by Dallas Brown

Created on: April 13, 2011

Ah, fiction writing! A story that is made up but believable. Preferring the third person perspective, and producing within the mind of the reader a vivid scene with action, quality lighting and romance. Adventure and mischief are also possible participants, as well as danger and despair. But finally, in the end, the hero wins out in the book and the villain “takes the heat,” or is defeated as they say.

Good techniques of fiction writing include characterization, setting of the scene, the antagonist, the protagonist, and the build up to the climax and resolution. The well-wrapped development of all these elements will make up a good story that people will want to read, as something they can’t put down.

Characterization is important for villains as well as heroes and heroines. A flat villain seems not to fight for anything, nor is he or are they interesting or respected as a foe to be dealt with. A boring villain has no goals, while the complicated villain has sharply defined goals, to destroy someone or make them disappear, to take over by corruption the local political landscape or even philanthropic entities. “Eric Bealles’s hatred grew stronger each day. He hated Valerie Gosson, the heiress apparent to Slyban TVs. His scheme to cheat her father had failed, but he learned his lesson from such an unviable plan. He now had all the players in place, and they were to take Ms Gosson down as hard as a wrestler in the Iowa championships”. This villain is much harder to thwart, and it makes for a fight that will toughen up and sharpen up the hero on his way to victory.

Characterization is also important for bit players, the ones who make that small, cameo appearance for three to ten pages, and then they fade back into the background of the story. The reason they appear is to give the story that little change of pace temporarily while the main characters gear up for their next battle with the antagonist/villain. Even their goals should be apparent, and may be made with a short comment: “She had always wanted a Mustang to ride up and down the streets in, but her daddy wasn’t rich enough!” Within this one sentence, the issues of pride, vanity and regret are detected instantly. Mustang, rich, and daddy, are the words that sum up this character’s flaws of human life.

Setting the scene is important enough to allow for a mood to be set within it. A candlelight dinner is not partaken of at 8:30 a.m. Nor is a highly

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