If you are planning to write fiction for the first time and find the task overwhelming, getting some tips from more experienced writers may do the trick. In this article, I will give you some useful pieces of advice on fictional writing to help you get started.
Know your audience.
By identifying for whom are you writing your fictional story for and trying to understand them, you’ll definitely be able to write a better story. Accept the fact that not everyone will appreciate your work, and keep in mind that what you should focus on is to appeal to your target audience.
Identify the demographics of your target audience such as their age group and gender to be able to discern what elements should be added into your fictional story for it to become more interesting.
Develop realistic characters.
Perfect characters are boring. Make them realistic and relatable for your characters to appeal to your readers. Develop interesting personalities, give them phobias, and add flaws.
Moreover, as your story progresses, make sure that your characters evolve. Just as how real people change with each event in their life, your fictional characters must also undergo this development process.
Put your characters in certain circumstances that will force them to make a difficult decision, and decide when they should make the right choice or the wrong one. Keep in mind that if your characters are not developing and they are just static, they would not make a huge impact on your readers.
Try to stick to your main plot.
One of the most common mistakes made by fiction writers is that they get too caught up with the subplots that do not actually help with the development of the characters and the story itself.
Try to focus and stick to your main plot. However, if you decide to include subplots that will spice up your piece, ensure that they are all connected to the main plot, have a real impact on your characters’ evolution, and support your story’s progression.
Allow the events to play out.
Don’t try to wrap up each event too quickly, almost like you’re rushing to get to the end. Most often in real life, you don’t get to a certain goal that easily. Hence, you should let every circumstance to play out. By doing this, you will also be able to keep your readers hooked with your work and encourage them to keep reading. An additional advice is to add nice cliffhangers at the end of your chapters.
Develop powerful conflicts in different parts of your story.
The conflicts in the story are what make people excited and interested with what happens next. Naturally, if there is a conflict, you will get excited about what the outcome will be and how this will affect the characters. Hence, a weak conflict will just leave your characters where they were at the beginning of the story and will not give them room to grow.
As a beginner, you may feel that fictional writing is a daunting task. However, by reading and practicing constantly, you will surely get the hang of it. Before you know it, you’ve already produced various fictional stories. Trust me, fictional writing is a rewarding endeavour that is definitely worth pursuing. So don’t ever stop and strive to become a great writer—you’ll get there!