|
People read fiction to experience a life different
than their own. Your reader may never leave the comfort of his
recliner for a great adventure, but he wants to know what motivates
people who do. Your reader wants to experience the life your
character is living and make his own judgment about the worth of the
character's goals. Your job as a fiction writer is to provide the
structure, the story framework, so that when the reader picks up
your book, he can do all those things.
Your first task is to get the reader's attention.
The rest of the job is keeping it. To do that, you have to write a
compelling story. There are several ways you can go about gaining
the skills you need to write a compelling story. First, read a lot
of fiction. While you're reading, analyze the story. Look at how the
writer structured
each scene. As you do this, you will find that successful
fiction lets the reader know what the driving character is thinking
as well as what he is doing. The writer shows the "why" as
well as the "what" by placing the reader in the mind of
the point of view character.
 A master writer
creates "well drawn" characters that put the reader into a
character's mind in just a few sentences. An example of well drawn
characters is Deception Point (reviewed
here), by Dan Brown, author of DaVinci Code. Deception
Point is an action plot, for sure, but Dan Brown's characters are
interesting because he lets you in on what they are thinking as they
move through the story from one challenge to another.
More
Articles
On Writing
Fashioning a Scene
Self Editing
The
Character's Mind
Conflict
Roger's
Short Stories
Making Waves |
Roger Paulding, author of The Pickled Dog Caper, scheduled for
a Fall 2005 release by Panther Creek Press
Five Star Books
|
