TQ&EGtWGF: Chapter 2… The Three Points of Writing Fiction

I will briefly go over the three points of writing fiction: storytelling, writing (prose), and technical. For a genre-fiction writer, these are listed in order of importance:

2a: Storytelling:

The actual story is what is most important for a genre-fiction writer. With nonfiction, accuracy is most important (such as detailing historical fact or laying out proper instructions), but for genre fiction, you’ve got to have the story.

So what does that mean? It means target demographic, genre, plot, theme, setting, point of view, characters, exposition, character development, situation, description, and dialogue, pretty much everything that is a story. Here is a brief description of each:

2a1: Target Demographic:

Your target demographic is determined by what age group, gender, culture, and/or ethnicity you’re writing for. Are you writing for children, young adults, or adults? Are you targeting men, women, or everyone? Are you writing for a specific culture (such as Japanese) or ethnicity (such as African American)?

The example I will give here is: adults, women. I want to write a romance, and adult women are my target demographic.

2a2: Genre:

The genre is the type of story you’re telling. Is it a mystery? Is it a comedy? Is it a thriller? Is it historical fiction, horror, fantasy, or science fiction? Is it a combination of more than one genre?

The example of genre I will use is a mix: romance and science fiction. Technology is a background factor, but the heart of the story is romance.

2a3: Plot:

The plot is the meat of the story. This includes the main events that make up the story, and later events are almost always linked to earlier events or caused by them.

An example plot would be: Levora Hevarr finds love and adventure when she is captured by the dashing space-pirate captain Kiston Freehold during a conflict with a United Planets asteroid patrol ship and the Scion-Belt Buccaneers.

2a4: Theme:

The theme is the underlying message or meaning of a story. Great stories almost always have a theme of some sort.

An example theme would be: Love and friendship. Some people are willing to give up everything for love.

2a5: Setting:

Setting is where and when the story takes place. Setting is extremely important for genre fiction, as it tells the reader some of the things to expect or not to expect.

An example of a setting is: The story takes place in the asteroid belt of a distant solar system.

2a6: Point of View:

The point of view of your story is how your story is told from a narrative position and whose experiences the reader is permitted to access. Will you write in first person, second person, or third person POV? Note that the second-person POV, or using the “you” pronoun, is not used as often to tell a story as the first-person POV or the third-person POV.

Example: For this particular story, I’m going to write in third-person limited POV. The story will be from Levora’s point of view.

2a7: Characters:

Ah, characters. What would a story be without the main character, the protagonist, the antagonist, supporting characters, side characters, and background characters? Your characters are the actors in the story you’re writing. Note that sometimes the main character is not the protagonist.

Examples of characters: Main character and protagonist: Levora Hevarr, interplanetary journalist. Supporting character and love interest: Kiston Freehold, space-pirate captain. Antagonist: Captain Lance Shold of the United Planets patrol ship, Space Breaker. Side character: First Mate Jomo Squall of the Scion-Belt Buccaneers. Background characters: space pirates and the crew of the Space Breaker.

2a8: Exposition:

Now we get to exposition. Exposition is an explanation of prior information that the reader was not formally privy to, but is also any information that helps the reader understand the story. In other words, it’s explaining some details about a character, plot, setting, culture, history, or anything else requiring clarification.

An example of exposition: Levora’s past with her abusive father has prevented her from trusting men, but she has a deep fear of being alone due to the isolation her father put her through. The Scion Asteroid Belt is rich in valuable mineral resources, but this wealth has also attracted pirates. Levora is traveling to Asteroid 86.9J in order to investigate the working conditions of the miners there.

2a9: Character Development:

There are two types of characters: static and dynamic. A dynamic character changes in attitude, personality, or experience with the plot. A static character does not. Character motivation and a character’s own personal history play a big role in whether a character will be dynamic or static.

A dynamic character undergoes a meaningful internal change that can cover several broad categories: attitude, behavior, beliefs, identity, understanding, or values. Otherwise, they’re static. This does not mean a static character isn’t complex or compelling. It just means their core identity does not change over the course of the story.

An example of a dynamic character: Levora Hevarr, a hardened journalist whose only former concern was her career, falls in love with the dashing space-pirate captain Kiston Freehold. She learns to trust a man in her life and overcomes the damage inflicted by her father.

An example of a static character: Captain Lance Shold is a United Planets patrol captain who hates pirates with a passion, and he will hunt them down to the ends of the solar system. Whether he catches a particular pirate or not is not going to change his life’s mission.

As you can see, Levora is dynamic because she changes in the story by falling in love and abandoning her career in order to be with Kiston. Captain Shold is static because he continues to hunt pirates after he fails to capture the love-struck pair on the run.

2a10: Situation:

If you’re writing a short story, the situation the characters are in is part of the overall plot, especially when writing comedy. It is an immediate and concerning circumstance or problem. If you’re writing a novel, then situation becomes plural. Your characters may find themselves in many different situations over the course of the story, and this will vary chapter by chapter.

An example of a situation: Levora is taken hostage when the mining frigate, Poor Boy, is boarded by pirates. Captain Lance Shold of the U.P. Space Breaker responds to the distress call and begins pursuit of the Scion-Belt Buccaneers’ ship, Freedom’s Hook.

2a11: Description:

Description is far more important in novels than in short stories. Only certain people, places, actions, or things should be described for emphasis in a short story. In a novel, you need to describe things in detail early on so that you don’t have to do it later.

An example of description: Levora Hevarr is a thirty-two-year-old white woman with curly black hair, dark eyes, and an hourglass figure. She is of average weight, has a beautiful face with a button nose and a wide smile, and she prefers to wear brown and blue spacer clothing when not in formal wear. She is a determined, independent journalist looking for the dirty truth about the hard life faced by space miners. Note that I could go on about what “spacer clothing” is, and that would be more description, but we’ll move on.

2a12: Dialogue:

Dialogue is how your characters speak and how they verbally interact with one another. Dialogue can make or break a story. Good or bad dialogue is easy to spot if you just take the time to read your dialogue out loud. If it sounds stupid, then change it.

An example of dialogue: “And what have we here?” asked the rugged yet handsome stranger standing before her. “I see there was more than just a load of metals to be found aboard this ship.”

“Leave us alone,” replied Levora. “A United Planets patrol ship is on its way. You have what you want anyway.”

“Oh, no,” stated the stranger. “I don’t have everything I want, my dear. I know there are astral diamonds aboard this ship, and I want them.”

2b: Writing (Prose):

The prose portion of genre fiction is how effectively you use language to tell your story. Writing consists of your writing style and your linguistic repertoire. Both of these make up your writer’s voice, that which helps people identify you as a writer. Last but not least, there’s inspiration, that which inspires you to write what you write.

2b1: Writing Style:

Your writing style is how eloquent you are with the written word. Do you want a simplistic style, a complicated one, or something in between? We’ll get into the subtleties of writing styles later on.

2b2: Linguistic Repertoire:

This includes how many words you know, the words you use on a regular basis, your sentence construction, rhythm, idiom, tone, imagery, and grammatical flexibility. It goes hand in hand with writing style. We’ll get into improving your linguistic repertoire later on.

2b3: Your Writer’s Voice:

Your writing style, along with the words you know, allows your readers to identify your voice. Many popular authors can be identified from a passage of literature simply by the way they “sound.”

2b4: Inspiration:

That which inspires you to write what you write is, in its very essence, your motivation. Inspiration is important in ways you may not understand. Inspiration can be subtle, or it can hit you like a freight train, but either way, you’ll be inspired. It’s not really part of prose, but rather part of the broader “writing” point.

2c: Technical:

The technical portion of writing comes third when writing genre fiction, but it is still important. Don’t overlook it! The technical portion includes grammar, punctuation, editing, and proofreading.

2c1: Grammar:

Grammar is knowing the rules of the English language (or the language you wish to write in if it’s other than English). I am by no means an expert on grammar, but when I’m unsure about something, I look it up. There are plenty of books out there detailing proper grammar, so I won’t go over this particular subject in this guide. Nevertheless, it’s important to know proper grammar, even if you intentionally decide to break those rules in dialogue. We’ll go over that in the dialogue section of this book.

2c2: Punctuation:

Proper punctuation is a pain in the rear, but it can save you a lot of trouble later on. Like grammar, there are some really good books on punctuation, so be sure to pick one up and study it well. I won’t go over punctuation in this book unless it relates to another covered subject.

2c3: Editing:

Editing is something you will just have to get used to doing. It’s time-consuming, but it’s never a waste of time. Editing allows you to go through what you’ve written and make the necessary adjustments that allow you to polish your work. All in all, editing makes your stories professional. Editing changes the work itself: the structure, logic, pacing, consistency, wording, and clarity. We’ll cover editing in the Technical section of this book.

2c4: Proofreading:

Proofreading is also something you will just have to get used to doing. However, proofreading, like editing, is well worth the effort you put into it. Proofreading allows you to find and correct all of those little mistakes you missed the first, second, and probably the third time. It can be a nightmare sometimes, but you won’t look like an idiot when someone else reads your work. Proofreading catches the surface errors you may have missed, even after editing is finished. We’ll cover proofreading later on in the Technical section of this book.

The image for Chapter 2 of TQ&EGtWGF was generated by artificial intelligence courtesy of OpenAI.