Tag: fiction

Posts with this tag are identified by writer Cortni Merritt as related to writing or editing fiction books of all genres.

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On Drinking, Smoking, & Drugs in Fiction

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Writers: Make sure if your fictional character is doing these things (drinking, smoking, and drugs) the reader has some sense of how it affects them. What’s their experience level with the substance? How do we know? Writing drinking and drugs in fiction can be a challenge, but with a little planning, you can get it right. 

A reader considers themselves to be “a good judge of character.” He or she also (generally) considers him/herself to be intelligent, not easily fooled,  and a good judge of truth.

You can be the judge of your readers’ ability to judge. I’m not here to judge that.

That being said, readers will notice when a writer mentions that a character is drinking, smoking, or doing drugs, but the character is not acting as if he or she is actually doing those things. If a character is supposed to be experienced at trying certain substances, but doesn’t use the terms that users use, or can’t explain how to ingest the drug and what effects to expect to a new user, the reader will call bullshit before the end of the page.

Writing Tip of the Day: Be Prepared to Go Gonzo, a la Hunter S. Thompson

If your characters are going to drink, prepare to make them drunk dial. If your characters are going to get stoned, prepare to make them lose track of large chunks of time and consume mass quantities of chips. … Jokes aside: your readers need to be able to see themselves in your characters. There needs to be the realism that alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs in fiction all have a relatable effect on the characters.

If your character has knocked back multiple double whiskeys and isn’t slurring his words or stumbling over his feet, the reader will need a reason to understand how your character has such a high tolerance.

If your character is sparking up a cigarette in every scene, then immediately snuffing it out in the next paragraph, your readers who smoke will roll their eyes. “At least, if you’re going to have the character light the damn thing, incorporate it for a reason.”

If your character is trying different types of drugs that give different highs, someone who has chased one type of high or another in real life will know. (Drugs in fiction can be especially questionable or unrealistic.)

It’s part of what made Thompson so powerful: he lived the experiences. He could write about the life he was living.

Not that I’m advocating any single one of you pick up any of the lifestyle choices (drinking, smoking, drugs, etc.) mentioned here: simply that, if they are not a part of your lifestyle, you will need to talk to people who have lived it, you will need to research what it is like to actually live the lifestyle in order to accurately relate it.

You have to be prepared to take it to a Thompson-esque level for your character when incorporating drinking and drugs in fiction. You have to be ready to make the character’s experience believable for the reader. Or else, by the time your character “sobers up,” your reader will already be home and in bed with another book.

Photo credit: Antoine Douglas at Concrete Rose Films.

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Chance, Luck, & The Deus ex Machina in Fiction Writing

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Fiction writers: It’s easy to be lazy. When you’ve gotten your characters into a difficult situation, you might think you can quickly move them to another location or give them what they need by including “as luck would have it” or “by chance,” and that explains how your characters saved themselves. 

Don’t be lazy. Move the plot with character motivations, and use chance and luck in realistic ways, to make the story more engaging and believable for the reader. 

What is the difference between ‘chance’ and ‘luck’? 

Chance is when your characters are in the right place, at the right time. Luck is how the ‘magic’ of their world affects them when they’re in the right time, at right place.

Let’s dig a bit deeper: Many people believe there are forces that pull on people’s lives. Untraceable energies, but persistent, energies like tides that move a person through their destiny.

Many other people believe that there is a force inside a person that attracts or repels other forces, making each person a more active participant in their own destiny.

Many people believe in a combination of both.

Forgive my oversimplifications and bear with me. My point is:

If you, as a fiction writer, understand how the elements of chance and luck work in life, you’ll understand how to use them to move your story’s plot.

Your Characters, the Deux & Destiny

In a narrative, consider the distinction between chance and luck. Consider whether your characters take chances or make luck for themselves.

Your characters will need to be moved from one place to another. It may be convenient for you, as the writer, to have coincidences occur – chance meetings, moments where “as luck would have it” – the character is in the right place at the right time. Or has the right weapon. Or snatches up the dropped item in the nick of time.

None of these are chance or luck. They are you putting a God in the machine to ‘magic’ away a problem.

Tone back the chance and luck. Save it for the best moments. Don’t make things easy on your characters. People who luck their way out of everything don’t grow, and frankly, are boring.

Fiction Writing Analysis & Example: Sean of the Dead

Remember in Sean of the Dead when Sean and his group are heading to the pub, and they run into Sean’s ex and her group of friends? That was a chance meeting. Logically, smart people familiar with the area would use the same unpopular escape routes and happen to meet up with each other along the way.

No information that saved the day was exchanged. No sacred items were passed or last messages left or dramatic rendezvous planned. It just so happened, two people who knew each other — but didn’t influence each others’ stories much — ran into each other. A chance meeting.

On the other hand, luck is when something that Sean and his friends needed happened to be in the right place at the right time, right when they needed it. While there are several moments throughout the film that could qualify, one obvious moment is the working gun at the Winchester saloon. After some dialogue earlier in the film about the rifle, as luck would have it, it was a ready-to-use weapon, with ammunition within reach.

Here, that lucky advantage is offset by a series of hilarious circumstances that oppose the characters and prevent them from taking advantage of the luck. None of the characters are willing or able to shoot the rifle. And once they figure out a method, a bumble with the ammunition quickly renders useless the most valuable, luckiest weapon they’ve come across.

This film is an example of good fiction writing keeping chance and luck believable, even in the most extreme of zombi-pocalypse circumstances. The plot moved forward through luck, then the luck was undermined; luck didn’t come through to save the day either. Although the writers had a chance to give the characters an advantage, they didn’t. They balanced good luck with bad, which kept the tension high in every scene.

The God Who Distributes Luck When It’s Not Needed

Fiction writers have the ability to distribute luck and chance on their characters at will, and often, many default to a position where they throw a lucky bone at a character in a moment of need. It’s trite — when will the character’s luck run out? The reader may begin to expect that nothing will happen to the character, which means nothing will happen in the plot. An overly lucky, unbelievable moment can throw a reader into a shrug and frustrated grunt, as they close the book or turn off their e-reader. 

Instead, be a different kind of fiction writer. Be the god who distributes luck when it’s not needed. Not in a malicious way, but when the character thinks they’ve found a solution, the lucky alternative presents itself. Or when your character is not looking for the chance encounter, it passes them by, but the reader sees it and understands what has just happened. 

Creating this kind of surprise interaction keeps the plot moving in fresh ways, and challenges the reader to guess what’s going to happen next, to keep up with the fun ride you’re taking them on. 

Keep your characters always needing something, and every lucky chance that presents itself getting them closer but not quite there, and you’ll keep your readers longing for more of the story of their eventual success. 

Contact Cortni at SRD Editing Services

Need a creative fiction editor who can help you keep the plot moving or close up plot holes? 

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Writing Challenge: Include Sensations of Movement

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Any time you complete a writing challenge, you encourage your own best writerly self. In today’s blog, let’s discuss the challenge of using action-oriented verbs to describe motion, movement, and physical sensations.

Movement Is Special

The universe is in constant motion. This is my understanding of its oh-so-important laws of physics. Movement is as natural and as important to the world condition as anything.

Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, it’s important to address your characters movements through space. How can you describe the movements of people in their mannerisms and daily life? And, how do you express the physical sensation of movement?

To get a sense of writing the physical sensation of movement, try this verb-oriented writing challenge.

Writing Challenge: Capturing & Embodying Movement

Write in a moving car, or on a train or bus ride. Or on a plane. The point is to focus on your body’s sensations during the motion. What is the sensation in your fingertips? On your skin? In your guts? Would you describe it as a rush? A crawl? A tingle? Dive into it.

* Note: Of course, if you have motion sickness or this makes you ill, don’t complete this or any writing challenge that will be detrimental to your health.

For most people, spending a few minutes honing into this sensation with a dedicated writing challenge focuses their active verb choice. Make your mind aware that motion is tied to sensation, and you’ll put the reader inside the characters’ skin.

Contact SRD Editing Services

Looking for an editor to challenge you to take your writing to the next level? 

Year-Round Writing Challenge Bonus: National Novel Writing Month (NanoWriMo)

Are you the type of writer who’s up for a year-round series of writing challenges where you can partner and support fellow writers? If you’re not yet a member/participant, check out National Novel Writing Month (known as NanoWriMo). The official month-long writing challenge takes place in November, with mini-challenges that occur in March and July. Join editor Cortni’s writing group! 

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Reading for Fiction Writing

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How to Be a Better Writer...

You’ve heard it before: the advice that says, “If you want to be a great writer, be an avid reader.” Reading, they say, will improve your writing, nearly guaranteed. 

Of course, it’s true. But it’s also sort of redundant. You don’t have to tell most writers to read; they already know.

Instead, you have to tell them how to read if you really want to help them.

Expanding High School English

Symbols. Themes. Context. Plot devices.

Wait! Don’t have a high-school-flashback-related panic attack. Come back. It’s easier than it sounds.

So, we were taught a lot of things about how to read and write in high school. These lessons may have served you well, or you may have dismissed them. Either way, if you have a few tricks left over from what you learned reading MacBeth, what you can definitely do is expand on them.

Reading for Vocabulary

One of the things about reading is the exposure you get to different ideas, cultures, lifestyles, and languages. If you’re reading challenging material — like, not Dr. Seuss — you should see words and phrases in your reading that you’ve never encountered before. It may seem remedial, but it’s worth remembering — look up new words.

Some writers love to show off their extensive knowledge by busting out the expensive, precise, and complicated language. If you run across an obscure word that sounds super-duper fancy-pants, look it up. Write it down. Make a note. Teach yourself a new word.

Personally, I recommend the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as my favorite, but realistically, use any dictionary that is convenient and works for you.

You might, if you’re so inclined, even look more into the root of the word and how it connects to other words in its language family. Want to dig into the etymology (i.e., “history” or “genealogy”) of the word? I recommend the user-friendly app, Etymology Explorer, which makes it easy to #wordnerd out no matter where you’re writing.

Reading for Quirky Ideas

Creativity is the ability to connect two unexpected ideas in a refreshing or insightful way.

One of the best things about reading widely and well is the ideas you stumble across that you never would have thought to make. The comparisons that strike you like a belly-flop, the fresh perspectives you would never have noticed.

When you read, keep notes to yourself of quirky ideas that come up. Does a line inspire you to think of a new character? Does a description of a setting make you want to write your own scenes there? What is it about the writing you read that makes you think, and what does it make you think about?

Reading for Plot Holes

Do you ever read or watch something and ask, “Why did the character do that?” or think, “I would have changed the dialogue here.”

Well, critical reader, put that critique to use. When you notice a way in which you would handle the action of a story differently, write it out. You may be surprised how adding ideas spawned of critiques can enhance your scrap pile.

You also likely notice, because of your highly trained critical eye, holes in the plot that the writer missed. A loose end that isn’t tied up. A break in the character or problems with the timeline.

Noticing these problems in other writers’ work is a key first step to identifying them in yours. When your reading includes an eye for plot holes, you will learn to spot and avoid the same holes in your own plots.

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