Writing Tips

Since my WWP crashed and burned, here's my new thing. Mostly where I force my views on writing upon you, and reveal the fact that I am probably not as good a writer as I make myself out to be. Mwahahaha.
NOTE: All of these are my OPINIONS. Meaning that they are not tested and tried and all that stuff. Meaning that you have no obligation to follow them.
Since (ooh, there's that word that I overuse again) I like to talk about characters best, then that's what I shall talk (read: ramble) about today.

First of all, if you don't believe in your characters--believe that they exist, believe that they can succeed in their quest, believe in them as people--then you most likely won't have an easy time writing your story/novel/whatever it is you write.
I, for one, believe in my characters so wholeheartedly, that I prefer to carry on conversations with them than with my family and friends (that is, my friends in real life; not my friends online). Yeah, yeah, I can hear you laughing in the background. Knock it off. XP
Another thing that's very important is your characters have to have flaws. Think about your friends, family, or a random person you know. They have good characteristics, sure. But the truth is, their bad habits, annoying habits, and flaws exceed those characteristics by far.
Some good flaws for characters include: greed, inability to tell the truth, too easily scared, bossy, a show-off, is obnoxious for no reason.
Some bad flaws for characters include: having a horrible childhood, they think no one likes them, they're overweight.
Yeah. Let me see if I can come up with a famous person to use as an example...
Ah! How about Boromir from Lord of the Rings? Some of his good characteristics were bravery, loyalty to his friends, and he was a good fighter. Some of his flaws were that he couldn't handle the pull of the Ring, he was way too ambitious, and he basically thought he knew better than Elrond and Gandalf.
Anyhow.
That's about all I have time to ramble about today, unfortunately. I have to get off and go to my writing co-op...where I'm not even participating (I'm doing the thing at home; I just go because my mom wants me to).

Good luck and happy writing!