If you ask someone what they think about writing as an activity, you are likely to receive an answer that can broadly be classified into one of the following two categories:
Writing is difficult and takes a lot of effort, concentration and discipline and most writers are sociopaths who live in cocoons of their imagination.
Writing is merely expressing your thoughts, capturing them on paper before they disappear into the land of never-never.
The thing about writing fiction is this: it does not matter how good your story is; what matters is how well you are able to tell it – a story is only as good as its narration.
10. THE ELEVATOR PITCH.
If you were to meet a publisher in an elevator, could you tell him/her the gist of your story in a single, understandable line? Write that line down. That line forms the meat of your story. Now break it down into past, present and future. You now have the plot(s), development(s) and climax. For example, consider this one-line gist: ‘A private investigator finds a decapitated head in his mailbox and the resulting investigation reveals a global conspiracy to destroy humanity.’
9. READY. SET. GO!
Often, the best way to tell a story is to jump right into the thick of things with simple sentences. If you know what you want to say, then say it without hesitation. Introductions, prologues, descriptions, etc can (and eventually, will) get added later. Sure, it may read as bland as a grocery list, but at least you have a beginning, right?
Example: “Private Investigator John Doe was shocked to find a decapitated head sitting amidst the rest of his mail. Attached to its forehead was a handwritten note that said: Stay Away.”
8. FACTS FIRST. IMAGINE LATER.
A good place to start is to write what you know. You can use locales, descriptions, objects, acquaintances, and friends – basically everything that is known to you. Not only will it ensure that your descriptions are accurate and believable but it will also give you the delicious satisfaction of having actually written something. Once the facts are in place, you can use your imagination to generate the fantasy required to ‘plug the holes’ in the story.
7. YOUR CHARACTERS ARE YOUR FRIENDS.
Here's the secret about characterization: Characters often begin as names, develop as people and eventually become friends. The trick is to find a successful reverse process for each character. For instance, you could visualize that character X in your story is actually friend/acquaintance Y in real-life. How would Y behave in the situation that X is in? What would Y say/do?
Example: "Standing at six feet tall, gifted with broad shoulders and a muscular physique, John Doe could have easily made it into the school basketball team as a point guard. Instead, he chose to throw himself into the ruthless, deep, dark world of private investigations."
6. IMAGINE. DRAMATIZE. DESCRIBE.
Say you want to write about a man committing suicide by jumping off a cliff. You could simply write: "He stood upon the cliff ready to jump and end his life." Or you could imagine it happening, dramatize it a bit and then describe it, thus: "He stood on the edge of the cliff, naked as the day he was born, and glanced timidly at the waves crashing onto the jagged rocks a few hundred meters below him." Which one makes you want to read further?
5. PEOPLE DON'T MERELY 'SAY' THINGS, THEY ALSO... ...talk, argue, grumble, mutter, yell, scream – you get the general idea. Each verb in the English language comes with a meaning that is different from its synonym. The differences can range from subtle to total. Understanding these differences and being able to use them correctly will help you go a long way in constructing crisper dialogues within your narratives.
4. LEARN FROM THE MASTERS.
A lot of people believe that reading another writer's work will influence (and possibly even) hamper your personal style. Yes, you may pick up a few nuances of style when you spend a long time with a particular author and his/her works but there’s a simple solution to this conundrum: Read different genres!
If you are writing a romantic novel, read a science-fiction book and vice-versa. Not only does it serve as a refreshing read, but it is also likely to give you ideas and plot points that you weren't able to see earlier.
3. WHEN YOU ARE WRITING, DON'T STOP...
Writing, like sports, requires constant effort. Don't worry about whether your writing is good, bad, readable, or even otherwise – that is a part of the editing process and it comes much later. Your primary aim should be to hammer out that ‘zero-draft.’ Once you have a basic plot, you can always flesh it out in greater detail later.
2. ...BUT DO TAKE THE OCCASIONAL BREAK!
Stereotypes of writers who finish their novels in seven days straight are abundant in the rumor-mills of the publishing industry. Sure, you can sit in front of a computer for hours at a stretch but how much can you write, really? Do you really think this article was written entirely in one sitting?
1. FINISH IT.
You may have a great idea for your story. It might have the potential to become a best-seller and get sold to a major motion picture studio. It might even win you the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Here's a reality-check: For all that to happen, your idea must metamorphose into a finished product and that is THE biggest challenge of all. Why? Because there are many things that can disrupt your writing. You might suddenly remember that you haven’t slept in days. Or that you haven’t stepped out of the house for a while. Friends will call and yell at you for becoming a social recluse. Even worse, the dreaded writer’s block might crop up and stunt your writing progress.
Whatever you do, don’t give up. Finish what you started. No one knows how many great books have been lost just because their authors were too lazy to finish what they had started or because they were interrupted and never got around to finishing what they began writing.
Writing often needs a single-minded dedication but most of the times, an honest focus works just as well. All the best!
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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in August, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
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—About our writer:
When he isn't conjuring up plots for his next big opus or working on freelance projects that pay his bills, Shrikant can usually be found surfing the internet grappling with the ever-changing semantic web. On a more serious note, Shrikant has dabbled in various professions beginning as a humble astronomer, moving on to a content/technical writer, and a radio jockey with a local radio station.
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