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Exercises to Improve Your Fiction Writing
Easy Reading Is Damn Hard Writing
My thanks to Maya Angelou for that quote, and boy oh boy, did she ever hit the nail on the head.
The first time I read that quote, I had to step back and give it some thought. I considered some of my favorite authors, and I thought about how their writing flowed. It had a beautiful rhythm to it, like a symphony, and once I started reading some of my favorite books, it was darned near impossible to put them down.
That kind of writing is incredibly hard to do.
I have written two novels now, and without a doubt, the second one was much harder to write than the first. Why? Because I knew more about the craft of writing while I was constructing the second; when I wrote the first novel, three years ago, I knew next to nothing.
The results don’t lie. Novel #2 is much easier to read than Novel #1.
Today I thought I would give you some exercises that should help you in fiction writing. Over the years I have had many people ask me for advice. How do you write a compelling scene? How do you write believable dialogues? How do you write characters that are engaging?
It all comes from practice, and that is what these exercises are all about….practice.
So let’s get started, shall we?
Grab Your Camera and Follow Me
Do you have trouble writing settings for individual chapters? Are your descriptions of rooms, buildings, streets, parks and/or coffee shops bland and boring?
Most likely it is not because you are a bland and boring person, nor is it because you are a bland or boring writing. Rather, it is because some people are visual learners, and you just might be one of them.
Set aside a couple of hours, grab your camera, and head downtown. Just start taking pictures. Take pictures of buildings. Take pictures inside of buildings. Shoot random shots down the street, and shoot random shots of people.
When you are done, you will have created a visual library that you can use for your next fictional writing. Remember that the readers see the scene through your eyes and the eyes of your characters, so use those photos to help you describe to the reader what you want them to see.
It’s Time for a Drawing Lesson
Here’s a dandy little exercise you all can do if you need to give your settings some pop.
Sit down and draw a map of where your story will take place. Be specific. Use a large piece of paper, and make the map schematic and as precise as possible.
Include streets and label them. Draw bodies of water and individual buildings. Put in parks or forests, houses or strip malls.
If your whole novel or story takes place in one building, then draw a schematic of the entire building, room by room.
Now close your eyes and imagine what each individual thing on that map sounds like…how does it feel….what is its taste and smell?
Now you are ready to write a scene.
Grab a Tape Recorder
Remember when you are writing dialogue that no two people sound the same. We all have different dialects or speech patterns. Some of us use contractions when we speak; some don’t. Some of us use very formal English; some use gutter English.
In other words, your characters must reflect real life, in order for them to be believable.
Do you have a tape recorder? If so, head on down to your local coffee shop, order a mocha, and grab a table. Set the tape recorder on the table and turn it to record, and then sit back and enjoy your drink. When you finish your mocha you will have some conversations to listen to when you get home, and hopefully the speech patterns in those conversations will help you the next time you write dialogue.
Obviously this can be done anywhere where there are many people coming and going, so if you don’t like coffee, go to the food court at the local shopping mall.
Grab Your Notebook
Let’s continue to tantalize the senses.
If you are a writer you should have a notebook. This is not a suggestion. It is a statement of fact.
Take your notebook and head outside. It is time to do a little exercise for your five senses.
Go for a walk and record, in your notebook, what you smell along the walk. Don’t just write that you smell a rose. Write a description of that smell. Don’t just write that you smell dog poop. Write a description of that disgusting smell.
Move on to the next of your senses. Touch things along your walk. Touch the bark on a tree and write a description. Touch your neighbor’s…..hydrangea, and write that description.
Let’s do a taste test. Get those taste buds activated and taste a few things along your walk.
What do you hear? Don’t say you hear a chainsaw, but rather describe it in detail. Don’t say you hear a dog bark, but instead, describe that bark so that your readers will actually imagine they are hearing it.
Record it all in your notebook, and when you are done you will have some great additions to the next short story or novella that you write.
For Those of You Who Are Not Visual Learners
Lay down on the grass on the next sunny day.
As lovely as that may be, you are actually doing it for a reason.
I am convinced that many people share this trait with me: we get so busy with our lives, that we fail to experience all there is in front of us. We have pressures on us, and we are thinking about what we have to do in the next hour, and we rush here and we rush there, when there is this wondrous thing called life going on around us that we are missing.
While down on the grass, close your eyes. Listen to the sounds of life. Smell the scent of lavender in the air, the honeysuckle, the newly-mowed grass. Feel the blades of grass and the soft whisper of wind through your hair.
Remember back when you were a child, staring up at the clouds, and seeing shapes in them. Imagine floating with that cloud, looking down on life.
It is all there for you to experience from your front lawn, and if you can experience it there, you can share it with your readers through the written word.
Join me on my website for more writing tips
- William Holland | Thoreau of the 21st Century
Tips, discussions, observations, all for writers
You Have Your Marching Orders
You have no excuses. It is summertime, so you can’t blame blizzards for keeping you inside. No matter how busy you are, you certainly can find fifteen minutes to try one of these exercises.
What do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing!
What do you have to gain? Quite possibly a whole new level of talent you never knew existed.
Remember that good writing is not supposed to be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it.
Do you want to be a good writer, or the reader of good writing?
2014 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Comments
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Exactly, Glimmer. I have done the same thing reading some fantasies. I swear, you give better examples of this stuff than I do. :)
I love your example of drawing a map. My daughter read a series of books and each one literally had a map of the setting. What always fascinated me was that she would continually go back to that map so she could see where the characters were at a particular time.
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And we love field trips, don't we, Dianna? LOL Thank you very much, Dee.
I consider this a fun field trip day! Thanks for inspiring the love of writing.
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What a great experience, Deb. Bev would be in heaven if that happened to her. :)
I remember doing those things when I was a kid, but I closed my eyes when I heard those sounds, felt the rays of warm sunshine on my skin, and even opened my eyes to a young doe sniffing my hand. Five years ago, I had just awakened from a scurrying on my body, right down to my feet. I was living in the old homestead, which had lots of breaches to the outside. It was not a deja vu, but a baby squirrel, who enjoyed the heat from my body...
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Glad to hear it, daborn! Best wishes to you.
Very good suggestions. I really like the one with the recorder, I have never thought of that before. I am going to try some of these right away! Voted up. Thanks so much for sharing.
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No excuses, Mary...as Nike says, just do it!
Good to see you my friend. I will read your new one shortly.
bill
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Well, Rasma, dance away my friend, and write something memorable.
Thank you as always.
Awakening our senses awakens the writer within! As always Bill you challenge us to make use of what we have around us. No excuses, just writing!
Voted up, useful, awesome, interesting, and shared.
Voted up and interesting. Inspirational as always. Every time I read your motivational hubs my mind is already dancing with idea. Gotta fly now and passing this on.
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Thank you so much, Vellur!
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Mona, you gotta do it! No better time than now.
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I'm glad to hear that, Alicia. Thank you!
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you are very welcome, vkwok! Thank you!
Great ideas to improve writing fictions! Inspiring and informative.
Thanks Billybuc, I keep saving all your articles on my pinterest file thinking that someday I'm gonna get down to my book and start rewriting it. Well, I just gotta do it!
Thank you for sharing some more useful tips for writers, Bill. Your suggestions are great.
Thanks for sharing more amazing tips, Bill!
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Exactly, Blossom. Many of these articles I write as reminders for me. :) Thank you!
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Carry on, Eric, bleedy or not. LOL Thanks, buddy.
What great advice! Even when we've been writing for a while it's good to come back and think about all these things and make sure that we're writing to the very best of our ability.
Thank you much here Bill, this was very helpful. That disgusting grating tat tat tat sound of fingernails hitting his laptop keys grated on Eric so much he was off to trim them to the quick but he will resume shortly with the necessary bleeding cuticles to silently peck away.
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It is my pleasure, rdsparrowriter. Thank you!
Oh wow billy , this is fantastic. thank you for sharing these tips as I was stuck for a whole month without words/inspiration to write and you gave me so many ideas :) God bless you!!
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Shelley, well done! I can see a great mystery there. Carry on my friend.
Love the idea of going on a walk with your notebook. Truly awesome ideas such as sitting in a coffee shop and recording conversations. Quite a story there too, e.g. Bill had sat all morning recording conversations in the coffee shop while reading and enjoying his mocha. Now at home, listening to the recordings, vague murmurs caught his attention, pressing rewind, he listened again. Yes, someone was discussing their plan to murder, a person called Seela, Xeena, or Celia, he couldn't quite catch it. The next 48 hours were going to be the most traumatic hours of Bill's life - who is this person and could Bill save her life?
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I'm off too, breakfastpop, but in the opposite direction. :) Thanks as always my friend.
I think your ideas are necessary, inspiring and fun. I'm off!!! Voted up, useful, interesting and awesome!
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Thank you so much, Ruby! I'm always glad when you arrive at the party.
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Thank you MG. I appreciate your kind words.
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Brian, you raise an excellent point and I thank you for it. That is a tightrope any writer must walk...when is too much too much? Thanks for mentioning that my friend.
I like the idea of floating on a cloud and looking down at life. Great exercises Bill. Thank you...
Great post Billy, as usual you always have a very relavent message. Thanks
My biggest flaw in my fiction, according to feedback from writing group colleagues, from book editors, and from a variety of readers, is too much detail. As important as it is to practice describing the smell of a rose, the feel of a tree trunk, it is as important to practice the knack of knowing what details to leave in and what details to leave out. The reader actively participates in filling in the details of a setting and gets bored if the writer includes too much. The Philosophy section of the Wikipedia "Ink Wash Painting" article expresses what I am striving to learn to accomplish in my writing. "... the goal ... is not simply to reproduce the appearance of the subject, but to capture its spirit. To paint a flower, there is no need to perfectly match its petals and colors, but it is essential to convey its liveliness and fragrance." Your fiction is good at that; I'm learning, I hope. Up, Useful, Interesting, and shared with follower.
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Thank you Dora, and wish the best to your daughter for me.
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Marie, whatever the reason was for you stopping by, I'm glad you did. I doubt seriously if your imagination atrophied, and I also suspect it might have a bit to do with shyness....but then maybe you are one of those people who never writes a book and is perfectly okay with it. I've read quite a few books that should never have been written. :)
Anyway, thank you for being here on this Memorial Day, and have a wonderful week.
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Jo, I wouldn't roll in wet grass either, but Bev would and has. She is my better half for sure. :)
Thank you dear friend. Have a great week.
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Flourish, I was wondering if anyone would catch that. Thanks for not letting that joke die on the vine. LOL
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W1totalk, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you.
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I agree with you, Sherry. Thank you!
Very relevant. My daughter (a writer) and I had conversation last night about details that create the mood of the story. We will discuss this article. Thank you.
I don't know what possessed me to read this, Bill. I have never written a book (perhaps that's why). I think my imagination may have atrophied a little with age (heaven forbid!).
You haven't given me anything I don't know (I've taken classes at F2K and Universalclass.com--and, of course, had some creative writing experience at college).
I just joined Book Country and am on my second book review (taking my time with it, too).
So, why am I not writing a novel? Am I afraid I actually might have something to say? (Perhaps I need to write a twin hub about my shyness and procrastination, similar to my one about money.)
Anyway, a first novel is a LOT of work. Developing characters, outline chapters, etc. Then, there are those really gifted writers who just just down at their computer keyboard, typewriter, or pen and paper and prolifically pour out the best characterization, dialog, setting descriptions, rhythm, plot with subplots you can imagine. (Whew!)
There has to be a reason to write, a message. Maybe someday I'll find enough of my writer's voice to do a novel.
Thank you for this review of writing exercises, and a blessed Memorial Day!
Billy, music to my ears. I spent part of each day gazing at clouds, caressing hydrangeas and clicking my camera at everything that moves, it's far too wet to roll in the grass but three out of four ain't bad. :) another brilliant write, always inspiring.
Take care, and my best to you.
Touch your neighbor's ... hydrangea. Haha I liked that.
It's been awhile since I've indulged in a Billybuc lesson. This is refreshing and enlightening. Thank you again billy.
I think these exercises can help in non-fiction writing as well. Vivid descriptions are very important in any kind of writing. Voted up.
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Heidi, I can't draw worth a lick, but I can make a rough sketch if I absolutely have to. :) Thanks for the visit....hope your week is successful.
Sounds like some fun things to do for a holiday weekend, regardless of whether you write or not. Although I have to admit the drawing thing might be a bit of a stretch for me, even though I have pretty good spatial and color sense. I didn't get a C in drawing class for nothin'. :) Voted up and sharing!
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My pleasure, Inky, and thanks for the following.
Thank you for the awesome tips! :)
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Marlene, I was going to suggest recording conversations in a tavern, but that might be a bit too saucy. LOL Thanks for being here my friend.
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Thank you for your kind words, Shyron. Giving back is what it is all about for me. :)
bill
Truly helpful exercises. I like the one about the tape recorder. I can imagine capturing some of those raw conversations could provide some really saucy inserts into the story.
Bill, I find this very helpful. You are an amazing writer, you write encouragement for other writers.
Voted up, UABI, and shared.
Blessings
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My pleasure, Mike...thank you again.
Do not get me wrong :-) Writing is my passion I am just too hard on myself sometimes when I want to explain in english the main point in my articles. Thank you so much. People as you inspire me :-)
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HappyMike, I cannot imagine trying to write in English if it is not my major language. Well done my friend. With that kind of perseverance, you will do well in the long run.
What an amazing article. I love writing but still luck of describing things properly. Maybe it is also as my english is low and I tend to replace difficult words with simple one. Your creative article really interests me and makes me feel I should give it a go. Thank you for inspiration :-)
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Thank you Dr. Bill, and I think you speak for a great many writers. Obviously the tips work; remembering them is a whole new ball of wax.
Thanks my friend.
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Very wise, Sheila. It is an invaluable tool for anyone writing a novel or a series of novels. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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I'm glad to hear it, Nell. Happy to have given you something new that might help you. Thank you!
More great tips. They each work, very well. The real challenge, for me, is to exercise the discipline to continue to remember to use these techniques, all the time, throughout the writing, and to pick up the lack thereof, in the rewriting and editing. When it works, it really works. When you forget, it shows - as you point out, so well! Thanks, again, for sharing! ;-)
Great tips! I've actually drawn maps of locations. One is for the area around Jake's cabin. I don't use that setting often, but I have the map so when I do drop it into a plot I always give the same directions and know where I have everything located.
Thats a great idea with the photos and the maps! I do tend to sit, close my eyes and listen to the sounds around me, then try to jot them down in my notebook, but yes definitely going to do the photos, what a great idea!
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Please do, Ann. :)
I'm glad you think I'm wise - I think you're the only one!! I'll have to quote you on that! :)
Ann
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Lizzy, that may be the most serious comment I have ever seen from you....and it makes sense! :) Thank you and no apology necessary.
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Ann, I always knew you were wise, but your comment is proof positive. :) Yes, take pictures of the mundane. Writing imitates life, and we all see mundane....so use that in your writing, but describe it so the reader can visualize it. Great comment my wise friend. :)
bill
Each example has a common theme: be mindful! You're not just looking at a building, but glass and bricks and color; you're not merely listening to voices, but thoughts and accents shaped by years of living. I would add that keeping an artist's journal--one in which you draw and write--would help open your writer's eye. I can't think of anything goofy to say. Sorry 'bout that ;-)
I've found that I'm more and more aware of details in my surroundings & I therefore take more and more photos wherever I go. Even things which seem mundane take on a new significance. It's true, we need to see, feel, smell, absorb all the information around us.
I'm definitely a visual person so my photos are my passport to all sorts of stories and situations.
Straightforward, sound advice here, bill, delivered with your usual pinch of humour! Let's hope lots of hubbers (and others) take note! Hope you have a great evening. Ann
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Very true, Sha, Whatever works for the individual....thanks for the visit on this Memorial Day, 2014. :)
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You are very welcome, Anna. I'm glad you found something here that might help.
bill
I love the idea of taking a notebook for a walk and describing everything you see, hear, smell, feel and taste. Talking into a tape recorder would work too. That way you can record your descriptions without missing a step.
Great tips, Bill!
I am always armed with a notebook and a camera, and you are so right it helps a lot.
I have never drew a map of my fictional towns. I like that idea and I will have to try it some time. It is in my head but it would be good to have it on paper as well. Thank you. :)
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As always, thank you Janine! Have a great day with your family.
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I appreciate that, DDE. Thank you!
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Glad you liked them, Nikki. Thank you!
Seriously, awesome tups and a few I have tried. But definitely pinned to look back on now. Wishing you a wonderful, Memorial Day now Bill!
Amazing how you always come up with such helpful suggestions. You show true talent through all your hubs.
Thanks. Really good tips.
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