MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022 - Writing good fiction

 MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022 - Writing good fiction

I’ve been trying to write fiction once a week (generally on Saturday).  Some might even think I write fiction every day!!! (and then I know I can’t do that).  

So, what does it take to write good (or great fiction)? (from various sources):

In fiction, the writer's job is to entertain, to draw an emotional response from the reader. The reader is often looking for suspense, action, and to go on a journey they have not been on before, one they will not easily forget. Readers want to get drawn into and experience the story for themselves.

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It seems to me that we want reluctant heroes.  We want characters with some flaws that overcome adversity.  

In fiction, the writer's job is to entertain, to draw an emotional response from the reader. The reader is often looking for suspense, action, and to go on a journey they have not been on before, one they will not easily forget. Readers want to get drawn into and experience the story for themselves. They want characters they can relate to and form a personal connection with. But most importantly, they want a good book. One that leaves them anxiously awaiting each turn of the page. Here are five crucial elements of a good fiction book:

1. Well-developed characters: The characters in the book must be well developed and believable. The characters should remind you of your teacher, your lawyer, your doctor, or maybe even your best friend. Even though they are fictional, they come alive for us in the story.

2. Action: A good fiction book needs to be filled with action. The good guys are after the bad guys, the doctor needs to find a cure. From the beginning to the end, the reader can't bear to stop reading because the action just keeps coming.

3. Great Plot: The writer keeps the reader guessing right to the end by using surprising, realistic plot twists. Just when we think we know "who done it" - bam - a new twist creeps up and a story involves more. As we near the end we wonder if there is time to solve it? Will it have a happy ending? Most readers long for a good ending to their story as they grow fond of the characters in the book and want to see the best happen to them.

4. Enjoyable to Read: Readers want to have fun. They want to escape into this book and for the moment forget the day's events and challenging issues that face them. They want a personal connection with the characters and also they want a story that inspires them to make a difference.

5. Keep Your Audience in Mind: When writing fiction it's important to remember to keep the audience in mind. These are the people who will be picking up your book and buying it and also hopefully recommending it to a friend or family member. For your particular book, what do they want to read? What will keep them on a Friday night turning each page to see what happens next? It's different with each book, but once you capture your audience you have the makings for success.

Writers write about what they know. They can bring the sounds, colors, and images of their world to life in their story. Fiction is where writers get the opportunity to bring you into that world and keep you there until, "the end."

*****

So, back to my recent Saturday stories - Emmalee and Penny - teachers at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham Oregon. I taught at MHCC from 1980 to 1982.  And, I was an academic for 38 years.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that I know the characters and that I can make them “come to life”.

I want Emmalee and Penny to bond together and create an interesting friendship between a Chicago-raised black art professor and a rural Idaho girl.  

I anticipate Emmalee to be a little brash and Penny to be more cautious.  Emmalee as an artist can be more flamboyant - both in her art and her life.  She has known discrimination, but actually is a black, middle-class woman with an academic dad, and a professional mother.  In her mural project, she wants to convey some of the concepts of Black Lives Matter, including the hanging of an innocent black man in the Portland area in the 1930s.  Her other works are based on graffiti, the boldness of women, blacks, and the search for identity and ambition.

Penny is a scientist.  In the first meeting, she is doing research into how light affects mushroom growth (and Emmalee messes up the research by turning on a light).  In her professional world, scientific principles and the scientific method predominate.  She wants students to explore, but the results of student labs come out in predictable ways.  How can she challenge her students to reach for the skies, when she can’t do that herself.  She sometimes acts before thinking.

A theme for Penny is “I’m not good enough”.  She doesn’t have a doctorate (Emmalee does) and is therefore primarily a teacher, but she wants to do research and learn and grow and eventually be a professor.  She has a strong moral compass (I will not try to preach about this character, but we will know she has a foundation of some form of religion.  I’m not sure where she is going - maybe she will discover that religion and spirituality can be quite a bit different (maybe when she takes her black friend to rural (and mostly white) Idaho.  Can she adjust to black culture?  Can she get out of her comfort zone?  

She is a bit overweight.  Smart, but not assertive (Emmalee does the ‘heavy lifting).  She goes along with Emmalee most of the time.

Can these two come to life in my writing?  Can I include other characters that interact with Emmalee and Penny?  Will these other characters roll their eyes at seeing a black, extroverted woman and a white, introverted woman as best friends?  Can these two have boyfriends (or girlfriends)? Will they be lovers within their relationship?  Or, is that pushing the LGBTQ environment too much?  (I didn’t start with that in mind - and I don’t think I will)

The recommendations are for action.  My brain goes to a “Perils of Pauline” format where they end each chapter with a cliffhanger.  But, if so, it has to be believable.  I’ve thought of some fantasy fiction where maybe they find a bridge to another world (like Narnia or Middle Earth).  Can they find a cave in Glacier National Park that somehow opens to Bigfoot or thinks that will still be real?

There is a term “jump the shark” which comes from the TV show “Happy Days”, where Fonzie literally jumps a shark floating in Lake Michigan.

“It was an unforgettable day in TV history when “Happy Days” character Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli proved himself king of the beach by water-skiing over a shark. Victorious as the moment may have been, it was also a far cry from the show’s otherwise traditional template. Millions of viewers at home were left scratching their heads, already wondering why and how the series had become little more than a showcase for Fonzie’s various antics. “Happy Days” would go on for many more seasons, but with that fateful episode, it had quite literally jumped the shark.

From Fonzie’s singular spectacle, a lasting cultural idiom was thus born. Then and now, a TV series is seen as having “jumped the shark” when it reaches a pointed new low in terms of quality or gimmickry. In many cases, this occurs with either the introduction of a new character or the loss of an old one. It can also take the form of an outrageous plot device, such as Fonzie water-skiing over a shark. Then there are the shows that dip in quality over time and build toward a proverbial death knell or point of no return, after which they’re never quite the same. Anything can happen as long as viewers keep tuning in… until they don’t.

Fiction can allow for sharks in Lake Michigan, but can readers believe in sharks in Lake Michigan?  Can my readers believe in a cave that leads to a secluded valley with a tribe of bigfoot beings?  Should I stay in the real world of two teachers at a community college in Oregon getting into some trouble (aka “action”) or should I incorporate some stretches of imagination? 

What kind of action might these two get into?  Penny is going to fall into the icy cold water where she is checking out environmental factors and hit her head and Emmalee is going to save her.  Emmalee is going to be raped - can I pull that off in a meaningful way?  Where can Penny help in such a situation?

What other issues can come up?  Grade inflation?  Are students protesting grades or protesting schools? (BLM, discrimination, cheating, relationships, and more?)

The suggestions are for a great plot.  What should be the end result?  Emmalee becomes the state commissioner of art?  Penny’s research gets her a Ph.D.? What will keep you (the readers) interested - without jumping the shark?)

The next to last suggestion is that the book/material should be interesting. We all probably have put down a book that after a few chapters just doesn’t hold our interest.  

The last suggestion is to consider my readers.  I have about ten dependable readers and maybe 20 or more that periodically read.  Of course, they are reading more research-oriented articles on war, health, and even spirituality.   Will Paul, Ron, Lynette, and others read my fiction - or are they looking for something that will challenge their brains?  Maybe I should forget fiction and stay with non-fiction/editorial-type blogs.  

Many of my stories have been “Pollyanna” stories and have come out with good endings.  The depressed man who lost his job to Covid gets help.  Not all real-world stories are happy.  Can I kill off Emmalee or Penny?  

*****

And so, I will try to write better fiction!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen

April 4, 2022