by Ray Langley

Created on: April 05, 2010   Last Updated: April 06, 2010

Best Ways to Learn to Write Fiction

 The best way to learn anything is to practice. It is that simple, regardless if one wants to learn to write fiction or spin dinner plates on skinny sticks, it is going to take practice. Learning the craft of writing, grammar and the rules of style and composition will greatly aid in being able to focus on the creativity of one’s fiction, adversely one will struggle with “how” to say, rather then the story. Building a strong vocabulary will also aid in the creation of fiction, with strong images and vivid characters. Bring the reader along a journey.

 To write good fiction one will need two to three long skinny sticks and as many dinner plates, wait. Scratch that last part. Creativity is the key. Tough to explain, easy to endure, endearing once you master it. It is creativity that brings any story to life, and without creative details, embellishments, or flat out lies, most stories would be dull. As authors, we are forgiven for being liars as we do not intend to cause malicious harm, but we seek to entertain. It is with a great story that we earn this forgiveness.

 Find books, stories, and authors that have established themselves in the particular genre for which you wish to write and study these works of fiction. Learn what their end result was, as you do you will find yourself mapping your own work. The nuances of plot and story built around vivid images, and strong presence of detail create crisp imagery. It will put the reader “into” the story, and bring them along for your journey as a writer. It is easier to build skills when writing than it is to apply any “tricks of the trade,” the only real tricks to writing are called “plagiarism.”

 As writers, we are all thieves and liars, stealing the nuances of people that we meet in everyday life, reassembling them into characters that are complete fictions, as we create lies of these lives to entertain. Bringing together the miscellaneous items that by the normal process of life would not come together, and exaggerating the detail and emotion to give birth to a world that does not exist. These are the skills that writers strive to achieve, creating the believable, emotionally swaying lies out of thin air, which the reader can connect to and suspend disbelief long enough to become lost in the world that we created.

Learn more about this author, Ray Langley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.