Sunday 4 May 2008

Writing Tips


A lot of writers have this misconception that writing fiction must be 'artsy' or 'different'. Sure, you need to be clear and use evocative descriptive prose, but the writing should be normal and easy to read, in my opinion. You should write your stories in a ‘normal’ writing style - with some more evocative descriptive prose.

I've never tried to use 'another voice', so I guess my fiction writing style is boring or whatever, but I think it's more important to paint a clear picture in your reader's mind so that they enjoy the story. That is, after all, the whole point, if you want to be published, isn't it? I use a larger vocabulary for fiction writing, that's all, and only because using evocative words will make my descriptions as vivid as possible.

The more vivid the image you can instil in your reader's mind, the better. If you muddy your descriptions with strange grammar and odd words, it lessens your reader's enjoyment of the story, and the story is what you're trying to get across.

If your reader has to read a sentence 2 or 3 times before they can figure out what it means, they're not enjoying the story as much. Sure, it's crystal clear to you, because you wrote it, but even my writing, which is as simple and straightforward as I can make it, is sometimes misunderstood. Leave the weird stuff to the poets.