New GM Advice

I have been gaming off and on now for 16 years. That's a little over half my life and the entirety of my adult life thus far. I have played a lot of different table games over that time and if I tried to list them, I know I would fail and miss some of the games I have thrown dice and had some kind of stake or share in. One of the first questions new or perspective players ask is: "How do I join a game"? the next, "How do I Gm and how do I get better at it, no how to be  the be the best at it"?

This post is going to focus on a part of that second question. Everybody who has ran a session or two has their bits to add to the  soup pot. Here's mine:

Wait, before I tell you, sit down. Relax, still your thoughts and prepare yourself for some paradigm shattering. I do not care what kind of  Referee, or Judge you are, or aim to be. This information is good, it is universal, and the most useful I can possibly give you. In order to give this advice well and make it stick. I am going to use some vulgar, family unfriendly language and metaphors. It might make me consider making my whole blog nsfw. But this is important and I want you, dear readers to take it to heart. It is a bitter pill to swallow, possibly horse sized too. If you've heard this advice before, good. If not, I really need you to focus and prepare: your heart, mind, and body. This one's gonna hurt:

"Your players are gonna do their best to bend your carefully orchestrated adventure/campaign over a table and have their way with it  and you are going to watch it happen". Your best friends, or random folks you roll dice with will do it to you. It doesn't matter if it hasn't happened yet, it will, and it is coming.
 What can I do to so that I don't hate everything when it happens? (This involves Homework)

1. You can not prevent this from happening. What you can do is this: Adapt your style and recognize this fact about the hobby: The storytelling in these games is collaborative. You, the Referee and they, the players react to one another and your (the group's) actions and reactions are what ultimately tell the story.

2. Do not  be "That DM". Never force your players, or their characters into doing anything, ever. Never take things away from them. Never punish them for good rolls, finding good treasure, or for them taking your plot off the rails. By doing these things, you are robbing your players and your game of "Agency". It stops being a living breathing world and becomes an office where the management punish the staff for a sloppy break room and for stealing pens. Visit https://www.reddit.com/r/rpghorrorstories/ for more examples of things to never, ever do and if you have done those things, you should apologize to the people you play with. I have, it was cathartic.

3. This one is the friendly writing advice section. This is not a mandatory thing, it is merely some adventure and storytelling advice that I hope make it harder or more flexible when players make crap hit the fan. These steps assume some things:  That you have a campaign area, story goals, npcs, and monsters chosen, or are using a pre-written/professionally produced adventure.

1. Make a list of events that happen and give them dates in game. Time passes independently of player choices. If they decide to dick around the bar for a week, the big bad cult in the mountains could have summoned their big bad god in the same amount of time. Every action should have consequence (not a punishment), and yes, choosing to not do anything is in fact a choice.
2. Prepare. Read everything once when you get it, again when you intend to run it, again the night before, and possibly right before everyone else shows up. Literally be the "Master" of your campaign and know the ins and outs of the plot so you are able to be flexible. Your players don't always choose the  main road through the mountains, even if they have for the last 20 years.
3. Learn about improvisation and how to do it better. Be spontaneous, but in a controlled way.
4. Know your players. What they want from your game, from you (the dm) and find out how you can meet these needs. Then know their characters, anticipate their actions, or at least attempt to predict them.
5. Read the works listed in a "recommended reading" section for the system you are running. This hobby was founded on the ideas of doing what Conan, Jirel, John Carter, and others could do in the pulps. If you haven't yet, familiarize yourself with "Appendix N". Then move on to the more modern stuff. It's okay to not like stuff much and to have your preferences. If you are playing a system that is heavily lit based, like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Call of Cthulhu, or Lamentations of the Flame Princess, make sure to do this part. Further advice: find out who or what influenced those authors and read that. I mean it! Here's an example: Read Lovecraft? Great! Now read: Blackwood, Chambers, Dunsany, Machen, and Poe! You'll find little things that Lovecraft picked up on and was influenced by. In "the gods of Pegana" Dunsany makes his own pantheon of strange gods. Chambers makes up a book and a group of stories connected by its presence within them.
You get the picture. It's happened for eons, one artist inspiring others. Homer inspired Virgil who then inspired Dante.

That's what advice I can give you at the moment, I could probably write a better organized book about this subject, instead of a blog post, but others have done a better job of it already. Here are two such examples and where to get them:

The "be a better game master" series by absolute table top: https://absolutetabletop.com/be-a-better-game-master 
It is a bit pricey for everything and a bit of a time investment, but it is worth it and given to you in an easy to digest interactive workbook format.

"Lamentations of the Flame Princess Referee book, Grindhouse Edition:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/148012/LotFP-Referee-Book-old-Grindhouse-Edition
This bad boy costs 0 dollars and was one of the best books on the subject I have read. It also has a free, short adventure for the system that is well worth running!