Learning How to Write Fiction

by David Kubicek

This is the way I learned how to write fiction.

At first glance it appears to be a simple formula. There are only four steps, but each of those steps requires lots of time and effort. Today, when everyone and his or her brother is writing blogs or books about how to write fiction, it is easy for the novice to become confused–especially since some of these blogs and books offer conflicting and even bad advice.

It’s unlikely that I’ll ever write a how-to-write book on writing because I wouldn’t be able to ramble on for 80,000 words. Following these four principles is how I learned, and I believe it is the best way for the serious aspiring writer to learn the craft.

Step 1: Read

You must be an avid reader.

A comment I sometimes hear from would-be writers is: “I don’t have time to read.” This comment is most often made by people who want to be published but don’t want to go to the trouble of learning how to write.

If you do not read, or if you don’t enjoy reading, you cannot be a writer. Period. Full Stop. Sure, you can write things down, but the chances that you’ll write something that people who read regularly will want to read are practically nonexistent.

From a practical standpoint, you need to read so that you’ll know what has been done before and how it has been done; this will help you to avoid writing something that has been done before in the same way it has been done before. What makes a story original is not the plot (there are a limited number of plots), but that unique something that the individual writer brings to the story.

Also, you need to read so that you can see how other authors developed their stories, and so that you can develop a sense of how to tell a story. This is crucial.

Reading must not be a chore. You must actually enjoy reading so much that you would read even if you didn’t want to be a writer. Readers not only set aside time in their day to read, but they often carry a book (or e-reading device) with them to fill those dead spots during the day. 

Finally, if you read only in one genre, you can become a capable writer. But if you read in a number of genres–as well as a decent helping of nonfiction on a variety of topics–you can become a good writer or even a great writer.

Step 2: Learn the Craft of Writing

This was a lot easier when I started than it is today. The internet is rife with bad writing advice. There was no internet when I started, and not that many books. I read everything I could find at the library. I subscribed to Writer’s Digest and ordered some of their books. I enrolled in a writing workshop at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL).

Keep it simple; learn the basics, learn how to tell a story. Taking a writing class or workshop is an excellent way to jumpstart your craft. Universities, junior colleges, established writing workshops, and classes led by established writers are the best way to go. If you come across an ad for a class that promises to teach you how to write bestselling fiction, don’t give them any of your money.  They are being either deliberately misleading, or they don’t know any better–and you don’t want to be associated with either of those situations.

The truth is that you can’t write a bestseller because writing doesn’t make a book a bestseller; marketing makes a book a bestseller. A book can be the next great American novel, but if no one knows about it, it will just sit on the bookstore shelf gathering dust.

On the other hand, a book that is terribly written may become a bestseller if it finds an audience (I know several examples of these, but we won’t go into that here). There is an audience for everything imaginable, even the most horrendously written piece of dreck.

Many of the current crop of internet-based writing teachers will go into great detail about things like archetypal characters and how you must make sure to hit all of the important plot points at exactly the right locations in your story.  That’s good advice–if you want to be an English teacher. If you want to be a good writer, learn by reading good writers. Just tell the story and let the English teachers and their students worry about the rest.

Step 3: Write

Write a lot. Write things that you plan to try to get published and things that you write for practice and have no intention of publishing.

When I started out writing short stories, an exercise I practiced–and one I highly recommend to aspiring writers–was to copy, with pen and paper, my favorite stories so I could get a sense of how a good story should flow.

You must copy the story in longhand, not type it, because it’s easier to space off when typing and just see words. Writing in longhand forces you to think about the words, forces you to think about the story and how it is developing. My hand cramped up from copying my favorite short stories just so I could learn how stories were put together.

Also, I wrote reams of stuff that I never intended for publication, just for practice.

Step 4: Seek Feedback

Ask people to read your stories and give you honest criticism. What did they like? What didn’t they like? Why did they like it or why didn’t they like it (if they know; sometimes people don’t like something without really knowing why)?

You need to impress upon them that you want their honest opinion so that you can improve; make sure they understand that you don’t want them to tell you what they think you want to hear. I got lucky. I was just beginning my writing journey about the time I entered college (as an English major, of course), so I was surrounded by professors and other students who were more than willing to give me honest feedback.

Later, after I was married, my wife Cheryl became my first reader. Her critique often began with four words that managed to be both a compliment and a criticism: “You can do better.” Then she would explain where I had dropped the ball and how I might fix it.

That is my writing advice, short and sweet.  If I were to write a book on how to write, I would have to come up with 79,000 more words to bulk it up a bit.

For more information about David Kubicek’s books click here.