All Write - Fiction Advice

To add depth to writing is to add layers. The more layers you have – and the idea of different perceptions – then the more depth you create.   Parts 1 and 2 looked at the general ways to add depth, but there are also more complex ways that can also work. How often do you use simile or metaphors? Writers often use similes without realising it, because we naturally like to compare one thing with another when describing things. You’ll spot a simile whenever the words ‘like’ or ‘as’ are used. For instance, ‘ Her voice sounded like a knife on glass’ , or ‘ His skin tingled as though ants crawled all over him’ . Both these similes help create vivid description, because they are comparing one thing to another - in this case, the sound of someone’s voice is compared to a knife scraping across the surface of glass (which produces a high pitched, excruciating sound), and the sensation of tingling skin is compared to a horde of ants crawling all over the body. Similes like this ad...

Part 1 looked at how characterisation, creating immediacy, themes and emotions can develop a sense of depth to storytelling.   But of course, there are many more that every writer should include, which form the basic backbone to any writing. Conflict – in its many forms – gives greater depth to writing, because where there is conflict there are a gamut of emotions. Conflict draws the reader deeper into the story because the main character is often at the centre, but the emotions that stem from such conflicts create reactions within the reader – they’re moved somehow; they’re angry, they’re on the edge of their seat, they’re scared or they’re on the verge of tears.   Deep connections with your characters will create greater depth. One of the best ways to add depth to any story is also one of the most simple, and it all revolves around detail.   Every bit of information, every description and every brushstroke provides an almost limitless depth to your writin...

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...

Last week looked at things like emotion, making characters relatable, giving them behaviours and traits and making them infallible. Each of these facets builds more of your characters; it brings them further into the reader’s imagination. But the one thing that brings characters to life is the similarity to real life people – that sense of realism.   As previously touched on last week, emotions play a huge part in creating characterisation, and one of those emotions that span the distance between fiction and reality is the emotion of fear.   Fears   Any story that can tap into fear is one that will hook the reader from the first chapter to the last.   Fear – real or imagined – affects all of us in different ways. Everyone knows what fear feels like, whether it’s fear of spiders, the dark, the fear of heights, snakes or other irrational phobias. That’s why horror stories work so well – they exploit those fears and make us face them. Those fears feel re...

Last week detailed character goals, motivations and the need to bring in their backstories to help build your characters and create detailed characterisation, but of course, there are many more elements required to create great, larger than life characters. Emotion The common denominator with any character’s motivation is emotion. Emotions affect our behaviour and they can often overwhelm us. What we feel can shape the way we act and react. So the same is true of your characters. All the things that have happened them, things in the past and present – childhood, growing up, different events and situations, incidents, important moments...they all involve emotion. All these emotions often manifest because of our past, which is why it’s important that your characters have a backstory. It’s these details that help the reader identify with that character. Each character will have different emotions, and the more emotion they have, the more immediacy you will create for the read...

Great stories need great characters. The people we choose to inhabit our fictional worlds help carry the story forward, but more importantly, they help to tell it. It is our main character’s story, and it is his or her situation that creates the entire fabric of the narrative. Our characters are the story. That’s why thorough characterisation is essential. But characterisation isn’t just about how they look, what colour hair and eyes they have or what their favourite food is. It’s much deeper than that. It’s all the things that are not obvious – not at first. It’s all the many facets that make characters multifaceted . Building characters – once you know what your characters are called and what they look like – requires a defined list of elements to not only bring them to life, but to help you tell their story. The aim of characterisation is to bring to life the characters whose story is being told – they need to feel real; they need to be believable and they need to feel co...