Posts Tagged "ABC’s of Fiction Writing"
ABC’s of Fiction Writing: P is for Persona
Writing involves a series of choices, many of them made before the first word is written. Will this story be told by in first, second or third person? Past or present tense? Do I start at the beginning or in the middle? For the experienced author these decisions are consciously made; for the novice, they may be accidental (“It just came out that way”). But there’s one decision that both beginners and veterans sometimes overlook: how close will I—the writer—come to the red-hot emotional core of the story I’m telling? A story (or poem, or essay) is like the solar system. At its center should be a heat-giving sun—that is, a deep feeling. It might be fear, or...
Read MoreABC’s of Fiction Writing: N is for Nonfiction
Before you stop me and put up your hands, I know. I know, you thought this was the ABC’s of Fiction Writing, and here I am, opening with “N is for Nonfiction.” Bear with me. I’ll make it worth your time. My native style is fiction, and frankly, I feel a discomfort with nonfiction. There’s an insistence on honesty and an inability to bend the characters and events to fit what you’re trying to accomplish. I get it. As uncomfortable as this alliance with the enemy is, trust me, when you take that risk and venture into the unknown territory by adding the spice of nonfiction, I know you’ll significantly boost the flavor of your story. The truth of the matter...
Read MoreABC’s of Fiction Writing: M is for Metafiction
Let’s talk about metafiction. The term “metafiction” was coined in 1970 to refer to works where the construction of the narrative is part of the narrative itself. But metafiction arguably began during the Dadaist movement of the early 20th century with practitioners like Felipe Alfau, whose absurdist works echoed the revolt against reason embraced by visual artists. Seriously. If you were sitting right here next to me, first of all, I would totally share my ravioli with you. Secondly, I’d talk exactly like this. Have you read Felipe Alfau? You should. Everyone should. In Alfau’s 1936 book Locos: A Comedy of Gestures, a group of characters wanders in and out...
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