Joseph Campbell was a writer who identified a structure common to many myths that he named the hero’s journey. You can use Joseph Campbell’s mythology to structure your own fiction regardless of the genre or type of story you want to tell.
Category: Modern-day novel writing
Finding fresh novel ideas is a daunting process, even when you know exactly the kind of story you want to tell. But sometimes you dont know what you want to write. That’s when an exercise for coming up with novel ideas is useful.
Studying for an MFA in fiction writing can be expensive. Even though not everyone can afford to study creative writing at university, you can create your own budget MFA in creative writing.
While many of us still love the idea of a cabin in the woods, next to a lake, with nothing but a notebook and fountain pen to dip into while inspiration flows, modern-day novel writing is much more about fitting writing into real life, and knowing the ins and outs of the writing process.
Planning ahead and allowing for inspiration are both important aspects of writing and finishing a novel, but it can seem difficult to balance them especially since there is a lot of conflicting advice from novelists and writing teachers. However, the tips below can help achieve that balance.
Mood has a great deal to do with the success of a piece of fiction because it is related to how the story makes the reader feel. A writer aiming for a melancholy or surreal mood in fiction could study the novels of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami for tips on how to achieve those moods.
There are nearly as many ways to approach writing a novel as there are writers, but many swear by an approach known as the snowflake method. Developed by writer Randy Ingermanson, the snowflake method can be particularly helpful to writers who prefer to plan extensively before setting out to write a novel.
‘Chekhov’s Gun’ is a concept that describes how every element of a story should contribute to the whole. It comes from Anton Chekhov’s famous book writing advice: ‘If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.’
It’s an often given writer’s tip, but few tips for writers cause as much confusion as the caution to avoid passive voice. Understanding what passive voice is and why it should be avoided can clear up this confusion.