• Writing

    The Craft of Writing Fiction: How To Tell A Story (Part 2)

    The way you tell a story can vary just as the personalities of writers will differ.  Yet there are some things a story must have, despite the fact they can come in different boxes, so-to-speak.  There is the old construct of a story that many of us learned in school, and while it’s reductive, it’s not a bad place to start when you’re looking at the structure of a story.   In school, we learned that a story has a beginning, a narrative hook, rising action, climax, falling action, and a conclusion.  While, again, this is simplistic, it’s not a bad idea to keep this in mind. Stories need structure…

  • Nonfiction of Note,  Writing

    Nonfiction of Note: The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

    I really enjoy books about writing but not “How To” books on writing.  Rather, I really enjoy books about how actual writers write. The practices, the techniques, the habits, and all that are fascinating to me and can be inspiring for those who have trouble sitting down at the keyboard or finding time to put their story onto paper.  However, there are a lot of variations of this type of book and some are much better than others. There are letters from writers to others that talk about the craft, there are memoirs that tell a great deal about authors and writing, and there are some books that, sadly, border…

  • Writing

    The Craft of Writing Fiction: How To Tell A Story (Part 1)

    Telling a story involves a lot of what we’ve covered in past articles, like setting, characters, and plot.  However, crafting a story is something that many are unable to do well and there are many ways this could be helped.  There are some cases, though, when being unable to craft a story is something that can’t be corrected. Yet, aspiring writers have to know the art of a story or else there will be nothing put on paper and their work could be full of inconsistencies or plot holes or unreadable.   Now, we’ve mentioned this before, but there are different types of fiction.  There are literary works and genre…

  • Writing

    The Craft of Writing Fiction: The Setting (Part 3)

    Setting, while it may not be the foremost thing on a writer’s mind, is very important, as we have discussed in this series, because it is foundational.  Characters are a piece of a work of literature that a person follows but the setting is what can draw them in. Setting and characters are vital to a story but the place where your story lives and where your characters move is what pulls the reader into the book or story. A setting can be new, exciting, and imaginative in ways that enthralls a reader or it can be some place familiar that brings a swell of memories to a reader and…

  • Writing

    The Craft of Writing Fiction: The Setting (Part 2)

    Setting is something that can be overly explained despite the fact that it is so very vital to a story.  There are countless stories that go into detail upon detail of a certain landscape or the country their characters inhabit or the inside of a spaceship or wherever their story resides.  Yet, this can be off-putting to many readers so it’s important to slowly introduce your setting if its something incredibly expansive. Be it a magical castle or a vast roaming land, these settings can be exciting and fantastic places that have a life all their own, but it’s important not to focus too much on them, rather, let your…

  • Writing

    Writing Self-Help Books: Are “How To Write” Books Worth The Time?

    On most subjects you’ll find “How To” books and there are good and bad in any bunch.  However, on some subjects, there is more difficulty when it comes to teaching. You can teaching techniques, philosophies, and even review practices and habits but there are some cases where you can’t make someone great if they aren’t very good to begin with and, for types of art, this is the case.   Writing is one of those things that can be subjective in that two people can read the same thing and one likes it and the other hates it, but when it comes to what is good writing, there are books…

  • Writing

    When Writing Fiction, Edit Your Work Without Mercy

    I hate reading what I’ve written, even if it’s an email, because I know what I meant to say and as I read, my mind is seeing what I want and not always what I wrote.  For me, editing for grammar and spelling is a weak point. However, some people are great at this aspect of reviewing but might miss entirely the need to improve the content of their fiction, so this is where other readers, or even a professional editor, can be so very important. Yet, writing fiction requires a lot of work in seclusion or behind a closed door as some writers like to say.  This also requires…

  • Writing

    Pushing Through Doubt When Writing A Book

    There are as many thoughts on writing, as many as there are books, on how the craft should be conducted.  From published professionals to novice dabblers in the fictitious arts, many people have ideas on what the best way to write is, and for a lot of established writers there is no right way.  There are just ways that work best for them. Indeed, writing is an individual pursuit, like running, but it does require that we all put one foot in front of the other and press on. However, there is one area where writers, both pros and wannabes, can agree and that is there is oftentimes doubt when…

  • Writing

    The Craft of Writing Fiction: The Setting (Part 1)

    Where your story takes place can matter a great deal.  The plot and characters are what most people will focus on, but the setting can further enrich your tale to the point that it becomes more alive to readers.  One of the best examples of setting being important is Harry Potter since Hogwarts is a place of such wonder and magic that it’s basically a character on its own.  However, this is by no means the only example of the importance of setting. The entire world in The Lord of the Rings trilogy is full of dangers and beauty.  In many a horror story, you need a spooky house or…

  • Writing

    The Craft of Writing Fiction: Characters (Part 3)

    We’ve talked a bit about the motives of a character but I want to focus more clearly on this aspect of writing here.  Characters are one of the legs that hold up the chair that is your story. Without great characters you have a story that could possibly tumble over, fall flat, or just fail to draw in your reader.   Even a captivating setting or premise is going to lose its hold on a reader if they don’t care about the people in the situation.   What can go a long way in making these characters people that a reader cares about is their motivations.  The motives of a character…