All Write - Fiction Advice

Depth is a word that’s used often. It’s more complex than writers realise, simply because there are so many facets involved in creating depth. It involves every aspect of the story and characters, and applies to both the basics and the mechanics of writing. The depth of any story can be as deep or as shallow as the writer wants it to be. Think of the ocean. All sorts of stuff can float on the surface, but below it, lots of other things are happening that can affect what goes on above the surface. The more depth there is to a story, the more engaging it becomes.  The Basics If you have a plot, then your story already has  some  depth. It’s how you develop that depth, by exploring ideas, characters, adding multiple brush strokes, different story threads and undercurrents, and using different themes that make the sense of ‘depth’ work. T he characters in your story will add extra depth to the story arc. Characterisation is a rich deposit for any writer, so m ake ...

While still on the theme of characters and deep characterisation last week, it’s worth looking at how characters are affected by the events in your story and how characters actually change by the end of it. Many beginners who are not familiar with different layers of characterisation don’t always develop their main characters, so they end up with the same character at the end of the story as they did at the beginning. While this might seem consistent, it doesn’t develop the character’s story arc. No character should remain unchanged. Your main characters, and some of your secondary ones, will absolutely change and develop throughout the story because of the different escalating events that occur, the range of emotions they have to deal with and the reactions they have towards the event and each other. If they don’t change in some way, then the reader won’t see the character as believable, and they won’t connect with that character or have any empathy. Just like real people, c...