Creative Writing - Fiction by Patrick Dent

Back

Creative Writing - Fiction
by Patrick Dent

When writing fiction, the author must rely upon his/her instincts and experiences to create a story. This article will provide an overview of 7 of the major elements of writing fiction in good form, i.e., the form editors expect.

Plotting
Plotting and characterization carry the other elements of the book. The plotting must be believable, plausible, and interesting. It is a sequence of events connected in a cause-and-effect manner. Generally the plot consists of a series of increasingly more intense conflicts, a climax (the most intense part of the book), and a final resolution. The plot must advance as the book unfolds. Usually the closer to the end of the book the climax is placed the better.
Long works like novels can have many subplots and secondary climaxes and resolutions. Avoid using subplots in order to have cliché characters. Avoid too many coincidences. Flashbacks have been overused. A book is stronger when it runs chronologically.

Characterization
The reader should be able to identify with and care about the characters in the sense that the characters seem real to the reader. The characters must do something, and what they do must seem reasonable for them to have done it.
Characters should be introduced early in the book. The more often a character is mentioned or appears, the more significance the reader will attach to the character. Also, the main character should be introduced before setting, so that the setting can be introduced from the point of view of the character.
The nature of characters can be brought out through minimal description and the actions, thoughts, and dialogue of the characters. The author should allow the reader to make judgments about the characters; the author should avoid making the judgments for the reader. The feelings of the character should be demonstrated rather than told by the narrator.
Yet, there are some very good books in which much of the narrative voice is about a character's feelings and thoughts or in which the narration goes into great detail and analysis of a character's feelings and thoughts at some point. So one rule about writing fiction is that there are no rules, or maybe: If it works, it works.

Scene
Scene includes the place and time in which the book takes place. The scene should be described in specifics to make the book seem real, to set the atmosphere and mood of the book, to place limitations on the characters, or to help establish the basic conflict of the book. Weather can be an important part of a scene.
The scene can be used for contrast, having something taking place in an unexpected place. Also, the more unfamiliar the reader is with the setting, the more interesting the scene.

Dialogue
Dialogue makes fiction seem real. However, dialogue that copies reality may actually slow down a book. Avoid unnecessary or repetitive dialogue.
Dialect in dialogue can be difficult to read. A small amount of it can be used to establish the nature of a character, but overuse will intrude on the book. The level of use of language by the characters- pronunciation, diction, grammar, etc.- is often used to characterize people in a book. Most often the main characters use the best English.
Profanity and vulgarisms can be used where they seem appropriate. Overuse amounts to author intrusion and can interrupt the reader's belief in the book.
Too much exposition through dialogue can slow down a book. Characters should not repeat in dialogue events which have already happened in the book.
Also, one character should not tell another character what the second character should already know just so the author can convey information to the reader.
The form of dialogue should be varied to keep the reader interested. However, don't try to find too many different ways to say

Author's Biography:

Patrick Dent, author of the covert ops thriller, Execution of Justice at:

http://www.lulu.com/EOJ

Online resource for new authors: