fiction – Page 18 – Ruth Livingstone

Advice for writers – find your story and render a novel.

If, like me, you wrote a novel without any planning – maybe during NaNoWriMo month – and are now wondering whether your new masterpiece is publishable, this article explains why it certainly isn’t.

A Mindset Shift That Can Get You Published is a great article I stumbled upon.

Larry Brooks says:

.. your draft doesn’t stand a chance until the story is solidly, front to back, fully conceived. If you haven’t landed on a theme, a pace, on context and sub-text, if you haven’t discovered what your character arc is, if you don’t know how things are going to end…

And his advice, in a nutshell, is this –

Consider writing as two sequential processes:
1. The search for the story.
2. The rendering of the story.

What excellent advice this is. So, I must treat my NaNoWriMo writing as the search for my story (which it was). Now all I have to do (all!) is render it into a proper novel by rewriting it.

For the rewriting, I will turn to Holly Lisle for help. She shares an excellent article,‘How to Revise a Novel’ on her website.

First of all, I have to finish the damn thing.

Stuck for inspiration?

Just discovered Adam Maxwell’s Writing Prompts Generator.

Writers are such inventive people, aren’t they?

Microfiction Monday #64

Here is this Monday’s Microfiction challenge from Stoney River, where a picture paints a story with 140 characters, or even fewer.

Forget elbow grease. Madam, you are wasting time with hard work. Want a guaranteed way to success? My secret is yours for only $999.99.

Lost in Africa

Lost in Africa! How foolish. What a great story. Then they ran out of petrol.

The picture prompt for the Six Minute story today is a herd of deer, of some sort, in the mist.

The photo is by Siddy Lam on Flickr. It is taken in India, not Africa.

I had just read a short story about Africa, so I had Africa on my mind. The story is just a beginning really. I couldn’t get my brain in gear quickly enough to work out a good ending.

Lost in Africa

Mist and fog everywhere.

It had started off as a beautiful African day. 30 degree heat and so they only wore shorts and t-shirts and packed a few sandwiches. No point taking unnecessary baggage, they told themselves. This is an impromptu safari. Let’s be adventurous.

Then the fog came down. They weren’t expecting this. And the track just sort of faded out. Bumping over grass in the battered 4×4, they could see no familiar landmarks, nothing to lead them back to the road.

They were cheerful and amused at first. Lost in Africa! How foolish. What a great story. Then they ran out of petrol.

Shhh. They wind down the window, hoping to hear the noise of traffic.

There is only silence.

Then the deer arrived, silent and elegant. Not much help though. Deer can’t give directions. Deer can’t call for help.

Their mobile phones are dead. How we take technology for granted; until it stops working.

They eat the last of the sandwiches, saving their water carefully, and huddle together for warmth. It is getting dark. In the distance, they hear the roaring of a lion.

Microfiction Monday #62

Another Microfiction Monday at Stony River and another visual prompt for a new story of 140 characters.

I struggled with keeping to the 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Finally, I got it down to the required length. Here is mine:

The children chose Christmas gifts for grandma. Emily bought chocolates and cake. Not to be outdone, Charlie remembers grandpa likes bacon.