Wanted: Fiction Writing for dummies - Tutorial and Exercises

darvon86

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Sep 20, 2016
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I am a brand new writer, writing in Literotica as simply a hobby. Not an English major, nor wrote a lot in school, but a pretty good student.

I am looking for suggestions about some tools to get me the first two steps down the path.

Something I could read, and then maybe exercises I could do using those lessons.

I have searched this forum, but haven't come up with the keyword to hit paydirt yet.

Thank you in advance.

darvon86
 
I am a brand new writer, writing in Literotica as simply a hobby. Not an English major, nor wrote a lot in school, but a pretty good student.

I am looking for suggestions about some tools to get me the first two steps down the path.

Something I could read, and then maybe exercises I could do using those lessons.

I have searched this forum, but haven't come up with the keyword to hit paydirt yet.

Thank you in advance.

darvon86

Before you start writing, close your eyes. Relax. Take a big breath. Ready?

Now describe in detail what was the last thing you saw? What was she or he wearing? What color was their hair, their eyes, and their skin? Did they have any distinguishing features, scars, birthmarks, freckles, moles, or tattoos? Was there anything extraordinary or memorable about them. Why would someone remember them?

Did you see any cars? What was the year, make, model, and color?

Now, describe the sounds and smells that you heard of smelled before you closed you eyes. Did you touch anything or imagined touching anything?

With as much detail as you can, write what you saw. If you get stuck, close your eyes again and envision what you remember all over again.

The best way to write is to write what you see. It sounds simple but it's not. Most of the writers who write here don't develop their characters. The more developed your characters are the better your story will be.

Many of the writers don't even describe or even name their characters. You'll never engage your reader without developing, describing, and/or naming your characters. You not only need to write what you see but also you need to write what you feel to make the reader see and feel what you see and feel.

Dialogue is very important, so important that you need to give each line of dialogue a separate paragraph.

What about plot? Do you have a plot? Some writers just ramble on without having a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Just as you need a beginning, you need a middle, as much as you need an end.

As important as description, imagery is equally as important. Tension is most important to have in your story. You want the reader rooting for or hating your characters.

Much of what I write are character driven stories. I'm more of a novelist than I am a short story writer. Whenever I write a story, I envision the movie and that helps me add in many of the necessary details of description and imagery.

Even though I have degree in English from Northeastern University in Boston, even though I minored in creative writing and English literature, you don't have to be educated to be a writer. Either you can write or you can't.

Other than reading a vast number of books, nothing I learned in college helped me to be a better writer. Other than term papers, I didn't write a damn thing in college. Then, when I graduated, I couldn't stop writing. Stories came out of me like projectile vomit, hopefully not as smelly.

Writing takes practice. The more you write the better writer you'll be. Writing takes discipline to sit in a room for hours while forsaking friends and family to write your stories.

If you want to write, you must read. Read everything. No one can teach you how to write.

Act like a detective when you're out and about. Notice every detail. Some writers take notes, some writers keep a journal, I'm lucky to have a photographic memory.

Good luck with your writing.
 
And after reading all those essays, read many many stories of all sorts. Note which appeal most to you. Study how those pieces are put together. Then write. And keep writing. Hint: it helps to finish what you write.
 
If you have a PC, I'd suggest JARTE as a word proc.
It's free and saves files in RTF. And it's really quite good.
 
I am a brand new writer, writing in Literotica as simply a hobby. Not an English major, nor wrote a lot in school, but a pretty good student.

I am looking for suggestions about some tools to get me the first two steps down the path.

Something I could read, and then maybe exercises I could do using those lessons.

I have searched this forum, but haven't come up with the keyword to hit paydirt yet.

Thank you in advance.

darvon86

Um... did you check out the Writers Challenges stickied at the top of the AH?
 
I am looking for suggestions about some tools to get me the first two steps down the path.

Something I could read, and then maybe exercises I could do using those lessons.

Steal this Plot by June and William Noble - structuring your story, motivating the plot
The First Five Pages - by Noah Lukeman
Outlining Your Novel - K M Weilland
Writing Dialogue - Tom Chiarella
Scene and Structure - Jack Bickman
How Not to Write a Novel - Howard Mittelmark & Sandra Newman
Make a Scene - Jordan Rosenfled

Just start writing and work to improve with every story.
 
[QUOTE

Just start writing and work to improve with every story.[/QUOTE]

What Chloe said. Plus ... try to write as simply as you can.
 
Chloe's list is an interesting collection of writing books for fiction. I've at least paged through all of them.

But there is NO substitute for just writing, writing, writing and writing. You won't understand or appreciate any of the advice in "How to Write" books until you have made every single mistake yourself--many many times. Bit by bit, skimming through those books, a lightbulb might go off and you'll recognize the things you have been doing right or doing wrong. But that takes lot of writing and a lot of mistakes.

There are no shortcuts. The first two steps down the path are 1) read something (you've been doing that for years) and 2) write something (you've been doing that for years too). The next steps for the rest of your writing career (even if it's a hobby) is to repeat those two steps over and over and over.

My experience in non-fiction spans four decades. My experience in fiction is far more limited. But the same two steps and everything else I said applies to both.

rj
 
Chloe's list is an interesting collection of writing books for fiction. I've at least paged through all of them.

But there is NO substitute for just writing, writing, writing and writing. You won't understand or appreciate any of the advice in "How to Write" books until you have made every single mistake yourself--many many times. Bit by bit, skimming through those books, a lightbulb might go off and you'll recognize the things you have been doing right or doing wrong. But that takes lot of writing and a lot of mistakes.

There are no shortcuts. The first two steps down the path are 1) read something (you've been doing that for years) and 2) write something (you've been doing that for years too). The next steps for the rest of your writing career (even if it's a hobby) is to repeat those two steps over and over and over.rj

What he said. Write. For the next story or stories, pick an aspect of your writing you want to improve, like dialog, read up on that, apply and experiment, write some more. Repeat again and again. It's a never ending process and it should always be fun. I sweat at my writing but it's like a good workout, no pain no gain.
 
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