An engaging story, whether it's drama, action, humor, or tragedy, usually balances characters or situations that are familiar to the reader with enough new information (unusual events, settings, or characters) to pique curiosity and draw the reader into the story. A good story often leaves the reader eager to find out what happens next.

Fiction is not real life, just as a still life painting of an apple is not a real apple, but rather a unique expression of some aspect of the apple (whether it be form, function, or mythology). Similarly, a story is a form of expression in which every word is chosen by the author. When a painter paints an apple, he or she chooses a size, a material upon which to paint, a color scheme, and a composition. A writer too has the freedom to accept or reject the elements he or she includes in order to focus the reader's attention on important aspects of the story.

Many writers forget this and write descriptions or reminiscences that have no underlying purpose. If you remove the apple from the still life, the eye drifts. Fear and conflict are two powerful focus elements that are widely used because they remain as compelling and relevant now as they were in the days of Shakespeare.

If your opening doesn't immediately capture the reader's interest, your story will never be read, so it's probably the single most important aspect of a book.

The middle has to sustain interest through good writing, good characterizations, and a good storyline.

The ending must feel to the reader as though it's the only natural or plausible way in which the story could end (or at least one of the most plausible endings, since some stories may have more than one resolution). The reader doesn't necessarily have to like the ending--the writer may have chosen to kill off his or her favorite character--but the reader must not feel that the ending is contrived or arbitrary, but part of the natural flow of events.

Which would you enjoy more: listening to a lecture on food or dining out with an interesting group of people in a favorite restaurant? Humans are social, verbal, tactile animals. Most readers lose interest if a story has too much description and not enough action or interaction among the characters. Thus, showing them blow-by-blow how Inigo Montoya and the Black Pirate Roberts fought on the top of the mountain is more interesting to most readers than saying "there was a ferocious sword fight." Dialog, broken up by appropriate portions of description, imparts variety and human interest to a story.

But don't adhere too slavishly to this rule either. There are times when showing can interfere with the flow of a story. If the content of a conversation isn't important to the plot, then simply stating that "they conversed at length" is better than detailing everything the characters said. Showing and telling must be balanced so they don't bog down the story.

A book can cover any time period from a minute to a millenium. Many stories span a few months or years and the reader doesn't necessarily have to know the full history of the characters to understand the story.

The writer, on the other hand, needs to know the backstory. If the author doesn't have a good grasp of his or her characters, including their past, their relationships, illnesses, strengths, fears, motivations, hopes, and desires, it's hard to write convincing dialog or interactions for that character. Even if these details are never made known to the reader, the reader can sense whether a character is consistent or contrived.

Sincerity comes through in a book. If you have five story ideas and you can't decide which one to tackle, choose the one that impassions you. This sometimes involves opening up parts of yourself to painful experiences, but it can also be exhilarating or cleansing, depending upon the subject matter.

Writing from your own experience doesn't necessarily mean writing autobiography or nonfiction. Cut and paste different people you've known, different events you've attended, different places you've been until you create something new. A piano has five black keys and seven white keys, 12 basic notes (repeated in octaves), yet people still find unique ways in which to combine them. There are far more words than there are notes on a piano and millions of stories still to be told. If you meld your imagination with your life experiences, you can create something fresh and interesting to share with readers. Even fantasy writers usually inject a measure of human nature into their characters to make them believable and comprehensible to the reader.

Clichés are often the sign of lazy writing. Readers tire of seeing the same stories and the same phrases repeated ad infinitum (to use a cliché). The first draft of a book often includes many clichés, since getting something on the page is the first hurdle, but it's usually a good idea to evaluate them on the second or third draft and change them, if there's a more original and lucid way to tell your story.

Occasionally clichés can be used to good effect. Some characters are walking, talking clichés and this aspect of their personalities should be reflected in the dialog and description.

Exclamation marks, descriptive verbs, and adverbs should be used judiciously. Leonard's Rules warn against using anything other than "said" for dialog, but this "rule" should be taken with a large grain of salt. Most literary and popular writers use emotional expressions (and exclamation marks) when the circumstances fit, including Atwood, Carey, Tyler, Irving, Ondaatje, Plath, and many others. Even Stephen King, who warns against using anything other than "said," liberally uses other descriptive verbs along with "said," including whispered, shouted, asked, told, breathed, yelled, etc. The point is, don't depend too slavishly on expressive devices at the expense of good description and dialog, but by all means use them when appropriate.

This advice applies to both plot construction and the mechanics of writing.

At the story level, resolution is not possible without adversity. Problems cannot be solved if there are no problems. A clear, flat ocean with a kayaker paddling in the distance is a beautiful sight, but breakers crashing over a boat in distress will usually hold a viewer's attention longer. Balancing the two is like writing music. A reading audience, like a concert audience, needs the highs and lows, the allegros and adagios, to follow in a logical progression so that emotional levels and credulity are not strained beyond the point of discomfort (or boredom).

At the mechanical level, words must be put on the page, but they must also be removed if they do not contribute to the central theme. If the words don't flow or suit the story, they must be cut, no matter how much the writer struggled to write them in the first place. This aspect of writing is sometimes the most difficult for new writers.

Writing is like solving a Rubik's Cube. There is a point, near the solution, where the Cube must be 'undone' in order for certain obstacles to be overcome. The reluctance of the puzzler to go 'backwards' (when the solution seems so near) will forever stand in the way of solving the Cube. A writer who has difficulty removing words that have become irrelevant to the story has become too attached to the mechanics and must step back and focus on the aspects that move the story forward.

The truth is, there are no rules for writing good fiction. There are only guidelines and most of these guidelines apply more to commercial fiction than to fiction that is written for self-expression. All others, feel free to experiment. Art only moves forward through the efforts of its bravest pioneers.

--- Mya Bell    

Topics: journal web log weblog blog diary journal writer author writing literature John Irving Mya Bell Anne Tyler Margaret Atwood Michael Ondaatje