All Write - Fiction Advice

Two of the most difficult things to get right for a novel are the beginning and the ending. The right beginning is important, which should jump in at a significant moment or start with action, but the ending – something that seems far off when we’re writing the story – is just as important.   An ending has to accomplish several things: it has to complete the story, it must offer resolution, it should tie up all loose ends and, finally, it should provide an ending that is logical and satisfactory. It’s worth noting that not all stories need to end in one explosive, violent event - and there is nothing wrong with that – because many novels don’t.   Some novels – literary ones in particular – have more of a gentle ‘ unveiling ’ at the end, whether that’s the unravelling life-journey of a character, or the answer to a particular plot twist or a simple revelation etc – as long as the story is resolved . And, of course, not all stories have happy endings.   Bu...

Fictional writing doesn’t have hard and fast rules, other than the use of grammar, but it does require an understanding of the fundamental principles of fiction writing.   Writers can choose to follow those principles and become better writers, or they can ignore them at their own peril and languish on the slush pile. Basic narrative structure is one of those principles that writers should follow and it takes part in three defined sections – beginning, middle and the end (resolution).   It’s how these are stitched together to make a story, and the order of the events that happen in the story. The beginning of a novel is the setup, where main characters are introduced and the basic premise of the plot and theme is revealed – the main problem or obstacle(s) that the main character has to overcome.   This where the writer sets the scene and hints at what might come. The middle contains the substance of the story – characters come into conflict, the main characte...

Every character needs a goal. In real life, we spend our lives striving towards goals – some achievable, some not so, but most of the goals we set ourselves are attainable, whether that’s saving to buy a new car, planning a dream house, getting married, saving for the future, planning a dream holiday or a family...or perhaps learning a new language, or gaining a degree.   They are all goals. Just as in real life, your characters also need affirming goals.   And once they have those goals, it’s then down to how you get your character to reach them that actually makes the narrative captivating. But what exactly are goals? Your character needs objectives in order to proceed to the story’s denouement, the climax, because without these objectives there will be no obstacles, and without obstacles there will be no conflict or tension, and without conflict or tension you don’t really have a story. This is shown in the following simple method: Character Goal/objec...

The whole purpose of any piece of writing is to grab your reader’s attention and maintain that attention all through the story.   It sounds easy, but it’s not always easy to accomplish, and that’s because the writer has to somehow make the reader want to keep reading. Maintaining interest for a reader is a fluid, continual process.   In order to captivate, a writer must continually create to avoid the story and the characters from becoming stale, boring and lacklustre. First and foremost, make sure the story starts at its most necessary point in order to grab their attention from the very start. Once you have done that, then you can build around it and maintain that momentum and attention. There are several ways to create, and therefore, captivate: ·          Create conflict ·          Create obstacles ·          Create tension ·  ...

There are many things that make a writer stumble during writing, whether that’s plot development, characterisation, viewpoints etc, but a common stumbling block is how to deal with single character scenes. Most scenes in a story will involve two or more characters, which doesn’t present a problem because there will always be action, dialogue and description for these characters to fill your pages.   But what if you have a scene, an entire chapter, or an entire story with just one character and no dialogue? How do you write such scenes without being boring or repetitive?   How can you write them and still stimulate your reader? It sounds daunting, but with practise it comes easily, and isn’t as much as a stumbling block as perceived.   In order for single character scenes to be effective and interesting, you must have a fully developed character that you know extremely well.   If you don’t, the premise of single character scenes becomes problematic, becau...

One of the questions writers often ask is how much of their character's point of view should be apparent within the narrative.   After all, the story should be from the protagonist’s viewpoint, and the majority of the scenes should concentrate on your main character. Of course there will be scenes or chapters from other character’ viewpoints, and these are absolutely fine, but one of the problems that can occur is that a secondary character gradually overshadows the main character.   This sometimes happens naturally through the writing process because first and second drafts are usually the ‘bare bones’ of a novel and the writer is, therefore, finding their way with it. The other problem is that viewpoints are not always clear during a chapter.   Is it the lead character’s chapter, or the secondary character’s chapter?   Or, as sometimes happens, is it a mix of all the characters? The other problem is that sometimes this imbalance isn’t always pi...

Continuity errors might seem one of the least important aspects of a writer’s list of things to watch out for, but they are easy to make and sometimes difficult to spot and yet remain an important part of the writing method. Writing a novel isn’t an instant process. It takes months (years even), and during that time it is feasible and sometimes unavoidable that writers will inadvertently create continuity errors, simply because it’s hard to remember what happened on page 12 when you’re at page 200 of the story and you’re beavering away to get it completed. Just as in movies, the mistakes can sometimes be glaring or sometimes quite subtle, but they are errors nonetheless. Common Errors:- Time – Time of year, time of key scenes etc. Place – Setting, place names etc. Characterisation – Clothes, personal objects, birthdays, names, traits etc. Plotting – Plot flaws and gaping inconsistencies. Objects Time continuity errors happen because writers forget timeframes. A ...