We're all writers. We write from early childhood on. We receive our training in how to write beginning in elementary school and continue refining our knowledge of it to the end of our formal education. Throughout our lives, each of us writes hundreds and perhaps thousands of essays, memos, diary entries, letters to sweethearts, business documents, and a countless number of other items. Some of us are accomplished at it and in one way or another make our living doing it. It’s probably the one defining ability that separates humans from the apes. So, what are we going to learn here about writing that’s different from what we already know?

Expository Writing: What we are not going to do

Almost everything we know about writing from our formal training and what we do in our daily practice involves a kind of nonfiction writing called expository writing: writing for the purpose of explaining. Principles of expository writing require that we write clearly, precisely and logically in order to accurately describe a person, a thing, or an event. The author of expository writing normally strives for efficiency, using the fewest possible words to convey the message as clearly and effectively as possible. As simple examples, think of cooking recipes, driving directions, and instruction manuals.

There is an objectivity to expository writing, even when it deals with matters of opinion or emotion-laden topics. One of the most familiar forms is newspaper articles in the classic Associated Press format. The first paragraph gives the who, what, when, where and why of the article. You can stop reading at any point past the first paragraph and still have the basics of the whole story. Other common examples are business letters, research reports, biographies and book reviews.

The principles of expository writing are so deeply ingrained in most of us that it comes automatically whenever we sit down to a writing task. And therein lies the problem.

Narrative Writing: What we will do

Elements of Fiction is about fiction writing. Fiction writing is not expository writing. It is a form of writing called narrative. Narrative is story telling. Whereas the aim of most expository writing is to convey information, the aim of narrative fiction is to give the reader an emotional and intellectual experience.

The best fiction writing reveals to the reader a story of characters and their experiences in such a realistic and convincing way that the reader's consciousness is absorbed into the story. Rather than reading about characters, the reader is standing among them, looking at the world from their eyes, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, doing what they do.

In the best fiction writing the reader forgets that she is reading and lives the story as it unfolds, experiencing the thoughts, the emotions and physical awareness as if the reader were really participating in the experiences described in the story, perhaps becoming one of the characters.

The best fiction is like the best of dreams, or the worst of nightmares. We experience it. We don't read a description of a chase, we are being chased or we are chasing. We don't read about how it feels for our heart to pound, our heart is pounding. We don't read about being kissed, we are kissed. We don't read about how it feels to be deceived, we are deceived and we feel deceived. If our friend is injured, we are next to her, holding her in our arms, feeling the warmth of her or the clammy, damp coldness of her, the apple scent of her shiny hair or the sourness of her unwashed hair, or the salty taste of her tears on our lips.

Books are not sold with an accessory kit containing fragrant sprays, sound effects and those electronic gimmicks that stimulate muscle contraction. The entire emotional, intellectual, sensory experience must be triggered in the reader's mind by the use of nothing more than the selection and arrangement by the author of words on the printed page.

Structure and Pace

In the best fiction writing, the scenes and events in a story are not selected at random by the writer. They are not simply a collection of interesting or clever vignettes meant to entertain or mystify, or a thinly veiled version of someone's life story. Every character, every action, every event, every bit of dialogue and description in a story is created exactly by the author and placed with care. The story must unfold, a little at a time, keeping the reader eager to find out what will happen next. This is one of the clearest differences between creative writing and expository writing. Think how different this is from the Associated Press format of putting all the important points in the first paragraph and giving away the ending at the beginning of the story.

In fiction writing the story moves forward from a precise beginning point, taking the main character through and out the other side of a series of events that leave the character with a life change and the reader with a revelation or insight. The most commonly read description for the structure of a story is that it must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. We will examine in detail what that means.

A Story Worth Telling

A requirement that is implied in the preceding description is that the story must be one worth the telling. Excellent writing can make a good story enthralling, and that's the combination we want to achieve. But excellent writing cannot make a trite or inherently boring story worthy of the time and effort of the reader. You may be asking yourself already, "Well, what is a good story?" We will look at a number of properties that can make a story worth the telling, but one rule of thumb you can begin thinking about is that it is something the author and the reader feel strongly about. The creation of a story often begins with a strong memory, an intense emotion, a vivid image, or a nagging feeling.

It may be that most fiction writers are natural storytellers. It is said that some of us from the South would rather tell a story in answer to a question when a short answer would serve us better. There may be a larger truth to that than is at first apparent, deriving from the fact that it is not the message of the story that makes it great, it is the experience of telling it. And for the reader, it is the experience of reading it. If you are not enjoying the telling of your story, then you have reason to be concerned that your readers will not enjoy the reading of it. There are some guidelines to help you, and you will learn to listen to and trust your inner voice to know when a story is worth writing and when you have written a story worth reading.

Are We There Yet?

When you find writing that meets all the characteristics we have described, you have found the kind of illusive butterfly we are trying to produce from this series of workshops. Don't expect to reach perfection at the outset, and don't think the goal is unreachable. You can feel good about your prospects at this point. You wouldn't be in these workshops if you didn't have some of the basic drives and instincts that every author must have. And you can have confidence that we are now headed in the right direction. Are those the lights of Shangri-La ahead? No, not yet, but I believe it's our first stop along the way.

Key Points of This Lesson . . . So Far

• The end goal of these writing workshops is to enable you to write fictional stories of the kind that creates images, emotions and sensations in the reader's mind so realistic that it is as if the reader is actually present in the story as it unfolds.
  
  
• We will use and build on our lifelong writing skills, but good storytelling requires us to write in ways that are contrary to deeply ingrained tendencies growing out of our lifelong practice of expository writing.
  
  
• The first requirement of good fiction writing is that it involves characters and events that your audience would find worth reading about.
  
  
• Writing should be a two-way street, giving a rewarding experience to both reader and writer.

Reading Assignment

1. The front matter and Chapter 1 in Stein on Writing.

2. The Introduction and Chapter 4 in A Writer's Tool Kit.

3. The Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 in Escaping Into the Open.

Writing Activity

After completing the reading assignments, think about a story you would like to develop during this workshop. Write a one or two sentence description of the story. Post your story description to the Discussion List under the topic Beginning Lesson: Assignment 1. Following the description, describe the audience you think you may be writing to. Tell us why you think this is a story worth the telling.

Keep in mind that your reasons for writing and why you think the story is an important one may be purely personal to you, and that's perfectly all right. What is important is that you as the writer have some understanding of why you are writing the story. The understanding will help you in the writing of it.

Discussion

Log onto the Discussion List and look at story summaries by other students for the beginning lesson assignment. Using what you have learned from your readings so far, post your thoughtful comments, focusing on the points raised in the reading assignments and in this lesson.

Requirement: Be civil, be considerate. We are here to help each other to grow and to flower, not to experience pain and wither. Anything worth saying can be said in a way that does not harm sensitive emotions. Considerate, helpful observations and suggestions are welcome. Harshness and demeaning comments will not be tolerated.