All Write - Fiction Advice

Last week we looked at the types of rejection and understanding what a rejection really means as opposed to what writers interpret them to mean. In this second part we’ll look at what to do if you receive a rejection – whether that’s the first one or the hundredth one – and how to deal with it positively. So, if you’ve received a rejection, the first emotion you’ll encounter is...rejection. Emotional rejection, that is; the idea that you as a writer must be rubbish and your work must be rubbish and no one wants you. And it feels like a punch to the guts. But this isn’t the case, as we’ve looked at in Part 1. This emotional response is normal, because we feel hurt, but it’s how we deal with it that helps us to remain confident and focused. Rejection = Improvement Writers rarely realise that rejections are actually a good thing. Why? Because with the rejection there may be a few brief notes from the agent or publisher to say why the manuscript failed. This is a positive thing....

For those who still wish to pursue the traditional publishing route, rather than self-publishing, then rejections are something of a rite of passage; something we all experience at some point in our writing careers and something we all have to get over. Many writers dread it. Some fear it. Some, on the other hand, take it in their stride. We all react differently to it because it’s seen not just as a rejection of the work, but a rejection of you as a person. But that’s not actually true. The one thing that agents and publishers will say is that it’s nothing personal. And it really isn’t. A rejected book is not a rejection of you – the agent or publisher doesn’t even know you. Rejections happen for all manner of reasons. It could be that some agents and publishers are not looking for new authors. Sometimes it’s down to the writer not submitting to the right agent or publisher for his or her genre, for instance a science fiction story won’t warrant interest from an agent who de...

Following on from last time with the most common writing mistakes that writers fall foul, here are a few more that are common among writers, especially those new to writing: Lack of conflict Lots of writers don’t pay attention to this. In every story there must be conflict. That conflict comes in many ways – from other characters, from outside influences or it comes from within the main character. These incidents and obstacles all demand reaction and resolution, and often escalate towards the denouement, so without all this, the story will fall flat. Think of it this way – your main character needs purpose, which means there is a story, but people (and other things) get in the way of that and often cause problems. And with problems there is often some kind of conflict. The main character has to overcome all this to get to the end of the story. The outcome of all this? The conflict advances the story. Run-on sentences/Comma splices Everyone does it, no matter their exper...

As another writing year draws to a close, it’s worth looking at the basic errors all writers make at some point, so that you ensure they don’t reoccur in your own writing. Learning about the most common ones will help you avoid them in future and thus make your writing better. The ones I’ve listed are very common mistakes that all writers have made during their writing. There are, of course, dozens and dozens more well-known writing mistakes – and certainly more complicated ones – but as an editor, the following five are the most common that I encounter: Lack of Planning One of the biggest mistakes to make is to not do any planning at all, especially if you’re embarking on something as complicated as a novel. No rule exists that writers must plan, but it’s a simple fact that even a small amount of planning – some characterisation, plot points and perhaps some themes etc. – will result in a better story than one thrown together without any real thought. Editors know when a w...

In this part, we’ll look at how to construct subplots, but from the perspective of first person, which is much harder to get to grips with. The question here is: can subplots be constructed in a first person story? After all, there is only one perspective in first person – the protagonist.   And that’s it. It’s not like having the diversity of multiple viewpoints as with third person stories, but that’s not to say that subplots can’t be done in first person. They can, but they’re quite limited. Unlike third person stories, where the viewpoint can change from character to character, and the richness of different character views can come into play (and so subplots can weave around the main character), with first person, this just isn’t possible. First person stories have to involve the main character, since the story cannot be told from any other character other than ‘I’ of your main character. By being involved in a subplot, the main character gets to see different outloo...

A subplot is an essential part of any novel. These little side stories add depth to the main story, and they help develop other characters beside the protagonist. They run parallel to the main plot; they are connected to it, but they should be constructed in a way that they never overwhelm the main story. They are designed to maintain further interest within the story, so that the reader will never get bored, and they help give the overall story lots of variation and substance. They add extra layers and levels of complexity to the story. In other words, there’s plenty to keep the reader occupied. A subplot can involve any of the main characters – the protagonist, the antagonist or secondary characters, so some of the story is seen through their eyes.   They are all part of the main story, but they might also have their own stories that relate to the main story, so they might have different goals, different perspectives and different agendas and they will have different o...

Every story needs to have at least some hint of realism, even if the work is fictitious. That’s because the story is fictitious, not the setting, the era or history or the minor details. That’s where the realism should be. The idea is that a story needs to be believable and you want the reader to become immersed in the story . To achieve this, the story has to feel not just believable, but also real. And the characters need to feel real, too. With the exception of fantasy and sci-fi novels, realism in fiction is about portraying a certain reality. And the key word to understanding this is: plausibility. The story, the characters, their motivations, the setting and the plot all need to be plausible , regardless of genre. Readers want something that makes sense, something they could relate to, even if they’ve never experienced certain things, and that means they want some kind of realism – it’s what makes a fictional story seem real . This is known as verisimilitude. This is ...