Fiction Writing 101

Counter the del virus that makes writing boring, lifeless, and expressionless; seek feedback and master the nuts and bolts of engaging prose.

Visualize the setting in your screenplay, short story, or novel and smell the room, then balance description, action, and dialogue by focusing on what is heard, seen, and felt.

Study historical settings by reading period books and diaries with a critical eye toward bias, and learn craft from authentic voices like McMurtry and Mailer.

Commit to the next chapter to reveal where the story goes, with characters emerging to fit the structure and reveal humanity. Keep forward momentum, not backtracking, and trust your fingers.

Explore historical fiction by telling familiar events through behind-the-scenes characters like sergeants and lieutenants, weaving plausible secrets while anchoring in archival facts and authentic era details.

Write about contemporary fiction by visiting or imagining places, comparing Chicago's south side with New York, using real dialect, speech, pizza culture, and sports loyalties to shape characters.

Ground futuristic fiction in present realities and its origins. Keep projections plausible by tying the new world to today's events, using Star Trek as guidance.

Develop rich main characters by detailing names, ethnicity, family ties, education, work history, and outer traits that reveal inner goals; use obstacles and contrasting traits to drive dramatic, believable stories.

Embrace an inferiority complex to stay humble, move forward, and accept that no one will like everything you write; writers rarely compliment each other, yet connection signals you’re doing okay.

Time of day governs what you like or hate and what you write, from late afternoon romance to late night horror, with biology and Chinese medicine suggesting organ-specific peak times.

People read or watch to be calmed or transported to a harmonic world, or to be fired up by conflict and winner take all; writers balance these aims.

Explore how European storytelling often hinges on conflict, while other cultures, like First Nations, may value harmony. Encourage characters to actively choose A or B and make decisive life choices.

Establish the status quo: world, time, and character before introducing the catalyst, the first scene, and research. Use what-ifs to navigate continuing from there and pursue innovative, own-voice starting points.

Drive the main character to act in act three, delivering a crescendo as all characters make their final moves toward the ending, the last cavalry charge of the story.

Satire requires an enlightened, selective audience to identify and appreciate its intent; it can backfire, as in Apocalypse Now, Doctor Strangelove, and Catch-22, when the point is missed.

Write a concise, one-to-two-page synopsis of your story, the beginning, middle, and end, with the relevant details and quirks editors want, and best written immediately after finishing the last page.

Enter the zen of writing and the zone, lose time as you create a world and redefine the universe in your head. Finish a chapter and feel the indescribable numbness.

Follow three rules for success: do not stop; keep going; and accept that success makes work harder, you grow stronger, focused, and better, with each ending becoming a new beginning.

Market your fiction with persistence, as marketing changes daily and gatekeepers may not respond. Be aware that North America is tough, while Europe offers room for innovation despite language barriers.

Compare screenplay and novel writing, showing how screenplays rely on visuals and sound, with concise beats, visible humor, and shared scenes, while novels explore interior perspective and descriptive detail.

Learn how screenplays drive filmmaking by coordinating crew to craft visually appealing, accurate stories that connect with audiences, and compare writing a story as film versus a novel.

Explore how screenplays start the most expensive cinema canvas and compare short stories written as film or novel, showing how books, film, and screenplays connect the public with the spectacle.

Put theory into practice by bridging ideas and developing a fictional narrative through an improvisational exercise, crafting Tyrone’s encounter with a reclusive ex-actor in Mobile, Alabama.

Explore an experimental fiction practicum as Tyrone, a devoted post office worker, delivers a mysterious package that leads to a swamp encounter with a wary old man.

Convert a short story into a screenplay by establishing the world and character dynamics, following Tyrone the postal worker as he navigates a swamp-side mystery and a provocative package.

Learn how to handle rejection with persistence, turning every 'no' into a step toward a 'yes,' while embracing your unique process and refusing to give up.