All Write - Fiction Advice

In part 1 of the Art of Layering – adding those descriptive elements – I used a narrative example to show how it works in order to provide the reader more than just flat story telling. If the narrative is to keep the reader’s interest and carry the story’s momentum, there has to be more.   Description needs depth. The description of key scenes always needs a little more than just straightforward telling. And readers want more than just a couple of lines of drab description. They want to rip back the words and peer right into the soul of the story. The art of layering gives them that. Writers don’t have to go overboard with description; too much can kill the narrative sometimes, but it is what is encompassed within the description that counts. Give readers background and foreground, give them colours and sounds, give them characterisation; let them connect to your characters – give them immediacy and emotion. But how much is too much?   Well, there is no right or w...

When we think of description, most writers think about simply describing a few elements for the reader during narration, such as a sound or whether it’s light or dark, but if you think of a story rather like an onion, you will see that it reveals many layers before it finally gets to the core. Fiction – or description – is very similar in the way it operates. Descriptive writing entails a number of elements to make it stand out, and layering is just one of them. The idea of layering within description is to show the reader there is more to just the surface of the story; that there is more information to glean from it – background, colours, noise, characters, atmosphere and so on. Description brings the narrative to life for the reader. They have nothing to go on but the strength of a writer’s words and therefore the writer has to allow the reader to visualise the scenes that are taking place, to become part of it, and the best way to do that is to make the narrative...

There are plenty of myths surrounding fiction writing, the kind that stick in our minds and give us many of our misconceptions.     We’ve all experienced them, more so at the beginning of our writing careers, because many writers make the mistake of assuming that fame, untold riches and success will land at their feet. Unfortunately, this rarely happens, but if writers put in the hard work and they are willing to learn, then success is sure to follow.   So, what are the main writing myths?   Writers earn millions   This is one of the biggest misconceptions. The truth is that most writers don’t earn millions and they have an average 9 to 5 job to ensure a reliable income.   Writing, on the whole, won’t pay the rent. The few lucky ones that have caught an editor’s eye (and said editor thinks they can make lots of money) or the few writers that catch the zeitgeist and write something that is currently flavour or the month (i.e. Fifty Shad...

It’s a new year and it marks a fresh, enthusiastic start to writing, especially for new writers.   But for those beginners who think writing a novel is easy, then it is best to find out now rather than later that it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths so that every new writer is fundamentally aware of what lies ahead. Writing certainly isn’t easy – almost all writers will agree – and anyone who says different can’t be a true writer.   Every writer has a different skill level, so not everyone can write that well and not everyone has raw talent to do so. Fact: writing is a very lonely, hard and frustrating business. It often means hours, days, weeks and years concentrating on a novel that may never be published.   A writer might spend weeks writing a short story that may never find a home.   Not everything we write makes it into print.   That’s the nature of writing. Disappointment is often a staple diet of any writer – unders...

Due to popular demand, I’ve been asked to revisit this subject because it seems to be causing a few headaches for quite a number of writers who are trying to grasp how to use them and where to use them in their narrative. Firstly, flashforwards, or prolepsis, to give its proper name, are quite different from flashbacks, so writers should understand the differences and how each one works with the narrative, specifically in the way they relay information to the reader. The flashback, or analepsis, that we are all familiar with is a narrative device that allows the character and the reader to step back into a defining moment in the character’s past ; one that directly affects the situation in the present. It assists with the main story and can also help move the story forward.   Flashbacks are used for all genres. Flashfowards, however, cannot be used in most genres. Why? Because the future has not yet happened. Common sense tells us that we cannot write about something ...

Continuing our look at character dynamics (and not dynamic characters), we’ll explore the many ways of creating such dynamics so that the narrative gains greater dimension and depth. As explained in Part 1, remember that real life supports much of what writers learn from and incorporate within their writing. And clever writers will exploit it for all its worth. That means conversations, movements, interactions, reactions, behaviours and many varied perspectives all come into play. Character dynamics revolves around how characters interact with each other, and there are many factors that help create it:- ·         Dialogue – what characters say to each other and how they say it. ·         Conflicts between characters also creates dynamics - the reader gets to see how characters act with and around each other ·         Show a psychological perspective – what characters thi...

This isn’t about creating dynamic characters , but rather how writers create character dynamics . In other words, it’s the way characters work with and against each other within the story. It’s the dynamics of characters and their relationships with each other that interest the reader and keep them engaged. It’s about setting up the conflicts with and between characters; it’s about ways that characters actually interact with each other, their actions and reactions, their thoughts and emotions. It’s about ways of bringing the characters to life for your reader through in-depth characterisation. But how do you get your characters to spark off one another in the first place?   How do you get them to simmer together, for instance, or to antagonise each other or fight one another?   Writers should first understand the mechanics of character dynamics if they want to create it within their stories. A writer has to enable the subtle undercurrents of complex character r...