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Types of Fiction and Which One You Should Write
Types of fiction based on length
A prose fiction work is generally classified, depending on its length, as a short story, a novella, or a novel. There are no universal rules marking the line between one form and another, but here's my take:
• If it's under twenty-five or thirty pages, call it a story. (Ultra-short stories under 1000 words are known as "flash fiction.)"
• If it's over 125 pages or so, you can start calling it a novel.
• If it's in between, it's in a kind of limbo that is the home of the novella. Novellas are not a very popular fiction form, probably because they're a bit long for magazine publishing and a bit short to be sold as books. Normally, they're bundled with other novellas or with short stories for publication.
Types of fiction - which one should you write?
Everyone wants to write a novel. Saying you're a novelist sounds great. "Short story writer" just doesn't have the same ring, and I don't think "Novella-ist" is even a word.
But unless you have a lot of creative writing experience and confidence, honestly, I'd start with short stories.
• Your style is still developing, and writing a novel is a long project. So if you start a novel now, you'll probably be a very different kind of writer by the time you finish. This can deform your novel. And, worse, it can stunt your development as a writer if you force yourself to stick to a novel that you've outgrown. It's a bit like marrying too young. There's the risk of growing apart. And there's the risk of not growing.
• Writing short stories will give you plenty of "fresh starts," opportunities to experiment and try different voices, subjects, techniques. This will add to your range as a writer and help you find your own creative writing style.
If the idea of writing short stories doesn't inspire you -- or even if it does -- the first step is to read a lot of great ones. The best writing school is the work of other writers. Read short story anthologies and literary journals to get to know a variety of writers and writing styles. Then read more work by the writers whose fiction you like the most.
Types of Novels and Which One You Should Write
Types of novels - overview
The publishing world tends to classify fiction as either commercial, meaning it's built to make money, or as literary, meaning that it's a work of art. There's no reason why art can't also make money, but things often don't work out that way. That's why we talk about starving artists, and that's why commercial fiction and literary fiction are treated as separate categories. Guess which one big publishers prefer.
Types of novels - commercial fiction
Commercial fiction is divided into many genres, or categories. This kind of classification helps readers find the types of novels they like to read. For example, readers who are mainly interested in love stories can go straight to "Romance" section of the bookstore. Each genre also has its own traditions. If you're interested in writing in a particular genre, it's important to read a lot of books in that genre in order to learn more about it and understand what readers will expect.
Some major genres:
• Mysteries - A mystery is about a crime, usually a murder, and the process of discovering who committed it. The hero(ine) is usually a detective or an amateur doing detective work.
• Science fiction - Science fiction is fiction that imagines possible alternatives to reality. It is reality + "What-if." For example: What if the world ended? What if there were life on other planets? The imaginary part of science fiction is based on known scientific facts. For example, if there is time travel in a science fiction book, it would be done with technology, not by waving a magic wand..
• Fantasy - Like science fiction, fantasy is about imaginary worlds. But the imaginary part of fantasy novels usually involves magic, where the imaginary part of science fiction involves science or technologyWesterns - Westerns normally take place in the Western U.S. (although sometimes in other locations), most often during the 19th century. Common elements include cowboys, ranchers, the difficulties of frontier life, frontier justice, and conflicts between natives and settlers.
• Horror - Horror fiction gets its name because it is focused on creating emotions of terror and dread in the reader. Horror fiction often accomplish this through the use of scary supernatural elements or gore, but, according to the Horror Writers Association, these elements are not required. Read more on the Thrillers - Like horror, a thriller gets its name because of the feeling it creates in the reader. Thrillers are designed to make the reader's pulse race, to keep him or her turning pages. Often thrillers are about a crime that is going to be committed or a disaster that is going to happen... if the hero(ine) doesn't prevent it.
• Romance - Romance fiction is about love and passion. Normally, the focus is on two characters who fall in love but have problems or obstacles keeping them apart, and there is a happy ending..
• Historical - Historical novels are set in a past time period, normally at least fifty years before they were written. They combine a made-up story with realistic details of that time period. These are many other fiction genres in addition to these! And each genre has sub-genres, or sub-categories. For example, the romance genre includes historical romances, erotic romances, young adult romances, and more.
Types of novels - literary fiction
Literary fiction is generally lumped all together in bookstores as "General Fiction" or "Literature." Because the first priority of literary authors is creating works of art, while selling books is only a second consideration, literary authors are less likely to think in terms of writing a specific genre or category of novel and following the customs of that genre.
Some literary authors today write in a realistic way about the daily lives of ordinary people, what is known as contemporary realism. Some choose to introduce an element of magic or a spirit world in an otherwise realistic story, what is known as magical realism. Others create works of art that incorporate the traditions of commercial fiction genres such as mysteries and science fiction. A number of literary authors also innovate with non-traditional approaches to story-telling, such as breaking up the order of events in the story, offering several alternative endings, or treating the reader as a character in the book. In this type of novel, the main point often isn't just the story itself, but also the way the story is told.
Types of novels - which one should you write?
Here's my advice:
• If your main goal is to make money, I'd recommend copywriting instead of fiction writing.
• If goal is to publish a novel and become as rich as J.K. Rowling, then I'd say, write whatever you want and play the lottery.
• Otherwise, my advice is to write whatever you like to read. You will be better at it, will understand your readers (because you are one of them!), and you'll have a lot more fun.
How to write a mystery that will knock them dead.
How mysteries are special:
• The plot is centered around a crime, normally murder. The novel's central conflict is between someone trying to solve the crime versus the criminal's efforts to cover his or her tracks. At the same time, a mystery is often set up as a kind of puzzle or game for readers, who analyze clues and try to solve the mystery themselves.
• The main character is normally the person trying to solve the crime. This may be an actual detective, or private citizen who gets involved for personal reasons. The best mystery writers have sleuths (professional or amateur) who come alive on the page and often reappear in multiple books.
• The authors use descriptive writing to create suspense and, often, an atmosphere of danger. In addition to bringing readers into the story, "showing-instead-of-telling" techniques allow the readers the fun of finding clues on their own and developing their own suspicions.
How to write a mystery - top tips
• Read lots of mysteries. This is essential to learning how to write a mystery novel. Some mystery writers I personally like are Sue Grafton, P.D. James, Raymond Chandler, and Agatha Christie. Books that win the Edgar Award for mystery-writing are usually very good. You can find a list of current Edgar Award winners on the Mystery Writers Association website.
• Create a great professional or amateur sleuth. You can use the CWN worksheet for writing character profiles to start bringing the character to life.
• Map out exactly how the crime was committed. Imagine every detail.
• Give the murderer a clear and convincing motive.
• Know the ending of the book in advance. Then you can build toward it.
• Make a list of clues that point to the murderer, which you will scatter throughout the book. Decide which is the crucial clue that will solve the mystery.
• Consider including red herrings in your list of clues. These are false clues that point in the wrong direction. If you don't overuse them, they can make the game of solving the murder more exciting.
• Make a list of suspects. You can use some red herrings to point the detective and/or the reader to the wrong person so that the ending will be a surprise.
• Play fair with the readers. Whatever clues are available to the sleuth should also be shown to the reader. Readers who are "competing" against the detective and trying to solve the mystery on their own will feel cheated if the detective has key information that is being kept from them.
• Try to surprise the reader at the end, but always play fair. The clues presented in the story should logically lead to the solution, even if you distract the reader with red herrings along the way. Readers will love it if your ending makes them think, "I should have known it!"
• Do your research. If your murderer poisons the victim, make sure you choose a real poison and know how it really works. If there's police work involved, make sure you know the real procedures. Make friends with your local police department. Put in the hours at the library. If you get any of the technical details wrong, you can be sure that readers will notice, and they will lose confidence in your writing as a result.
• Make it an exciting read. Start the action right away. Many mystery writers also end their chapters at moments of suspense (called "cliffhangers") to keep readers turning pages. Also consider putting your detective, his or her loved ones, or another important character in danger in order to raise the stakes. In many mysteries, the detective is in danger at the story's climax -- that is, at the moment when he or she discovers the killer's identity (near the end of the book). And remember -- suspense begins with great characters. The more readers care about your characters, the more they'll care what happens to them.
• Create a three-dimensional world. A mystery novel may be a kind of puzzle, but it's more than a brain-teaser. Your characters should have lives that extend beyond the particular situation. They have families or lovers or a lack of family and lovers. They live in a particular setting -- maybe New York or Los Angeles or a charming small town or a snooty suburb -- which you should make real for the reader.
How to write a mystery - getting ideas
• Start with real-life crime. Read the news, research crimes that actually happened, and then imagine a story around them.
• Start with real people. Think of someone you know and imagine what might cause him or her to commit murder. Maybe you've even fantasized about killing someone yourself. You can use this as the idea for a novel. The mystery writer Sue Grafton says that her first mystery began with fantasies about murdering her ex-husband. She imagined how she might go about doing it and a great mystery was born.
• Start with a fictional character. Use the character questionnaire to create a character, and then imagine a situation in which this person would be driven to murder.
How to write a mystery - organizing the plot
Once you have your idea, your characters, your list of clues and suspects, you can start outlining your novel. The story is normally about the (real or amateur) detective's effort to solve the crime. You should find a reason to make it important to the detective to solve the crime, either for personal or professional reason. This is key to making your reader care about what happens in the book. Scatter your clues along the way. Organize your plot so that it starts out exciting and then builds in tension and excitement to a peak, which takes place right before the end of the book. This peak moment should be when the decisive clue turns up, or when the detective understands its significance. What happens at this peak moment leads to the novel's ending.
How to write romance: what's a romance novel?
The broadest definition of a romance novel is simply... a novel focused on a central love story. But the term romance novel is normally used for specific types of commercial fiction.
A literary novel is one that's written as a work of art. A commercial novel is one that's written to sell. A commercial novel therefore follows certain rules determined by the marketplace -- by what people want to buy. This doesn't mean it can't be a good novel! In fact, the fundamental elements of a successful romance novel are the same as with other types of fiction:
• characters the reader cares about
• a conflict that moves the story from A to B
• good dialogue, and vivid writing that "shows" instead of "tells."
But in romance novels, these elements of fiction normally take a certain form. Here are some basic guidelines for how to write romance, looking at each of the elements I mentioned before:
• Characters - In romantic fiction, the focus is generally on two characters, the ones who fall in love. Traditionally, these are a man and a woman. The story is usually told from the woman's point of view. Why? Because the vast majority of romance readers are women, and they are more interested in reading about the woman's perspective than about the man's.
Novels written for romance series are generally short (under 200 pages), so romance writers tend to keep a strong focus on the hero and heroine instead of giving a lot of stage time to secondary characters.
• Conflict - If the couple falls in love right away and everything goes perfectly, then that's very nice for them, but it isn't much of a story. So save "Happily ever after" for the end (read here about why). You need a conflict to create some suspense and anticipation to keep the reader turning pages. In a romance, this conflict is normally something that is keeping the characters apart. Your hero and heroine are meant for each other, but there's a problem, something in the way. The story is about how the couple gets past this obstacle or problem to reach the ending. In commercial romance, this ending is always a happy one.
A typical romance novel plot: 1) hero and heroine initially dislike each other (although there is a powerful attraction underneath); 2) something happens that forces them together (for example, he is assigned to be her bodyguard); 3) they start to fall in love, but there is an obstacle in the way of their romance (for example, she is engaged to another man); 4) at the story climax, they get past this obstacle and reach the happy ending.
• Good dialogue, vivid writing - These always improve a reader's experience. In romance, the reader's main interest is the relationship between the hero and heroine, so you should use these techniques to make the reader feel the chemistry between them.
Although specific details are part of vivid writing, if you are writing sex scenes for a romantic fiction series, bear in mind that different series accept different levels of sexual explicitness. This depends on the preferences of their readers, many of whom prefer a soft focus.
How to write romance - market research 101:
If you are writing commercial fiction, your writing is not just a work of art -- it's a product that you intend to sell. You are therefore a business person as well as a writer. And a basic rule of business is to know your customer before you create your product.
In this case, your direct customer is a particular publishing house, and your indirect customer is the reader. The publishing house wants to make its readers happy, so you do too.
Your first step should be to read lots of romances and decide which ones you like the best. Then look at the publishing imprint that is producing your favorite books. Go to the publishers' websites and check out their author guidelines. Do they have certain rules that authors must follow? Do they even accept submissions from new authors?
If the publisher looks promising, read a ton more books from the same imprint or series and figure out what the books have in common. Do their main characters always have glamorous jobs? Do the sex scenes stop at kissing? Do all of the books include werewolves?
Look at:
• Length of the books
• Type of heroines and heros
• Historical time period
• Plot elements that appear in many of the books (for example: crime, religion)
• The explicitness and type of sex scenes
Your aim is to write a novel that's original, but which is also a good fit for the publishing imprint or series you have chosen. And then when you submit your book for publication, be sure to mention which imprint you have in mind. For example, the biggest romance publisher, Harlequin has a wide range of imprints, including Silhouette, Kimani Press, Spice, and many others. If you submit a romance to Harlequin, it's important to tell them which imprint your book is best for. (Harlequin provides a lot of information for writers on their website, some of which I have included on this page).
How to write romance - types of romance novels
Many imprints specialize in one or more sub-genres or categories of romance novels. Which kind should you write? Easy. The one you like reading the best.
Popular sub-genres include:
• Contemporary series
• Historical
• Regency romances
• Inspirational (includes religious elements or themes)
• Paranormal (includes supernatural elements or themes)
• Romantic suspense (includes crime or danger)
• Young adult
• Chick-lit (contemporary, humorous - often talks about city life or glamorous jobs)
• Erotic romance (sexually explicit)
How to write romance - getting started
If you want to learn how to write romance, my recommendation is to start by reading lot of romance novels. When you have a good familiarity with the imprint or series you want to write for and the types of novels they published, then you can start coming up with ideas for your own novel. Here are some steps to get you started:
1. Use the CWN questionnaires for writing character profiles to create your two main characters. Work on building these characters until they're real for you.
2. Decide what will keep your characters apart. Create a big problem they have to overcome in order to make the relationship work. You might plan a series of situations that bring the characters closer and then drive them apart again.
3. Decide what crucial event will allow them finally to overcome the problems and reach the happy ending.
How to write a thriller - what's a thriller
Signs that you're reading a thriller:
• racing pulse
• sweaty palms
• staying up all night
• missing your subway stop
• compulsive reading in inappropriate places (in class, under the conference table at a business meeting)
• crashing your car because you were trying to read behind the wheel.
Yes, thrillers are written to give readers a thrilling ride. Unlike other genres or types of fiction that get their names because of what they're about (romances are about romance, Westerns are about the West, etc.), thrillers get their name because of how they make the reader feel. And everything in a thriller is designed to create this feeling of heart-pounding, white-knuckle suspense.
So what are thrillers about? There are a lot of subcategories - spy thrillers, political thrillers, psychological thrillers. Many, but not all thrillers are about violent crime, but they are different from mysteries because of the angle they take. A mystery is about solving a crime that has already happened. The killer's identity is hidden until the end because otherwise, there would be no mystery -- right? A thriller is about a crime (or another type of disaster) that is about to happen ... unless the hero can stop it. The reader often knows who the villain is from the very beginning -- even watches over the villain's shoulder as evil is being committed.
How to write a thriller - thrilling characters
Unlike other types of fiction, thrillers often divide characters clearly along lines of good and evil. There is a hero(ine) or a team of hero(ine)s, and there is a villain or a team of them.
But this doesn't excuse you, the writer, from doing your character development homework. The more real you can make both the hero and the villain to readers, the more interesting your book will be. Read more about character development here.
How to write a thriller - thrilling plots
When it comes to thrillers, take everything you've learned about plot development, and multiply it by ten (if you haven't studied plot development, you can do it here). Turn up the heat! Add time pressure if that works with your storyline, to make things even more tense. Keep raising the stakes. Pile on the trouble until your poor hero looks like a goner.
But make sure your hero has enough strengths that there can be a real fight. Otherwise, the story will seem to be over before it's begun. And if you decide to have a happy ending, it's more satisfying if this comes from the hero's actions and strengths, not as a gift dropped out of the sky.
One way of building excitement is to keep shifting the advantage from one side to another. First, it looks like the hero's a goner, but then there is a ray of hope. But the ray of hope turns out to be an illusion. The enemy grows. But then the hero gets an ally...
Plan your thriller so that the story gets more and more exciting until it reaches a peak, which is called the story climax. The climax should happen right before the end of the book. While in a mystery, the climax is when the hero discovers the killer's identity, in a thriller, the climax is when the hero stops the enemy (or is conquered by the enemy if you are not after a happy ending).
How to write a thriller - ideas for thrillers:
• Your hero discovers a secret conspiracy of enemies (for example, a secret political or criminal organization).
• The villain has discovered the hero's point of psychological weakness and is playing mind games with the hero. The hero will have to overcome this psychological weakness in order to stop the villain from committing a crime.
• A crime is about to happen. Or a crime has happened and is about to be repeated as a larger crime. The hero alone can stop it. For example, there are many thrillers about serial killers, who kill at least once at the beginning of the book and who, if not stopped, will commit more and even worse crimes.
• The hero is trying to stop a disaster (medical, nuclear, environmental, political) that has spread out of control.
• The hero is involved in a dramatic court case that has drastic consequences outside of the courtroom.
How to write a thriller - tricks of the trade:
• Cliffhangers - You can create suspense by ending chapters or sections of the novel at a moment of suspense, so that the reader keeps going to find out what happens.
• Ticking clock - Thrillers often include a race against time; for example, a bomb that will go off in 12 hours, or a criminal who will be executed in two days if he is not proven innocent. The ticking clock element adds to the reader's adrenaline rush.
• Show evil over the evildoer's shoulder - It often adds to the excitement if the reader can actually watch the villain in action and see the crimes taking place.
• Make it personal and specific - This is a very important point. If your thriller is about the risk of a bomb going off, introduce the reader to Sue and John, the nice couple in Missouri, who will be blown to bits when it happens.
If your thriller is about a terrible disease that is taking over the Earth, introduce the reader to Jenny Jones, engaged to be married and daydreaming about her honeymoon... when green bile starts to spurt out of her nose and ears; poor Jenny writhes in agony, then collapses dead over her stack of wedding invitations. That makes the disease real for the reader.
Sure, everyone knows that nuclear holocaust and alien attack are bad things. But they are just ideas until you bring the reader into the lives of the characters who will be affected.
• Great characters and sharp writing that "shows" instead of only telling. I feel like I've been writing this on every page of the website, but it's worth repeating.
How to write science fiction - what is science fiction?
There are lots of definitions of science fiction out there. But basically, science fiction is the end of the equation: reality + what-if = ...?
• What if there is intelligent life on other planets?
• What if we could time travel?
• What if we invented robots that could write bestsellers?
In science fiction, the way this what-if element operates is based on the principles of actual science. For instance, if there is time travel in a science fiction book, it is performed with technology, not by waving a magic wand.
Science fiction is for you if...
1. you like creating imaginary worlds, and
2. you are interested in science and technology.
If you like imaginary worlds but don't really like science, consider writing a fantasy novel instead.
How to write science fiction - creating imaginary worlds
Science fiction writers create imaginary worlds. These might literally be new worlds, i.e., an invented planet. Or these might be our world in the future, or with some innovations (for example, that humans have evolved to breathe underwater).
The way things work in your imaginary worlds will be based on actual science. So it's important for you to be familiar with the scientific principles and inventions that are related to your creation. For example, if you're writing about humans living on a planet with zero gravity, then you need to know the effects of zero gravity on the human body and the kind of technology that would be needed to compensate. If you write a novel that takes an existing scientific discovery one step further, then you have to understand the actual discovery.
Then you have to figure out the exact rules of your imaginary worlds. And you have to follow them.
If humans have evolved to breathe underwater in Chapter 1, your heroine can't drown in a swimming pool in Chapter 3. If your robots write poetry but not fiction, then you can't throw a novelist robot into Chapter 8. Or if you make these exceptions, you'd better have a convincing explanation for your reader.
The issue here is maintaining your reader's trust and what is called suspension of disbelief. That means the reader is willing to pretend along with you -- if you say that humans can breathe underwater, then she'll take your word for it. To maintain this suspension of disbelief, you have to let readers know what kind of reality they're in and then follow the rules of this reality consistently. If you start out with an ordinary detective novel and then throw in someone breathing underwater in the 6th chapter, you're reader's reaction is, "What the h...?" The imaginative spell is broken. You've pulled out the rug from under the reader and startled him out of his imagination. The same thing happens if you change the rules halfway through. "What the h...?"
Once you've lost the reader's trust, you may not be able to get it back again.
Part of your preparation work for the novel is to map out its worlds for yourself in great detail. Decide:
• The history of its worlds (if your novel is about a new version of our own world, then figure out how this new version came to be).
• The geography (if different from the current world)
• What possibilities does it offer that aren't offered in our current world? What are the limitations, things your characters can't do?
• How everything works in this new reality.
• How all of these factors affect the way your characters think, feel, and react to things. For example, if you have invented a world where people live to be 1000 years old, then characters will take a longer view of the future. And maybe a 10-year space flight will seem like no big deal to them.
You don't have to tell your reader all the rules or present her with an extended fact sheet in the first chapter. But you have to let readers know enough to feel oriented and understand what's going on. And you definitely have to know the rules yourself so that you can follow them. This also allows you to work out logical problems and contradictions before you start writing. Maybe your book is going to be about a mutant race of half-humans, half-birds. But you also want your characters to breathe underwater. Neither humans nor birds breathe underwater, so how will you explain this? Decide it ahead of time.
How to write science fiction - top tips
• Read lots of science fiction. As with any kind of writing, the best way to learn how to do it is to read it. Classic science fiction writers include H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke. You can find new science fiction authors and books on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association website.
• Do your homework. Learn about the real science and technology that is related to the imaginary world you are creating.
• Create an ordered universe. Figure out the rules of your imaginary worlds ahead of time, and follow those rules consistently.
• Make it feel real. You are inviting readers to visit an alternate reality. They will want to be able to see, hear, feel, smell, and even taste what it's like. Whether your novel's about a world without disease or an undiscovered planet in another galaxy, help your readers feel like they're actually there.
Click here to read about how to use specific detail to make your writing come to life.
How to write science fiction - basic ideas for science fiction novels
• Imagine the world in the future.
• Imagine the end of the world.
• Imagine that an actual important historical event had gone differently.
• Think of an existing technology, then imagine what would happen if it were taken much further.
• Imagine a new invention that would change the world.
• Imagine that time travel is possible.
• Imagine life on another planet.
• Imagine a new species of super-humans.
• Imagine extraterrestrials coming to earth.
• Change an existing law of the universe.
How to write science fiction - further study
For an excellent introduction to science fiction writing, read Orson Scott Card's book, How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy. You can also find more about how to write science fiction on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Association website.
How to write fantasy - what's a fantasy novel?
Fantasy is a genre or category of fiction that is about things that are generally considered to be impossible. This includes magic, and magical creatures such as elves, dragons, and unicorns (the tooth fairy is, of course, real). Fantasy is often based on myths, legends, and folklore, and frequently includes elements from the Middle Ages. It tends to be action-packed, including quests or adventures. A conflict between good and evil is a common subject in fantasy.
How to write fantasy - things you should do:
• Read a lot of fantasy fiction. Learn about the traditions of the fantasy genre.
• Research the folklore and traditions related to the magical elements you plan to use in your story.
• If you are setting your story in medieval times or using elements from those times, research medieval life in the real world. Any innovations or changes you make to reality should be based on your informed artistic decision, not just a lack of knowledge. If you have a sword that doesn't work like a real sword because it is magic, you can let readers know how and why, and that's fine. If you have a sword that doesn't work like a real one because you haven't got a clue about swords, you might risk confusing your readers or losing their trust.
• Plan your magical worlds before you start, figure out all of the details, and get to know them as well as your own neighborhood. This will help you write about them more naturally and make them more real for your reader. It will also help you avoid getting into a mess where the pieces of your magical world don't fit logically together.
• Figure out the rules of any kind of magic in your book. The magic has to have some kind of limits. If your hero(ine) or villain can do anything s/he wants, then the story will be over before it starts -- there is no chance for a struggle or suspense. Let readers know what the important rules are, and follow them.
• Show your magical world in detail. Besides your book, where will readers have the chance to meet magical creatures or see magic in action? Make them feel like they're there. Click here for tips on writing strong descriptions.
• Let your hero(ine) conquer obstacles and solve problems based on his or her own abilities, instead of events outside your character's control.
How to write fantasy - things you shouldn't do:
• Don't feel that you have to tell readers everything you know about your characters and your magical worlds. Even though you'll do a lot of planning before you start, there's no need to put every detail in the book. All that preparation will make your worlds real to the reader because it lets you choose the right details to include.
• Don't forget that you can give your reader information by "showing" instead of "telling." Read more about that here.
• Don't fudge or break your own magical rules. If you do this, readers will feel cheated. And they will no longer trust what you've told them or shown them about the worlds you've created. The story will stop feeling real to them.
• Don't copy stories, settings, characters from other fantasy authors. Although fantasy often uses elements from very old traditions, you should try to do something new with them. No one needs another Lord of the Rings spin-off. Use your imagination to create a magical universe that has never been seen before.
• Don't lose track of the story. It's fun to create worlds with their own histories, geography, customs, creatures and magical rules, but don't get so caught up in those details that you forget to have anything happen. Invent a main character or characters, give them a goal or a problem, throw in some complications, and you're on your way
How to write historical fiction - What is historical fiction?
Historical fiction is a category for novels and stories that take place in past times (usually more than fifty years before when the author wrote them).
The characters and events in these stories might be completely imaginary. But the world of these stories is based, as closely as possible, on the reality of a particular historical time and place. For example, if you write a historical novel that takes place in Paris during the 1930s, you can:
• invent a story about a real historical person at that time, for example, Ernest Hemingway.
• invent a story about a real historical event, for example, World War II.
• create a completely imaginary character, for example, a painter named Pierre who is in love with his landlady.
But no matter which of these options you choose, Paris in the 1930's is Paris in the 1930's, and nothing in your novel can go against the known facts about it. Pierre may be imaginary, but he cannot carry a cell phone or post on Twitter. And he can't assassinate Hitler and end the war in 1940 because we know that didn't happen (when I say he "can't," I mean according to the rules of historical fiction. If you want to write a new version of history, then that's a different category of novel called speculative fiction, with its own set of rules).
It is important to note that not all fiction that takes place in the past is historical fiction. For example, Emily Brontë was not a historical novelist. Although Wuthering Heights takes place in the past, it was also written in the past, and as far as Emily Bronte was concerned, it was a contemporary novel. If Emily Brontë had instead written fiction about Ancient Egypt, then, she could be considered a historical novelist.
How to write historical fiction - is it for you?
You should consider writing historical fiction if:
• You love reading novels set in past times.
• You enjoy learning about and imagining life in other historical times.
• You are fascinated by a particular historical event or period; for example, you're a Civil War buff, or you read everything you can get your hands on about Ancient Egypt.
• You have a novel idea that would work better in a historical time period. For example, if your story is about sea explorers in search of new continents, then you will probably decide to set that in the past.
You shouldn't write historical fiction if:
• You hate research.
• You are in a hurry to finish.
Historical fiction is a lot of work and takes time!
How to write historical fiction - top tips
• Read lots of historical fiction. The more of it you read, the better you'll get to know how it works.
• Choose an exact time period and place for your book (i.e., 1938, not "early twentieth century"; Paris, not France).
• Do your research and avoid historical mistakes of any kind. If your readers notice that you've begun World War II in the wrong year, they'll stop trusting you as an author.
• Remember that the time period and place will shape your characters. You're not writing about contemporary Americans in old-fashioned costumes. People in different time periods have different attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge.
• At the same time, remember that your characters are individuals. A person is more than just the historical moment when she lived. Everyone also has a personal story, quirks, bad qualities, good qualities, worries, secret desires...
• Don't cram in information. You're writing a novel, not an encyclopedia article. After you've done all that research, it will be tempting to use it all. Resist this temptation! Use only the details that naturally belong in your story. And remember to show, instead of telling, when that's more effective. At the end of your novel, your reader shouldn't feel as if she's read a history of wartime Paris or Medieval Spain -- she should feel like she's visited that time and place
What Is Fiction and How It's Like Dreaming
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What is fiction?
Fiction is make-believe, imaginary. If a story's true, it's non-fiction. If it's made up, it's fiction.
Novels are fiction.
Fairy-tales are fiction.
Newspaper articles are nonfiction (even if they "slant the truth," they are intended to be read as factual). So are encyclopedia articles, biographies, and memoirs.
Though fiction is made up, good fiction often seems more real than a newspaper report. Have you ever read a fiction book where you started to care about the characters, where you felt as if they were your friends or your enemies? (I have a friend who went through all the classic stages of grief -- rage, loss, denial -- after reading about the death of a Harry Potter character). Have you ever felt as if you'd actually visited an imaginary place that you read about in a novel?
A skilled writer can create a kind of dream in the reader's mind. It's like a magic trick, and it's something you can learn how to do.
What is fiction - Where does fiction come from?
You probably have dreams sometimes that take details from your real life and scramble them all up into something new. That's your grandmother standing there, but in your dream, she's also a bank teller, and you're trying to rob the bank, which looks exactly like the kitchen of the house where you grew up. And then the police arrive, and your high school gym teacher is "playing the role" of the chief detective.
Writers are constantly recycling real details in this way. Anything in their lives can show up in a work of fiction; for example:
• people they know
• pieces of overheard conversations
• streets where they've walked
• events in the newspaper
• feelings they've had
Just as in dreams, these true details can take on a very different form in a story or a novel. Your fear of dogs can turn into a fictional character's fear of heights. The abandoned shed where you used to hang out with your friends in high school can become the hideout of a fictional teenage runaway. You can give your attractive next-door neighbor a starring role as the romantic hero or heroine who saves your character from a dead-end relationship.
The writer Sue Grafton says she was inspired to write her first murder mystery after fantasizing about killing her ex-husband.
The stories are make-believe, but the details and feelings are real. This can help the writer to imagine the story more vividly and create an intense experience for the reader.
What is fiction - How to think like a writer
Writers tend to be especially observant. They notice and remember small details, the clicking sound a moth makes against a lampshade, the metallic aftertaste of canned string beans, the way the shop assistant sticks out her tongue when she laughs.
When the children's writer Linda Leopold Strauss watches the news with her husband, he sometimes becomes impatient with her because instead of commenting on current events, she tends to comment on the newscasters, their way of talking and small mannerisms.
Such details, transplanted into imagined scenes, make them seem real. Practice really paying attention to the way things look, smell, taste, sound, and feel. Eavesdrop ruthlessly on conversations on the bus. Collect details that you can use later in fiction.
Keeping a journal is a great way to start writing. You can use it to keep track of your observations. Then whenever you need creative writing ideas, you can go to your journal for material.
What is fiction - Daydream it, then write it.
Reading fiction can feel like entering a dream. But writing fiction is different from dreaming because you, as the writer, are in complete control. You can rearrange details from reality in the way that's most interesting or satisfying. In this sense, it is more like daydreaming than actually dreaming.
I told you earlier that there was a "magic trick" you could learn to make your fiction seem real, to create a dream experience for your reader. The trick, as I will explain, is essentially daydreaming. This may sound ridiculously simple, but it really works:
What is fiction - The Daydream Technique
1. Before you write a scene, daydream it. Focus on making your daydream as vivid and detailed as possible. What exactly is there? What exactly happens? Pay attention to all of your senses, not only sight. What do things sound, smell, feel like? Important: right now focus your energy on improving the daydream. Don't worry about writing yet.
2. Now start to write, describing the daydream as clearly as possible. Important: don't worry about choosing words that sound good. Don't worry about writing technique. Concentrate only on expressing the daydream as accurately and specifically as you can. I repeat: focus on the daydream and not on the writing. You can go back and improve the writing later.
If you do this, you may find that the words fall into place more smoothly than if you had been paying attention to them. The mind is odd that way -- sometimes too much effort can make us worse at something (like when we try too hard to fall asleep or try too hard to make friends). But if not, no problem. What you're creating now is only a first draft.
Although the words will change as you rewrite and develop the story, the more powerful the daydream you use as a starting point, the more powerful your reader's experience is likely to be.
How to Write Fiction that Feels Real
How to write fiction that shows instead of tells
Writing fiction is like trying to convince someone you're cool. As in, the best tactic might not be to walk up to the person and say, "Hello, I'm super-cool." No, instead, you'd choose cool clothes. You'd show up with cool-looking friends and make sure they mention cool things you've done. You'll seem a lot cooler to someone who thinks she's discovered your coolness for herself.
How does this apply to fiction? If you tell a reader something, the reader has to take your word for it. But if you show it to the reader, then the impact is a lot more powerful.
Examples of showing versus telling
Example of telling: Lois was a horribly messy person.
Example of showing: Hey, there's my sandwich!' Lois exclaimed triumphantly, spying yesterday's meatball sub protruding from the heap of dirty laundry on the backseat of her car.
What if, instead of messy, Lois were compulsively neat? Think about how you could show that. What does a compulsively neat person do? (I know someone who organizes her kitchen cabinets in perfect rows, measuring the exact space between the items with a ruler). What situations bring out a person's compulsive neatness?
Here's another example of telling: It was a hot day.
Example of showing: Her shirt stuck to the small of her back, and sweat rolled down her thighs as she trudged across the parched grass to the porch, where a collie panted in the thin shadow offered by the rocking chair.
Notice some advantages of showing versus telling:
1. It's more interesting to read.
2. It creates a sharper mental picture.
3. It provides more information. The last "showing" example lets you know something about what kind of hot weather it was, neither the silken warmth of a tropical beach or the deadly scorch of the desert.
4. It's convincing. If I say it was a hot day, you'll probably trust me on that. But if I say Lois is horribly messy, you might wonder if she's really as bad as I'm claiming. For all you know, I'm a neat freak, and Lois has things in better perspective. With the "showing" example, you can judge for yourself.
5. It's possible to do more than one thing at a time. You can show the reader that the weather's hot at the same time that you walk your character up her front yard to her porch and introduce her dog.
"But if Lois is a mess, can't I just say she's a mess?"
Sure, you can. And there are times when you should.
A few reasons to tell something instead of showing
• It's not important.
• It's boring. You might show me your character falling asleep in biology class, but please don't subject me to the entire biology lecture.
• It's background information you want to communicate efficiently.
• Telling just works better. If you want me to know that your character's from Ohio, you can say so. It's not necessary to leave Ohio bus tickets lying around his room or to have him drop "Go Buckeyes!" into the conversation.
Exercise: how to write fiction that shows
Replace each "telling" sentence with "showing" ones.
Example:
Telling - They were angry.
Showing - He slammed his water glass down on the table so hard her plate rattled. Still, she refused to look at him, glaring instead at her napkin, which she was ripping into shreds with her fingernails.
Telling - She was a very organized person.
Showing -
Telling - It was a cold day.
Showing -
Telling - She had a secret crush on her realtor.
Showing
Fiction Writing Tips: Create Characters Your Readers Will Care About
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Are you losing your mind when a fictional character starts to seem real to you?
• A friend of mine was heartbroken when X died in Harry Potter 6 (we'll call him X to keep from spoiling the book if you haven't read it yet).
• One of my other friends has a serious crush on Edward Cullin, the sexy vampire hero of Stephenie Meyer's popular Twilight series.
• The second friend recently showed up for a coffee date with dark circles under her eyes. She told me she'd been up half the night finishing a mystery novel because she was afraid the fictional detective might get picked off by the Mob.
As far as I'm aware, neither of these women has exhibited any other signs of mental illness. There are writers who can make perfectly sane readers cry and fall in love and lose sleep over fictional characters, and you can learn how to do this too.
Fiction writing tips - Inventing your characters
Where do fictional characters come from? Does the stork bring them; do they grow in cabbage patches? Both seem like possibilities, since story characters can pop up just about everywhere else.
Some places to start:
• Someone you see on the street or in the supermarket. Imagine a life for this person, and you've got a fictional character.
• Take a picture of a person in a magazine. Invent a name for him or her, a personality, hopes and fears, annoying habits.
• Open the phone book to a random name. Let's say you come up with "B. Goulding." What might the "B." stand for? Write down the first thing that comes to mind; for example, Bertha. When you imagine someone named Bertha Goulding, what mental picture occurs to you? I see someone tall and fat, maybe sixty years old, with black curly hair and red lipstick. Turn the name you've chosen into a fictional character.
Fiction writing tips - Getting to know your characters
To convince readers that your character is a real person, the first step is to convince yourself.
The writer Patricia Highsmith confessed to being a little bit in love with her own character, Tom Ripley. When I read Ripley's Game, I admit I became quite fond of him myself, possibly something to worry about since the character is both a sociopath and a killer.
Writing character profiles is a great way to get to know your characters so that they start to come to life for you. Make notes for yourself on the character's appearance, personality, history, current situation, close relationships, hopes and fears. Some writers have a list of questions that they answer about each character
A warning
Don't try to stuff all this information into your story. You don't want to overwhelm your readers with a complete background file on your character. The idea is to develop a deep knowledge of your character yourself. Then you can use this knowledge to shape your story and let readers get to know your character in a gradual way.
As you are writing your story, every time you put your character into a situation, ask yourself, "What would he or she do? How would he or she do it? What would happen next?" Then trust the answers. Never try to force a character to do act in a way that's not natural for that character. If you cheat, your readers will know it. The character or the story will feel false.
But if you do things right, your deep knowledge of your character will be transmitted to your readers, who will feel like they're reading about.
Writing Character Profiles - Questionnaire 1 (Adult Characters)
1. Name:
2. Age:
3. General physical description:
4. Hometown:
5. Type of home/ neighborhood:
6. Relationship status:
7. Current family:
8. Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.):
9. Friends:
10. Other close relationships:
11. Relationship with men:
12. Relationship with women:
13. Job:
14. Dress style:
15. Religion:
16. Attitude to religion:
17. Favorite pastimes:
18. Hobbies:
19. Favorite sports:
20. Favorite foods:
21. Strongest positive personality trait:
22. Strongest negative personality trait:
23. Sense of humor:
24. Temper:
25. Consideration for others:
26. How other people see him/her:
27. Opinion of him/herself:
28. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
29. Ambitions:
30. Philosophy of life:
31. Most important thing to know about this character:
32. Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?
Writing Character Profiles - Questionnaire 2 (Child Characters)
1. Name:
2. Age:
3. Birthday:
4. General physical description:
5. Hometown:
6. Type of home/ neighborhood:
7. Father’s name, background, and occupation:
8. Mother’s name, background, and occupation:
9. Brothers and sisters:
10. Position in family:
11. Other close relatives:
12. Family relationships:
13. Special friends:
14. Enemies:
15. Influential person or event:
16. Grade in school:
17. Attitude toward school:
18. Grades:
19. Favorite pastimes:
20. Hobbies (music/art/reading material):
21. Favorite sports:
22. Favorite foods:
23. Dress style:
24. Religion:
25. Attitude toward religion:
26. Relationship with boys:
27. Relationship with girls:
28. Leader or follower:
29. Strongest positive personality trait:
30. Strongest negative personality trait:
31. Sense of humor:
32. Temper:
33. Consideration for others:
34. How other people see him/her:
35. Opinion of him/herself:
36. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
37. Ambitions:
38. Philosophy of life:
39. Most important thing to know about character:
40. Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?
Writing Character Profiles - Additional Questions
1. If your character has a job, is he or she good at it? Does he or she like it?
2. What are your character's bad habits?
3. If you asked about his or her greatest dream, what would your character tell you?
4. What's a secret dream that he or she wouldn't tell you about?
5. What kind of person does your character wish he or she could be? What is stopping him or her?
6. What is your character afraid of? What keeps him or her up at night?
7. What does your character think is his or her worst quality?
8. What do other people think your character's worst quality is?
9. What is a talent your character thinks he or she has but is very wrong about?
10. What did his or her childhood home look like?
11. Who was his or her first love?
12. What's the most terrible thing that ever happened to him/her?
13. What was his/her dream growing up? Did he/she achieve this dream? If so, in what ways was it not what the character expected? If your character never achieved the dream, why not?
14. In what situation would your character become violent?
15. In what situation would your character act heroic?
What is Plot - How to Build a Story from Beginning to End
What is plot and how to get where you're going
A story's plot is what happens in the story and the order it happens in.
For there to be story, something has to move, to change. Something goes from point A to point B.
This change could be:
• A physical event (Point A = psycho killer is picking off everyone in town. Point B = police arrest the killer).
• A decision (Point A = character wants to practice law like his father. Point B = character decides to be a ballet dancer).
• A change in a relationship (Point A = They hate each other. Point B = They fall in love)
• A change in a person (Point A = character is a selfish jerk. Point B = character has learned to be less of a selfish jerk.)
• A change in the reader's understanding of a situation. (Point A = character appears to be a murderer. Point B = The reader realizes that character is actually innocent and made a false confession.)
This change could even be the realization that nothing will ever change. (Point A = your character dreams of escaping her small town. Point B = her dream escape is shown to be an hopeless.)
What is plot? It's the road map that takes your story from point A to point B.
What is plot - why happiness is overrated
There's a reason why "Happily ever after" comes at the story's end. It means nothing else is happening. Cinderella and her Prince Charming wake up late, eat a nice breakfast, and take a walk. A slow news day. Forever.
It would be different if it were:
"Happily ever after, except for one extramarital affair and its violent ending..."
"Happily ever after until Cinderella discovered Prince Charming's secret dungeon..."
Please don't assume I'm some kind of evil fairy-tale witch, wishing ill on the fortunate couple. I don't think there's anything wrong with happiness. There's just no story in it.
The story is how you get to the happy ending. Or how it turns sour.
For there to be a story, something's got to happen. Narrative conflict is what makes it happen. This can be:
• a conflict between character's (Prince Charming's ex-girlfriend decides to break up the marriage)
• a character's internal conflict (Cinderella develops a drinking problem)
• a conflict between characters and an impersonal force (floods, disease, dragon attacks)
Einstein once said, "Nothing happens until something moves." If your characters are getting comfortable too early in the story, it's time to stir things up.
What is plot - how to stir up major trouble
How do you come up with an interesting conflict for your story? It's often a good idea to start with your main character.
• What's something this character desperately wants? What difficulties might get in the way? There's your conflict.
• What would force this character to do something he or she is really uncomfortable with? Something he or she doesn't feel capable of doing? Create this situation, and you've got a conflict.
Or maybe there's a specific type of conflict you feel inspired to write about, and you're building your story from there. Perhaps you already know that you want to write about divorce or a battle with cancer or child abuse. That's fine, but be careful not to skimp on character development. Remember that the more real you can make your character for readers, the more deeply readers will care what happens to him or her. We lose sleep worrying over the divorces and illnesses of our friends, not those of strangers. If you haven't done so yet, you might want to take a moment to read about writing character profiles.
What is plot - drawing your road map
Okay, so you've invented characters, and you've planned a conflict that will get them off their sofa and doing something interesting. How to organize your story?
Here's a traditional way of looking plot structure:
Step 1) The reader gets to know your characters and to understand the conflict. You can accomplish this by showing instead of telling. Take a moment to review the difference between showing and telling here.
Step 2) You build up the conflict to a crisis point, where things just can't continue the way they are. A decision has to be made or something has to change. This point is called the story climax. If the story is a road map, this is the major fork in the road. The character can turn left and wind up in Alabama with her ex-lover or turn right and end up back in Illinois with her husband and kids.
The story climax is when Cinderella discovers Prince Charming's dungeon. Will she leave? Will she just pretend she doesn't know? The rest of the story depends on what happens at this moment. The story climax can be a moment of great suspense for your reader. It determines how the story will end, the location of Point B.
Step 3) Show, or hint at, Point B. This is called the story's resolution, and it all depends on how the climax played out.
Remember that this is just one theory of plot structure. But it provides a road map that will give your reader an interesting ride from Point A to Point B. Then, as you read and write more and more short fiction, you will develop your own sense of the best shape for each story.
The Story Climax – How to Make Your Fiction More Exciting
How to have your readers on the edge of their seats
If you arrived on this web page from a Google search on "How to achieve better a climax," two comments:
• that is in fact what I'm going to discuss
• but I'm talking about the climax of a story.
What's a story climax?
One way to look at a story is as a clash between two opposing forces.
For example:
• The character's temptation to steal her sister's inheritance vs. her conscience, which tells her it's wrong
• Home team vs. away team
• Bachelor Number 1 vs. Bachelor Number 2
Suspense comes with the reader's uncertainty about which side is going to win.
The story's climax is the definitive confrontation which determines the winner. It's when the detective and the killer finally face off in the dark basement, and the reader knows only one is going to come out alive. It's when Bachelor Number 2 bursts into the church to stop Bachelor Number 1 from marrying the bride. The climax is the moment the reader has been waiting for. After the climax, things settle down in one direction or another, and you have the story's resolution.
Tips for a powerful story climax
The climax of your story is more likely to be powerful if:
• You've developed a convincing character or characters that your reader can care about. If the characters feel like strangers or, worse, just inventions on the page, the reader's not going to worry too much about what happens to them.
• You've clearly established what's at stake. The climax is the moment that decides whether the things will go one way or the other. For the climax to work, the reader has to understand why it matters if the bride chooses Bachelor 1 or Bachelor 2. The reader has to believe the outcome is important.
This brings up a key point. Important themes do not equal an important story. You can write a story about saving a hamster from a cat that will matter more to readers than someone else's story about saving the world from nuclear war.
What makes the outcome of a climax matter to your reader?
1. It matters deeply to the characters.
2. The reader cares about the characters enough to care about what matters to them.
How to Write Short Stories from Inside Your Character's Head .
How to write short stories from different points of view
Your story's narrator is the voice that is telling the story.
For example, read the same scene described by three different narrators:
• I pulled out the gun and showed it to the cute blond bank teller, who gave a little yelp of surprise.
• This bald guy came up to my counter and reached into his jacket. Suddenly, I realized he was holding a gun.
• A bald jerk cut in front of me in line. I hate cutters, so I was about to go say something, when he pulled a gun on the blond lady behind the counter.
All of these examples use first person narrators. That means the narrator is also one of the characters in the scene, and he or she tells the story using the words "I," "me," etc.
How to write short stories in the first person
There are certain things a first person narrator normally shouldn't say. For example: "My bald spot looked particularly shiny that day." Why? Because you can't see your own bald spot unless you're looking at yourself in a photograph or a mirror at just the right angle.
Another thing that sounds strange in the first person voice: "I have no idea that..." Your first person narrator can't give information he doesn't know. If your narrator has been locked in the trunk of a car, it will be hard for him to describe what the police are doing just then to solve his kidnapping.
Also always an awkward statement: "Then, I died."
How to write short stories - advantages of a first person narrator:
• Directness - You can give the reader a first-hand perspective on the story.
• Voice - If your narrator has a colorful or appealing way of talking, this can add flavor to the story-telling.
• Intimacy - Your reader has the chance to get to know the narrator by listening to him.
How to write short stories - disadvantages of a first-person narrator:
• Limited scope - Your narrator only knows what she knows. She doesn't know what the other people around her are thinking. She doesn't know what's happening two miles away. That limits the information she can supply to the reader.
• Limited voice - If your narrator is a seven-year-old, she can't talk convincingly about politics. One thing that drives me crazy is when a first-person narrator who is supposed to be a child, or an uneducated farm worker or manual laborer suddenly launches into a poetic description of the weather using twenty-dollar words and references to Greek philosophers. I mean, come on.
• Difficulty withholding information - If the narrator knows something that you don't want the reader to know yet, she might have to be tricky or evasive. For example, let's say your narrator killed his brother, but you want to keep the murderer's identity a mystery until the end. How is the narrator going to inform your reader about the murder without this little detail coming up?
Note: some stories have narrators who mislead the readers or lie to them outright, known as unreliable narrators. This option can work well if it's handled right, but you have to make sure the readers don't feel cheated or manipulated by the story, even if they have been manipulated by the narrator. One strategy is to drop hints from the beginning that the narrator's account might not be totally trustworthy.
• Question of how the narrator came to tell the story. If your first-person narrator's a ghost or a dog or someone who's been buried alive in the desert, how did the story come to be written? I've noticed that some writers choose to ignore this logical problem. But it always bugs me when they do, and I'm probably not alone. So if you're writing a story in the first person, please, please don't have your character die in the last line.
How to write short stories in the third person
A third-person narrator might be completely outside the action. A third-person narrator tells the story using the words, "He," "she," "it," they," etc. For example: "A bald man suddenly cut in front of the teenager boy, who looked like he was about to protest until the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at the blond teller."
A third person narrator might even have a supernatural ability to be in more than one place at once, seeing everything that's going on. Example: "Customers screamed and ducked to the floor, unaware that police cars were already surrounding the building. Across the city, Miriam paced back and forth across their small living room, wondering if Jack would possibly manage to pull off the robbery." This kind of narrator with unlimited vision and knowledge is called an omniscient narrator.
Third-person narrators may also have limited or complete access to one or more character's thoughts. It's common to locate the narrator partially inside a particular character's head. Example: Jack felt faint as he hurried out of the bank, wondering if the police were already outside. What would happen to Miriam if he were arrested? The thought was unbearable; he tried to push it out of his mind."
The effect here is almost as if this had been written in the first person, with Jack telling the story. But with a third-person narrator, I'm not limited by Jack's voice. I might choose to limit my third-person narrator to Jack's perspective. This would give readers a sense of connection to Jack, as if they are living his particular experience. Or I could move from one character's mind to another. If you switch points of view in the same story, you have to be careful not to confuse or disorient your reader. You might decide to limit yourself to one viewpoint for each section of the story and use line breaks or another visual cue to let your reader know when you're switching.
Tip: readers will often feel more intensely involved with a particular character if you limit the story to that person's point of view.
How to write short stories in the second person
A story written in the second person treats the reader as the story's character. The narrator talks all the time about "you." "Nervously, you walked up to the bank counter, then reached for your gun." Second-person narration is more unusual than the first or third person, and it's harder to use without seeming contrived or defying the reader's common sense (I know that I didn't rob a bank!)
Similarly unusual in fiction is first-person plural narration, where the narrator uses the word "We" to tell the story. Two wonderful novels written in the first-person plural are Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris and The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. But, again, what these authors have accomplished is very difficult to pull off successfully
How to write dialogue that works
How to write dialogue that expresses your character's voice
I bet if you hung around on a random street corner and asked ten different passers-by how to get to the airport, they'd all give you different answers.
Okay, maybe if you're lucky, they'd suggest similar routes. But they'd all use different words to say it. Even the, "Uh, don't know," answers would likely come out differently.
"I'm sorry, I really couldn't say."
"No friggin idea."
"Get a map, man."
How does each of your characters talk? The answer will depend on:
• Geographic background (a Texan doesn't speak the same as a Bostonian)
• Educational level
• Age (Like, is your character, like, a total teenager?)
• Personality (Is your character nervous, impulsive, aggressive, flirtatious, shy?)
• Your character's relationship with the person she's speaking with. She wouldn't talk to her boss the same way she speaks to a friend or to her five-year-old son.
• Your character's attitude to the conversation topic. Does it make him nervous, proud, defensive? Would he rather avoid the subject all together? All this will affect his speaking style.
Dialogue is when you let the reader listen in on a conversation between your characters. Just as every stranger you stop on a street corner will answer your question in a different way, every character involved in a dialogue will have a slightly different speaking style.
This may seem like a lot to manage as an author, but it's simple to learn.
1. Get in the habit of really listening to how people talk (not only what they say). Take every opportunity to eavesdrop, on the bus, on elevators, in line at the bank...
2. Get to know your characters deeply. If you haven't done so already, take a few minutes to read about character development here
3. Once you have a clear vision of your characters, you can play out their conversations in your head. Put the characters in an imaginary situation, and listen to what they would say. Try saying their lines out loud. And then write down what you hear.
4. Clean it up afterwards. Effective dialogue is not the same as the way people really speak. Repeat that three times. Then keep reading below for details.
How to write dialogue that doesn't bore or annoy your reader.
Something I've noticed in TV shows and movies is that people hang up on each other a lot.
"I think the police are onto Scotty."
"I'll take care of it."
Click.
I don't know about you, but my phone calls tend to end more like this:
"I think the police are onto Scotty."
"I'll take care of it."
"You will? Great."
"Yeah, well, I'll try."
"Okay, great, thanks a lot. Appreciate it."
"Anyway, I should get back to making dinner."
"Okay, then, talk to you later. And good luck with the police."
"Thanks, I'll need it. All right. Got to go."
"See you."
"Right, on Saturday."
"That's right. We'll be there at six."
"Okay, see you then."
"Hm..."
"What's that?"
"Nothing."
"I thought you said something?"
"No, sorry. Just clearing my throat. Got some phlem."
"Yuck, phlem."
"Yeah, I know."
"Anyway..."
If you write your story dialogue like this, your reader is likely to stop reading... assuming that he's still awake.
Writing effective dialogue is a delicate art. You need to sound authentic, capture each character's voice. And you need to cut it at the right moments.
How to write dialogue and when to summarize instead.
Some reasons for using dialogue:
• To let the reader hear your character's voice.
• When the conversation is a key event in the story. In other words, if your characters are chatting about the weather while they're waiting for the bus, that might just be background. But if your story's about a pregnant teenager, the conversation where her boyfriend proposes marriage is probably a critical event that will change the direction of the story. Show it.
• (In small quantities) As background, to set a scene.
In other cases, dialogue's not the best option, and it's better to summarize the conversation.
For example:
• "She repeated to her husband everything that had just happened. He listened to her for hours, until the sun started to come up."
• "We almost died of boredom as Aunt Bertha went on and on about her poodle's weight loss program."
Those are two conversations you probably don't want to write out as dialogue.
How to write dialogue -- what not to do
Some dialogue no-nos:
• Information stuffing: "Hey, is that your sister Kate, who dropped out of college to become a welder, causing your father to have a nervous breakdown?"
• Extended incoherent babbling: "Like, I was, you know. Like. Right. Okay, well. Um. What's that? Right. Anyway."
• Putting YOUR words in their mouths: "My Daddy won't let me play with Stevie's trucks, which makes me cry because I'm only four years old and I'm already the victim of gender stereotypes."
How to Write Dialogue - Part 2
Do you hear voices in your head? If so, I'd recommend against mentioning that at a job interview or on a first date. If not, read How to Write Dialogue That Works and work on developing a sense of your characters' voices and what they should say in your story. After that, it's a matter of putting it down on the page.
How do you show who's saying what? Often, fiction writers start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes. You can also include dialogue tags such as "he said," "she murmured," "I asked." But you can skip the dialogue tags when it's obvious who's talking without them.
Take some fiction books off your shelf and looking at the dialogue format. There are no unbreakable rules for writing dialogue (it's called "creative writing" for a reason), but there are some common practices, and I'd suggest following them unless you have a good reason not to. Why distract your readers unnecessarily?
Dos and don'ts for writing dialogue
Dos:
• Pay attention to each character's different speaking style.
• Edit dialogue to trim off most of the fat. A lot of what people say is just blah-blah-blah, but you don't want to bore your reader.
• Show how the character speaks instead of telling it. If the character speaks angrily, you can make this come through in her words -- it's therefore often not necessary to add an expressive dialogue tag such as, "she said angrily." The same if a character is shouting or crying, etc. Keep the reader's attention on your character's speech, not your explanation of it.
Don'ts:
• Don't get too colorful with the dialogue tags. "Hello," she shouted; "Hi there," he cried; "How are you?" she queried," "Fine thanks," he shrilled"... too much of this stuff gets distracting fast. Put your thesaurus away. The basic dialogue verbs "say," "tell," and "ask," have the advantage of fading in the background, letting the reader focus on what your character is saying.
• Don't feel obligated to add a tag to every bit of dialogue. If it's clear who's saying what without them, then you can leave them off.
• Don't let your reader get disoriented. Use dialogue tags when they're needed to prevent confusion. There's nothing worse than stopping in the middle of an exciting scene to retrace the dialogue and try to figure out who's saying what ("Okay, it's the killer speaking here, so this must be the detective who's answering him, not his sister...")
Tips for Writing a Story - Control Your Reader's Imagination with Powerful Descriptions
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Tips for writing a story in full color
Here's a little game: close your eyes and picture someone named Chris. No peeking at the next sentence until you've done it.
Okay, open your eyes (obviously, if your eyes are shut, you can't read my instructions to open your eyes. But I assume you figured out on your own that you'd have to open your eyes again eventually).
What if I tell you that Chris is a three-year-old boy with glasses. Does your mental picture change?
What if I tell you: Chris is a three-year-old boy with curly blond hair and glasses. He is large for his age and chubby. Did the picture just change again? The more specific information you give the reader, the closer the reader's mental picture will be to the one you intended. Being specific gives you control over the reader's imagination. It also makes the reader's experience more enjoyable. Readers want guidance. If they'd just wanted to roam freely in their imagination, then they wouldn't have bothered to pick up your story.
Here, I'll go over some tips for writing a story with the specific detail that readers demand.
Tips for writing a story - don't leave your reader in a vacuum.
Read this little story excerpt:
"She poured herself a glass of milk and went to sit on the sofa. She did this every night when she had finished her homework. Her two cats always sat with her. One was big, one was small; one was young, one was old. Tonight she was particularly tired and her book wasn't very good; she murmured a complaint to the older cat and got up to find another. The cat wasn't happy about being disturbed. She examined the books on the shelves, trying to find one she hadn't read yet. Finally she decided to re-read Little Women, one of her old favorites. This particular volume had belonged to her mother and always reminded her of how much her mom had liked to read, too. A sound from the bedroom made her look up. Both cats had heard it, too."
The author has here left the reader's imagination in a bit of a vacuum. As the reader, I don't know what color the sofa is. I don't know the cats' names. I don't know what kind of sound came from the bedroom. I'm bored. This story needs some blood in its veins.
Tips for writing a story using specific language.
I want to talk a little bit about how to make a scene more specific, and some dos and don'ts of using adjectives and adverbs.
But first -- in case you weren't paying attention in grade school grammar class because, like me, you were secretly reading a novel under your desk, here's a quick refresher course in the parts of speech:
• A noun is a word that refers to a person (or animal), place, or thing. For example, "Cat," "Michael Jackson," Paris," "sofa" are all nouns.
• An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It isn't a person, place, or thing; it just tells you what the person, place or thing is like. Examples of adjectives are: "Tall," "Funny," "Purple," "Loud."
• A verb is a word that refers to an action or state of being. For example, "Talk," "Read," "Is," "Belong" are all verbs.
• An adverb is a word that describes a verb. The same way that an adjective tells you what a person, place, or thing like, an adverb tells you what the action was like. For example, "Quickly," "Quietly," "Violently," "Sensuously." (Yes, adverbs often end in "-ly.")
Adjectives and adverbs are one way to make a scene more specific, but they are not the only way. You want to use, not abuse them.
• Use: She threw her books angrily onto the tile floor, then went to the window and pressed her face against the cool glass, looking out at the corrugated red rooftops of the Spanish town.
• Abuse: She threw her books angrily onto the reddish brown tile floor, then went to the rectangular window, and pressed her face against the cool, smooth glass, looking pensively out at the traditional corrugated red rooftops of the Southern Spanish town.
What's wrong with the second example? The high proportion of adjectives and adverbs make it feel clunky, overloaded. If the text goes on in this way, all of the extra words will slow the reader down.
But there's no need to depend so much on adjectives and adverbs to sharpen my picture. I have other tools in my toolbox. By choosing more specific nouns and verbs, I can express more detail using the same number of words.
How about this version: She hurled her books onto the terra cotta floor, then hurried to the window and pressed her face against the cool glass, gazing down at the corrugated red rooftops.
• "Hurled" implies "threw angrily."
• "Gazing" suggests "looking pensively."
• A terra cotta floor is reddish brown tile.
• Window glass is generally smooth. There's no need to specify this. And readers will normally assume a window is rectangular until they're told otherwise.
Adjectives and adverbs have their place. But use them strategically and make all your words work for you.
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