Today we launch this 26-week series on the craft of writing fiction with an introduction and overview to the next six months of discussion.
We’ll start with some very simple concepts that you already know intuitively. I promise it’s not intended to bore you with simplistic definitions, but to set the foundation that we’ll build on a little each week.
Over the years, many people have taught me a lot about writing fiction. One of my greatest joys in life now is to share what others have shared with me, and that I’ve found most helpful in my continuing journey as a writer.
What we will cover in this series
This originated as a ten-part series I’ve used many times in one-on-one coaching, editing, and mentoring of writers. But for this series, I’m breaking some of them into smaller chunks. Some topics we’ll touch on in one article; other topics might take two or three articles. And one topic that is near and dear to my heart, dialogue, we may break down into five or six sessions.
The ten basic topics we’ll hit in the next six months:
(Today) The 30,000-foot view: Art vs. craft; story vs. writing
The Camera Lens: Narrative voice, perspective, and point-of-view
Arc of the Covenant: Plot, organizational structure, and narrative arc
Scene Development
Character Development
Description
Emotion
Dialogue
Show vs Tell: Creating the story in the reader’s mind
Stand Out in the Crowd: Develop your writing style and authorial voice
So let’s dive into the overview with that 30,000-foot view.
What is fiction?
Fiction is an art form like painting, sculpture, music, theater, and film.
It’s also a form of entertainment like plays, movies, or music.
Fiction can be both art and entertainment, or it might be one or the other. Whether it’s art or entertainment is a subjective call. If it’s successful is purely a subjective viewpoint.
Fiction isn’t just a make-believe story. It’s a make-believe story that contains a larger truth about the world and human nature. This is true whether you’re writing deeply philosophical literary fiction or an urban fantasy with shapeshifters and dragons.
Fiction requires the “suspension of disbelief” on the part of the reader. Your readers know they’re reading fiction, that your story isn’t true. It didn’t really happen. These are make-believe characters. But the reader wants to get caught up in the story as if it were real.
Art vs. craft
There are many definitions and multiple layers to the question ‘What is art?’.
My take: Art is the idea and the thematic concept, as well as the esthetic beauty involved in the use of language to create specific images and emotions in the reader’s mind.
Craft is the combination of writing techniques and storytelling techniques that results in words on the page that accurately capture and relay the art to the reader. Craft is the assortment of tools a writer uses to create art.
Without mastering the craft, the art won’t be faithfully relayed to the reader.
Without the artistry, the craft represents only words on a page, at best an interesting story, but not necessarily one that touches the reader at a deeper level.
In successful art (whether writing, music, film, whatever), the emotions and the images in the artist’s mind are crafted into a physical medium that, when experienced by another person (reader, listener, viewer), the images and the emotions are transferred from the artist’s mind to the receiver’s mind.
Craft is the science and the practice, the tools and techniques, for how to take the internal images and emotions from the creative portion of your mind and fashion them into a medium for someone else to experience.
When it works, when those emotions and images are transferred to the reader, it’s art.
Art does not necessarily mean literary, highbrow, or avant garde. Art isn’t snooty and snobbish and difficult for us unwashed masses to understand. A popular novel, beach reading material, and an entertaining true story all require artistic endeavor and use of the right craft techniques.
Story vs. writing
A story is a series of interrelated events that transpire over time in which a character has a goal, faces challenges, and must overcome obstacles to achieve that goal. This creates conflict, how the character eventually achieves the goal (or fails to achieve the goal), and how the character is changed (or fails to be changed) by the process.
A story is more than a series of events. It is a series of connected, causal events.
The best illustration of this I’ve come across (I’d give credit if I knew where this came from):
The king died. Then the queen died.
This is a series of two events. But there’s no connection between the two. One thing happened, then something else happened. Not a story.
The king died. Then the queen died of grief.
In this line, the first thing happened, which directly caused the second thing to happen. Not only is there a connection between the two, there is also a layer of emotion, some depth of characterization. Now we have a story. Or at least the beginning framework of one.
As opposed to ‘story,’ writing is the application of the craft, putting words on the page that capture the story in a way that transmits to the reader the emotions and imagery in the storyteller’s head.
Don’t overexplain your story. Readers want a story, not an explanatory exposition. Readers are smart. They fill in the gaps. As with the queen dying of grief, the mind fills in unspoken details.
That’s when writing with a mastery of the craft turns your story into art.
While we’re talking about story vs. writing and art vs. craft, let’s break down the basic elements of each of these to help solidify the definitions of each.
Elements of art
Here’s how I break down the elements of art. Folks much smarter than I am might do this completely differently, but this works for our discussion. Also, remember that even if you’re writing a cozy mystery or a Hallmark Christmas movie, it’s still art and will contain these elements:
Theme
Layers
Depth
Emotion
Meaning
Beauty (of the story or the writing or both)
Elements of story
Genre (romance, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, literary, young adult, etc.)
Setting (time and place: contemporary rural Mississippi, 1942 London, future in space, fantasy world, etc.)
Plot (what happens)
Characters (who it happens to)
Scenes (specific occurrences and events)
This series of scenes, causally connected, is organized into an arc of rising tension that comes to a satisfactory resolution
Elements of writing
Creating scenes that flow in a logical manner to:
Provide the setting
Populate the setting with characters
Give the character a goal and conflicts
Unfold the plot as the characters act, react, and interact in scenes
Scenes are built from paragraphs
Paragraphs are built from sentences
Sentences are built with words in a coherent and rhythmic structure
Word choices create imagery, mood, and tone
Elements of craft
And finally, the elements of the craft of fiction. These are the elements we will focus on during this series (and how these elements inform the writing, craft the story, and create the art):
Narrative voice
Point-of-view
Perspective
Story structure
Pace and flow
Characters and characterization
Dialogue and narration
Showing and telling
Authorial voice and style
Learn the craft, then apply the craft in your writing as you build a story that creates art in the reader’s imagination.
Summary
This simplistic overview likely touched on many topics you’re already familiar with, but it provides our foundation for everything that follows.
The remaining sessions will focus primarily on the Elements of Craft, the final section detailed above. These are the tips, tools, and techniques a writer needs to master in order to craft their story into artwork.
For an artist, these are the different colors of paint, learning how to mix them to create new colors and shades, the brushes and other tools of different sizes and styles that create different looks, learning all the different brushstroke techniques, and mastering how to layer the paints to create depth and movement on the canvas.
Your canvas is a blank white page. Or blank white screen.
Discussion and things to think about
What is your goal with this series of articles?
Where do you see yourself in your writing journey at this moment? Are you a novice, intermediate, or advanced fiction writer?
Ask questions or comment below. Let’s make it a discussion. Chime in with your opinions and responses to each other (always supportive and professional, of course). I guarantee your responses are as valid as mine or anyone else’s. And the hive mind will always (okay, usually) provide more wisdom and insight than any one person.
Next up
Next week, we’ll start the first of three parts on the writer’s first decision: the camera lens through which to show the story, including narrative voice, point-of-view, and perspective.
I'm a novice on this journey. I do have 4 paid short stories in anthologies, but many more rejected or unfinished. Definitely a pantser, who doesn't yet understand all the writer jargon and needed skills. Beats? Narrative voice? Show vs Tell? Structure? I just write, and outline and re-write again until I am happy with the story. It's a good start, but not enough to be successful in the long run.
My goal is to upgrade my knowledge, and make my writing better. Your sub stack has been very helpful, so here I am, with the hope 26 weeks will help the lessons "stick".
I have never studied about the art and craft of writing. I am an advanced writer of non-fiction, and have had several books published during my academic career. I have been writing fiction for only two years (on Substack) - mostly micro-fiction. I am having the time of my life! I look forward to this series, Robb. Thank you.