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Writing Fiction
Tips to Making Your Fiction GreatShort stories range from 1,500 to 30,000 words, novellas from 30,000 to 50,000, and novels from 50,000 to 300,000 words. Agents indicate it is easier to represent a first-time novelist's book if the work count is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Your first few pages are key. Many editors and agents know those pages will be a reflection of your entire novel and will give them a lot about your fiction-writing techniques. The book, The First Five Pages, makes this point. Others point out your first paragraph has to get them to read to the second paragraph, the first page to the second page, and so on. If anything is boring, you'll lose your reader. Avoid too many descriptive words, too much description, an inappropriate point of view, the wrong voice and trendy expressions. If this is puzzling, it may be wise to read a book about writing fiction to understand these terms and how they fit in fiction writing. “I always start with a question, and the answer is the novel. And I find that in 'the moment when everything changes, for good or ill,' as someone once said, that's where I find the story.” - bestselling novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Writer, September 2005 “Write compelling scenes that put the reader right in the action. Good scenes should contain a setting, news or action, conflict, setup, and outcome.” - Quinn Dalton, The Writer, August 2005 When you feel the need to tell, versus show, remember these tips:
“Suspense-uncertainty, doubt, anxiety-is an absolute necessary ingredient in all fiction, not just so-called 'suspense novels'.” - William G. Tapply, The Writer, August 2005 “The most common mistake we writers make, especially in first draft, is to back into the tale and wait too many pages to start the real story.” - Steve Dimeo, The Writer, April 2005 Pique your readers' interest with questions worth answering. Tips for Christian FictionIn Christian fiction, start with characters whose inner conflict of their faith will drive the plot. Engage your readers right from the start by making them care, creating conflict, putting your character in danger, building in a surprise, creating curiosity, or through dialogue. “The faith element [in Christian fiction] is fundamental to the story, but it must be woven through seamlessly as part of who the characters are, their conflict and what drives the plot.” - Debby Mayne, Writer's Digest, June 2005 Telling the Story“Get out of the way of the story and let it tell itself. Good stories deliver on their promise of 'What next?'” - Wallace Stegner “Great storytelling is the key to success as a novelist.” - Donald Maass, The Writer, August 2005 “I want to get lost in the story and, for me, that means I need to be gripped from the start and pulled into the character's lives immediately.” - Rebecca Germany, Senior Editor of Romance and Women's Fiction, Barbour Publishing - Writer's Digest, June 2005 Characters and Dialogue“Your objective [in describing characters] is to paint a picture so definitive that the reader has to read the passage only once to know that character.” -I.J. Schecter, Writer's Digest, May 2005 Create believable characters. Allow actions to drive your character's thoughts, desires, struggles, secrets, and dialogue. Know your characters intimately. Give them traits that make them come alive, give them a past, problems, goals, likes and dislikes-everything that you have. Know your characters inside and out so their story is told. Allow them to create tension and conflict, move the story along, and make your readers either love them-or hate them. Make them real, interesting and vulnerable. Learn the art of writing great dialogue. Make your characters talk like real people. Creating a Page-Turner"Creating a page-turner is so important in this day (when
competition for your readers' attention is strong) that
cliff-hangers have to be premeditated, not simply edited in.
Whenever I write a book, I create an outline for the entire
book (determining the beginning, middle, and end) and then an
outline for each chapter (with a beginning, middle, and end). I
build up to the chapter's climax and then end the chapter at
the height of the climax. Writing Good Endings“Write at least two pages of potential ending material. From this, you can glean the last few paragraphs that will be the perfect ending for your work.” - James Scott Bell, Writer's Digest, December 2005 Fiction Writing Resources on the WebThe Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, published by Randy Ingermanson Randy Ingermanson's website on
writing, which includes his famous Snowflake method for
writing a novel. | ||
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Recommended Books
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Pikes Peak Writers Conference April 29 - May 1, 2011 Faculty for suspense, mystery, horror, thriller, romance, western, inspirational,, Christian, childrens, YA, literary fiction, and more |