How to Be an Effective Fiction Writer
By: Tammi Brownlee
Tags: Creativity, Creative Writing, Life, Writing, Writing Tips

How to Be an Effective Fiction Writer

A helpful guide from start to finish

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Being an effective writer doesn’t mean your writing needs to be perfect. It doesn’t need to resonate with every reader in the world. What one person views as excellent work can be frowned upon by others. With that being said, there are a few tools every writer should keep in their memory vault.

Start with an idea

Imagine the blank sheet of paper, or the blank computer screen, as a garden. You dig a hole and put the seed inside, then water it and watch to see it grow. Creating a root, a stem and then beautiful flowers.

You did this with your idea. A thought comes into your mind and you need to plant it like a seed and watch it grow right before your eyes. The idea can come from anywhere, it could be something as minute as a neighbor mowing his lawn to something as monumental as seeing a car crash on your drive to the store.

Whatever that idea is you need to plant it on the blank sheet of paper and allow it to flourish.

Let the story write itself

Allow your story to create itself. You want the words to flow naturally from your finger tips. Now this doesn’t mean that you are to write with no clear thought as to how the story goes, but you need to let the idea grow.

Avoid trying to keep it going along the same original plot you imagined in your head. Just like with a garden the flowers will grow at their own pace and in their own direction. Your story craves to be free, allow it that chance to thrive.

Keep your outline, if you made one, it will come in handy to keep you on track. But allow the idea of change to encompass your writing. The focus and unity will come when editing. Get your first draft done.

Write what you know, but don’t be afraid of what you don’t know

The best advice I was ever given by one of my professor’s was to write what I know, but don’t be afraid to write what you don’t. This was brilliant. I was able to go beyond the same old stories I had been feverishly writing for years and have come up with new story ideas.

One thing you need to remember is there was a time when you didn’t know anything about what you know. You develop knowledge over time, each day is a new lesson waiting for you.

A little research goes a long way when you want to write something you don’t know. Adding this into your story can give it the uplift it may need to not be the same old thing. Reading is a fundamental way to research for this type of writing.

Typically I write stories that involve witches and worlds that don’t exist. I have been able write different themes based off reading books that I normally wouldn’t have touched before.

Write what I know, but don’t be afraid to write what you don’t

So pick up a book and start reading, you never know what you will learn. Because when you learn you will be able to your authority within your writing.

Don’t edit while writing your first draft

I have a nasty habit of erasing a sentence just so I can fix that one mistake. This only makes for messier writing. You get distracted from the thought you had and put the story in reverse.

Backtracking takes up precious moments for you to get your idea onto the paper. As hard as it can be — believe me, I know first hand — the quicker you will get your first draft done. Save the editing for when you are done writing.

Put the draft away and start a new project

When you are done with your first draft you will be eager to start the editing right away. This will make you want to rip your hair out. Trust me, I have been there — done that.

What happens is your brain will be on overload and you won’t be able to edit proficiently. And editing is already a tedious job to begin with. The best advice I was ever given was to put the draft away and start a new project. Something different. Give yourself as much distance from the draft as you can.

If you drafted a piece of fiction, try a non-fiction or try a different genre for your next project. Try watching a movie, taking a walk, cooking, playing a game. Anything that distracts you from thinking about it.

This will help with the next phase of writing.

Return for the revise and edit

Now that you have fresh eyes from stepping away, you can edit and revise your draft. Don’t be afraid to edit and revise a few times.

Some of the first things to look for are:

Grammar — do you have the right punctuation — periods, commas, apostrophes, etc. This step is important to the way you want your piece to be read. When in doubt there are many free tools to help you find ones you may have missed. Grammarly is a good tool, I prefer Ginger Edit, both of these offer free writing checks to help you. Focus — you want to make sure your writing is focused. Read your draft out loud, or have someone else read to you. I use a feature on my computer that reads it to me. I will sit there with my eyes closed and listen to how the story flows. Unity — as with focus you want to ensure each part works with the previous. If everything reads smoothly until you get to paragraph four and then suddenly you start wondering what in the world is wrong here, then you must rework that one. If you find it confusing then your reader will too. The saying ‘kill your darlings’ comes into play with this part. It could be a great piece, wonderfully written, but it does nothing for your story, you need to get it out of there. Delete fluff words — fluff words are words that are not needed to convey the message. Some of these words are that, just, very, absolutely, actually and literally. This is not a complete list, but they are the most common used in writing. Realistic — you want to ensure your characters and dialogue are as true to human nature as you can. (Unless you are dealing with other world plot lines) With dialogue you can study the way people talk, the words they use. For example; “You are going to the store.” the problem lies in the way most people would say this phrase in real life. A vast majority of speak with conjunctions. Realistic dialogue would go like this; “You’re going to the store.” because that is how we speak. Your character needs to realistic as well, this includes matching their dialogue to their personality, creating a uniformed backstory of the character that relates to real life, don’t deviate from the backstory and have the character know something they couldn’t possibly know.

Recap

To be an effective writer, you must show authority in your writing. Your reader needs to know you know what you are talking about. The words you write are used to do this. Follow these simple steps to help you become more effective with your writing.