Five Writing Tips to Adopt if You Want to Write Fiction

Here are some things you need to do if you want to write fiction

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

It’s hard in the beginning when you realize you want to be a writer of fiction, especially when you don’t know how to get started.

Here are some tips to adopt to get you started with fiction writing.

Read books

I remember reading fiction written by Danielle Steel and it got me thinking about how I could write too. I started reading books by Stephen King, Margaret Attwood and Barbara Erskine, whom I particularly love because of her amazing talent to write thrilling stories. I believed that I could be a novelist and author just like them, and write to my heart’s content forever. I didn’t have a clue how to start but I wanted to try.

I had time to consider what my vocation was going to be and after some time, I believed it was going to be writing because all I did was read as much as I could. Reading fiction can empower your mind and the more you read, the more you will be inspired to write. So, reading should be one of the things you should do no matter what.

The truth is, your favorite authors, will help you to write better. Reading your favorite books will inspire you and push you to write fiction in a much better way than you expected. If you read the books you are interested in it will help you to want to do what those authors can do. Reading is something you must do.

Creative writing classes

I developed myself by joining a creative writing class because I wanted to know how I could start writing fiction. I hadn’t discovered anything about writing fiction until after my creative writing classes were over.

It takes time to learn to write. You have to do it every day and keep on doing it until you master it. It’s something that grows on you. It took me years to start writing articles and then finally publishing novels. It’s a hard craft to master but if you do it every single day it will eventually get you somewhere.

Creative writing classes will help develop your style of writing. It will teach you how to write and plan your novel. Planning is a big part of writing. I try to plan before I write but if I can’t, I just write from the heart and let it flow from my fingers as my mind moves into a plot. You will learn about plots and how to keep readers entertained.

Find a creative writing class near you. There should be plenty of courses around these days. If you can’t get to a class, then try some online creative writing courses. Anything is a start.

A strong story idea

Whatever your story idea is, make sure you pick a genre that you enjoy writing about whether it’s science fiction, horror, romance, crime fiction, young adult fiction, children’s stories, etc. If you have joined a creative writing class, you will learn more about genres there and how to develop your story idea.

Plot and cliff hangers

The plot is very important when writing fiction. I always plan my beginning, middle, and end before starting to write a book. Twists and turns can turn your book into a page-turner. Make sure to end every chapter with an incident that leaves the reader gasping for more. I have learned to write like this and each chapter I write is like a scene with a cliff hanger.

Character building

When I wrote my last book, I was driven with excitement as I got into the story that I was creating. I began to love my characters and where they were heading. I believe you need to be in the story with your characters to make it possible for you to finish a book and that’s how I roll now. I try to be my characters. They grow on me profoundly until I’ve got them inside of my head. This helps me to continue on every day when I am writing. For instance, my female character looked like a character from a tv show that I loved watching and so, I based her looks and personality on my main protagonist. I also put some of my own personality into the character. The other characters were based on people I had read about in the newspaper or people who I knew so it would be easier to write about them. I gave each character a trait and watched them evolve imaginatively in my mind. At times I would act them out by reading speech lines out aloud. It was very therapeutic too.

Setting

When I wrote my first book, I used a setting that I had been to before and had researched many times over. It was the country of Cyprus where I had visited sometimes twice a year and then again later when I lived there for four years because my family came from there, and lived there too. I used Cyprus as my setting and for part of the story lifestyle in my book. My point is, you should visit the place you want to write about or use in your book. It’s a good idea to go there and make notes and research the place thoroughly before you start writing. I always visit places before I use them in story settings because it makes sense and that’s why I sometimes write articles about places. It gives me the feel of the place and what went on there in the past. It’s also a good idea to stay overnight there if it’s possible for you to do so.

So, writing fiction will be fun once you adopt these tips.