Ways to improve fiction writing/prose

[AcademicTerror]

Do you guys know how I can improve my fiction writing skills. I'm primarily a Academic Writer and as a result my writing style is quite bland and boring (AP English didn't help my fiction writing skills). I wanna learn how to really "write," like writing novels and what not.
Is there any way I can learn this over the summer? is taking creative writing during the school year going to help?

[keilj]

I don't know how helpful my advice will be. One thing I would recommend is just try different stuff - write a 1-page story, write in screenplay format just for a change of pace. Just for a change of pace and to develop yourself a little bit.

Also, I know when I first started writing, I felt like dialog was a huge weakness of mine. But as I wrote more and more, I almost feel as if it is my strong suit now. In other words, just keep writing, and you will probably develop a style and improve

[The Comedian]

I'd also try the classic advice of trying to mimic the writers that you enjoy; as you learn to replicate their voices and styles, you'll find your own as you're in the process of garnering your own skills.

[Desolation]

I agree with The Comedian. I'd like to add that Hunter S. Thompson's advice to young writers was to copy pages out of their favorite books to get a feel for the "rhythm." Some might not see Thompson as all that great of a literary figure, but the man could write, and was very successful at what he did.

[mayneverhave]

Do you guys know how I can improve my fiction writing skills. I'm primarily a Academic Writer and as a result my writing style is quite bland and boring (AP English didn't help my fiction writing skills). I wanna learn how to really "write," like writing novels and what not.
Is there any way I can learn this over the summer? is taking creative writing during the school year going to help?

I've taken multiple Fiction Writing workshops during my college tenure, and I would not particularly recommend them. Honestly, I would recommend simply reading more fiction to pick up what works, plus putting in the hard work to develop a style.

[dfloyd]

to read! read! read! Until you can effectively read with some ease the best of authors, you'll not be able to write. That's why most college writing courses don't work. The students who take them haven't learned how to read. How can they possibly know how to write.

[pooteeweet]

"Not a very grand job [The New Yorker], for all it really involved was sorting cartoons and clipping newspapers. Still, I was fortunate to have it, especially since I was determined never to set a studious foot inside a college classroom. I felt that either one was or wasn't a writer, and no combination of professors could influence the outcome." - Truman Capote

[Evaril]

I think Capote had the wrong view of college education. He probably would have been better off studying some precious field of knowledge rather than sorting cartoons and clipping newspapers. If he was so opposed to learning writing in a college classroom, he could have studied something else. I'm sure he had financial reasons for taking up the job, but the way he drew the connection between his job and the college classroom just makes me think he was one bitter man.

[Mariner]

Read good writing. Read writers and you like. Write everyday.

[eric.bell]

Read good writing. Read writers and you like. Write everyday.

Mariner has said it all: you must read all the time, practically live to read; then you must write when you are not reading. I think it might have been The Comedian that said it; but I agree with whoever said you need to mimic the writers you love, although I would advise trying every style and even genre on for size. You just have to find yourself; and that means lots of reading and possibly even more writing.

[AllyFizzle]

create characters and background stories for people you encounter or invent. keep a notebook handy and write down all the details of their life even ones you may not add to the writing later. analyze each one and find the psychology behind the things they do and say. this helps a lot for both fiction writing especially plays and in acting. also just loosen up academic writing must always be proper and structured when fiction writing has a lot of room for stylistic exceptions. just look at sandra cisneros dismissal of quoted dialogue.

[Hayseed Huck]

I poured a shot of Irish whiskey-- looked at the
bottle and smiled.

I read Academic's inquiry... here's a man who wants
advice


" ... how I can improve my fiction writing skills. I'm
primarily a Academic Writer and as a result my writing
style is quite bland and boring (AP English didn't help
my fiction writing skills). I wanna learn how to really
"write," like writing novels and what not.

Is there any way I can learn this over the summer? is
taking creative writing during the school year going
to help? "
**
This person wants to learn to 'really' write.

He doesn't want to just learn to write-- he wants to learn
to really write. This wish causes me to bash my face with
the brick I keep on my desk. After two bashes, I turn and
reply with what I am writing now.

Advice- eliminate the word really from
your consciousness. Consider--

Tom --I want to learn to write.
or
Glen--I really want to learn to write.
or
Mike-- I really want to learn to really write.

Seems Tom's desire is less wrought from the heart
than Glen's, and Mike is the most desirous of all.

Glen is more determined. For Glen, wanting to learn to
write is not sufficent. He really wants to.

Thus, the foolishness of using really is exposed.

"Are you from England?"

"Actually, I am."

Actually is another word to delete forever.

Eliminate both and you are on your way to becoming
a writer.

HH

[Aravona]

When I was writing short stories and not computer code I struggled a bit. I once wrote a horrid 50-60k words of story that I convoluted with twists and turns so much I couldnt maintain my character developement. I actually did what The Comedian said:


I'd also try the classic advice of trying to mimic the writers that you enjoy; as you learn to replicate their voices and styles, you'll find your own as you're in the process of garnering your own skills.


But took that to a new level of contacting my favourite Author and picking her brain a bit. This was a number of years ago however and I'd never suggest pestering someone for information. All I did was email her a direct question, now she has an entire forums to answer writing questions now. Strange how things grow.

On the other hand, my fiance did a Degree in Creative Writing - and although he learnt to develop his writing skills, he also found that with classes like this, you tend to also have to write to please your tutor, but if you do this to obviously you can get marked down for that. Its complicated - at least at Degree level. I put up with 3 years of 'I did what they wanted and got marked down for it!' Its quite a way to develope your skills. :)

[MarkBastable]

Do you guys know how I can improve my fiction writing skills. I'm primarily a Academic Writer and as a result my writing style is quite bland and boring (AP English didn't help my fiction writing skills). I wanna learn how to really "write," like writing novels and what not.
Is there any way I can learn this over the summer? is taking creative writing during the school year going to help?

There are a couple of things here, and they are distinct issues.

First - as everyone says - you have to work on the competencies of expressing yourself on paper. That's partly learned and partly developed. A creative writing course might help - it depends how good the teacher is.

Second, as no one seems to have said, you have to understand and practice the structural and mechanical stuff of 'novels and whatnot'. I'd suggest that you decide which whatnot you're interested in - novels? short stories? screenplays? libretti for modern opera? - and concentrate on that. However, very few people who've never attempted fiction can dive straight into writing a novel and make a success of it. It's a daunting piece of work, a novel. I'd start with short stories, if I were you.

Third, none of this is in the least useful unless you have something to say. If you want to write a novel - why? What do you have in your head that you want to get into mine using the vehicle of fiction? What story do you want to tell? What makes you think anyone wants to hear it?

And, lastly - no, there is no way you can learn to do it in a summer. If you could, you'd be extraordinary - and if you were extraordinary, you'd know you were by now.

So the other thing you need is time. Lots of time. And - believe it or not - you have that already. When my first novel was published, I often found myself in pubs with friends and acquaintances who'd say things like, "I'd really like to get around to writing a novel. I just don't have the time."

To which I'd reply, "It's seven-thirty on a Saturday night, and you're in a pub where you're going to have a couple of beers before heading off to the Red Fort for a curry. You'll get home at about midnight, watch the highlights of today's game before catching a few hours sleep ahead of spending Sunday at your sister's, where you'll play Super Mario with your nephew and josh with your Mum and Dad. Sunday night you'll drop in at your girlfriend's for soup, sandwich and sex, before beginning the working week with a morning visit to the gym in preparation for going to the office. The day's work will exhaust you, and you won't want to do anything much other than slump in front of the TV for a few hours with a pizza.

"Me, I didn't see the inside of a pub, or have Sunday lunch with my family for two years. I ignored invitations from my friends, and I neglected my girlfriend constantly. I was often up until two in the morning writing, so morning trips to the gym were a no-no. I didn't watch TV at all, though I did eat a hell of a lot of pizza. I'm only here with you tonight because I decided to give myself a month off before starting the next book.

"See you in two years, bub..."

[hillwalker]

To escape from the bland style of academic writing you need to let your thought processes run riot. Discipline yourself to writing for five or ten minutes every single day without a single second's pause to arrange your thoughts - just scribble down the words that come out of your pen not your head.
Eventually you will find you can trust the gibberish and random ideas that appear on the page as much as you trust your more polished writing. The more you practice the more you will be able to manoeuvre this free expression to your advantage - and eventually your creative writing will emerge as a free-standing force and hopefully become as rewarding as your academic work.
Good luck.

[BienvenuJDC]

I'll share more about this later. But this for now...

I also want to write. One thing to consider...

Don't think about what to write...it can't come from the brain, let it flow from the heart.
Immerse yourself into the setting and write what you can see around you. I have other ideas about how to write, but we cannot become to analytical about writing.

Use the Force, Luke!!

[MarkBastable]

...it can't come from the brain, let it flow from the heart....


Just in the interest of balance, it ought to be said that not all writers agree with this. In fact, the heart/brain, flow/plan, analytical/emotional, slog/muse debate is never-ending. Me, I don't think it's that binary, or even that two-way. But there are many supportable views about how it can - or should - be done.

[BienvenuJDC]

Just in the interest of balance, it ought to be said that not all writers agree with this. In fact, the heart/brain, flow/plan, analytical/emotional, slog/muse debate is never-ending. Me, I don't think it's that binary, or even that two-way. But there are many supportable views about how it can - or should - be done.

I agree totally, but I think that the brain power should be enacted in the pre-planning structure so that the work might have some sort of direction, and then in the editing and second/third draft revisions. However, there are part of the brain/mind that cannot be accessed logically.

[xtianfriborg13]

I'd also try the classic advice of trying to mimic the writers that you enjoy; as you learn to replicate their voices and styles, you'll find your own as you're in the process of garnering your own skills.

I do this a lot! I'm now trying to do my own style in writing because, well, I don't want to be someone who only mimics good writers.