My uninformed guide to writing stories and roleplaying

Hello people. After looking through multiple RPs by people on the site, I have come to the conclusion that quite a few people here NEED TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE. And so, I've decided to take it upon myself to create a guide to writing. This assumes that your grammar is at least alright, so don't assume that this is an English lesson or anything, although I will attempt to explain how to use multiple grammatical items such as speech tags and the semicolon. If you need to improve your grammar, don't come here; go to an English tutor. Or the internet. The fact that you're reading this already proves that you have the latter, so all you have to do is search "How to use grammar."

Now, before I actually begin this guide, why is it the "uninformed" guide to writing stories and roleplaying? This is because, in truth, I've yet to actually finish a piece of fiction longer than 1000 words, excluding roleplays. So, of course, this guide may contain some errors, but it should still prove useful to most people on the site. I also recommend going to the library and looking for "How Not to Write a Novel." That book is extremely useful when writing, and it's funny too.

The first thing I'm going to talk about is setting. Where and when is your story set? Is it set in modern day New York City? Don't just say that you're in New York, describe it. Describe the hustle and bustle of the streets. Don't just describe sight, either; remember that human beings use five senses, and it would do you well to describe at least use three of them (sight, hearing and smell). Of course, you have to make sure you don't get overboard; we want to get a general picture of New York, not a flipping portrait. We don't want to know about EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the street, or how many streetlights there are.

Be careful when setting your story in a completely foreign place, and even more careful when in a completely foreign time. The contemporary reader knows little about feudal Japan except for what they've seen on TV, whereas they already have a picture in mind when they think of New York. This means that you have to be much more descriptive in foreign settings than in New York.
Moreover, you have to KNOW about the setting in which your story is set. If you're making a story about ninjas, don't base everything you know about them on Naruto or Ninja Gaiden, even if it's a fanfic of one of those two. Research! Your story is not going to be believable when Ryu, the elder and master of the Dragon Clan, eats fruit loops for breakfast or gets called by his boss on his cellphone. This could be played for laughs in television, but this is written fiction. This will have no merit whatsoever in your story.