The Craft of Fiction

Fiction is made up of many elements, each element as important as the last. The plot structure is one such need to be fulfilled in the story. Short story writing is something I want to try my hand in again because I have ideas that need to go somewhere. My novella, “A Return To Honor,” took 23 long years to write since 1996 when I structured the outline and put it away since I was perpetually stuck. I sent it to Tor.com where I’m 160 in the queue, having no idea if they will see it or not. I do not want to send simultaneous submissions here.

In school, we were taught to show and not tell. Telling a story is kind of like saying, okay, first this happened, and then that happened. This reminds me I should just plain take more writing classes or maybe just read more books for a while. The writer has to pretty much have descriptions as well as sensory details because writing for TV is very different than writing fiction. Writing for TV is more telling than showing, but you have to make sure you get visual details.

I employ the present tense in my short stories. Like this one story I’m typing word-for-word called “The Perfect Copy,” which has plans to be a series. My file folder to keep my paper copies in just fell apart. I need to get a new folder, period, because it is done. I’m being lazy about this, however, what with being low income and all. I don’t necessarily use subtext in fiction although subtext can be used with television writing. Figurative language has its place, but sometimes “just the facts” of the piece can apply.

Symbolism is not something that is super important in fiction but when I read The Hunger Games, the book also talked about the pearl that Peta gave Katniss as a symbol of his future interest. In my own book Opening New Dimensions, I personified the motorcycle at the end but you will just have to buy it on Amazon to see what that’s about. I may eventually try to get the book better edited, as well as published through a conventional publisher but now you can read the whole thing if you want to because it is somewhere in cyberspace waiting for its audience to buy it.

My story, “Ice Cold,” which I’m lazy about typing and publishing as well, is a generic science fiction piece that will probably not get published because it is boring even as I use a Hispanic protagonist. I have other ideas in my head and in my files that I need to get out. I also have to come up with a better file system because mine sucks. It is way too messy still. I have no shortage of file labels at home.

The stream of consciousness technique can work somewhat because I have used it before when I did an assignment in my intro to creative writing. This assignment involved mixing two pieces together to see what happens. It is this technique I’m using in writing copy and I can see this now. My novella has a twist ending, however, and I’m hoping Tor.com notices this. It makes people eager for the sequel. I need to write more short stories this year. But anyway, yes, I learned of many techniques in school, including ones for poetry. I can’t remember or still have my old assignments. I do have other stuff I can publish, though. I have a long story I wrote for a final that I need to type up word for word, only I deliberately lost it and wound up having to look for it again.

Works Cited

Every Writing Class I Took at San Francisco State University from 2004-2007.

https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-craft-of-fictiontechniques-of-short-story-writing/