Fiction Writing Lessons for Writers Twelve and UP

                                             by Molly Noble Bull  

Techniques of the Selling Writer is a book by Dwight V. Swain and published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Most of the lessons in this series came from information found in Techniques of the Selling Writer. The textbook was probably written for advanced writers. However, I think it would be helpful to anyone interested in learning to write fiction.  

The lessons I am teaching were designed for beginners who want to learn how to write popular fiction. By popular fiction, I mean stories that are plot driven like mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, romance novels, westerns, historical novels and some women’s fiction. However, these lessons won’t be of much help if you plan to write character driven novels where plot is less important.    

Each lesson will contain a homework assignment. In lesson one each student should bring a book of fiction to class that can be written in because we will be making notes in the margins. 

So, let’s begin.  

Molly Noble Bull

www.mollynoblebull.com     

                              Lesson One: Writing Via Dwight V. Swain  

Questions and Answers     

1.   What is a story?               

Dwight V. Swain says a story is never about anything.  Instead, it is someone’s reaction to what happened.  A story is how someone deals with  danger.                                         

2.   What is danger?                     

In fiction, Swain calls danger change.  When any given situation is altered, the results are a different situation.                      

Example: 

At the beginning of Gone With The Wind, Scarlet had Tara, her land.  She thought she also had Ashley.  But her situation changed, giving her the goal of trying to get back both Tara and Ashley.  Events changed her situation, causing her to develop new goals.     

3.   Why do readers read popular fiction?                     

Swain claims that readers read popular fiction because it creates a pleasurable state of tension and escape for them.     

4.   What is reader tension?        

He says that in popular fiction reader tension is the desire to know, immediately, what will happen next to the characters in the story.     

5.   What is a hook?          

Here is Swain’s definition. A hook is a writing device designed to catch, hold, sustain or pull the reader along from sentence one to the end of the story or book.               

6.   Why is a beginning hook important in fiction?              

Readers want to keep on reading books that begin with a reader hook because it keeps them interested.               

      1.      Example (Strong hook based on an event) 

            For several minutes he’d been watching her, standing there on the high bridge.  Suddenly, she just leaned forward and jumped off into the icy water.     

       2.  Example (Hook based on dialogue)                         

           “Why did you lie to me, Sally?” Tom demanded.                

        3.  Example (Weak hook based on setting)  

              To the east, the sun pushed its way from behind the rocky mountain, dusting the dawn with orange paint. A chilling wind, whistling down the valley below, didn’t seem to notice.                                                     

7.   What is a plot?         

A plot is the skeleton of a piece of fiction.  

8.  What is conflict?   

In fiction there are always two opposing sides.  The two sides war against each other. This results in conflict for the characters in that story.  In a short story, those two sides could be something as simple as Tommy’s wishes as opposed to his mother’s rules.  In a novel, conflict could be described as the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other.   

 9.   How is conflict related to fiction goals?  

Each of those opposing sides just mentioned have conflicting goals.  For example, the Jones family own land, and their goal is to keep their land.  The Browns want the land belonging to the Jones family, and their goal is to take the land away from the Jones family.   

10.  What is meant by a story’s major conflict?   

In fiction, there are often many problems and conflicts, but there is only one major conflict.  The major conflict is the one, big problem the two sides are really fighting over. Land was the major conflict between the two families above.  

11.  How should the reader be informed of the fiction goals mentioned above?              

In fiction, the opposing goals of the two sides should be stated clearing in the manuscript by the main character either in the dialogue, thoughts or in the narrative.  

12.  What is the difference between a character’s stated goal and a character’s true goal?  

A stated goal is what a particular character says that he or she wants.  A true goal is what a particular character really wants.  The two goals may not always be the same.           

       Example:  Scarlet’s true goal in Gone With The Wind was to keep her plantation, Tara.  To Scarlet, Tara represented love and security.  However, at first she said she wanted Ashley.                                       

                                        EXTRA LESSON # 1                                

         HOW TO WRITE A CHAPTER BY CHAPTER OUTLINE     

I asked you to bring a novel to class that you can write notes in.  Please read the first part of that novel now or as homework.  The novel you brought is a tool we will use to teach you how to write a chapter by chapter book outline.  There are other uses of the novel as well, but we won’t discuss that now.     

What I would like for you to do after you have read the first chapter is to write a paragraph telling what happened in chapter one of the novel you brought.  Your next assignment will be to read chapter two of your novel and write another paragraph, telling what happened in chapter two.  When you have written a paragraph for every chapter in the novel, you will begin to know what must go into a chapter by chapter outline of a novel.  And you will learn other things about fiction writing as well.   Be sure to include the setting and the names of the main characters in the paragraph you write for chapter one.  Chapters two and on should be shorter and less detailed. 

Below is an example of a paragraph I wrote for chapter one of a book I started reading by Christian author Irene Brand.  Please use the format I used in writing yours.   

                                            A Groom To Come Home To 

                                                      by Irene Brand     

Chapter One:    

Beth Warner and Clark Randolph grew up in the hills of Kentucky, and the Warner and Randolph families have been fussing and fighting back and forth for generations.  The parents of Beth and Clark would have forbidden them from dating back in high school if they had known about their secret romance.  Now Beth, a nurse, has returned to the hills after many years, and she still cares for Clark.  However, she has no idea how he feels about her.  What will she do if she runs into him?   

Chapter Two:   

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My long historical Christian novel, The Winter Pearl, came out in mass market paperback on February 1st and is available now in stores like Wal Mart, Barnes and Noble and Borders.  Around the first of March, The Winter Pearl will be taken from the shelves to make room for newer novels, but it can still be ordered from bookstores, at Amazon, Barnes and Noble online and at my website.  www.mollynoblebull.com   

I write under my own name, Molly Noble Bull. 

Blessings, 

Molly