how to write a fiction story

How to Start Writing Fiction: The Six Core Elements of Fiction Writing

Jack Smith and Sean Glatch  |  June 14, 2023  |  4 Comments

Whether you’ve been struck with a moment of inspiration or you’ve carried a story inside you for years, you’re here because you want to start writing fiction. From developing flesh-and-bone characters to worlds as real as our own, good fiction is hard to write, and getting the first words onto the blank page can be daunting.

Daunting, but not impossible. Although writing good fiction takes time, with a few fiction writing tips and your first sentences written, you’ll find that it’s much easier to get your words on the page.

Let’s break down fiction to its essential elements. We’ll investigate the individual components of fiction writing—and how, when they sit down to write, writers turn words into worlds. Then, we’ll turn to instructor Jack Smith and his thoughts on combining these elements into great works of fiction. But first, what are the elements of fiction writing?

Introduction to Fiction Writing: The Six Elements of Fiction

Before we delve into any writing tips, let’s review the essentials of creative writing in fiction. Whether you’re writing flash fiction , short stories, or epic trilogies, most fiction stories require these six components:

• Plot: the “what happens” of your story.
• Characters:  whose lives are we watching?
• Setting: the world that the story is set in.
• Point of View: from whose eyes do we see the story unfold?
• Theme: the “deeper meaning” of the story, or what the story represents.
• Style: how you use words to tell the story.

It’s important to recognize that all of these elements are intertwined. You can’t build the setting without writing it through a certain point of view; you can’t develop important themes with arbitrary characters, etc. We’ll get into the relationship between these elements later, but for now, let’s explore how to use each element to write fiction.

1. Fiction Writing Tip: Developing Fictional Plots

Plot is the series of causes and effects that produce the story as a whole. Because A, then B, then C—ultimately leading to the story’s  climax , the result of all the story’s events and character’s decisions.

If you don’t know where to start your story, but you have a few story ideas, then start with the conflict . Some novels take their time to introduce characters or explain the world of the piece, but if the conflict that drives the story doesn’t show up within the first 15 pages, then the story loses direction quickly.

That’s not to say you have to be explicit about the conflict. In Harry Potter, Voldemort isn’t introduced as the main antagonist until later in the first book; the series’ conflict begins with the Dursley family hiding Harry from his magical talents. Let the conflict unfold naturally in the story, but start with the story’s impetus, then go from there.

2. Fiction Writing Tip: Creating Characters

Think far back to 9th grade English, and you might remember the basic types of story conflicts: man vs. nature, man vs. man, and man vs. self. The conflicts that occur within stories happen to its characters—there can be no story without its people. Sometimes, your story needs to start there: in the middle of a conversation, a disrupted routine, or simply with what makes your characters special.

There are many ways to craft characters with depth and complexity. These include writing backstory, giving characters goals and fatal flaws, and making your characters contend with complicated themes and ideas. This guide on character development will help you sort out the traits your characters need, and how to interweave those traits into the story.

3. Fiction Writing Tip: Give Life to Living Worlds

Whether your story is set on Earth or a land far, far away, your setting lives in the same way your characters do. In the same way that we read to get inside the heads of other people, we also read to escape to a world outside of our own. Consider starting the story with what makes your world live: a pulsing city, the whispered susurrus of orchards, hills that roil with unsolved mysteries, etc. Tell us where the conflict is happening, and the story will follow.

4. Fiction Writing Tip: Play With Narrative Point of View

Point of view refers to the “cameraman” of the story—the vantage point we are viewing the story through. Maybe you’re stuck starting your story because you’re trying to write it in the wrong person. There are four POVs that authors work with:

• First person—the story is told from the “I” perspective, and that “I” is the protagonist.
• First person peripheral—the story is told from the “I” perspective, but the “I” is not the protagonist, but someone adjacent to the protagonist. (Think: Nick Carraway, narrator of  The Great Gatsby. )
• Second person—the story is told from the “you” perspective. This point of view is rare, but when done effectively, it can create a sense of eeriness or a personalized piece.
• Third person limited—the story is told from the “he/she/they” perspective. The narrator is not directly involved in the lives of the characters; additionally, the narrator usually writes from the perspective of one or two characters.
• Third person omniscient—the story is told from the “he/she/they” perspective. The narrator is not directly involved in the lives of the characters; additionally, the narrator knows what is happening in each character’s heads and in the world at large.

If you can’t find the right words to begin your piece, consider switching up the pronouns you use and the perspective you write from. You might find that the story flows onto the page from a different point of view.

5. Fiction Writing Tip: Use the Story to Investigate Themes

Generally, the themes of the story aren’t explored until after the aforementioned elements are established, and writers don’t always know the themes of their own work until after the work is written. Still, it might help to consider the broader implications of the story you want to write. How does the conflict or story extend into a bigger picture?

Let’s revisit Harry Potter’s opening scenes. When we revisit the Dursleys preventing Harry from knowing about his true nature, several themes are established: the meaning of family, the importance of identity, and the idea of fate can all be explored here. Themes often develop organically, but it doesn’t hurt to consider the message of your story from the start.

6. Fiction Writing Tip: Experiment With Words

Style is the last of the six fiction elements, but certainly as important as the others. The words you use to tell your story, the way you structure your sentences, how you alternate between characters, and the sounds of the words you use all contribute to the mood of the work itself.

If you’re struggling to get past the first sentence, try rewriting it. Write it in 10 words or write it in 200 words; write a single word sentence; experiment with metaphors, alliteration, or onomatopoeia . Then, once you’ve found the right words, build from there, and let your first sentence guide the style and mood of the narrative.

Now, let’s take a deeper look at the craft of fiction writing. The above elements are great starting points, but to learn how to start writing fiction, we need to examine the craft of combining these elements.

Primer on the Elements of Fiction Writing

First, before we get into the craft of fiction writing, it’s important to understand the elements of fiction. You don’t need to understand everything about the craft of fiction before you start keying in ideas or planning your novel. But this primer will be something you can consult if you need clarification on any term (e.g., point of view) as you learn how to start writing fiction.

The Elements of Fiction Writing

A standard novel runs between 80,000 to 100,000 words. A short novel, going by the National Novel Writing Month , is at least 50,000. To begin with, don’t think about length—think about development. Length will come. It is true that some works lend themselves more to novellas, but if that’s the case, you don’t want to pad them to make a longer work. If you write a plot summary—that’s one option on getting started writing fiction—you will be able to get a fairly good idea about your project as to whether it lends itself to a full-blown novel.

For now, let’s think about the various elements of fiction—the building blocks.

Writing Fiction: Your Protagonist

Readers want an interesting protagonist , or main character. One that seems real, that deals with the various things in life we all deal with. If the writer makes life too simple, and doesn’t reflect the kinds of problems we all face, most readers are going to lose interest.

Don’t cheat it. Make the work honest. Do as much as you can to develop a character who is fully developed, fully real—many-sided. Complex. In Aspects of the Novel , E.M Forster called this character a “round” characte r. This character is capable of surprising us. Don’t be afraid to make your protagonist, or any of your characters, a bit contradictory. Most of us are somewhat contradictory at one time or another. The deeper you see into your protagonist, the more complex, the more believable they will be.

If a character has no depth, is merely “flat,” as Forster terms it, then we can sum this character up in a sentence: “George hates his ex-wife.” This is much too limited. Find out why. What is it that causes George to hate his ex-wife? Is it because of something she did or didn’t do? Is it because of a basic personality clash? Is it because George can’t stand a certain type of person, and he didn’t realize, until too late, that his ex-wife was really that kind of person? Imagine some moments of illumination, and you will have a much richer character than one who just hates his ex-wife.

And so… to sum up: think about fleshing out your protagonist as much as you can. Consider personality, character (or moral makeup), inclinations, proclivities, likes, dislikes, etc. What makes this character happy? What makes this character sad or frustrated? What motivates your character? Readers don’t want to know only what —they want to know why .

Usually, readers want a sympathetic character, one they can root for. Or if not that, one that is interesting in different ways. You might not find the protagonist of The Girl on the Train totally sympathetic, but she’s interesting! She’s compelling.

Here’s an article I wrote on what makes a good protagonist.

Also on clichéd characters.

Now, we’re ready for a key question: what is your protagonist’s main goal in this story? And secondly, who or what will stand in the way of your character achieving this goal?

There are two kinds of conflicts: internal and external. In some cases, characters may not be opposing an external antagonist, but be self-conflicted. Once you decide on your character’s goal, you can more easily determine the nature of the obstacles that your protagonist must overcome. There must be conflict, of course, and stories must involve movement. Things go from Phase A to Phase B to Phase C, and so on. Overall, the protagonist begins here and ends there. She isn’t the same at the end of the story as she was in the beginning. There is a character arc.

I spoke of character arc. Now let’s move on to plot, the mechanism governing the overall logic of the story. What causes the protagonist to change? What key events lead up to the final resolution?

But before we go there, let’s stop a moment and think about point of view, the lens through which the story is told.

Writing Fiction: Point of View as Lens

Is this the right protagonist for this story? Is this character the one who has the most at stake? Does this character have real potential for change? Remember, you must have change or movement—in terms of character growth—in your story. Your character should not be quite the same at the end as in the beginning. Otherwise, it’s more of a sketch.

Such a story used to be called “slice of life.” For example, what if a man thinks his job can’t get any worse—and it doesn’t? He started with a great dislike for the job, for the people he works with, just for the pay. His hate factor is 9 on a scale of 10. He doesn’t learn anything about himself either. He just realizes he’s got to get out of there. The reader knew that from page 1.

Choose a character who has a chance of undergoing change of some kind. The more complex the change, the better. Characters that change are dynamic characters , according to E. M. Forster. Characters that remain the same are  static  characters. Be sure your protagonist is dynamic.

Okay, an exception: Let’s say your character resists change—that can involve some sort of movement—the resisting of change.

Here’s another thing to look at on protagonists—a blog I wrote: https://elizabethspanncraig.com/writing-tips-2/creating-strong-characters-typical-challenges/

Writing Fiction: Point of View and Person

Usually when we think of point of view, we have in mind the choice of person: first, second, and third. First person provides intimacy. As readers we’re allowed into the I-narrator’s mind and heart. A story told from the first person can sometimes be highly confessional, frank, bold. Think of some of the great first-person narrators like Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield. With first person we can also create narrators that are not completely reliable, leading to dramatic irony : we as readers believe one thing while the narrator believes another. This creates some interesting tension, but be careful to make your protagonist likable, sympathetic. Or at least empathetic, someone we can relate to.

What if a novel is told in first person from the point of view of a mob hit man? As author of such a tale, you probably wouldn’t want your reader to root for this character, but you could at least make the character human and believable. With first person, your reader would be constantly in the mind of this character, so you’d need to find a way to deal with this sympathy question. First person is a good choice for many works of fiction, as long as one doesn’t confuse the I-narrator with themselves. It may be a temptation, especially in the case of fiction based on one’s own life—not that it wouldn’t be in third person narrations. But perhaps even more with a first person story: that character is me . But it’s not—it’s a fictional character.

Check out my article on writing autobiographical fiction, which appeared in  The   Writer  magazine. https://www.writermag.com/2018/07/31/filtering-fact-through-fiction/

Third person provides more distance. With third person, you have a choice between three forms: omniscient, limited omniscient, and objective or dramatic. If you get outside of your protagonist’s mind and enter other characters’ minds, you are being omniscient or godlike. If you limit your access to your protagonist’s mind only, this is limited omniscience. Let’s consider these two forms of third-person narrators before moving on to the objective or dramatic POV.

The omniscient form is rather risky, but it is certainly used, and it can certainly serve a worthwhile function. With this form, the author knows everything that has occurred, is occurring, or will occur in a given place, or in given places, for all the characters in the story. The author can provide historical background, look into the future, and even speculate on characters and make judgments. This point of view, writers tend to feel today, is more the method of nineteenth-century fiction, and not for today. It seems like too heavy an authorial footprint. Not handled well—and it is difficult to handle well—the characters seem to be pawns of an all-knowing author.

Today’s omniscience tends to take the form of multiple points of view, sometimes alternating, sometimes in sections. An author is behind it all, but the author is effaced, not making an appearance. BUT there are notable examples of well-handled authorial omniscience–read Nobel-prize winning Jose Saramago’s Blindness  as a good example.

For more help, here’s an article I wrote on the omniscient point of view for  The Writer : https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/omniscient-pov/

The limited omniscient form is typical of much of today’s fiction. You stick to your protagonist’s mind. You see others from the outside. Even so, you do have to be careful that you don’t get out of this point of view from time to time, and bring in things the character can’t see or observe—unless you want to stand outside this character, and therein lies the omniscience, however limited it is.

But anyway, note the difference between: “George’s smiles were very welcoming” and “George felt like his smiles were very welcoming”—see the difference? In the case of the first, we’re seeing George from the outside; in the case of the second, from the inside. It’s safer to stay within your protagonist’s perspective as much as possible and not describe them from the outside. Doing so comes off like a point-of-view shift. Yet it’s true that in some stories, the narrator will describe what the character is wearing, tell us what his hopes and dreams are, mention things he doesn’t know right now but will later—and perhaps, in rather quirky stories, the narrator will even say something like “Our hero…” This can work, and has, if you create an interesting narrative voice. But it’s certainly a risk.

The dramatic or objective point of view is one you’ll probably use from time to time, but not throughout your whole novel. Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants” is handled with this point of view. Mostly, with maybe one exception, all we know is what the characters say and do, as in a play. Using this point of view from time to time in a longer work can certainly create interest. You can intensify a scene sometimes with this point of view. An interesting back and forth can be accomplished, especially if the dialogue is clipped.

I’ve saved the second-person point of view for the last. I would advise you not to use this point of view for an entire work. In his short novel Bright Lights, Big City , Jay McInerney famously uses this point of view, and with some force, but it’s hard to pull off. In lesser hands, it can get old. You also cause the reader to become the character. Does the reader want to become this character? One problem with this point of view is it may seem overly arty, an attempt at sophistication. I think it’s best to choose either first or third.

Here’s an article I wrote on use of second person for  The Writer magazine. Check it out if you’re interested. https://www.writermag.com/2016/11/02/second-person-pov/

Writing Fiction: Protagonist and Plot and Structure

We come now to plot, keeping in mind character. You might consider the traditional five-stage structure : exposition, rising action, crisis and climax, falling action, and resolution. Not every plot works this way, but it’s a tried-and-true structure. Certainly a number of pieces of literature you read will begin in media re s—that is, in the middle of things. Instead of beginning with standard exposition, or explanation of the condition of the protagonist’s life at the story’s starting point, the author will begin with a scene. But even so, as in Jerzy Kosiński’s famous novella Being There , which begins with a scene, we’ll still pick up the present state of the character’s life before we see something that complicates it or changes the existing equilibrium. This so-called complication can be something apparently good—like winning the lottery—or something decidedly bad—like losing a huge amount of money at the gaming tables. One thing is true in both cases: whatever has happened will cause the character to change. And so now you have to fill in the events that bring this about.

How do you do that? One way is to write a chapter outline to prevent false starts. But some writers don’t like plotting in this fashion, but want to discover as they write. If you do plot your novel in advance, do realize that as you write, you will discover a lot of things about your character that you didn’t have in mind when you first set pen to paper. Or fingers to keyboard. And so, while it’s a good idea to do some planning, do keep your options open.

Let’s think some more about plot. To have a workable plot, you need a sequence of actions or events that give the story an overall movement. This includes two elements which we’ll take up later: foreshadowing and echoing (things that prepare us for something in the future and things that remind us of what has already happened). These two elements knit a story together.

Think carefully about character motivations. Some things may happen to your character; some things your character may decide to do, however wisely or unwisely. In the revision stage, if not earlier, ask yourself: What motivates my character to act in one way or another? And ask yourself: What is the overall logic of this story? What caused my character to change? What were the various forces, whether inner or outer, that caused this change? Can I describe my character’s overall arc, from A to Z?  Try to do that. Write a short paragraph. Then try to write down your summary in one sentence, called a log line in film script writing, but also a useful technique in fiction writing as well. If you write by the discovery method, you probably won’t want to do this in the midst of the drafting, but at least in the revision stage, you should consider doing so.

With a novel you may have a subplot or two. Assuming you will, you’ll need to decide how the plot and the subplot relate. Are they related enough to make one story? If you think the subplot is crucial for the telling of your tale, try to say why—in a paragraph, then in a sentence.

Here’s an article I wrote on structure for  The Writer : https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/revision-grammar/find-novels-structure/

Writing Fiction: Setting

Let’s move on to setting . Your novel has to take place somewhere. Where is it? Is it someplace that is particularly striking and calls for a lot of solid description? If it’s a wilderness area where your character is lost, give your reader a strong sense for the place. If it’s a factory job, and much of the story takes place at the worksite, again readers will want to feel they’re there with your character, putting in the hours. If it’s an apartment and the apartment itself isn’t related to the problems your character is having, then there’s no need to provide that much detail. Exception: If your protagonist concentrates on certain things in the apartment and begins to associate certain things about the apartment with their misery, now there’s reason to get concrete. Take a look, when you have a chance, at the short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” It’s not an apartment—it’s a house—but clearly the setting itself becomes important when it becomes important to the character. She reads the wallpaper as a statement about her own condition.

Here’s the URL for ”The Yellow Wall-Paper”: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf

Sometimes setting is pretty important; sometimes it’s much less important. When it doesn’t serve a purpose to describe it, don’t, other than to give the reader a sense for where the story takes place. If you provide very many details, even in a longer work like a novel, the reader will think that these details have some significance in terms of character, plot, or theme—or all three. And if they don’t, why are they there? If setting details are important, be selective. Provide a dominant impression. More on description below.

If you’re interested, here’s a blog on setting I wrote for Writers.com: https://writers.com/what-is-the-setting-of-a-story

Writing Fiction: Theme and Idea

Most literary works have a theme or idea. It’s possible to decide on this theme before you write, as you plan out your novel. But be careful here. If the theme seems imposed on the work, the novel will lose a lot of force. It will seem—and it may well be—engineered by the author much like a nonfiction piece, and lose the felt experience of the characters.

Theme must emerge from the work naturally, or at least appear to do so. Once you have a draft, you can certainly build ideas that are apparent in the work, and you can even do this while you’re generating your first draft. But watch out for overdoing it. Let the characters (what they do, what they say) and the plot (the whole storyline with its logical connections) contribute on their own to the theme. Also you can depend on metaphors, similes, and analogies to point to the theme—as long as these are not heavy-handed. Avoid authorial intrusion, authorial impositions of any kind. If you do end up creating a simile, metaphor, or analogy through rational thinking, make sure it sounds  natural. That’s not easy, of course.

Writing Fiction: Handling Scenes

Keep a few things in mind about writing scenes. Not every event deserves a whole scene, maybe only a half-scene, a short interaction between characters. Scenes need to do two things: reveal character and advance plot. If a scene seems to stall out and lack interest, in the revision mode you might try using narrative summary instead (see below).

Good fiction is strongly dramatic, calling for scenes, many of them scenes with dialogue and action. Scenes need to involve conflict of some kind. If everyone is happy, that’s probably going to be a dull scene. Some scenes will be narrative, without dialogue. You need some interesting action to make these work.

Let’s consider scenes with dialogue.

The best dialogue is speech that sounds natural, and yet isn’t. Everything about fiction is an artifice, including speech. But try to make it sound real. The best way to do this is to “hear” the voices in your head and transcribe them. Take dictation. If you can do this, whole conversations will seem very real, believable. If you force what each character has to say, and plan it out too much, it will certainly sound planned out, and not real at all. Not that in the revision mode you can’t doctor up the speech here and there, but still, make sure it comes off as natural sounding.

Some things to think about when writing dialogue: people usually speak in fragments, interrupt each other, engage in pauses, follow up a question with a comment that takes the conversation off course (non sequiturs). Note these aspects of dialogue in the fiction you read.

Also, note how writers intersperse action with dialogue, setting details, and character thoughts. As far as the latter goes, though, if you’ll recall, I spoke of the dramatic point of view, which doesn’t get into a character’s mind but depends instead on what characters do and say, as in a play. You may try this point of view out in some scenes to make them really move.

One technique is to use indirect dialogue, or summary of what a character said, not in the character’s own words. For instance: Bill made it clear that he wasn’t going to the city after all. If anybody thought that, they were wrong .

Now and then you’ll come upon dialogue that doesn’t use the standard double quotes, but perhaps a single quote (this is British), or dashes, or no punctuation at all. The latter two methods create some distance from the speech. If you want to give your work a surreal quality, this certainly adds to it. It also makes it seem more interior.

One way to kill good dialogue is to make characters too obviously expository devices—that is, functioning to provide background or explanations of certain important story facts. Certainly characters can serve as expository devices, but don’t be too heavy-handed about this. Don’t force it like the following:

“We always used to go to the beach, you recall? You recall how first we would have breakfast, then take a long walk on the beach, and then we would change into our swimsuits, and spend an hour in the water. And you recall how we usually followed that with a picnic lunch, maybe an hour later.”

This sounds like the character is saying all this to fill the reader in on backstory. You’d need a motive for the utterance of all of these details—maybe sharing a memory?

But the above sounds stilted, doesn’t it?

One final word about dialogue. Watch out for dialogue tags that tell but don’t show . Here’s an example:

“Do you think that’s the case,” said Ted, hoping to hear some good news. “Not necessarily,” responded Laura, in a barky voice. “I just wish life wasn’t so difficult,” replied Ted.

If you’re going to use a tag at all—and many times you don’t need to—use “said.” Dialogue tags like the above examples can really kill the dialogue.

Writing Fiction: Writing Solid Prose

Narrative summary :  As I’ve stated above, not everything will be a scene. You’ll need to write narrative summary now and then. Narrative summary telescopes time, covering a day, a week, a month, a year, or even longer. Often it will be followed up by a scene, whether a narrative scene   or one with dialogue. Narrative summary can also relate how things generally went over a given period. You can write strong narrative summary if you make it specific and concrete—and dramatic. Also, if we hear the voice of the writer, it can be interesting—if the voice is compelling enough.

Exposition : It’s the first stage of the 5-stage plot structure, where things are set up prior to some sort of complication, but more generally, it’s a prose form which tells or informs. You use exposition when you get inside your character, dealing with his or her thoughts and emotions, memories, plans, dreams. This can be difficult to do well because it can come off too much like authorial “telling” instead of “showing,” and readers want to feel like they’re experiencing the world of the protagonist, not being told about this world. Still, it’s important to get inside characters, and exposition is often the right tool, along with narrative summary, if the character is remembering a sequence of events from the past.

Description :  Description is a word picture, providing specific and concrete details to allow the reader to see, not just be told. Concreteness is putting the reader in the world of the five senses, what we call imagery . Some writers provide a lot of details, some only a few—just enough that the reader can imagine the rest. Consider choosing details that create a dominant impression—whether it’s a character or a place. Similes, metaphors, and analogies help readers see people and places and can make thoughts and ideas (the reflections of your character or characters) more interesting. Not that you should always make your reader see. To do so might cause an overload of images.

Check out these two articles: https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/the-definitive-guide-to-show-dont-tell/ https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/figurative-language-in-fiction/

Writing Fiction: Research

Some novels require research. Obviously historical novels do, but others do, too, like Sci Fi novels. Almost any novel can call for a little research. Here’s a short article I wrote for The Writer magazine on handling research materials. It’s in no way an in-depth commentary on research–but it will serve as an introduction. https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/research-in-fiction/

For a blog on novel writing, check this link at Writers.com: https://writers.com/novel-writing-tips

For more articles I’ve published in  The Writer , go here: https://www.writermag.com/author/jack-smith/

How to Start Writing Fiction: Take a Writing Class!

To write a story or even write a book, fiction writers need these tools first and foremost. Although there’s no comprehensive guide on how to write fiction for beginners, working with these elements of fiction will help your story bloom.

All six elements synergize to make a work of fiction, and like most works of art, the sum of these elements is greater than the individual parts. Still, you might find that you struggle with one of these elements, like maybe you’re great at writing characters but not very good with exploring setting. If this is the case, then use your strengths: use characters to explore the setting, or use style to explore themes, etc.

Getting the first draft written is the hardest part, but it deserves to be written. Once you’ve got a working draft of a story or novel and you need an extra set of eyes, the Writers.com community is here to give feedback: take a look at our upcoming courses on fiction writing, and check out our talented writing community .

Good luck, and happy writing!

I have had a story in my mind for over 15 years. I just haven’t had an idea how to start , putting it down on print just seems too confusing. After reading this article I’m even more confused but also more determined to give it a try. It has given me answers to some of my questions. Thank you !

You’ve got this, Earl!

Just reading this as I have decided to attempt a fiction work. I am terrible at writing outside of research papers and such. I have about 50 single spaced pages “written” and an entire outline. These tips are great because where I struggle it seems is drawing the reader in. My private proof reader tells me it is to much like an explanation and not enough of a story, but working on it.

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How to Write Fiction

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Fiction Writing Fundamentals

First steps , key elements, how to write compelling stories, drafting and revising, how to share and publish your work, resources for teaching fiction writing, additional writing resources .

From the earliest cave paintings to Harry Potter, human beings have been fascinated by storytelling. Writing fiction, the act of "fashioning or imitating" according to the Oxford English Dictionary,  has played a part in that imaginative exercise for millennia. Through the written word, authors express ideas and emotions and share compelling narratives. This guide is a collection of dozens of links about the process of writing fiction that we have researched, categorized, and annotated. You'll learn how to define "fiction" and what its forms are, discover resources to help you write and publish stories, and find ideas for teaching creative writing.

The umbrella category of "fiction" covers short stories and 500,000-word Victorian novels, heart-pounding thrillers and epic poetry. Before you dive into the process of creating your own fiction, it’s important to know what the term means and what its main forms are. Below, you'll find resources to ground you in an understanding of fiction's history and many genres.

What is Fiction?

"Fiction" (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia's entry on fiction offers a broad definition of the term, along with sections on fiction's formats, genre fiction, literary fiction, and links for further exploration.

"Memoir vs. Fiction" ( The Pen & The Pad )

This article from a writing website offers a short breakdown of the differences between memoir and fiction, including use of facts, protagonists and point of view, use of detail, and purpose.

"Fiction v. Nonfiction" (Criticalreading.com)

Dan Kurland's critical reading website offers a quick list of the differences between fiction and nonfiction, along with a list of the major categories of fiction writing.

"The Benefits of Fiction vs. Nonfiction" (Reddit)

This archived subreddit is filled with comments on the benefits of fiction and nonfiction, as well as the uses of these two different types of writing.

"What is Fiction?" (PBS Digital Studios via YouTube)

This eleven-minute video from the Idea Channel digs into the philosophical underpinnings of the term "fiction," outlining the differences between fiction and reality.

"Fiction Forms" (Wikipedia)  

This Wikipedia category page describes the different forms of fiction, from epistolary novels to blog fiction, with links to more information on each form.

The Forms of Fiction (Amazon)

This (lengthy) classic book by John Gardner and Lennis Dunlap breaks down the short story form into a series of different categories, explaining the differences between each one.

"Different Types of Fiction" ( The Writer's Cookbook Blog)

This blog post offers a fairly comprehensive list of the different types of fiction, organized in a way that “won’t make your head explode,” according to the author.

"The Meaning of Genre in Literature" ( Owlcation )

This article will help you understand the difference between form and genre, using the construction of a building as a useful analogy in comparing the two. 

"Defining Genre" ( The Editor's Blog )

This blog post provides an overview of what genre in fiction is, along with a link to a second post that touches on all the major genres in fiction.

"List of Writing Genres" (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia’s list of genres is divided into those pertaining to fiction and nonfiction, with an explanation of how “genre” fiction differs from “literary” fiction.

"What’s Your Genre?: A High-Level Overview for Writers" (JaneFriedman.com)

This post from a publishing industry professional discusses the role genre plays in the book industry and how it affects categories, sales, and marketing.

"Sub-Genre Descriptions" ( Writer's Digest )

This post lists all of the various sub-genres within the major genre classifications, with a quick description of what they typically entail.

As the resources above make clear, works of fiction vary in length, form, and genre. Your piece might be 500 words (flash fiction) or 500,000 words (like some novels). You might choose to write a mystery, romance, or fantasy piece. Even within genres, authors write for different ages and audiences. You also need to decide on a point of view—should your story be told from the first person perspective, or from the vantage point of an omniscient narrator? The resources below will introduce you to the many choices writers of fiction must make.

How to Choose a Form

"Should You Write a Novel or Short Story" ( Writer's Digest )

This article lists five things you should keep in mind as you decide whether your story should be a full-length novel or a short story.

"How to Choose the Right Medium for Your Story" (Literary Hub)

This piece, authored by a film and television writer who also dabbles in other forms, discusses the different skill sets required for writing in each literary form, and the storytelling opportunities afforded by each one.

“Is it Better to Be a Short Story Writer or a Novelist?” (British Council)

This article by Northern Irish author Paul McVeigh weighs the pros and cons of writing short stories and novels, and describes the challenges of each.

"8 Reasons You Should be Writing Short Stories" (TCK Publishing)

This list, geared towards self-published or independently published writers, discusses the benefits of writing short stories—both for your craft, and your bottom line.

How to Pick a Genre

"What Type of Book Should You Write?" (Quizony)

Use this not-so-serious quiz about your favorite characters, opening lines, and more to help get you brainstorming on the type of book you should write.

"How to Choose a Genre When Writing" ( Writer's Digest )

In this post on the  Writer’s Digest  site, bestselling writer Catherine Ryan Hyde discusses how to choose a genre when writing fiction, and how that genre often chooses you.

How to Identify Your Audience

"How to Find Your Ideal Reader" ( The Book Designer )

This article by author Cathy Yardley discusses how to identify the audience for your fiction book by figuring out exactly what type of book you are writing.

"How Authors Can Find Their Ideal Reading Audience" (JaneFriedman.com)

This post by writing coach and author Angela Ackerman offers tips for identifying the audience you’re writing for and connecting with your readers.

"Finding a Target Audience for Your Book in 3 Steps" ( Reedsy )

This post outlines the process of finding the “right” readers for your book, understanding their perspective, and figuring out how to connect to them via platforms like Goodreads.

"Do You Know Who Your Audience is?" ( Writer Unboxed )

This post from writer Dan Blank suggests that you choose your ideal audience before you start crafting your story. Blank emphasizes that most stories are  not  universal.

How to Choose a Perspective

"First, Second, and Third Person" (QuickandDirtyTips.com)

Grammar Girl reads this article by Geoff Pope, which is a no-nonsense guide to the different perspectives that writing can take, paired with a discussion of when each is commonly used.

"First-Person POV vs. Third-Person POV" (Youtube)

This short video from bestselling author K.M. Weiland focuses on deciding whether a first-person or third-person perspective is better for your book.

"1st vs 3rd Person—Which is Best?" ( Novel Writing Help )

This short post debunks some common misconceptions about when you “have to” use first or third person, with links to longer in-depth pieces on each perspective.

"What Point of View Should You Use in Your Novel?" ( Writer's Digest )

This article from the  Writer's Digest  site focuses on different writing perspectives and contains bulleted lists of the advantages and disadvantages of using each point of view.

Fiction writing can be broken down into a few key elements, including setting (where the story takes place), characters (who the story is about), dialogue (what characters say), plot (what happens in the story), and theme (what the story is ultimately about). Masterful fiction writers are able to incorporate each element seamlessly into a narrative whole. The resources in this section will help you get to know these terms.

"Setting" (Wikipedia)

This Wikipedia article offers a quick description of setting and its role, along with a comprehensive list of links to more about specific subtypes of setting.

"Setting: The Place and Time of Story" ( The Editor's Blog )

This blog post will help you learn what exactly setting accomplishes in fiction, including grounding characters. It discusses the different elements that make up setting.

"Discover the Basic Elements of Setting in a Story" ( Writer's Digest )

This post from Writer's Digest  offers a quick look at 12 of the important elements of setting. These include population, historical importance, and climate.

"Story Setting Ideas" ( Now Novel )

This blog post offers a few examples of effective settings, from J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts to the Victorian England of Charles Dickens's Hard Times .

"Dialogue" (Wikipedia)

This Wikipedia article provides a comprehensive overview of dialogue, including how it has been used historically in a variety of literary forms.

"What is Dialogue in Literature?" ( Writing Explained )

If you're looking for a short post offering both a definition and examples of dialogue, this is a good place to start. The post explains the difference between internal and external dialogue.

"Dialogue" ( The Editor's Blog )

Check out this post on what dialogue is and what it accomplishes. The article includes some tips at the end about best practices for writing dialogue.

"Dialogue Definition" (LitCharts)

The LitCharts guide to dialogue offers a definition of the term, and is followed by examples of successful dialogue in fiction and a brief discussion of dialogue’s function.

"Character (Arts)" (Wikipedia)

Head to Wikipedia for a succinct definition of fictional characters and an explanation of types (such as flat, round, dynamic, static, etc.).

"Types of Character in Fiction" (Lexiconic.net)

This list of common categories of characters in fiction includes protagonists and antagonists, and is accompanied by a quick list of ways that character can be revealed in a text.

"Seven Common Character Types" ( Fiction Factor)

Here, you'll find a list of seven types of characters commonly found in fiction, along with an explanation of the roles these kinds of characters typically play in the story.

"Characters in Fiction" (Little Bit of Lit via Youtube)

This eight-minute video defines "character," discusses types of characterization (such as indirect), and lists a few different character types.

"Plot (Narrative)" (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia's entry on "plot" offers a definition of the term and a description of some common literary frameworks that writers can use.

"What is a Plot?" ( Writing Explained )

In this blog post, you'll find a concise explanation of the typical elements of plot, along with a discussion of its function, a few popular examples, and more.

"Plot" ( Literary Devices )

This article from a site devoted to explicating literary terms discusses the five main components of plot and offers a few examples of plot in literature.

"Plot Structure" (SlideShare)

SlideShare offers this 10-part slideshow on the different elements of plot (including exposition, rising action, and climax) and discusses some common conflicts in fiction.

"Theme (narrative)" (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia's entry on theme introduces you to the term through a brief definition and a discussion of two separate techniques used in writing to express themes.

"Elements of Fiction: Theme" ( Find Your Creative Muse )

This blog post defines themes, explains how they are revealed, and gives some popular examples of how they are used in literature. It also offers some links to resources for writing fiction.

"A Handy Guide to the Most Common Themes in Literature" ( The Writers Academy Blog)

This post from the Penguin Random House writing blog defines theme and lists some common themes in literature. Learn about themes such as "crime doesn't pay" and "coming of age."

"Grasping Themes in Literature" (Scholastic)

Check out this round-up of common themes in literature, which is accompanied by lesson ideas and suggestions for other media that are helpful in teaching theme.

Now that you're familiar with the fundamentals of plot, character, setting, theme, and dialogue, you're ready to fashion these elements into a compelling narrative. The resources below offer questions and suggestions for worldbuilding, character development, crafting dialogue, and more. As you refine your writing skills, remember that even stories that seem effortlessly created involved hundreds of small choices on the author's part, and went through a number of drafts. 

How to Choose a Setting

"Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions" (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America)

Here, you'll find a comprehensive list of questions you can ask yourself about the setting you’re developing. These questions will help you flesh out your world's culture, rules, and norms.

Subreddit on Worldbuilding

You can discuss anything and everything about worldbuilding on this forum, from choosing character names to coming up with different governments for your world.

"7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding" ( Gizmodo )

This post lists common mistakes you can make in worldbuilding—choices that will knock readers out of the reading experience and make your characters seem pointless.

"World Building" (YouTube)

This video, one in a series of lectures by Brandon Sanderson about writing novels, focuses on worldbuilding and how to do so successfully.

How to Write Engaging Dialogue

"Writing Dialogue: 10 Tips to Help You" (YouTube)

In this 17-minute video, graphic novelist and children's book author and illustrator Mark Crilley draws images as he explains his top 10 tips for writing engaging dialogue.

"Keys to Realistic Dialogue" ( Writer's Digest )

This piece is the first in a two-part post by author Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz on common problems in writing dialogue and how to fix them.

"Writing Dialogue: Tips and Exercises" ( Reedsy )

This post offers a series of eight tips on how to write dialogue, including Elmore Leonard's suggestion never to use verbs other than "said" to "carry dialogue." The post also includes four dialogue writing exercises for authors.

"Tips for Writing Dialogue" (Center for Fiction)

This post discusses the three forms of dialogue (summary, indirect speech, and direct quotation) followed by succinct advice on how best to write dialogue between characters.

How to Develop Characters

"8 Ways to Write Better Characters" ( Writer's Digest )

This in-depth article by writer Elizabeth Sims includes eight ways to help conceptualize your characters and delve deeper into their psyches.

"How to Build a Character" (Jtellison.com)

Get tips from  New York Times  bestselling author J.T. Ellison on how to build a compelling character, and hear insights on her own process for developing characters.

"How to Create a Character Profile" ( Writer's Write )

This article includes an extensive character checklist to help you flesh out your characters' background, hobbies, relationships, and more.

"Character Chart for Fiction Writers" (EpiGuide.com)

This printable, fill-in-the-blank chart from EpiGuide.com helps writers brainstorm about all aspects of their characters in order to get to know them.

How to Craft Plot

"'Save the Cat' Beat Sheet" (Tim Stout)

Based on the book Save the Cat! (originally for screenwriters), this post offers a list of the “beats” that each narrative must contain in order to tell its story most effectively.

The Moral Premise Blog: Story Structure Craft

This blog by producer Stan Williams, author of The Moral Premise , contains diagrams of different ways to structure a book, including his well-known “story diamond.”

"Novel in 30 Days Worksheet Index" ( Writer's Digest )

This Writer's Digest  post is a round-up of nine different worksheets you can download and use to help outline and plan your novel.

"How to Plot Your Novel Using Dan Harmon's Story Circle" (YouTube)

This 15-minute video describes how to use another popular plotting tool, Dan Harmon’s story circle (based off of Joseph Campbell’s book  The Hero with a Thousand Faces ), to plot your novel.

How to Choose and Use Themes

"How to Choose Good Themes for Stories" ( Now Novel )

Read these five tips on choosing the best themes for your story from the  Now Novel  site. Suggestions include matching themes with characters' personalities and goals and examining how great authors have treated similar ideas.

"When Choosing Themes, Write What You Don’t Know" ( The Write Practice )

This brief article will help you narrow down which theme you should choose to write about based on what issues you are interested in.

"Exploring Theme" ( Writer's Digest )

In this excerpt from the book  Story Engineering, hosted on the  Writer's Digest  site, Larry Brooks defines theme and explains why it is so important in writing.

"How to Choose and Build a Powerful Theme for Your Story" ( Well-Storied )

This page offers both a podcast episode and an article on how to pick the best theme for your story, and makes suggestions for how to thread that theme through a narrative.

Writing a short story or novel can be a labor-intensive process. Even once a full draft is complete, a writer is rarely ready to send it out into the world. Instead, successful writers spend time revising and editing their work with feedback from trusted readers. Below, you'll find resources to help you write a first draft, revise that draft, overcome writer's block, and prepare a final draft.

How to Write a First Draft

"10 Rules for Writing Fiction" ( The Guardian )

This collection of 10 top tips for writing fiction from famous writers (including Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and Jonathan Franzen) is based on Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing.

The Writer Files (Rainmaker.fm)

This podcast features interviews with a variety of writers on their wring process, tricks, and tips, and how to tap into both creativity and productivity.

Writing Excuses Podcast

This podcast is hosted by four authors and has over ten seasons. It features 15-minute episodes that cover all parts of the writing process.

This program gives authors an alternative to a traditional Word program, and has helpful features like movable scenes, notecards, and tagging.

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

"How to Beat Writer’s Block" ( The New Yorker )

This article from  The New Yorker  offers an introduction to the term “writer’s block” and ways that writers have combatted it successfully.

"Strategies for Overcoming Writer’s Block" (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

This page from a college writing center looks at some ineffective and effective ways to combat writer’s block, along with a brief description of why it occurs.

"Other Strategies for Getting Over Writer’s Block" (Purdue OWL)

This article offers quick strategies for getting over writer’s block when drafting your novel, along with suggestions for how you can get started on a piece.

"How Professional Writers Beat Writer’s Block" ( The Writer)

Writermag.com rounded up these five interviews with leading professional authors on how they’ve learned to get past writer’s block.

How to Edit Your First Draft

"4 Levels of Editing Explained" ( The Book Designer )

This article touches on the different types of editing that a book requires. It is aimed towards writes looking to hire independent editors for developmental editing, copy editing, etc., but is helpful for anyone looking to improve a manuscript.

"Revision Checklist" (Nathan Bransford)

This checklist from popular blogger, writer, and former agent Nathan Bransford notes important things to keep in mind when revising your novel.

"Revision Techniques" ( The Narrative Breakdown )

On this podcast episode, Cheryl Klein (a senior editor at Arthur A. Levin Books who worked on Harry Potter ), details some of her revision techniques.

"A Month of Revision" ( Necessary Fiction )

This post focuses on the necessary steps in the revision process and a realistic timeline, and includes links to numerous other blog posts on revision at the bottom.

How to Prepare a Final Draft

"Editing Checklist" (ReadWriteThink)

Use this printable PDF as a checklist for both writers and peer editors when tracking any errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization.

"How to Edit" ( Live Write Breathe )

This comprehensive editing guide for fiction writers contains instructions on carrying out all the major phases of revising a manuscript.

"How Do You Know When Your Book is Finished?" ( Electric Lit )

Here, the monthly advice column The Blunt Instrument offers suggestions for determining when works of fiction and works of poetry are “complete.”

"How Do You Know When You’re Ready to Submit?" ( Writer's Digest )

This article tackles the question of how to know when it's time to stop tweaking your work, and time send the manuscript into the world.

"How to Format a Fiction Manuscript for Submission" (YouTube)

This detailed 15-minute video explains how to format a manuscript using industry standards before sending it off to publishers and agents.

A number of options exist to get a writer’s work into the hands of readers. Writers can choose to share their work immediately with online communities, meet in person with critique partners, enter writing contests, hire an agent, or independently submit their work for publication online or in print. The resources below will help you evaluate your options and make an informed decision. 

Fiction Writing Communities

Wattpad is an online fiction-writing community where you can post and share your stories immediately, tagging them with plot elements or settings so other readers can find them and comment.

Like Wattpad, Figment is an online fiction-writing community where you can post your work, get feedback from other readers, and comment on others' work.

Absolute Write Water Cooler

On this online bulletin board, writers of all genres and experiences discuss writing, publishing, and everything in between. The site facilitates discussion by offering categories with forums, threads, and individual posts.

This forum, run by Amazon, is a place for writers to discuss their work and ask advice about promotion and self-publishing. You'll need to register in order to comment.

Fiction Writing Contests

"Writing Contests, Grants, and Awards" (Poets & Writers)

This searchable database of contests and more, from the nation's largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers, allows you to narrow by entry fee, genre, and deadline.

"31 Free Writing Contests" ( The Write Life )

This writing website offers a list of competitions in all different genres that have no entry fee for submission, but come with the possibility of a cash prize.

"Art and Writing Competitions" (Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth)

This list of art and writing competitions is geared toward younger writers, and contains links to each competition’s website. This link will direct you to the "creative writing" tab, but there are also options for journalism, essay, and visual arts competitions.

"Your Perfect Cover Letter" ( The Review Review )

This article discusses both how to craft and format a cover letter for a literary submission. It does so by walking you through a hypothetical example by "Emerging Writer."

How to Get a Short Story Published Online

Writers can use this resource to find short story markets, track their submissions, and find upcoming deadlines for short story markets.

"Where to Submit Short Stories" ( The Write Life )

Check out The Write Life 's round-up of 23 places accepting short stories, including prestigious and paying markets like The New Yorker .

"Literary Magazines" (Poets & Writers)

Here, you'll find a searchable database of literary magazines that accept short stories, with information on the magazines’ genres and reading periods.

"Get Inside the Top 30 Short Story Markets" ( Writer's Digest )

This top 30 list of the best outlets for short fiction is broken down by categories such as “Best Bets for Beginners” and “You’re in the Money.”

How to Get a Book Published in Print

Querytracker

On this website, you can search for agents by genre and see whether they are open to queries. You'll also find comments from writers on their response times.

Query Shark

Literary agent Janet Reid critiques queries on her blog, offering feedback on subsequent drafts until she gets to the point where she would have requested more material.

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published (Amazon)

This book on how to navigate publishing your book touches not only on traditional approaches, but also on new avenues like self-publishing, crowdfunding, and more.

Publishing 101: A First-Time Author’s Guide to Getting Published (Amazon)

This book by industry veteran Jane Friedman explains how editors evaluate your work, and how best to approach agents and editors in order to land a book deal.

Resources abound for designing creative writing classes at all levels. Classroom activities allow students to practice their skills on-demand, while homework exercises give students time to construct their narratives on their own time. Below, you'll find a curated list of lesson planning ideas from publishers, TED-Ed, Teachers Pay Teachers, and more.

Classroom Activities

"Writing Fiction" ( Teaching Ideas )

This education website offers lesson plans and ideas for teachers on all different topics within the fiction writing framework (and on a wide range of other subjects, as well).

"Resource Topics: Teaching Writing" (National Writing Project)

This page provides links to a number of resources for teaching different aspects of creative writing, including a conversation about the future of creative writing pedagogy.

"Creative Writing Lesson Plans" ( The English Teacher )

On this webpage, you'll find a list of short lesson ideas, each with related exercises, that teachers can use to shape their curriculum.

"Creative Writing Resources" ( TeacherVision )

TeacherVision hosts a list of printable fiction writing resources, broken down by grade level, that can be used to shape classroom activities.

"Creative Writing Resources and Lesson Plans" (Teachers Pay Teachers)

This popular education website (designed by teachers, for teachers) has a section devoted to creative writing resources. You'll find lesson plans and activities that are searchable by price, resource type, and grade level.

Homework Exercises 

"Short Fiction: A Write It Activity" (Scholastic)

This activity includes interactive tutorials, exercises, message boards, links, and more—including an opportunity for students to submit their work at the end.

"365 Creative Writing Prompts" ( ThinkWritten )

This comprehensive list of short prompts (hosted by a website with tabs on publishing, author marketing, and writing prompts) will get students’ ideas flowing for a short exercise or a story.

What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (Amazon)

This handbook for writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter contains more than 75 exercises for writers of all levels of experience.

"Creative Writing Prompts That You Can Do In 10 Minutes" (TED-Ed blog)

Use this list of short creative writing prompts to generate ideas for writing. The text is excerpted from the book 642 Tiny Things to Write About .

A number of other resources exist for those looking to develop their writing skills. Consider participating in writing retreats, writing workshops devoted to publishing, and online creative classes, or reading books and listening to podcasts on the subject. The resources gathered here can help you grow as a writer, and will teach you more about the process of sharing your work.

In-person Creative Writing Classes, Workshops, and Retreats

Gotham Writers

This well-known organization provides both in-person classes in NYC and online writing classes led by writers on topics such as “How to Get Published” and “Novel Writing.”

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)

This organization offers conferences and networking opportunities for writers of children’s and young adult literature. Other genre-specific writers’ organizations, such as the American Crime Writers League and Horror Writers Association, offer similar workshops. 

"Conferences and Residencies Database" (Poets & Writers)

Check out this database for a comprehensive list of conferences and residencies currently available. It is searchable by event type, state, price, and title.

"Guide to Writing Programs" (Association of Writers & Writing Programs)

This database of writing programs, including undergraduate programs and MFAs, is searchable by genre, state, and type of degree.

Online Creative Writing Classes and Workshops

National Novel Writing Month

This website is all about November’s NaNoWriMo, in which writers challenge themselves to write 50,000 words in one month. It contains forums, inspiration, and more.

Courses on Creative Writing (Coursera)

This site offers online classes where you can watch lectures, complete exercises, and even receive feedback for your work (depending on whether you choose a free or paid option).

"The Best Online Writing Courses" (TCK Publishing)

TCK Publishing offers this round-up of different creative writing courses. The webpage describes what you learn, who the instructor is, and what the cost is (many of them are free).

Brandon Sanderson Lectures (YouTube)

This YouTube "playlist" is made up of American fiction writer Brandon Sanderson's lectures for a course at BYU, which covers all aspects of working through a novel.

Top-rated Books on Creative Writing

You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) (Amazon)

Writer Jeff Goins covers a variety of topics on the writing life, including self-doubt, how to improve your writing, and how to get published.

Stephen King’s On Writing (Amazon)

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft  is part memoir of Stephen King's life as a writer, and part “toolkit” for writers trying to improve their craft.

The Elements of Style (Amazon)

William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White authored this no-nonsense guide to writing clearly and well. It covers the fundamentals of syntax. This book is now in its fourth edition.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Amazon)

This national bestseller from author Anne Lamot is comprised of a series of essays on the process of writing (from beginning to write to technical details) and her life as a writer.

Fiction Writing Websites

"How to Write Fiction" (WikiHow)

This fully illustrated guide to writing fiction includes sections on generating ideas, creating mindmaps for possible plotlines, and common pitfalls to avoid.

Writer’s Digest

The popular writing magazine Writer's Digest  hosts this website, which focuses exclusively on helping writers connect to the best writing resources, learn the craft of writing, and get published.

Writing Forward

This creative writing blog offers tips and tricks for writing, along with resources for online writing exercises, resources, and much more.

Literary Rambles

This website is devoted exclusively to providing information about children’s book authors, agents, and publishers. It includes interviews with many key industry players on what they’re looking for in a manuscript.

• PDFs for all 136 Lit Terms we cover
• Downloads of 1924 LitCharts Lit Guides
• Teacher Editions for every Lit Guide
• Explanations and citation info for 40,556 quotes across 1924 books
• Downloadable (PDF) line-by-line translations of every Shakespeare play

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How to Write Fiction: 9 Steps From a Bestselling Novelist

By jerry jenkins.

Guest Post by Jerry Jenkins

That you’ve landed here tells me you have a story—a message you want to share with the world. You just need to know how to begin.

Writing fiction isn’t about rules or techniques or someone else’s ideas. It’s about your story well told.

Writing a novel can be overwhelming.

I’ve written nearly 200 books (two-thirds of them novels) and have enjoyed the kind of success most writers only dream of. But the work never gets easier.

I’ve found no shortcuts, but following certain steps help me create books in which my readers can get delightfully lost.

Is that the kind of novel you want to write?

Table of Contents

9 Steps to Writing Captivating Fiction

• Come up with a great story idea.
• Create realistic and memorable characters.
• Choose a story structure.
• Home in on the setting.
• Write your rough draft.
• Grab your reader from the get-go.
• Trigger the theater of your reader’s mind.
• Maintain your reader’s attention with cliffhangers.
• Write a resounding, satisfying ending.

Want to sell more books? Click here to get your free copy of 8 Simple Secrets to Big Book Sales on Amazon

Step #1 — come up with a great story idea..

Do you struggle to generate ideas?

Maybe you have a message to share but no story idea to help you convey it.

Ideas are everywhere. You have to learn to recognize the germ of an idea that can become a story .

My first novel was about a judge who tries a man for a murder that the judge committed.

That’s all I had—along with its obvious ramifications.

I knew guilt. I recalled being caught in a lie. So I could imagine the ultimate dilemma—desperate to hide the truth while being assigned to oversee its coming to light.

That imagining became Margo , the novel that launched my fiction career.

I know a story idea has legs when it stays with me and grows.

I find myself sharing the idea with my family, embellishing the story more every time I tell it. If it loses steam, it’s because I’ve lost interest in it and know readers would too.

But if it holds my interest, I nourish and develop it until it becomes a manuscript and eventually a book .

Always carry something on which you can record ideas, electronic or old school. (I like the famous Moleskine notebooks.)

Jot or dictate ideas that strike at any moment for these elements:

• Anything that might expand your story

And if you’re still having trouble conjuring an idea, see Step #2 below for an exercise writers everywhere have told me works to stimulate their thinking almost every time.

Step #2 — Create realistic and memorable characters.

Ironically, Fiction (though you know its definition) must be believable , even if it’s set in a land far, far away or centuries before or since now.

That means characters must feel real and relatable so readers will buy your premise.

If you don’t know where to begin, consider creating characters who are composites of people you know.

You might use one person’s gender, another’s looks, another’s personality, another’s voice …

Now here’s that exercise I promised above:

Imagine you’re at a rural intersection in the middle of nowhere. Maybe there are cornfields all around.

A Greyhound bus appears on the horizon and rumbles to a stop. One passenger disembarks.

Now ask yourself who this character is:

• Male or female?
• Young or old?
• Rich or poor?
• Laden with luggage or empty-handed?
• Are they waiting to be picked up or heading somewhere on foot?
• Where are they going?
• Are they escaping someone or something?
• Are they running to someone or something?

By now you should have an idea of a main character and, bottom line, start imagining a story.

You need a villain too, but be fair to him (or her; I use he inclusively to mean both genders and avoid the awkward repetition of he/she; I know the majority of writers—and readers—are women).

So what do I mean by “be fair to your villain”?

Simply this: don’t allow him to be one-dimensional (evil just because he’s the bad guy).

In real life, villainous people rarely recognize themselves as evil. They think everyone else is wrong!

Give him real, credible motivations for doing what he does. That doesn’t make him right, but it can make him real and believable.

One thing that contributed to the success of my Left Behind series was that I determined early on to have credible, skeptical characters.

It’s so easy to build straw men and shoot down their arguments and logic like shooting fish in a barrel.

Make them credible! Give them opinions and arguments that are hard to counter.

Give your skeptical reader someone he can identify with and force him to acknowledge you were fair to his side.

Our goal as writers should be that the stories and characters we create will live in the hearts of readers for years.

How you develop your characters will make or break your story .

Outliners have an advantage here, and we Pantsers (who write by the seat of our pants as a process of discovery) do well to learn from them.

Outliners map out the backstory of each character, getting to know them before starting to write.

Some even conduct imaginary interviews, simply asking the characters about themselves. Readers will never see most of what comes from this information, but it does inform the writing.

Whether you get to know your characters in advance or allow them to reveal themselves as you write, make them human, vulnerable, and flawed—eventually heroic and inspiring.

Just don’t make them perfect. Nobody relates to perfect .

Consider some of literature’s most memorable characters—Jane Eyre, Scarlett O’Hara, Atticus Finch, Ebenezer Scrooge, Huckleberry Finn, Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter.

Here are heroes of both genders, vastly different personalities, widely varying ages, and even from different centuries. But look what they have in common:

• They’re larger than life but also universally human
• They see courage not as lack of fear but rather the ability to act in the face of fear
• They learn from failure and rise to great moral victories

Compelling characters like these make the difference between a memorable story and a forgettable one.

Keys to Developing a Memorable Character

1. Introduce him by name as soon as possible.

Your lead character should be the first person on stage, and the reader should be able to connect with him.

His name should reflect his heritage and maybe even hint at his personality. In The Green Mile , Stephen King named a weak, cowardly character Percy Wetmore. Naturally, we treat heroes with more respect.

2. Give readers a look at him.

You want readers to clearly picture your character in their minds, but don’t make the mistake of forcing them to see him exactly as you do.

While rough height, hair color, and maybe eye color should be established—as well as whether he is athletic or not—does it really matter whether your reader visualizes your hero as Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio or your heroine as Gwyneth Paltrow or Charlize Theron?

Now, similar to what I’ll advise later about rendering settings, it’s better to layer in your character’s looks through dialogue and action rather than using description as a separate element.

Whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser, the more you know about your character, the better you will tell your story.

• Nationality and ethnicity?
• Scars? Piercings? Tattoos? Imperfections? Deformities?
• Tone of voice? Accent?
• Mannerisms, unique gestures, tics, anything else that would set him apart?

Avoid the mistake of trying to include in your manuscript everything you know about your character.

But on the other hand, the more you know, and the more you know, the more plot ideas that might emerge.

The better acquainted you are with your character, the better your readers will come to know and care about him.

3. Give him a backstory.

Backstory is everything that has happened in your character’s life before page one of chapter one. What has made him the person he is today?

Things you should know, whether or not you include them in your story:

• When, where, and to whom he was born
• Brothers and sisters and where he fits in the family
• His educational background
• Political leanings
• Skills and talents
• Spiritual life
• Best friend
• Romantic relationship, if any
• Personality type
• Anger triggers
• Joys, pleasures
• And anything else relevant to your story

4. Make him real.

Even superheroes have flaws and weaknesses. For Superman, it’s Kryptonite. For Indiana Jones, snakes.

Perfect characters are impossible to identify with. But don’t make his flaws deal breakers—they should be forgivable, understandable, identifiable, but not irredeemable.

For instance, don’t make him a wimp, a coward, or a doofus (like a cop who either misplaces his weapon or forgets to load it).

Create a character with whom your reader can relate, someone vulnerable who subtly exhibits strength of character and potential heroism.

Does your character show respect to a waitress and recognize her by name?

Would he treat a cashier the same way he treats his broker?

If he’s running late but witnesses an emergency, does he stop and help?

Some call these pet-the-dog moments , where an otherwise bigger-than-life personality does something out of character—something that might be considered beneath him.

And you can add real texture to your narrative by even giving your villain a pet-the-dog moment.

5. But also give him heroic potential. In the end, he must rise to the occasion and score a great moral victory.

So he needs to be both extraordinary and relatable. He can’t remain a victim for long.

He can and should face obstacles and adversity, but he should never act the wimp or appear cowardly.

Give him qualities—or at least potential—that captivates the reader and compels him to keep reading. For example:

• an underdog with surprising resolve that allows him to rise to the occasion
• a character who reveals the hint of a hidden strength or ability and later uses it to win the day

Make him heroic and you make him unforgettable.

6. Emphasize his inner life as well.

The outward trouble, quest, challenge—whatever drives the story—is one thing. But every bit as important is your character’s internal conflict .

What keeps him awake at night?

• What’s his blind spot?
• What are his secrets?
• What embarrasses him?
• What is he passionate about?

Mix and match details from people you know—and yourself—to create both the inner and outer person.

When he faces a life or death situation, you’ll know how he should respond.

7. Draw upon your own experience.

The fun of writing fiction is getting to embody the characters we create.

I can be a young girl, an old man, a boy, a father, a grandmother, of another race, a villain, of a different political or spiritual persuasion, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Become your character .

Imagine yourself in every situation he finds himself, facing every dilemma, answering every question—how would you react if you were your character?

If your character finds himself in danger, even if you’ve never experienced something so terrible, you can imagine it.

Think back to the last time you felt in danger, multiply that times a thousand, and become your character.

• Imagine being at home alone and hearing footsteps across the floor above.
• Have you ever had your child go missing?
• Have you ever mustered the courage to speak your mind and set somebody straight?

All those feelings and emotions go into creating believable, credible characters.

8. Give him a character arc.

The more your character transforms, the more effective and memorable your story.

Classic stories plunge their main characters into terrible trouble, turn up the heat, and turn those characters into heroes—or failures.

That’s the very definition of character arc .

How your character responds to challenges determines his character arc.

Step #3 — Choose a story structure.

Structure is the skeleton of your story. Regardless whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser, you need a basic structure to know where you’re going.

The story structure you choose should help you align and sequence:

• The Conflict
• The Resolution

Discovering bestselling novelist Dean Koontz’s 4-step Classic Story Structure catapulted me from a mid-list genre novelist to a 21-Time New York Times bestselling author.

It’s simply this:

1. Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible.

Naturally, the definition of that trouble depends on your genre, but, in short, it’s the worst possible dilemma you can think of for your main character.

For a thriller, it might be a life-or-death situation. In a romance novel, it could mean a young woman having to choose between two equally qualified suitors—and then her choice proves a disaster.

Whatever the scenario, this terrible trouble must bear stakes dire enough to carry the entire novel.

One caveat: whatever the trouble, it will mean little to readers if they don’t first find reasons to care about your character. Implant reasons to care.

It’s not just the trouble but the ramifications, the stakes.

2. Everything your character does to get out of this terrible trouble makes things only worse. 

Avoid the temptation to make life easy for your protagonist.

Every complication must proceed logically from the one before it, and things must grow progressively worse until …

3. The situation appears hopeless. 

Novelist Angela Hunt refers to this as The Bleakest Moment. Even you should wonder how you’re ever going to write your character out of this.

The predicament becomes so hopeless that your lead must use every new muscle and technique gained from facing countless obstacles to become heroic and prove that things only appeared beyond repair.

4. Finally, your hero succeeds (or fails*) against all odds. 

Reward readers with the payoff they expected by keeping your hero on stage, taking  action.

*Occasionally sad endings work too.

Step #4 — Home in on the setting.

The setting of a story includes the location and time period but should also include sights, smells, tastes, textures, and sounds.

Thoroughly research your setting, but remember: such detail should be used as seasoning, not become the main course .

The main course must always be the story. Research details just lend credibility and believability.

One of the most common and avoidable errors is to begin by describing your setting.

Don’t get me wrong—description is important, as is establishing where your story takes place.

But we’ve all read snooze-worthy novels that promise to transport us, only to begin with some variation of the following:

The house sat in a deep wood surrounded by …

Pro tip: modern readers have little patience for description as a separate element. 

So how do you describe your setting?

You don’t. At least not in the conventional way.

The key is to layer description into the action.

Show, Don’t Tell

Instead, make description part of the story . References to how things look and feel and sound register in the theater of the readers’ minds (more on this later), while they’re concentrating on the action, dialogue, tension, drama, and conflict—things that keep them turning the pages.

They’ll barely notice that you worked in details of your setting, but somehow they have all they need to fully enjoy the reading experience.

London’s West End, 1862

Lucy Knight mince-stepped around clumps of horse dung as she hurried toward Regent Street. Must not be late, she told herself. What would he think?

She carefully navigated the cobblestones as she crossed to hail a Hansom Cab—which she preferred for its low center of gravity and smooth turning. Lucy did not want to appear as if she’d been tossed about in a carriage, especially tonight. 

“Not wearin’ a ring, I see,” the driver said as she boarded. 

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nice-lookin’ lady like yourself out alone after dark in the cold fog — ”

“You needn’t worry about me, sir. I’m only going to the circus.”

“Piccadilly it is, ma’am.”

The location tag at the beginning saves us a lot of narration, which lets the story quickly emerge.

The reader learns everything about the setting and the character from the action and dialogue instead of a separate piece of description.

Notice how, without the description of the city of that era existing as a separate (and potentially boring) element, we learn in passing of horse dung, cobblestone streets, Hansom Cabs, cold weather, fog, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, and even that it’s after dark.

But, hopefully, what keeps our interest is our perspective character—a single young lady headed for a rendezvous with a man we want to meet as much as she does.

Showing (instead of telling) forces you to highlight only the most important details.

If it’s not important enough to become part of the action, your reader won’t miss it anyway.

Step #5 — Write your rough draft.

If you wear a perfectionist cap, now’s the time to remove it and hit the off switch to your internal editor. Allow yourself the freedom to write without worrying about grammar, cliches, redundancies, or any other rules. Just get your story down.

Separate your writing from your revising. You’ll have plenty of time at that stage to play perfectionist to your heart’s content.

Step #6 — Grab your reader from the get-go.

The best way to hook your reader immediately is to plunge your character into terrible trouble as soon as possible instead of wasting your first two or three pages on backstory or setting or description.

These can all be layered in as the story progresses. Cut the fluff and jump straight into the story.

Done properly, this virtually forces your reader to keep turning the pages.

Step #7 — Trigger the theater of your reader’s mind.

When comparing a book to its movie, don’t most people usually say they liked the book better?

Even with all its high-tech computer-generated imagery, glitz and glamour, Hollywood cannot compete with the theater of the reader’s mind .

I once read about a woman who was thrilled to discover in her parents’ home a book she cherished as a child.

She sat to thumb through it in search of the beautiful paintings she remembered so vividly, only to find that the book didn’t have a single illustration.

The author had so engaged the theater of her young mind that her memory of that book was much different than reality.

Your job as a writer is not to dictate what your reader should see but to trigger his imagination.

• The late, great detective novelist John D. MacDonald once described one of his orbital characters simply as “knuckly”—that was his entire description. I don’t know what image that conjures in your mind, but I immediately remembered a hardware store clerk in the town where I grew up. The guy was tall, bony, and had a protruding adam’s apple. I got all that from “knuckly.”
• In one of my Left Behind novels, I described a computer techie as “oily.” My editor said, “Can’t you say he was pudgy, with longish blond hair, and kept having to push his glasses back up on his nose?”

I said, “If that’s what you saw, why do I have to say it?”

Millions read that series, and I’m sure a few saw the guy exactly as my editor did.

Others saw him as I did, while others no doubt saw him as something completely different. So much the better.

The more detail you leave to the theater of your reader’s mind, the more he’ll be engaged in your story.

If you want to give details that distinguish your main character, fine—work them into the action.

Just don’t tell your readers exactly what to think .

1. Always think reader-first. 

Don’t spoon-feed your reader. He wants to learn, so don’t do all his work for him. Let him imagine and deduce things as he sees them in his mind.

He’s a partner in your story, so give him a role. That’s what makes reading enjoyable.

2. Resist the urge to explain (RUE).

If you write, “I walked through the open door and sat down in a chair,” you’re explaining a lot that doesn’t need explaining.

You don’t need to tell your reader someone walked through a door—but even if you do, you certainly don’t need to tell him it was open.

And unless you need to clarify that “I flopped on the floor” or something similar, your reader will assume he sat in a chair.

Instead, you could write: “I walked in and sat down.”

Eliminate details that can be assumed.

Give readers just enough detail to engage their mental projector—that’s where the magic happens.

Step #8 — Maintain your reader’s attention with cliffhangers.

I’m talking about a setup, because setups demand payoffs. And anticipating a payoff keeps your reader with you.

Ask yourself:

• What withheld from my readers will best keep them riveted?
• How long can I make them wait for that payoff without unnecessarily frustrating them?

Cliffhangers need not be reserved for only the ends of chapters.

Envision your entire story as one big setup with a series of smaller ones layered in to keep the reader engaged.

Every scene can, in essence, serve as a cliffhanger leading to a payoff.

When your hero confronts his best friend over an apparent insult, we keep reading.

Will the accused deny everything or break down and confess? Maybe we know his response is a lie, which results in a new cliffhanger—when and how will your protagonist learn the truth, and then what will happen?

Every sentence, every scene, should serve as a mini-cliffhanger—a setup that demands a payoff.

Be constantly giving your reader reasons to stick with your story.

Step #9 — Write a resounding, satisfying ending.

You have one job: delivering a memorable reading experience.

Readers have invested their time and money, counting on you to uphold your end of the bargain—a story that wholly satisfies.

That doesn’t mean every ending is happily-ever-after with everything tied in a bow.

It just means the reader knows what happened, questions are answered, things are resolved, and puzzles are solved .

And because I happen to have a worldview of hope, my endings reflect that.

If you write from another worldview, at least be consistent. End your stories with how you view life, but don’t simply stop.

That said, a story can end too neatly and appear contrived. And if it ends too late, you’ve forced your reader to indulge you for too long. Be judicious.

In the same way you decide when to enter and leave a scene, carefully determine when to exit your story:

• Don’t rush it. Give readers a satisfying conclusion. And give it the time it needs so you’re thrilled with every word. Keep revising until it feels just right.
• If it’s unpredictable, it had better be fair and logical so your reader doesn’t feel cheated. You want him delighted with the surprise, not feeling tricked.
• If you have multiple ideas for how your story should end, aim for the heart rather than the head. Readers remember most what moves them.

Writing fiction well is hard, exhausting work. (If you don’t find it so, you may not be doing it right.) But, oh, the rewards.

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How to Start a Story: 10 Ways to Get Your Story Off to a Great Start

by Joslyn Chase | 0 comments

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Perhaps you’ve heard the old publishing proverb: The first page sells the book; the last page sells the next book. I’m convinced there’s a mammoth grain of truth in that. The beginning and the end of any story are critical elements that you really want to nail. Today, we’re going to focus on how to start a story—in other words, how you can craft a spectacular beginning that will hold readers spellbound and get them to turn that first all-important page.

Whether you’re pitching to an agent, a publisher, or direct to the reader, your opening lines form the basis for how they’ll judge the rest of your story. You have about a sixty-second window of influence before that initial judgment solidifies. It follows that this is a good place to invest your time and effort.

Granted, a compelling opening is not an easy task to accomplish. Besides grabbing the reader's attention, you want to ground readers in a setting, establish voice, hint at theme, and introduce a protagonist readers can get behind. To do this, you need to answer specific questions for your reader, while at the same time planting others.

Story Revolves Around Questions

Cultivating questions for your reader is what keeps them turning the pages, but you’ll lose them if you don’t provide answers, as well. If you want your reader to commit to your story, it’s best to establish a few essentials right up front.

• Whose story is it? You’re asking your reader to spend serious time with your protagonist. They’ll want to know who they’ll be rooting for.
• What kind of story is it? Readers go into a book looking for a particular type of reading experience and you need to let them know they’ve come to the right place.
• When and where is the story happening? Setting is hugely important to selling your reader. I did a workshop with top editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and one of the most frequent critiques she gave writers was: “There’s no setting. You lost me on setting.”
• What’s the story behind the story? When readers think story, they think plot. Writers know the real story is internal—not what happens, but how those events affect the characters. While you won’t necessarily lay your hero open on the first page of your story, hinting at his internal struggle gets the reader on his side.
• Why should the reader care? The most glorious descriptions or action-packed drama won’t hook your reader if you don’t give them a reason to care about your character. Answering the four questions above will help do this, but you’ll need to give more.

10 Compelling Ways to Start a Story

You’ve got to command reader attention and answer some important questions, but what does that look like on the page? How do you structure your opening to accomplish those objectives?

Have you heard of modeling? Life coaches and success gurus talk about it a lot. It involves finding someone who’s wildly effective at doing what you want to do and studying their methods to duplicate their success. If in doubt, go to the opening pages of bestselling books in your chosen genre and see how the masters did it.

Beyond that, there are so many ways to go. Here are ten ways to start a story you might consider:

1. Strong Voice

Example: “Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August 1960. A church baby we like to call it. Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get out a bed in the morning.” The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Example: “I smiled when I saw the dead girl. Just for a moment. Reflex, I suppose.” The Snow Angel, Doug Allyn

2. Relevant Anecdote

Example: “When Ella Brady was six she went to Quentins. It was the first time anyone had called her Madam. A woman in a black dress with a lace collar had led them to the table. She had settled Ella’s parents in and then held out a chair for the six-year-old. ‘You might like to sit here, Madam, it will give you a full view of everything,’ she said. Ella was delighted.” Quentins, Maeve Binchy

Example: “I hope this video camera works. Anyway, this (click) is a blowup of a model’s eye, the bluest I’ve ever seen. The only other time I remember seeing that exact color of blue was the day my sister Nicole drowned. It was everwhere: in the water, in the sky, Nicole’s skin. Blue, I remember, and coughing.” Forgetting The Girl, Peter Moore Smith

3. Intriguing Mystery

Example: “Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end?” The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks

Example: “People’s lives—their real lives, as opposed to their simple physical existences—begin at different times. The real life of Thad Beaumont, a young boy who was born and raised in the Ridgeway section of Bergenfield, New Jersey, began in 1960. Two things happened to him that year. The first shaped his life; the second almost ended it.” The Dark Half, Stephen King

4. Uneasy Suspense

Example: “The smell of newly rotting flesh hit Jakaya Makinda. He stopped his Land Rover, grabbed his binoculars off the seat beside him, and trained them in the direction of the odor’s source.” Death in the Serengeti , David H. Hendrickson

I used this as an example of Uneasy Suspense, but Hendrickson kicked it off with a startling first sentence and infused it with setting, layering the effect.

Example: “Water gushed out of the corroded faucet into the chipped, porcelain tub, pooling at the bottom with a few tangled strands of long, brown hair. The water was easily 120 degrees. So hot that Katelyn Berkley could hardly stand to dip her painted green toenails into it. The scalding water instantly turned her pale skin mottled shades of crimson.” Envy, Gregg Olsen

5. Stirring Theme

Example: “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

I used this excerpt as an example of stirring theme, but it is bursting with other elements and could be placed under setting, suspense, voice, character, world tilting off-center, and an enthralling first sentence.

Example: “Sometimes it’s overwhelming: the burden of knowing that the man you most admire isn’t real. Then the depression that you’ve fought all your life creeps in, the anxiety. The borders of your life contract, stifling, suffocating.” The Adventure of the Laughing Fisherman, Jeffery Deaver

This one’s got a pretty kicking first sentence, too.

6. Dynamic Setting

Example: “Out of a cloudless sky on a windless November day came a sudden shadow that swooped across the bright aqua Corvette. Tommy Phan was standing beside the car, in pleasantly warm autumn sunshine, holding out his hand to accept the keys from Jim Shine, the salesman, when the fleeting shade touched him. He heard a brief thrumming like frantic wings. Glancing up, he expected to glimpse a sea gull, but not a single bird was in sight.” Tick Tock, Dean Koontz

This is also a nice instance of uneasy suspense.

Example: “They were parked on Union, in front of her place, their knees locked in conference around the stick shift, Janna and Justin talking, necking a little, the windows just beginning to steam.” Shared Room on Union, Steven Heighton

7. Quirky or Startling Opening Sentence

Example: “The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted.” The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Stephen King

Example: “As soon as he stepped into the dim apartment he knew he was dead.” Garden of Beasts, Jeffery Deaver

Both of these examples also instill suspense, as they suggest danger and leave the reader anxious to find out more.

8. Compelling Character

Example: “First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.” The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

What kind of character is this you ask yourself, compelled to go on.

Example: “Everyone knows this kid. He is dirty and dumb and sits in a corner, lonely, but not alone. His face has an involuntary twitch, and when he makes eye contact, his lids and cheeks squeeze his eyes shut. We call him Blinky. Blinky rolls with it, though, smiles big and toothy when kids shout his name across the schoolyard.” A Bottle of Scotch and a Sharp Buck Knife, Scott Grand

I chose this for character, but it’s got a big dose of voice in it, as well.

9. Tilting World

Example: “The ravens were the first sign. As the horse-drawn wagon traveled down the rutted track between rolling fields of barley, a flock of ravens rose up in a black wash. They hurled themselves into the blue of the morning and swept high in a panicked rout, but this was more than the usual startled flight. The ravens wheeled and swooped, tumbled and flapped. Over the road, they crashed into each other and rained down out of the skies. Small bodies struck the road, breaking wing and beak. They twitched in ruts. Wings fluttered weakly. But most disturbing was the silence of it all.” The Doomsday Key, James Rollins

Is there any doubt the world in this story is twisting off its axis?

Example: “On the afternoon I met my new neighbor, a woman others in the cul-de-sac would dub ‘Ramba,’ I wasn’t looking for trouble. In fact, I wasn’t looking for anything other than to enter my first full month of retirement with a small military pension and dreams of a hop to Florida or Hawaii once a year until my expiration date arrived.” Many Dogs Have Died Here, James Mathews

Nothing explicit occurs off the bat, but Mathews sets up for the punch. This poor sucker’s world is tilting.

10. Engaging Dialogue

Example: “'You look like crap, Pen.' Pendleton Rozier, my longtime mentor, opened the door wide, then coughed into the crook of his elbow. ‘If only I felt that good.’” Rule Number One, Alan Orloff

Example: “'Which is even weirder yet,’ Gowan said. ‘But that ain’t the best part.’ At approximately which point, Kramer didn’t want to hear any more. It had been a mistake to let Gowan get started. He went outside into the mild March evening to take a leak and get away from Gowan for a little while before hitting the sack. ‘Seriousy, I got the skinny on ‘em,’ Gowan said, unzipping and joining him at the edge of the porch.” Spring Rite, Tom Berdine

You’ll notice writing voice and character here, too.

Invest in a Great Beginning

Spending the time and effort to craft a superb opening for your story is a good investment. However, worrying over it can hold you up. If you’re spinning your wheels over how to start a story, just get something down and move on.

Then, when you’ve reached the end of your story and you have a better understanding of the theme, tone, and characters, you can go back and fine tune or start from scratch to design your perfect beginning.

Beautiful Bookends

In fact, doing so may afford you the opportunity to bookend your story with a beginning and ending that reflect on each other, enclosing your entire story in a nice, thematic package that’s very satisfying to readers.

For instance, my thriller novel Nocturne In Ashes opens with the protagonist, a concert pianist, bombing her comeback performance. Then at the end, after surviving a series of harrowing experiences and battling her inner flaw, she’s gained the confidence she needed and nails the Beethoven that was her downfall.

I’ve touched on some ideas to get you off to a great start, but there are many other types of openings to explore. If you’re having trouble, hit the library and see how others have done it. You’re sure to find something that works for your story. And have fun!

How about you? Do you struggle with how to start a story? What book openings have made an impression on you? Tell us about it in the comments section .

Using one of the types of openings outlined above, write the beginning for a story idea you have in mind, or choose from one of these prompts:

Stella is nervous about meeting her ex-husband for dinner.

Darren takes his son on a hunting trip, determined to teach him how to be a man.

Cheryl wants to try out for the girls’ softball team, but the captain is her ex-best-friend.

Write for fifteen minutes and when you’re finished, post your work in the practice box below. And if you post, be sure to leave feedback for your fellow readers!

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Joslyn Chase

Any day where she can send readers to the edge of their seats, prickling with suspense and chewing their fingernails to the nub, is a good day for Joslyn. Pick up her latest thriller, Steadman's Blind , an explosive read that will keep you turning pages to the end. No Rest: 14 Tales of Chilling Suspense , Joslyn's latest collection of short suspense, is available for free at joslynchase.com .

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How to Write a Fanfiction

Last Updated: May 7, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lucy V. Hay . Lucy V. Hay is a Professional Writer based in London, England. With over 20 years of industry experience, Lucy is an author, script editor, and award-winning blogger who helps other writers through writing workshops, courses, and her blog Bang2Write. Lucy is the producer of two British thrillers, and Bang2Write has appeared in the Top 100 round-ups for Writer’s Digest & The Write Life and is a UK Blog Awards Finalist and Feedspot’s #1 Screenwriting blog in the UK. She received a B.A. in Scriptwriting for Film & Television from Bournemouth University. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 842,407 times.

Fanfiction refers to a type of fiction using the settings or characters of existing work in tribute to it. If you're a big fan of a certain fictional universe, you may choose to write about some of its characters yourself, either expanding the official story or changing it altogether. Although the readership of fanfiction tends to be quite low and niche, the people reading what you'll write are bound to be as passionate about the source material as you are. Fanfiction is a fun and creative way of expressing your love for something, and the possibilities are virtually limitless.

Exploring the Source Material

• The choice of the universe you choose to base your own work on will have the largest impact on your story and the way it turns out. Certain universes also favor certain approaches in fanfic. It's important to note however that your choices as a fanfic writer are limitless. You can do anything you want to the source material, even if that means transforming it into something else entirely.

• In looking for fanfiction to read, you may get the looming impression that a lot of fanfiction lacks quality. Being part of the fanfic community means acknowledging that not everyone is at the same level of skill. Most fanfiction is amateurish. It takes patience to find the great stuff.

Planning Your Own Story

• The shortest fanfics are called "drabbles". [3] X Research source These are usually between 50-100 words long. It is surprisingly challenging to tell a story in such a small space, so it may be a good place to start if you want to test your skills without the time investment.
• So-called "fluff" pieces are short and light-hearted. They tend to be less than 1000 words and deal with a mundane aspect of a character's life.
• More involved fiction can be hundreds of thousands of words long. These tend to be the fanfics that people give most attention to, assuming they're fuelled by a plot that justifies the length.
• Fanfics don't need to be conventionally narrative or prose either. You can write your fanfic as poetry, or write up a tableau of a character's mental state during a given scene.

• Explore the source material more if you are having a hard time finding a creative starting point. Failing that, look into more fanfic. It can be inspiring to see where other people have gone with it.
• Some writers write their own characters, or even themselves into fanfic, where they interact with the characters themselves. Any character created by the author is called an "OC", or original character. An OC meant as a stand-in for the writer is known as a self-insert. [4] X Research source
• First, look for your concept, and then think about how that plot is going to work regarding the structure and the characters.

• An example for one crossover might be putting the characters from Star Wars in the Star Trek or Mass Effect universes.
• It is recommended you try your hand at crossover fanfic if you're torn between writing about two or more different universes for your next fanfic.

• It's a good idea to consider the concept of "canonicity". Put simply, canon states whether something 'is or isn't' in a fictional universe. Portraying Star Wars' Han Solo as a swashbuckling rogue may be true to canon for example, but writing that he is a fan of the 90's sitcom Friends would certainly not be canon.

• The beginning. A beginning should set up the setting reasonably well, as well as establish the motivations and stakes of your central characters.
• Opening conflict. Something will often happen that sets a hero on his quest. This often (but not always) is the doing of the antagonist. The rest of the story will involve the protagonist trying to set things right again.
• The story's middle. The middle of a story may be seen as the meat of a character's quest. This is where the story's world is fleshed out, character relationships are kindled and strengthened, and the stakes are gradually raised.
• The low point. Before the story's resolution, there is usually a point where the character is at his most dire moment, where everything seems lost. You can probably think of many films that match this trope.
• The resolution. A climax wherein the protagonist triumphs. It usually comes shortly after the hero's lowest point and takes the momentum to the very end. There is occasionally a denouement (falling action) afterward where it shows the aftermath of the final conflict.

Writing Your Masterpiece

• In the case of fanfiction, the description is helpful, but there's a tendency to overdo it. [8] X Research source Keep your descriptive writing compact and effective.

• At different stages of your own writing process, you can get a better grasp of how your work matches (or snubs!) the tone of the original by returning to it. Given the thought you'll have been putting into writing your own fanfic, it's quite likely you'll have a more discerning eye for the source material.

• One example where radical character changes work is in the case of 'mirror universe' fics. Generally inspired by the Star Trek alternate universe episode, you could write a fanfiction that takes place in a mirror universe, where characters are an evil twin version of their official selves. Adding a beard or goatee to your characters to signify their evilness can be fun but isn't necessary.

• Many writers find listening to music that fits the tone you're going for is a good idea. For instance, if you're writing a Star Wars fanfic, listening to a John Williams score might put you in the right mindset for it.
• Most fanfics are less than 1000 words long, but it is recommended you try to go for something longer. Longer stories give more opportunity to explore characters, themes, and settings.
• If you're feeling the dreadful writer's block, it's probably due to a lack of confidence. Try pitching your story to friends and family members to get them on board. Brainstorm character motivations, brainstorm character archetypes and plot archetypes. This way, you'll have loads of pages of notes before you even go near the computer, and as a result, you'll be bursting with energy and ideas won't be able to wait to get to the computer to write.

• Showing your work to a friend early on can help. You can get his feedback before you invest the time in editing it. It is possible he'll be able to tell you specifically which things could use polishing.

The revision process is an essential time to elevate your writing. "I'm a rewriter. That's the part I like best...once I have a pile of paper to work with, it's like having the pieces of a puzzle. I just have to put the pieces together to make a picture."

Getting Your Work Out There

• Quotev, Archive of Our Own, and Wattpad are alternatives if you're looking to publish your story in additional places. [11] X Research source [12] X Research source It is recommended to publish your story on multiple sites if you can, as this will maximize your story's exposure.
• There are certain websites that specialize in fanfiction from a particular source. If you're looking to read or write a fanfic from the Harry Potter universe, for example, there is at least one website specifically dedicated to it. [13] X Research source

• For fanfiction writers with commercial aspirations, you can remove any trademarked names and ideas in your story and replace them with original content. Some bestselling 'original' fiction, like E.L James' Fifty Shades of Grey and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga , began as works of fanfiction.
• If the book you're writing fanfiction for is common domain, it may be published without any name changes as long as your work is only based on the original works that are common domain.

• It should go without saying that you'll receive the most helpful feedback from writers that are fans of the same source material you are using.

Annotated Fanfiction Page and Things to Include and Avoid

Community Q&A

• Some people like to write their fanfictions as they go, but in order to keep from getting writer's block for a while and people giving up on your story, writing it ahead of time and posting it in pieces is a better idea! Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• If you're writing fanfic purely for your own sake, there are absolutely no rules whatsoever. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Fanfiction isn't limited to conventional narrative prose. You could even write a poem from a character's point-of-view. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Fanfiction is unlicensed by nature, so there's next to no money to gain in writing it. If commercial success is a priority of yours, you're better off coming up with creative properties of your own. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 1
• Fanfiction has to stand up to many rubrics of traditional narrative writing. That includes staying consistent and giving care to basic things like proper spelling and grammar. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 2
• If the original creator doesn't want anyone writing fanfiction of their characters, it is important to respect their wishes so you don't get sued. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 4

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.fanfiction.net
• ↑ https://www.fanfiction.net/topic/2872/59053629/Writing-Ideal-Chapter-Length
• ↑ https://expressions.populli.net/dictionary.html
• ↑ https://www.trickster.org/symposium/symp98.html
• ↑ https://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/09/22/why-im-not-going-to-read-your-fanfic/
• ↑ https://www.fanfiction.net/
• ↑ https://www.quotev.com/stories/c/Fan-Fiction
• ↑ https://www.wattpad.com/stories/fanfiction
• ↑ https://forums.darklordpotter.net/
• ↑ https://www.wired.com/2014/02/fanfic-and-publishers/
• ↑ https://www.fanfiction.net/forum/Tips-Tricks-and-Do-s-and-Don-ts/91554/

About This Article

When you write fanfiction, try to keep the characters the same as they were in the original work so the story makes sense. Aside from that, the plot is completely up to you, and you can choose how close you want your story to be to the original. You can even cross multiple universes by bringing in characters from 2 different works, like from your favorite movie and your favorite book. If you're struggling for ideas, try imagining a fun “what-if” scenario, like what if your main character had their memory erased. For more tips, like how to publish your fanfiction, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• Reducing <i>The Idea of You</i> to Fan Fiction Is Another Example of Dismissing Women’s Art

Reducing  The Idea of You  to Fan Fiction Is Another Example of Dismissing Women’s Art

I n the spring of 2014, when I set out to write the novel that would become The Idea Of You , I didn’t plan on writing something that was revolutionary or controversial. I wanted to write a story about Solène Marchand, a woman on the cusp of 40 who rediscovers and redefines herself through an unexpected love with a much younger man who happens to be a world-famous celebrity. As someone who was in that age range and who should have just been hitting my stride in my professional life as an actor, I was seeing the sudden shift in parts available to me. The characters had become more staid, the opportunities fewer and further between. I was learning the hard way that in Hollywood , after 40, women are much less desirable. The assumption was that we ceased to be sexual beings and were thus less valuable. I was eager to prove the industry—and our culture at large—wrong, in my own little way.

Shortly after the book’s publication in 2017, I realized I was also bumping up against something else. Some readers were viewing this story about ageism , sexism, the double standard, motherhood, female friendship, agency, and the dark side of celebrity as nothing more than “fluff.” They focused on the love story and the sex to the exclusion of the other pertinent themes of the book. They called it a romance. It was not. Romance novels have specific rules, and my book did not follow them. But it was labeled and categorized as such.

Was it because it centered on a woman’s love story? Because the main characters, Solène  and Hayes Campbell, two consenting adults, had a healthy sexual appetite? Or maybe it was the cover and the publisher’s marketing campaign? I’ll never know. But I started receiving messages from women that began with self-conscious and belittling openings like, “This is not the type of book I typically read, however…” and “I didn’t think I was going to like this book, but…” Then they’d proceed to discuss all the themes I’d set out to grapple with in writing the novel. It was clear they had made assumptions. They didn’t think a story about a woman’s midlife sexual awakening might contain something deeper. They couldn’t imagine it might be both tantalizing and complex. 

I am a lover of literary fiction. I appreciate stories with characters who are not necessarily like me, who expose me to new worlds and new ways of thinking through elegant prose. I crave stories that are multilayered and have something profound to say. But I also enjoy stories that entertain, that provide levity and occasional escapism. And I have always tried to write in a space encompassing both.

Read More: The Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

There’s a scene in The Idea Of You when Hayes, a member of the chart-topping British boy band August Moon, is disparaging his work as the group’s founder, and Solène, a sophisticated art dealer, is imploring him to not discredit what he and his bandmates do.

“It’s art. And it makes people happy,” she says. “And that’s a very good thing. We have this problem in our culture. We take art that appeals to women—film, books, music—and we undervalue it. We assume it can’t be high art. Especially if it’s not dark and tortured and wailing. And it follows that much of that art is created by other women, and so we undervalue them as well. We wrap it up in a pretty pink package and resist calling it art.” 

That sentiment has resonated with me more in the years since I wrote this line of dialogue than ever before. I thought about it when Barbie became the biggest box-office hit of 2023 and the highest-grossing film ever directed by a woman, yet Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were not nominated for Best Director or Best Actress, respectively, at the Oscars. I thought about it when I revisited critics’ resistance to Taylor Swift and the dismissal of her fandom for the first decade of her career, writing both off as juvenile and unserious. We all know who got the last laugh there. In April, Swift was named to the Forbes billionaire list, becoming the first musician whose earnings stem solely from her songs and performances to do so. Not so unserious now, is she?

In no other case does Solène’s description of that sentiment feel more personal than with the responses to her story. Labeling it as “fluff” or “fanfiction”—particularly when done by those who have not read it—is both reductive and dismissive. And this is not something that happens to male authors. It’s bad enough that so many novels with female protagonists are labeled women’s fiction , while those with male protagonists are simply fiction , and that these categorizations exist regardless of the fact that fiction readers across the board are disproportionately women. But assuming a novel with a fictional celebrity in a relationship must be based on an existing celebrity—in this case, the internet has decided, Harry Styles —is unimaginative at best and sexist at worst.

There are some brilliant, beloved writers of fanfic out there, but fanfiction is just not what I do. Hayes Campbell, like Solène Marchand and the myriad other characters in this book, was inspired in part by people I’ve encountered and by art I’ve consumed, and he came to life thanks to a healthy dose of my imagination. It’s how most writers I know, regardless of gender, create their characters and their worlds.

Read More: The Idea of You Is About the Ultimate Middle-Aged-Lady Fantasy—Being Noticed

My case is just one symptom of the larger disease in the broader literary world, where comparable works by women and men are given inequitable weight. “First-person narrative by men is still published and reviewed as more serious and gets a lot more money and coverage,” author and academic Kate Zambreno said in a recent New York Times interview. “It’s also usually not dismissed as merely autofiction or memoir, instead read as literature encompassing psychogeography, philosophy, art criticism. Even if a woman is doing exactly that, she’s usually still marketed as merely writing a woman’s experience or, worse, a mom memoir, if she has children.”

What is it about art made by women and marketed toward women that makes us view it as less than—that makes us think they can’t be complex and important? We don’t wrap male writers’ books in pink and tell readers they’re great for the beach. We don’t frown upon consumers of male fiction as juvenile. We don’t reduce their writing to fanfiction and attach a celebrity’s name for clickbait. Bottom line: we don’t undervalue them and their work. 

I never set out to write a novel that would spark this kind of debate. Hayes and Solène’s story has made readers think about their agency and ambition, about love and aging and the meaning of human connection—and it’s made them laugh, cry, wallow, and sigh in the process. Perhaps it is art, after all.

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How one horrible phone call led Carley Fortune to quit her job and become a romance novelist

The new york times bestselling author reflects on her path from journalism to fiction writing.

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Many of us have had days when we've had to deal with unpleasant meetings or phone calls and the stress of work becomes too much. For Carley Fortune, one particularly unpleasant phone call was enough to make her quit her job as the executive editor of Refinery29 Canada — a brand that she helped launch  — and pursue her bucket list item of writing a book.

"I'm so proud of the work that we did, but as I rose up in my career as a journalist and as an editor … I got further away from the work that I really, really loved, which was coming up with ideas and collaborating," Fortune tells Q 's Tom Power . "I was just so sick of working my butt off. I was a journalist for 16 years and feeling like no matter what I did, it couldn't make a difference."

After that horrible phone call, Fortune started re-examining her life. "[I] said to myself, 'I need to do something for myself,'" she recalls. "'I have done all my creative work as an adult for my employer. I want to take that back.'"

While Fortune had dreamed of becoming a professional author since childhood, she never thought it was possible. "I didn't know anyone who worked in publishing," she says. "And I was very concerned about money. I think what I absorbed growing up was that writers didn't make any money. And so smart kid that I was, I went into journalism."

To tackle her financial concerns, Fortune devised a plan to ensure that her first manuscript, a romance novel, would be done by the end of that year.

• Where I Write Write me at the lake: How Carley Fortune reclaimed her creativity from the edge of burnout
• Q with Tom Power Emily Henry on writing hit romance novels that capture the messiness of modern dating

"I calculated how many words would be in a romance novel manuscript, and it was 80,000 words," she says. "Then I figured out how many days were left in the year and divided 80,000 by the number of days. If I wrote 388 words a day, I could finish by the end of the year."

Following her plan, Fortune would get up at 5 a.m. each day to write before her husband and young son woke up. With this routine, she managed to finish the manuscript for Every Summer After in just four months.

While she says Every Summer After had a mix of positive and negative reviews, especially on TikTok, her second novel, Meet Me At The Lake , garnered the approval of Archewell — the production company founded by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Meet Me At The Lake, which touches on Fortune's personal experience with postpartum OCD, is now being adapted into a movie for Netflix.

Fortune's latest book, This Summer Will Be Different , is based on a real girls trip she and her best friend took to Prince Edward Island in their 20s. The book touches on some steamy oyster shucking at the National Oyster Shucking Championship in Tyne Valley. While Fortune says This Summer Will Be Different is steamier than her previous two novels, all three books touch on female relationships in different ways.

"Each of my books looks at different relationships between women," she says. "I'd never written really, really closely and intimately about best friends. That's integral to the book for sure."

The full interview with Carley Fortune is available on  our podcast, Q with Tom Power . Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Carley Fortune produced by Vanessa Nigro.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Freelance contributor

Hillary LeBlanc works in communications and media. She is passionate about feminism, equality, racial equity, the LGBTQ community and the lower income community. She co-owns the BlackLantic podcast.

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Amy Tan reflects on her new nonfiction book. ‘Birds were fun ... fiction writing is torment.’

For Chinese Americans of a certain generation, Amy Tan’s debut novel “The Joy Luck Club” in 1989 was revelatory.

I was about 18 years old when I first read Tan’s intricate intergenerational storytelling of Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. I felt seen for the first time as an ABC (American-born Chinese) growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore, where my immigrant parents decided to settle. Like the characters in Tan’s books, my parents and their friends would play mahjong and trade stories of their lives before they came to America.

Tan went on to write many other novels about her Chinese heritage, but her latest book marks a departure in topic and format. Reading “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” — No. 1 this week on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list — is like peering into Tan’s private journal and sketchbook about the birds she has observed from her home outside of San Francisco.

While on a book tour in Cambridge, Tan recorded an episode of my Globe Opinion podcast, “Say More.” Listen at globe.com/saymore and wherever you find your podcasts.

We talked about her obsession with birds, how nature journaling is different from fiction writing, and whether she considers herself an Asian American author or just a writer.

Here is a condensed transcript of our conversation.

Leung: This book came about after you took a nature journaling class. What inspired you to take that class?

Tan: It was around 2016 during the election campaigns, and there was a lot of racism that was now becoming more overt. I felt it was also directed more to Asians. It started making me feel the world was full of hatred. I needed to find a place of beauty again. I would go back to nature, and I would fulfill a promise I made to myself a while ago that I would take up drawing when I was retired. So it was around that time I could just do nature journaling, which is a combination of observing, taking notes, and drawing what you see.

Leung: Through this class, you realized that watching and writing birds is about being curious, right?

Tan: The whole intent of being a nature journalist is to be curious and to ask questions and wonder, and be stunned by what you’re seeing, and then want to know more.

The teacher I had, he said, “When you look at a bird, don’t just start drawing what you think the bird looks like because that’s probably not how it looks like. Imagine yourself feeling the bird, feel the life force of the bird.”

The first time that [a bird] looked me directly in the eye and just stayed there, I felt that I’d been acknowledged as being part of the habitat. That was a thrilling experience.

Leung: Did you find nature journaling different from fiction writing?

Tan: It was just fun. As you said, it was like reading my diary or my journal.

Leung: Wait, fiction writing isn’t fun for you?

Tan: Fiction writing is torment! But fiction writing is so deeply satisfying. You throw pages away, you’re muddled, something finally clears, and you write something that is so true. It’s the greatest high I could ever feel.

Birds were fun. I discovered later that the things that I was discovering about them and writing about them was very similar to writing fiction, because you get to this point where you see the pattern, you see what’s unfolding, and you write it down.

Leung: I just remember that was a really powerful moment for me to have the “Joy Luck Club” come out. It was the first time I felt seen. You were a true trailblazer, and there are a lot of us now — many Asian American writers and creatives. This bird book – it’s your first book that’s not about Chinese culture.

Tan: I never think of my books as being about Chinese culture. It’s just about life — what I think about and what I know, and happens to be the culture I grew up in, but it’s also American culture. [People] say it’s about mother-daughter relationships, or immigrants or about Chinese culture versus American. I’m just simply writing a story. Like everybody, you take details, images that reflect what you’ve gone through in your past.

Leung: Do you think of yourself as an Asian American author or just a writer?

Tan: Both in a way. The Asian American umbrella term reflects often the things that I do collectively with groups of Asians. The Asians could be Japanese, Korean, Thai, Cambodian, Filipino. Specifically my race is Chinese, so I have to make these distinctions. Who am I in terms of a writer? I’m an American writer.

I always like to stress that point because in the beginning they did put me in a section called ethnic writing or Asian American writing, as if I don’t quite belong. You’re not part of the overall canon of literature. You’re always going to be segregated.

It’s very important — just like when we talk about people who come from other countries who have their citizenship or they were born in this country, but their race may be different — they’re still Americans. To keep referring to somebody as ”Chinese American” or ”Lebanese American” — it creates a barrier of some kind. I definitely would say I am Chinese in my race. I’m Chinese American in my cultural upbringing. And then when I work on community activities, I’m Asian American.

Leung: You still feel very connected to your mom. So what would she think of your bird project, and where you are now since first publishing “The Joy Luck Club”?

Tan: She would be very happy that I’m finding a lot of peace within myself. That I can go into a place that’s beautiful and peaceful because she had a hard time finding peace. She could have really appreciated something like that. [My parents] worked, both of them, seven days a week. The only vacations we had were to go to Disneyland — both times, when I was 6 and when I was 12. So for her to have been able to enjoy being outdoors, I think she would have loved it. She was obsessive. She could have really gotten into it.

Anna Kusmer of the Globe staff contributed to this article.

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Guides • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Nov 22, 2023

Story Structure: 7 Types All Writers Should Know

Nothing makes the challenging task of crafting your first novel feel more attainable than adopting a story structure to help you plot your narrative.

While using a pre-existing blueprint might make you worry about ending up with a formulaic, predictable story, you can probably analyze most of your favorite books using various narrative structures that writers have been using for decades (if not centuries)!

This post will reveal seven distinct story structures that any writer can use to build a compelling narrative. But first…

What is story structure?

Story structure is the order in which plot events are told to the reader or audience. While stories can be told in a wide variety of ways, most Western story structures commonly share certain elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

A tightly controlled structure will answer a reader's questions, provide a climax followed by resolution and information at the end of the story , further the characters’ development , and unravel any central conflicts . In other words, it's responsible for a satisfying narrative experience that accomplishes the author’s aims.

Writing is an art, but if there’s one part of the craft that’s closer to science, this would be it. Become a master of story structure, and you will have the world at your feet.

Classic story structure

When people discuss different story structures, they often talk about the different frameworks used to analyze stories. When you boil them all down, all stories have certain shared elements.

Elements of classic story structure:

• Exposition. This first part establishes a protagonist's normal life and greater desires, and usually culminates in the inciting incident.
• Rising action. The protagonist pursues their new goal and is tested along the way.
• Climax. Our hero achieves their goal — or so they think!
• Falling action.  The hero now must deal with the consequences of achieving their goal.
• Resolution. The conclusion tying together the plot, character arcs, and themes.

These are all common ‘ beats ’ to most stories. It can be easier to see these moments in genres with higher stakes (such as a military thriller), but you’ll find them in almost any type of story. 

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Seven Story Structures Every Writer Should Know

Now that we’ve established the most essential components of story, let’s look at seven of the most popular story structures used by writers — and how they deploy these components.

• Freytag's Pyramid
• The Hero's Journey
• Three Act Structure
• Dan Harmon's Story Circle
• Fichtean Curve
• Save the Cat Beat Sheet
• Seven-Point Story Structure

1. Freytag’s Pyramid

• Introduction. The status quo is established; an inciting incident occurs.
• Rise, or rising action. The protagonist actively pursues their goal. The stakes heighten.
• Climax. A point of no return, from which the protagonist can no longer go back to the status quo.
• Return, or fall. In the aftermath of the climax, tension builds, and the story heads inevitably towards...
• Catastrophe. The protagonist is brought to their lowest point. Their greatest fears have come true.

This structural model is less frequently used in modern storytelling, partly due to readers’ limited appetite for tragic narratives (although you can still spot a few tragic heroes in popular literature today). By and large, commercial fiction, films, and television will see a protagonist overcome their obstacles to find some small measure of success. That said, it’s still useful to understand the Pyramid as a foundational structure in Western literature — and you will still see it occasionally in the most depressing contemporary tales.

To learn more, read our full guide on Freytag’s Pyramid .

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2. The Hero’s Journey

Campbell’s original structure uses terminology that lends itself well to epic tales of bravery and triumph — with plot points like “Belly of the Whale,” “Woman as the Temptress,” and “The Magic Flight.” To make The Hero’s Journey more accessible, Disney executive Christopher Vogler created a simplified version that has become popular amongst mainstream storytellers.

Here, we’ll look at Vogler’s streamlined, 12-step version of The Hero’s Journey.

• The Ordinary World. The hero’s everyday life is established.
• The Call of Adventure. Otherwise known as the inciting incident.
• Refusal of the Call. For a moment, the hero is reluctant to take on the challenge.
• Meeting the Mentor. Our hero meets someone who prepares them for what lies ahead — perhaps a parental figure, a teacher, a wizard, or a wise hermit.
• Crossing the First Threshold. The hero steps out of their comfort zone and enters a ‘new world.’
• Tests, Allies, Enemies. Our protagonist faces new challenges — and maybe picks up some new friends. Think of Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road.
• Approach to the Inmost Cave. The hero gets close to their goal. Luke Skywalker reaches the Death Star.
• The Ordeal. The hero meets (and overcomes) their greatest challenge yet.
• Reward (Seizing the Sword). The hero obtains something important they were after, and victory is in sight.
• The Road Back. The hero realizes that achieving their goal is not the final hurdle. In fact, ‘seizing the sword’ may have made things worse for them.
• Resurrection. The hero faces their final challenge — a climactic test that hinges on everything they’ve learned over their journey.
• Return with the Elixir. Having triumphed, our protagonist returns to their old life. Dorothy returns to Kansas; Iron Man holds a press conference to blow his own trumpet .

While Vogler’s simplified steps still retain some of Campbell’s mythological language with its references to swords and elixirs, the framework can be applied to almost any genre of fiction. To see how a ‘realistic’ story can adhere to this structure, check out our guide to the hero’s journey in which we analyze Rocky through this very lens.

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3. Three Act Structure

Act 1: Setup

• Exposition . The status quo or ‘ordinary world’ is established.
• Inciting Incident. An event that sets the story in motion.
• Plot Point One. The protagonist decides to tackle the challenge head-on. She ‘crosses the threshold,’ and the story is now truly moving.

Act 2: Confrontation

• Rising Action. The story's true stakes become clear; our hero grows familiar with her ‘new world’ and has her first encounters with some enemies and allies. (see Tests, Allies, Enemies)
• Midpoint. An event that upends the protagonist’s mission. (Similar to the climax in Freytag’s pyramid)
• Plot Point Two. In the wake of the disorienting midpoint, the protagonist is tested — and fails. Her ability to succeed is now in doubt.

Act 3: Resolution

• Pre Climax. The night is darkest before dawn. The protagonist must pull herself together and choose between decisive action and failure.
• Climax. She faces off against her antagonist one last time. Will she prevail?
• Denouement. All loose ends are tied up. The reader discovers the consequences of the climax. A new status quo is established.

When we speak about a confrontation with an antagonist, this doesn’t always mean a fight to the death. In some cases, the antagonist might be a love rival, a business competitor, or merely an internal or environmental conflict that our protagonist has been struggling with the entire story.

If you’re interested in using this model to plot your own story, read our guide to the three-act structure , and be sure to sign up to our free course on the subject.

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4. Dan Harmon's Story Circle

Another variation on Campbell’s monomyth structure, the Story Circle is an approach developed by Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon. Again, heavily inspired by the Hero's Journey, the benefit of Harmon's approach is its focus on the protagonist's character arc. Instead of referring to abstract concepts like 'story midpoint' and 'denouement', each beat in the story circle forces the writer to think about the character's wants and needs.

• A character is in a zone of comfort... This is the establishment of the status quo.
• But they want something... This 'want' could be something long-standing and brought to the fore by an inciting incident.
• They enter an unfamiliar situation... The protagonist must do something new in their pursuit of the thing they want.
• Adapt to it... Faced with some challenges, they struggle then begin to succeed.
• Get what they wanted... Usually a false victory.
• Pay a heavy price for it... They realize that what they 'wanted' wasn't what they 'needed'.
• Then return to their familiar situation... armed with a new truth.
• Having changed... For better or worse.

Created by a writer whose chosen medium is the 30-minute sitcom, this structure is worded in a way that sidesteps the need for a protagonist to undergo life-changing transformations with each story. After all, for a comedy to continue for six seasons (and a movie) its characters can't completely transform at the end of each episode. They can, however, learn small truths about themselves and the world around them — which, like all humans, they can quickly forget about if next week's episode calls for it.

To learn more and see this structure applied to an episode of Rick and Morty, check out our full post on Dan Harmon's Story Circle .

Side note: for this kind of character-driven plot (and, indeed, for all of these structures), you're going to want to know you're protagonist inside and out. Why not check out some of our character development exercises for help fleshing your characters out, like the profile template below.

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5. Fichtean Curve

Fleshed out in John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction , the Fichtean Curve is a narrative structure that puts our main characters through a series of many obstacles on their way to achieving their overarching goals. Resembling Freytag’s Pyramid, it encourages authors to write narratives packed with tension and mini-crises that keep readers eager to reach the climax.

Bypassing the “ordinary world” setup of many other structures, the Fichtean Curve starts with the inciting incident and goes straight into the rising action. Multiple crises occur, each of which contributes to the readers’ overall understanding of the narrative — replacing the need for the initial exposition.

To discuss this unusual structure, it’s perhaps best to see it in use. We’ll use Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You as an example. Needless to say, spoilers ahead.

Rising Action

• First crisis. Lydia’s family is informed her body was found in a nearby lake. From this first crisis's climax, the narrative flashes back to provide exposition and details of the family’s history.
• Second crisis. In flashbacks, we discover that, 11 years prior, Marilyn abandoned her family to resume her undergraduate studies. In her absence, the family begins to fall apart. Marilyn learns she is pregnant and is forced to return home. Having lost her opportunity for further education, she places the pressure of academic success on her children.
• Third crisis. Back in the present, Lydia’s father, James, is cheating on Marilyn. The police decide to close the investigation, ruling Lydia’s death a suicide. This results in a massive argument between her parents, and James leaves to stay with the “other woman.”
• Fourth crisis. Flashback to the day Lydia died. From her perspective, we see that she’s misunderstood by her parents. She mourns her brother’s impending departure for college, leaving her as the sole focus of her parents’ pressure. Isolated, she tries to seduce a friend — who rejects her advances and explains he’s in love with her brother.
• Lydia takes a boat into the lake in the middle of the night — determined to overcome her fear of water and reclaim control of her life. Lydia jumps off the boat, into the water, and out of this life. As in a classical tragedy, this moment is both devastating and inevitable.

Falling Action

• Some level of resolution is achieved, and readers get to at least glimpse the “new norm” for the characters. Lydia’s family lean on one another in their grief. While they may never be able to make their amends with Lydia, they can learn from her death. Not all of the loose ends are tied off, but readers infer the family is on the long road to recovery.

Note: In the rising action stage, all of the crises should build tension towards — and correspond with — the story’s major climax. Like the three-act narrative structure, the Fichtean Curve’s climax typically occurs two-thirds through the book.

While this structure lends itself well to flashback-heavy novels such as Everything I Never Told You, it is also incredibly common in theatre. In stage plays like The Cherry Orchard and A Doll’s House , the action takes place in a fixed time and place, but backstory and character development are revealed through moments of high drama that occur before the audience’s eyes.

For a deeper look at this structure, head to our full post on the Fichtean Curve .

6. Save the Cat Beat Sheet

Another variation of the three-act structure, this framework created by Hollywood screenwriter Blake Snyder, has been widely championed by storytellers across many media forms.

Fun fact: Save the Cat is named for a moment in the set up of a story (usually a film) where our hero does something to endear himself to the audience.

While many structures are reluctant to prescribe exactly when in a story the various beats should take place, Snyder and Save the Cat have no such qualms. The number in the square brackets below refers to the page that the beat should take place — assuming you’re writing a 110-page screenplay.

• Opening Image [1]. The first shot of the film. If you’re starting a novel , this would be an opening paragraph or scene that sucks readers into the world of your story.
• Set-up [1-10]. Establishing the ‘ordinary world’ of your protagonist. What does he want? What is he missing out on?
• Theme Stated [5]. During the setup, hint at what your story is really about — the truth that your protagonist will discover by the end.
• Catalyst [12]. The inciting incident!
• Debate [12-25]. The hero refuses the call to adventure. He tries to avoid the conflict before they are forced into action.
• Break into Two [25]. The protagonist makes an active choice and the journey begins in earnest.
• B Story [30]. A subplot kicks in. Often romantic in nature, the protagonist’s subplot should serve to highlight the theme.
• The Promise of the Premise [30-55]. Often called the ‘fun and games’ stage, this is usually a highly entertaining section where the writer delivers the goods. If you promised an exciting detective story, we’d see the detective in action. If you promised a goofy story of people falling in love, let’s go on some charmingly awkward dates.
• Midpoint [55]. A plot twist occurs that ups the stakes and makes the hero’s goal harder to achieve — or makes them focus on a new, more important goal.
• Bad Guys Close In [55-75]. The tension ratchets up. The hero’s obstacles become greater, his plan falls apart, and he is on the back foot.
• All is Lost [75]. The hero hits rock bottom. He loses everything he’s gained so far, and things are looking bleak. The hero is overpowered by the villain; a mentor dies; our lovebirds have an argument and break up.
• Dark Night of the Soul [75-85-ish]. Having just lost everything, the hero shambles around the city in a minor-key musical montage before discovering some “new information” that reveals exactly what he needs to do if he wants to take another crack at success. (This new information is often delivered through the B-Story)
• Break into Three [85]. Armed with this new information, our protagonist decides to try once more!
• Finale [85-110]. The hero confronts the antagonist or whatever the source of the primary conflict is. The truth that eluded him at the start of the story (established in step three and accentuated by the B Story) is now clear, allowing him to resolve their story.
• Final Image [110]. A final moment or scene that crystallizes how the character has changed. It’s a reflection, in some way, of the opening image.

Some writers may find this structure too prescriptive, but it’s incredible to see how many mainstream stories seem to adhere to it — either by design or coincidence. Over on the Save the Cat website, there are countless examples of films and novels analyzed with Snyder’s 15 beats . You’ll be surprised how accurate some of the timings are for each of the beats.

For a deeper dive into this framework, and to watch this video where Reedsy’s Shaelin plots out a Middle-Grade fantasy novel using Snyder’s method — head to our full post on the Save the Cat Beat Sheet .

7. Seven-Point Story Structure

A slightly less detailed adaptation of The Hero’s Journey, the Seven-Point Story Structure focuses specifically on the highs and lows of a narrative arc .

According to author Dan Wells, who developed the Seven-Point Story Structure , writers are encouraged to start at the end, with the resolution, and work their way back to the starting point: the hook. With the ending in mind, they can have their protagonist and plot begin in a state that best contrasts the finale — since this structure is all about dramatic changes from beginning to end.

• The Hook. Draw readers in by explaining the protagonist’s current situation. Their state of being at the beginning of the novel should be in direct contrast to what it will be at the end of the novel.
• Plot Point 1. Whether it’s a person, an idea, an inciting incident, or something else — there should be a "Call to Adventure" of sorts that sets the narrative and character development in motion.
• Pinch Point 1. Things can’t be all sunshine and roses for your protagonist. Something should go wrong here that applies pressure to the main character, forcing them to step up and solve the problem.
• Midpoint. A “Turning Point” wherein the main character changes from a passive force to an active force in the story. Whatever the narrative’s main conflict is, the protagonist decides to start meeting it head-on.
• Pinch Point 2. The second pinch point involves another blow to the protagonist — things go even more awry than they did during the first pinch point. This might involve the passing of a mentor, the failure of a plan, the reveal of a traitor, etc.
• Plot Point 2. After the calamity of Pinch Point 2, the protagonist learns that they’ve actually had the key to solving the conflict the whole time.
• Resolution. The story’s primary conflict is resolved — and the character goes through the final bit of development necessary to transform them from who they were at the start of the novel.

For a deeper look into Wells's approach — including the key to using it — check out our full post on the seven-point story structure .

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: story structures aren't an exact science, and you should feel welcome to stray from the path they present. They're simply there to help you find your narrative's footing — a blueprint for the world you're about to start building.

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