All Write - Fiction Advice

Sometimes there is so much to remember when we’re writing that it’s easy to forget some things, but all it takes is some quick and easy tips to give ourselves that little push to make sure we’ve covered all the necessary elements to write a good story. So, to make sure you don’t miss the obvious, here are some quick and easy writing tips:- 1. BANG! That’s your opening gambit. Or something very similar.   In other words, start your story at a pivotal moment in your character’s life, a moment of change, a moment of jeopardy, or even a bang; something that makes the reader instantly sit up and take notice. Don’t ever start a story with lots of backstory. That means the reader would have to wade through three of four pages of boring information before anything notable happens.   Your opening chapter, and your opening sentence, should grab the reader and throw them right into the action, right from the outset. 2. Tempt, Tease & Tantalise Sell the story like yo...

There is nothing worse than a hard kick in the guts. That’s generally what rejection feels like. After working hard writing, drafting and editing your masterpiece, and especially after having the courage to submit it to an agent or publisher, you get the summary rejection.   And it does deflate you, no matter how experienced a writer you are. There is a misconception that rejections represent failure. But while rejections do hurt – we feel they do because we automatically interpret a rejection as a personal rejection, when in fact it is nothing of the sort – they should be treated as a positive rather than the epitome of failure. Firstly, rejections happen for many reasons, not just the obvious “my story must be rubbish, that’s why it was rejected”. For instance, there are other reasons:- Not right for the target market Agents/publishers are not taking on new authors for the moment Not what the agent/publisher is looking for right now Needs more work/editing ...

Every writer will know what narrative is, but how many understand what exposition is? It’s easy to think that both terms mean the same thing, but they are different, and writers should understand those differences when it comes to their writing. Not only do writers need to understand there are differences, but that exposition and narrative have different roles to play in story construction and they effect the pacing of the story. The easiest way to explain the difference is that narrative is a way for the writer to inform the reader with non-active description, a way of simply relaying non-essential information. In its broadest sense, the writer is ‘telling’ the reader, but that information doesn’t really move the story forward. For example, this is narrative: In the days leading up to Bobby’s death, Michael never gave a second thought to the safety of his horses. His complacency had become so ingrained that it was an invisible force. He should have paid attention, but in t...

Last week we looked at creating suspense and expectation. This week we’ll look at atmosphere and how it works in relation to suspense in order to keep the reader on the edge of their seats. Firstly, atmosphere often refers to the mood and feeling that is created within the story. Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes it’s obvious.   But relaying it successfully depends entirely how well the writer conveys it. If done well, the writer will have created an emotional response from the reader. Without a reader’s emotional connection with characters, the ability to capture atmosphere will be lost. But what actually creates atmosphere? Several elements help the writer create a sense of atmosphere – description and imagery, senses and the setting. Used separately they are interesting elements, but used together they have the power to drag the reader right into the heart of the story. Description and Imagery Description helps the reader understand what is happening within the...

Firstly, let’s start with suspense. Writers love nothing more than dangling an imaginary carrot in front of readers, teasing them to the point that they can barely stand the suspense. But carrot dangling is one of the most effective ways of creating suspense, making the reader desperate to know what happens next. It keeps them turning the page. There are several factors that create suspense:- Characterisation and reader empathy The reader’s concern and worry Anticipation and expectation Exploitation of fears and emotions Impending danger and high stakes Escalating tension and climax Characterisation and Empathy Reader empathy is about giving the main character(s) a deep desire to reach his or her goal and we also give them internal and external struggles to deal with, the kind that readers can identify with, the kind they have been through themselves – things like fears and hopes, or feelings of loneliness, being on the outside and looking in, not bein...

There aren’t that many writers who don’t like writing action scenes or descriptive scenes. But few things give writers the jitters more than having to write love scenes. They can prove troublesome even for the more experienced writers. Buy why? Surely they’re not that difficult? The answers to these questions depend on the writer, the story and the ever-changing writing landscape. The difficulties come in various guises. Firstly, many writers just aren’t into writing about the love and sex and would rather bypass it than try to even string any description together. They would much rather concentrate on action or violence or something else entirely. It’s just not for them. And more often than not, when we have zero interest in something, we have zero interest in writing about it. I fall into this category simply because love scenes bore me. I’m not interested in reading it and I don’t want to write too much about it. This is why I have zero interest in romance stories. Unl...

Every writer will know just how important characterisation is. It’s what gives characters their unique characteristics, it’s what makes them seem real to their readers. One of the aspects of characterisation is motivation – the reasons why your characters do what they do.   What are the reasons behind their actions? What is it that drives them to act in a certain way, sometimes contrary to their personalities? Motivation is one of the driving forces with any story. It is what makes them achieve their goal by the end of a novel, and it is what makes them change in either their personality or outlook, it is what makes their journey so tenable and believable for a reader. More fundamentally, it moves the story forward . But how do you keep your characters motivated (and more importantly, your readers interested?). Writers use various ways to do this – Goals, obstacles, subplots and conflict. These main drivers, when combined, form a powerful fiction writing mix. Goals/...