In this series of articles, I draw from key excerpts of my textbook on how to write fiction The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! whose 26 chapters go from A to Z on the key aspects of writing good and meaningful fiction.
A is for Alien Architecture: Building from Scenes to Worlds
Most writers will tell you that the scene, not the sentence or word, is the smallest component—the building block—of a story. The scene forms an integral part of a larger plot structure that consists of a series of dual scenes and sequels. Dwight Swain, author of Techniques of The Selling Writer, breaks these down further into:
Scene: goal, conflict, disaster
Sequel: reaction, dilemma, decision
What’s important to remember is that the world you build is part of the story. It isn’t just a lot of “interesting” detail. As I mention in Chapter H for “setting”, the world you build, like a character in your story, plays a role in defining and supporting its theme. The major qualities of your world are, therefore, best derived for plot and thematic reasons—which come from “story”. The rest—the details—are things you can find in books or websites, or get from experts in your local university, etc. Don’t let science intimidate you but ensure that you get it right by using your resources and verifying your information with an expert. Use your local libraries, universities, colleges, and online resources. Interview scientists, technical people and other writers. That’s part of being a writer too.
B is for Blazing Beginnings
In an April 2001 article of Writer’s Digest, JoeCardillo (director of Southern Vermont College’s creative writing program) suggested that the three elements of hooking a reader resemble the steps he uses to train his Samoyed puppy: 1) arouse interest; 2) delay, then 3) reward.
The writer arouses interest in the reader by providing enough detail to get the reader to ask questions. Now they want something. You tease them with the delay; that keeps them reading and turning the pages. It also gives them the chance to try to come up with the answers themselves. In some books it can be a game between reader and writer; can the reader come up with the answer before the writer provides it? The reward comes in stages. Don’t answer all the questions at once. Parcel them out slowly. That’s what the book—the story—is for.
There is no beginning without an end. In a workshop at the 1998 Surrey Writer’s Conference Elizabeth Lyon, author of The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit (2002), suggested that the beginning of a novel should “reflect the entire book. There should be a tie-in [between] the beginning and the end.” This is sometimes called “framing” a story, where the principal thematic problem is given in the beginning and then resolved in the end.
Bill Johnson, author of A Story is a Promise, describesit as a promise tothe reader. The beginningof a book sets up acovenant between writerand reader, a covenantfor a journey they willtake together towardresolution. Johnson describesthe story promiseas doing three things,similar to Cardillo’s three steps (arouse, delay,reward). Johnson calls them setting out a story’score dramatic issue (the promise), movement,and fulfillment of the promise.
C is for Charismatic Characters
Your characters have a dramatic function, a role in advancing the plot and/or theme; they need a reason to be there. Your characters are the most important part of your book (more so than the plot or premise). Through them your book lives and breathes. Through them your premise, idea and your plot come alive. Through them you achieve empathy and commitment from the reader and a willingness to keep reading to find out what’s going to happen next: if the reader doesn’t invest in the characters, she won’t really care what happens next. Dramatic function aside, in order for your character to be memorable he needs to have a charismatic personality. He needs to show qualities that make him distinctive. All memorable characters show some character development (as story arc) from beginning to end of story. The more your character changes over a story, the more she will be noticed.
The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! (Starfire World Syndicate) May 2009. Nominated for an Aurora Prix Award. Available through Chapters/Indigo, Amazon, The Book Depository, and Barnes & Noble.
The Fiction Writer is a digest of how-to’s in writing fiction and creative non-fiction by masters of the craft from over the last century. Packaged into 26 chapters of well-researched and easy to read instruction, novelist and teacher Nina Munteanu brings in entertaining real-life examples and practical exercises. The Fiction Writer will help you learn the basic, tried and true lessons of a professional writer: 1) how to craft a compelling story; 2) how to give editors and agents what they want; and 3) how to maintain a winning attitude.
“…Like the good Doctor’s Tardis, The Fiction Writer is larger than it appears… Get Get Published, Write Now! right now.”
David Merchant, Creative Writing Instructor
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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
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