gritted his teeth. There was no way out now. (Yeah, there's not much to describe here)

    None of this is from an actual short story. Would anyone read it (and give me advice) if I released it in chapters?