Thursday, November 11, 2010

Twenty Tools for Fiction Writing (Part One)



Many accomplished writers have dropped a word or two on how to succeed in fiction writing. It’s something which every writer can glean a nugget or two from. I didn’t want to gild the lily I’d rather you try and figure out their messages for yourself.

There are about ten quotes delivered raw here on the craft of fiction writing. The part two follows shortly.
Enjoy!

1. 
You have to write a lot of fiction, if you want to be a fiction writer.
– Stephen King

2. All of the good, weird stories I’ve written are based on things I’ve dredged out of my subconscious. That’s the real stuff. Everything else is fake.

3. Any skill you wish to master must be addressed every day. Even if you don’t spend a huge amount of time at it.

4.  The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

5. Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if ‘X’ happened? That’s how you start.

6. What a writer has to do is write what hasn’t been written before or beat dead men at what they have done.

7.  Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
Elmore Leonard

8. Focus on the story first. Ask yourself, ‘Will other people find this story so interesting that they will tell others about it?’ – 
Nicholas Sparks

9.  Keep a diary. The biggest regret of my writing life is that I have never kept a journal or a diary.
Geoff Dyer

10.  Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft.
PD James

Hope you learned a lot from these words. Stay tuned for the part two coming right atcha.

Keep your pen bleeding!


Akpan





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2 comments:

  1. To learn to be a better, successful writer focusing on advice from those writers who are tremendously popular would be a wise course of action.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Daron for stopping by. I appreciate the comment.

      Delete

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