Fiction is a form of prose writing that deals with at least partly artificial or imagined events and characters. This tag should be used for any questions relating to fiction, including fiction formatting and technique, fiction critiques, and the publishing of fiction.
6
votes
3answers
314 views
How to avoid repetitive sentence structure?
I've realized that I always start sentences with (name of character), he, she, it, they, her, his, the, after (a moment/that), and then.
I wonder if there's any useful exercise or tip to reduce this?
...
0
votes
3answers
180 views
Is the opening of this detective short story gripping enough to read on? Can it be shortened?
Is this opening too short or too quick? Can it be shortened further, removing any unnecessary description like "not giving him a lift to the office"? (I feel this last can be avoided but I am not ...
0
votes
0answers
21 views
Story-Telling on the Internet [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Internet communities where I can read/rate/review short fiction, and post my own?
I am a user of Cowbird already, and I love it, but I want to branch out, and go to ...
1
vote
2answers
397 views
Is this dialogue and situation intriguing (short story)?
This is the continuation of a story I mentioned in a previous story.
I would like to know if the reader would feel intrigued by the dialogue and situation (a girl who seems to be a stripper is lying ...
3
votes
2answers
109 views
Is it ok to be autobiographical with a main character?
This question really comes down to a personal issue I've had present in my fiction. I'm still very new as far as being a writer is concerned. So a few (if not all) of my main characters seem to be ...
4
votes
4answers
130 views
How much should I reveal of how the world functions in fiction?
I am currently working on a fiction novel. The way the world (magic, technology, government, species etc) works is extremely complicated.
Basically, the idea is to reveal the mechanics bit by bit . ...
0
votes
1answer
119 views
Is the ambiguity in my story the salt which makes it tasty or just plain frustrating?
Because this story is quite ambiguous in relation to the setting and also the main character's gender, I have been wondering whether this is frustrating for the reader or whether it provides a good ...
4
votes
4answers
386 views
I suck at plots. Is there a way to sort of train oneself to think of creative plots, specifically in scifi?
I'm pretty good in the writing department as far as prose, it's just that I'll sit down and have no idea what to write. Perhaps it's a creative problem, I just don't know. I cannot figure out any ...
16
votes
8answers
774 views
Is it frustrating not to know the narrator's gender?
I have written a 1st person piece and reading it I realize it's very difficult to tell if the narrator is male or female. There are one or two clues, and they come pretty late in the piece.
Would ...
2
votes
2answers
173 views
Issues with Scene/Sequel model
I'm using the Scene/Sequel model to go from an informal outline of my novel to a list of scenes. In summary, during a Scene the POV Character has a Goal, encounters some Conflict, and it ends in ...
4
votes
3answers
144 views
Deciding the setting: real or invented?
I'm preparing some material because I have the intention of writing a book. I'd do this in every type of work, but considering that I'm writing Crime Fiction, this is even more important.
I've ...
4
votes
2answers
275 views
What is “head popping” and why is it bad?
Most of my writing experience has been with first person, nonfiction stories. Now I want to try some fiction. I'm working in third person, but I'm a little bit confused about how to pull something ...
3
votes
2answers
192 views
Is it safe to write about a fictional murder in a real-life location?
I am writing a novel, and part of the plot has one character killing another in a specific real-life location. I mean the setting is extremely specific - for example, a particular hotel, or one ...
14
votes
4answers
1k views
What is a beat?
I keep hearing the word "beat" in Writers.SE, as in "... break your scene into beats" from this question. What is a beat? How is it different from a scene?
4
votes
1answer
323 views
When to use the em dash (—) in fiction writing?
I always see the em dash (—) in fiction writing.
Here are some example from Haruki Murakami's After Dark:
Komugi comes in and takes something from one of the cartons piled
against the wall—a ...
1
vote
1answer
83 views
Faith, Hope and Love as the keys to victory in an action-adventure novel?
I'm at the outline stage of my novel writing.
It is pretty straightforward to think of an action-adventure novel's victory as attained by physical attributes and/or courage.
I'm looking for ...
2
votes
3answers
176 views
Italicizing and adding accents to Spanish words in an English novel.
In my current novel I have a few characters who speak Spanish. The book takes place along the Texico border, so it happens frequently. I know that in more foreign Spanish, or when someone speaks a ...
-3
votes
2answers
140 views
Need a resource for creative writing
I'm already quite good at writing and putting together words and sentences. However, I would like to improve myself to the level that I can write a nice entertaining novel or several short stories to ...
13
votes
9answers
2k views
Can a book be written without an antagonist?
I have had this thought running through my head and wondered what your thoughts were on it. Can a book, a story I should say, be written without an antagonist or antagonistic theme? I have an idea ...
20
votes
17answers
1k views
Fan Fiction: a crutch or a good start?
Writing is writing, but I am not confident enough to take on creating a whole world from scratch. Will writing fanfic or writing in other shared world spaces be beneficial, or will it simply allow me ...
4
votes
3answers
209 views
Deciding whether to use a dialogue tag or an action tag in a dialogue
Example:
"I'm not saying you don't know what you are talking about," he said,
then looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "But I don't know what
you are talking about."
"I'm not saying ...
4
votes
2answers
142 views
Writing a novel which has the same structure and a particular theme in each chapter
I'm writing a novel that will have 9 chapters. Most of the chapters have the same structure:
The main character goes down a hole she found in her room.
She finds herself in a strange part of the ...
7
votes
3answers
218 views
Is going 'off-topic' a sign of bad dialogue?
I always wondered if going off-topic in a dialogue is a bad or a normal thing.
For example, let's say I'm writing a novel where the main theme is love and loss.
Is it bad if the characters start ...
0
votes
2answers
152 views
Level of detail in description of character checking the news
I'm writing a short story about a girl who has apparently 'missed' an earthquake. This is the beginning of the second scene (here is the first):
Erin was sitting on her bed, working on a new ...
0
votes
6answers
341 views
Does my story beginning hook the reader? (dialogue + narration)?
The following is the opening of a short story I'm writing:
Erin stared at Ruth, eyes narrowed. "There was
an earthquake last night?"
Ruth nodded. "Around 9p.m. The news says it
was a 4.3 ...
17
votes
5answers
2k views
How to describe the point-of-view character without using mirrors
In fiction, the main character is often the first person we meet in the story. Given that the story is written from his/her point of view, how would you describe what they look like? The classical ...
3
votes
3answers
274 views
Does this beginning hook the reader?
Guide lines Q no. 4:
This is supposed to be the opening part, but certainly not the whole of the first chapter or page for that matter... I'm not exactly sure anyone would take 30 seconds to read ...
-1
votes
1answer
88 views
How to improve the ending of this short story (final scene + flashback)
This is sort of the continuation of this previous question.
The full text is here (just in case).
Sophia grabbed her bag, and headed towards an entrance in the corner
of the room. She walked ...
7
votes
7answers
413 views
How to overcome the fact that I can't write long stories?
I have written some short stories (in fact, they are flash fiction). When I'm writing short stories, the ideas and the structure come to my mind by themselves.
Something different happens when I try ...
10
votes
6answers
718 views
How does one avoid bland, generic fantasy while they write?
I have been mulling over the plot and characters for an elaborate fantasy work for a number of years now. The longer I mull things over, the more possessed I am that this story is worth telling. The ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Opening paragraphs of a short story set in an aquarium
I'm writing a short story about a schoolgirl who is visiting an aquarium (this setting is connected with her past and with the conflict of the story).
Sophia found herself walking through a glass ...
4
votes
4answers
180 views
Are these fictional musings convincing or overwrought?
I've been working for some time on a story about a detective who finds himself alienated, delusional and hopeless while trapped inside a dystopic, postmodern dream. This segment voices some of the ...
4
votes
5answers
183 views
Is this excerpt's style too matter-of-fact?
I get the feeling that this blurb is too... expositiony, not enough description. Too much "this happened and then this happened and then this happened". But I'm notoriously bad at evaluating myself - ...
1
vote
2answers
326 views
Do these starting paragraphs make you want to keep reading?
OK, first, I'm not a native. So, what you do by instinct and a bit of research, I do by extensive research, including accents and dialog style.
I’m dead.
‘But you have a chance,’ I was told, ...
1
vote
1answer
163 views
How to improve/fix this short introductory paragraph and dialog?
These are the things that I want for this introductory paragraph:
Grab the reader's attention
Create a melancholic and dark atmosphere
Inside was dark with just enough light to see shapes, and ...
1
vote
2answers
148 views
Will this opening and dialogue grab the reader's attention? And how can I improve it?
Disclaimer: I'm not an native English speaker
Here is the first part of a short novel I'm writing. For the description I wanted the reader to have an idea of the place first and then let him know ...
1
vote
3answers
129 views
Is it a bad idea to have all the action in the beginning and all the dialogue in the end?
I wrote a short story. All the action happens mainly at the beginning of the story. You can see part of the beginning in this question, and the full story here).
This is the dialogue and ending (just ...
8
votes
5answers
835 views
What is a good methodology for researching a historical novel?
I'm having difficulty with the research aspect of my historical novel. This question was originally going to be "how much research should one do to write a historical novel?" to which, answering my ...
5
votes
2answers
327 views
Any suggestions to improve these three introductory paragraphs of a novel I'm writing (e.g. writing style, description and flow)?
These are the paragraphs:
Someone had called me at half past eleven. The phone rang six times
breaking the silence and darkness of the room for about ten or
twelve seconds. I didn’t pick up. ...
3
votes
3answers
297 views
Does this paragraph make you want to keep reading?
Can you remember the last toy you ever bought?
We do. Here at the St. Abattoir, London's largest toy store, your childhood is our business. We think of ourselves not as merely customer ...
2
votes
1answer
130 views
Style signatures and uncommon formatting patterns
Style signatures are bits of words and phrases used consistently throughout the entirety of a work (but not necessarily among my unrelated works). I would like to try using style signatures in a work ...
2
votes
1answer
246 views
Should I switch to third person or continue in first person?
Is the following first-person POV introduction good, or would it be helped by switching the story to third-person limited? The book is very action-centric, involving a good deal of fights and ...
4
votes
4answers
174 views
Does this writing create emotion in the reader?
The thing I hear most often about my writing is, "It's too dry." I'm sure this happens to other people too. I'm working on eliciting emotion through writing, and I'd like a critique on some of my ...
0
votes
1answer
105 views
How well would this beginning sell the book to readers? Not necessarily for money
Disclaimer: English isn't my native language.
A while back, I posted this and this. I got... well, reviews. While not outright helpful (ie. indirect, which is the whole point of critiques, I guess) ...
3
votes
4answers
135 views
Does this microfiction provide a slightly surreal sense when describing an ordinary scene?
In this short story I'm trying to describe an unexceptional scene in an exciting and compelling way. I want to make a common ritual seem strange and a bit surreal. Does this paragraph accomplish these ...
4
votes
4answers
183 views
How can I improve this description which includes actions?
This is the beginning of a short story I'm writing (I'm not a native English speaker):
I was lying in the dark, looking at
the ceiling, counting spider webs. She
was lying right beside me. I ...
8
votes
4answers
245 views
Will science fiction as a genre ever go the way of the western?
It is a fairly undisputed fact that the genre of western fiction has had a declining audience for decades. The Western Writers Association still exists, but if I had never worked in a Border ...
1
vote
1answer
219 views
How to effectively jump from one period of time to another in a short story?
This is the first time I'm writing something that jumps from one period of time to another in a short story:
The field was vast and empty, like a green abandoned planet. Icaro and
Maru were ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Critique: three person dialogue
Up until now, I'd only written dialogues between two persons. I'm not very sure if this dialogue is flowing smoothly. Is there anything I can do to improve its flow?
Specifically, I'm wondering ...
2
votes
3answers
139 views
When to start a new paragraph and when to start a new “scene”
This is an extract of a short story I'm writing. Sometimes I get confused about when to start a new paragraph and when to start a new "scene." So I would like to know if I'm doing it properly here ...
