Today's popular fiction involves fascinating people in compelling situations. Emphasis is more on characterization than plot.
Motivations must be realistic and actions believable. Avoid easy stereotypes. Use a detail to make character an individual
A novel is a collection of people. Don't introduce characters with a resume. Give information on a need-to-know basis. Let the readers learn the details through character interactions. Readers need to meet characters the same way they meet real people—unfold the characters. Think of Scheherazade with a lot of veils. Take the veils off one at a time. Readers have to remain interested in seeing the next veil removed. This is pacing.
The story is what happens. The plot is how it happens. The best kind of plot is the interaction of people. What makes a character interesting is conflict.
Novels must move forward. The first 10–15 pages are crucial. Reader must be involved immediately. We live in a visual world. It isn't necessary to describe everything in the setting. Use the 6-point test. Describe only the first six things a characters sees, or doesn't see, when entering the setting. Description should be in form of character's reactions, not a listing.
Every scene and every character must earn its keep. Anything else is the writer indulging him/herself.
Dialogue is not just conversation—it must advance the characterization and the story line. Characters don't make speeches! Read your dialogue into a tape recorder and then listen to it. Trust your ear.
Everyone knows about the mechanics of sex. When writing a sex scene, what is interesting is the psychological aspects—what is going on in the character's mind. Quoted someone We are never so much ourselves as when we're making love. The character's individuality must be a part of the sex act. Third person pov isn't as limiting as first person, but be consistent whichever you choose. Knowing first whose story it is will help you choose pov. The person who has the most to say is the person whose story it is. Think about who you want the reader to identify with.
Self-editing can include cutting out some of your best writing. Just because it's fine writing doesn't mean it has a place in that particular mss. Save it for another mss.
Create a biography of characters, but don't put everything in the story.
Common errors in nonfiction:
The most common mistake of all authors is that they are not kind to their readers. Readers always need to be aware of what is going on—authors forget that readers don't have the foreknowledge the author has.
A little bit of dialect goes a long way. Use it sparingly at the beginning to establish speech, then use normal speech.
Speaker: Bob Yehling, a full-time freelancer who writes for the web on a variety of subjects. Also currently the editorial director of Silicon Valley Publishing. In the past, has written extensively for various publications, and edited more than 30 different periodicals and commemorative magazines. Also writes fiction and poetry, and teaches meditation.
The most important thing a writer can do is to simply trust the process. The ability to write is definitely related to the ability to trust. Important items to remember when writing:
Speaker: Bob Early, currently editor-in-chief of Arizona Highways, former editor of Phoenix Metro Magazine, managing editor ofThe Arizona Republic and reporter for The Indianapolis Star. Lectures at universities, etc.
If you want to write, you have to know something—you have to have some information to impart. Everyone has creative writing abilities, but you have to be able to prod your own creativity. Good systems will stimulate creativity. Developing plots requires a system. You can't wait for inspiration. Force yourself to be inspired.
Write from real-life experience. You know a lot more than you think you know.
It's essential to keep a journal. It forces you to write every day. Essential that you write down your observations. Recommends writing down smells and sounds—most writers fail to describe these. Also write down your story ideas and character descriptions. Journals also provide a place to develop your vocabulary.
The writer's job is to portray, not judge. Portray segments of life, but must go beyond observations. The most effective writing is insightful writing. Have to have insight to do this, which you develop by study and curiosity. Always ask why—question everything you observe. Learn what drives people.
Develop plot lines by discovering a problem of significance and developing a solution. Or spot a solution and investigate it to find a problem.
Many techniques are the same for fiction and nonfiction writers—a metaphor is a metaphor in either case.
For nonfiction—the plotlines already exist. The newspapers are full of ends of stories—pick one out and work it backwards.
In fiction, most stories develop from writer's own consciousness. Here's how to examine your own life and mine it for story ideas:
There will be overlapping on these lists, but some will include items you didn't think about on the other lists. They all provide story fodder, particularly the list of emotions. When you use this information, you don't have to write events, etc. as they actually happened, etc. Use them as a springboard.
Another way to stimulate your creativity: Find out what outrages you. Pretend you're a political candidate, then make up a platform to run on. Use humor. Humor/satire clarifies feelings and is subtle way to express one's outrage. Gulliver's Travels is a good example of this. Think about what makes you mad and why. How could you solve it? Outrage can be changed from negative to positive by means of story.
Be specific in your thinking/writing. Don't write a love story. Write about a woman police officer who loves a widowed Episcopal minister with four children.
The most important thing about writing is perseverance. Never–ever–give up.
In today's fiction, characters are the most important story element. A good character can carry any story.
Things to know about building a character:
There are eleven basic motivators:
Demonstrate characteristics:
Factual information, like profession, can be telling; motivation and personality needs to be showing.
Good writing moves people in some way—it has to have emotional quality, which requires specifics, not generalities.
Ways to start a story/article:
First three are the primary beginnings.
© January 2001 Sandra I. Smith