Tips on writing – Page 5

Tips On Opening Paragraphs for Flash Fiction

Written by Della Galton on June 17, 2012. Posted in Tips on writing. 3 Comments

A little while ago I ran a course on How to Write Flash Fiction. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about Flash Fiction in case anyone else finds them helpful.

They also apply to short stories.

The opening sentence is the first thing a competition judge sees. If it doesn’t grab their attention they may not read any further. It must be good, especially in very short fiction.

Hooking your reader

Set up a question in the reader’s mind. One way of doing this is to begin with your character in an intriguing situation so that the reader will want to read on to find out what happens next. Starting with a controversial sentence also works very well.

Throw the reader straight into the action by starting with a piece of dialogue. Overheard conversations are always fascinating.

Introduce at least one character. Readers want to read about characters, not long pieces of description.

There is not much time for scene-setting. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be there. Thread it in with the action.

As with any short story use a style appropriate for what you are writing. Short sentences build tension. Think pace. You don’t have time to waffle.

Things to avoid doing

Don’t introduce too many characters. Focus on one or two (maximum) until the reader is sufficiently interested in them to want to carry on reading.

Don’t give too much information too soon. Too much information can make the narrative very dense and difficult to read.

It’s probably best to stick to one viewpoint, or use a narrative style. More than one viewpoint is hard to pull off in a very short piece.

Finally

Once you have finished the story, re-read the first sentence in isolation and ask yourself if it’s intriguing enough to make someone else want to read on. If possible, read it to a writer friend and ask them. If necessary, rewrite it.

How To Get An Original Idea

Written by Della Galton on February 21, 2012. Posted in competitions, ideas, plotting, Tips on writing, Writing. 9 Comments

One of the things short story competition judges bemoan the most is that they hardly ever see an original story, or a really original idea. Yet being original is one of the fastest ways to get into the shortlist. Providing you can also write well, of course!

Is there actually such a thing as an original idea?

Maybe not. But there are a lot of things you can do to make your story stand out from the crowd. Especially if the competition has a theme. Here are my tips for finding an idea that’s different:

For the purpose of this exercise we’ll assume the theme of our imaginary competition is Loss.

So the first thing you should do is to write down all the ideas that spring to mind when you think of the theme loss. These are mine. Some of them might be yours too.

Loss of job

Loss of spouse

Loss of child

Loss of house

Loss of pet

Loss of life

Loss of bag

There is a good chance that everyone else will think of these ideas too, so unless you have a really original slant, move on and list some more.

Loss of limb, finger, toe, eye

Loss of liberty

Loss of memory

Maybe we’re getting a few ideas that are a bit more lateral. But let’s go on.

Loss of an identity (Alzheimer’s or another reason)

Loss of a parrot – or another unusual pet, think snake or hippo, or how about something mystical, a unicorn

Loss of a generation

Loss of a culture

Loss of a precious artefact

Hopefully there won’t be many stories with the above losses and I’m sure you can think of lots more. But let’s make it a bit more unusual.

What if you used a different structure as well? What if you used a diary structure, for example. I read a brilliant story recently (in a competition I was judging) where the author had used a diary structure, but, just as in the Time Traveller’s Wife the dates weren’t chronological.

Or you could tell your story entirely through taste, or smell, or perhaps dual viewpoint.

Or you could link the scenes with the same setting, for example the sea.

The diary story won the competition I was judging by the way!

Food for thought!

What should be on the first page of your novel?

Written by Della Galton on February 7, 2012. Posted in first chapter, Tips on writing, Writing. 4 Comments

The first page of your novel has to be excellent. If it is not first class, then it’s possible the agent or publisher you have targeted will not read any further. Time is money, and they will only be interested in your novel if they can see its potential very quickly. So it goes without saying that the writing must be as good as you can make it.

OK, so the writing is good, but what else should your first page contain?

Having carried out some research on this subject (I analysed a selection of best selling novels) I’ve collated a list of elements that a successful first page is likely to contain. So here they are:

A hook

There must be enough of a hook to make the reader want to turn the page, and, indeed, get past the first paragraph. This does not have to be dramatic. That will depend on the type of book you’re writing, but you should try to engage the reader immediately.

At least one character

This won’t necessarily be the main character, but it usually is the main character or someone closely connected to them. If it isn’t, you should have a good reason.

Place

Whilst the setting doesn’t have to be spelt out, and this is often not possible, there should probably be some indication.

Time

Is your novel contemporary or historical? It’s a good idea to indicate this fairly early on.

Genre

We should also be able to tell the genre of the novel very quickly. Not necessarily from the first page, but do begin in the style in which you are likely to continue. If the novel is humorous, you might not necessarily have an hilarious event on the first page, but the genre should be reflected in the style of writing.

Dialogue

Not all first pages contain dialogue. For example, first person novels often don’t need it, but it isn’t a bad idea to introduce dialogue quickly. The sooner the reader hears your characters speak, the sooner they will start to care about them. Or not – as the case may be.

Descriptions of characters

Again, these do not necessarily have to be on the first page, but if you are introducing a character without giving the reader any hint of what they look like, then the reader may well formulate their own view. If you later contradict this, i.e. the reader assumes your character has brown hair and they actually have flaming red hair there is a danger of losing reader identification.

Summary

And finally, you will need to do these things without it appearing in the least contrived. This is no mean feat, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The good news is that it’s probably not worth worrying too much about your first page until you have completed the novel. In my experience, the first page I originally write for a novel is rarely the first page I end up with. Therefore it makes no sense to worry too much about it until you have completed a draft. It is pointless to edit and perfect something that you might later discard.

Incidentally, if you’re interested, there’s more on this subject in my book, Moving On – From Short Story to Novel, published by Accent Press. Price £9.99

Welcome to Della Galton’s website

Tips On Opening Paragraphs for Flash Fiction

How To Get An Original Idea

What should be on the first page of your novel?