Andrew Kramer posted another tutorial in the Meteor Crash series. The best piece of advise from the tutorial:

Now, if you don't have Particular, what you can do is go in your back yard, and get a pile of dirt together. Put it in your hand, along with a grenade... No, along with like, a small firecracker. And then... light it. And when your hand blows off, what you can do is sue the company that makes the fireworks. Take the money from the settlement, and then buy Particular... so we can do this tutorial together.

Really, he doesn't get into Particular until part 2, though.