 
##

##  How To Write Genre Fiction top tips plus Fiction and Scripts

##    
Interested in Movies, Poetry, Graphics, Graphics?

We have many more ebooks, some free.

Visit Top Writing Courses now

http://topwritingcourses.com

We also make Notes Story Board v 2.2 \- a very popular creative writing app.

The various books and the writing app are available as a bundle.

Geoff Davis, Story Software

http://story-software.com

All rights reserved 2010-2016. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from Story Software.  
Edition 1.1: January 2016. Copyright © 2010-2016 Story Software. All rights reserved.

#  Contents

 How To Write Genre Fiction top tips plus Fiction and Scripts 1

[   
Interested in Movies, Poetry, Graphics, Graphics? 1](tmp_e9247ec52f1a5f6b37986c68d3b322e0_T5kpxX.ch.fixed.fc.tidied.stylehacked.xfixed_split_000.html#x0.3._Interested_in_Movies__Poetry__Graphics__Graphics__outline)

Contents 3

How To Write Crime Fiction 5

How To Write Detective Fiction 9

Writing Romance and Love Fiction 11

How To Write Children's Stories 14

How To Write Action Adventure Stories 17

Short Stories 20

 How to Write Fiction, novels, novellas, short stories 22

 How To Write Movie Scripts and Writing for Films, and Plays 27

Writing Poetry: Introduction 30

Dreams, dreaming, interpretation 33

 Essays from personal experience – 5 point style 37

Travel writing 39

 How To Write Westerns and Cowboy, Frontier and Kung Fu, Fiction 42

 How To Write Horror, ghost, vampire, zombie fiction 44

How To Write Historical Fiction 48

How To Write Family Sagas and Epics 50

Copywriting 53

How To Write Mystery Fiction 54

 Teenage horror vampire werewolf and zombie 56

 Paranormal romance – the horror, the horror 57

Gritty realism: 101 dead dogs 58

Also from Story Software: 59

##  How To Write Crime Fiction

by Maria Z/GD.

Mobs, murder, espionage and evidence – there is much more than just those elements to crime fiction. It is the genre that accounts for at least 30% of the consumers' book market in the USA. What makes novels by Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Rankin required reading for fans of this genre?

Crime fiction is a guessing game in which the readers are the players. The core of most crime fiction stories is a heinous crime which is usually murder, several suspects with motives and an investigator who dives right into the mystery and attempts to solve it. Towards the end of the book, from the clues the writer scatters within the plot, readers deduce their own solution.

Writing such a story would require many hours of brainstorming and clever plotting. However, your main concern should be the message you are trying to get across, eg. the consequences of committing a certain crime, the battle against modern evils or the price of vanity. Writing with a definite purpose in mind will help you maintain a clear idea of the story.

Subgenres

• Cozy / cosy

  * Set in the 1900-1930's of middle-class England.

  * Graphic details of murder scenes are either downplayed or described with humour.

  * Popular writers of this subgenre include Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers,

  * 'International cosies' such as the African Ladies Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith, and the Vish Puri Mysteries by Tarquin Hall.

• Hard boiled

  * 'Hard boiled' is most a reference to the detective's nature of going through perilous situations and emerging the victor while solving a case, in comparison to other 'half-boiled' detectives who merely solve cases without facing much risk.

  * Also refers to a boiled/tough use of graphic violence and unsentimental sex.

  * Popular writers of this subgenre are Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Walter Mosley, Nicholas Blincoe, Stella Duffy and more.

• Legal

  * Stories revolve around lawyers, their cases and the suspects, leading to courtroom drama.

  * It is hard to run from clichés with this subgenre. Being equipped with thorough knowledge of the law may not be enough to write a killer legal crime story.

  * Stories are highly-dependent on strong characters.

  * Reading works like The Runaway Jury and Street Lawyer by the king of legal crime fiction, John Grisham, is a good way to observe how characters develop.

• Police Procedural

  * Stories of this subgenre have an inspector or detective who conducts investigations to find the perpetrator.

  * These stories have highly intricate plots supported largely by the connections between the main characters.

  * Popular writers of this subgenre include Stephen Booth and Ian Rankin.

  * Includes TV shows CSI (also Horror genre) and many others.

• Buddy

The story is really about how two people (almost always men, often older guy/younger guy or straight guy/slightly off-kilter or comedy guy) relate in stressful situations.

The buddies are usually cops with some sort of secret shameful past, with the crime background keeping it exciting (and sellable).

Mismatched pairs are the norm, 'about to retire' another cliche, so try and be original. Perhaps two identical twins, separated at birth, who both sign up to become cops...

• Real life crime

Many ex criminals, some still in jail, have written up their exploits as more or less reliable memoirs. Or writers have produced gripping biograhies. Examples here include the many books about the Kray brothers in London's East End; Razor Smith's excellent autobiograhy 'A few kind words and a loaded gun'.

These are made up but the truth is usually more horrible. Many great novels by Irving Welsh are in this general area, such as Trainspotting (and the sequel); Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs.

So fiction can be used to create false histories and made up real life dramas.

• Drug crime

Can be gangs, individuals, this is a hot topic and very popular, especially with TV and film. Often has a double crossing or three, stolen drugs, fake drugs, prostitution, assassins, international elements. Has to be true-to-life – which is easy as so many non-fiction books.

• Space crime

Another commercial genre, many SF novels have a large crime or whodunit angle, particularly cyberpunk, which is usually about computer hacking, brains, corporate crime, drug subcultures etc.

Where to Start

• Create a premise for your story. Try to craft a unique crime scene. Consider the:

  * location of the crime

  * the methods that the criminal uses

  * the people connected to the crime.

  * Read up on basic forensics.

A few commonly-used terms will do the trick. Peppering the story with too much technical jargon will leave your reader disconnected from your story, so don't get too carried away with that copy of Forensics for Dummies. CSI (crime scene investigation) works on TV because of the gory graphics, as it is partly in the horror genre.

  * Develop your protagonist.

Draw inspiration from protagonists of your favourite writers and give them a personal twist. This is surprisingly common – think of female spy/crime action heroines, very popular nowadays, a simple updating of a rather tired male cliche.

Settings

• Pick a suitable location for your primary scene of crime – a jewelery heist in a childcare centre just wouldn't sound right. Unless it was in a very rich area...

• Pick a suitable time setting for your story.

• These two will influence your characters entirely, so plan wisely.

Plot

• Designing the plot with plot boxes is a huge help. Title each box 'Exposition', 'Conflict', 'Climax' and 'Resolution', then write your notes under each respective label. See elsewhere on this view.

• Crime fiction needs many twists and turns to keep it from being a bland, no-brainer case. Add red herrings to mislead the readers (in very much a good way, I assure you) and to make way for the final uncovering of the actual criminal. Red herrings are suspects or leads and clues that turn out to be false; technically a rhetorical device to distract attention.

• Incidentally, the term red herring allegedly refers to the use of the smelly kipper to draw a false trail for hunting hounds; but this seemingly plausible use was in fact invented by the journalist William Cobbett in an article published in 1807.

• If you are struck by the lightning of criminal inspiration while not at your writing desk, make sure you record your ideas before you lose them in the dark recesses of your cerebrum. Use boxes to expand these ideas and fit them into any story frame box you might have already prepared. (We do not recommend that you try out the criminal inspiration to see if it would work!).

Characters

• Introduce intriguing individuals as suspects – give your readers reasons to place their suspicions on the characters.

• Relate the protagonist's past or feelings to the investigation to strengthen the reader's connection to the character.

• When the reader has formed a strong connection to the protagonist, putting the character in jeopardy will affect the reader as well – if something is important to the character, it will be important to the reader too.

##  How To Write Detective Fiction

by Maria Z.

Detective fiction is one of the most popular branches of crime writing. Among the many names that have contributed to this popularity are Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Martin Hewitt.

All these famous investigators are fictional characters carrying the obligation of solving mysterious crimes.

They are amateur detectives, private investigators and consulting detectives who collect clues, wear disguises and deduce solutions through thorough logical reasoning.

Writing detective fiction requires research, extensive plot revising and a lot of patience.

Taking down notes on technique used by prolific detective fiction writers will do you plenty of good.

Try reading Agatha Christie for amateur sleuth stories, Arthur Morrison for the earlier examples of modern style detective fiction and perhaps Ian Rankin for 21st century detective cases.

Planning Your Story

• Do your research.

  * Read up on modern or archaic investigative procedures (this depends on the time setting you've chosen to write in)

  * Study the popular usages of technique in plot development. You can try using these techniques as a template and treat it like a fill-in-the-blanks activity. Alternatively, you could work the reverse way and fit all the plot details you've already prepared into the template.

  * Will the story be a whodunit?

• Picture your main protagonist character. Do you want someone like Miss Marple or a more 'hardboiled' type?

• Try to come up with a story 'hook'. This will draw readers' interest further into your story.

It could be the way in which the murder was conducted, or a past experience of the main antagonist that relates to the case at hand (create a character-situational link).

• Who's telling the story? Settle on a viewpoint based on how you want the characters to appear to the reader. If the story is told through the eyes of a sidekick, the detective will appear to be somewhat of a superior thinking-machine (as perfected in the Sherlock Holmes stories).

If the story is told by the detective himself, the reader will be able to get an inside-look of his thoughts and how he draws his conclusions.

Settings

• Make the place setting one that the main antagonist is highly familiar with.

• Choose a time setting that you are personally comfortable with so that you don't get too steeped in unfamiliar historical or futuristic context.

Plot

• Plot first, character actions second.

  * Try to 'tailor-in' character actions at different points of plot and not the other way round.

• The heart of the plot is the crime scene.

  * It has to be unforgettable and fascinating.

Discoveries that contradict the predictable guesses of the reader can help you achieve this. (eg. 'It was in fact the new pastor who had murdered one of the nuns and not the unscrupulous Atheist leader of the town mob'; think Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose)

• Your story should be made up of several intricate interweaving layers to make it less rigid and more interesting. However, remember to move seamlessly in and out of these different subplots. Side-stories that inject more emotion and drama can be good, but remember that it is a detective story; the main antagonist must keep his or her priorities in check.

• The crime should be solved in a method that is completely natural, ie. logical reasoning. As a result, 'acts of God' and unmotivated confessions are completely scraped off the list of solving methods. Accidents should also never be of assistance to the detective. The antagonist character will need to rely on his or her own skills of deduction.

Characters

• Your main antagonist should be one that readers can relate to. What characteristics and traits can you give this character to make them distinct, memorable and at the same time realistic? Do not have a bogeyman figure, this is more for horror.

• Does your detective need a sidekick? If yes, then make sure that the sidekick character differs greatly from the detective.

• The culprit should be someone who is unexpected, but has played a considerably large role in the story.

• The individual characters should not behave out-of-character at any point just to fit into a particular part of the story.

##  Writing Romance and Love Fiction

By Maria Z.

Thinking of writing a piece of romantic fiction but don't know where to begin? A quick study of romance literature would help you envision the scope of work you will be undertaking. Did you know that romance fiction takes up the largest share of the consumers' book market?

My guess is that since you're interested in writing romance fiction, you must be some sort of an avid reader of the genre. Studying the works of popular writers like Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts and Sandra Brown will help you figure out your own romantic niche.

Not a big fan of romance, but think it's easy enough a genre to write about? Prepare to be proven wrong. Other than weaving the individual characters with each other and the plot, you will have to teeter along the balancing rope of emotion and tension; the latter two of which are keys to creating a truly enjoyable and impressionable fictional romance piece.

Sex

An element that adds some spice to romantic literature is sexual tension. It may not be entirely necessary to follow this up with descriptions of steamy scenes, but if you do choose to include one or one hundred scenes in your story, keep it short and sweet. Look at the way the popular writers do it and from there, create your own style of sensual writing.

Erotic stories

Sex and eroticism does sell (Fifty Shades), but four pages of 'heaving twin orbs' and 'moans of pleasure' would be a bit of an overkill. The whole point of steamy scenes in romantic literature is to keep the fantasy of the ideal couple alive throughout the story.

This sort of intimacy also keeps the secret voyeurs in most women satisfied and seeing as readers of romantic fiction are 90% female, adding this element to your story would be a clever thing to do.

Endings

As for the ending, you should consider the kind of reaction you want from your readers. If you choose to go down the unbeaten path (well, rarely beaten path, to be precise) and end on a bittersweet note (ie. the heroine and hero do not end up together), you could do so and be satisfied with you work.

However, don't expect legions of fans after you've published that one story. Reading romantic literature is like a form of escapism and becomes a means to attain the unattainable in life. Remember that most, if not all, fictional romance readers are looking for that perfect ending to a story.

Settings

Place and time settings will determine the entire context of your story from the characters to the plot. Have a faint outline of a medieval peasant girl-prince romance? A futuristic, Jetsons-inspired happily-ever-after? Go for it. Just keep in mind that the characters should have relevant names, occupations and habits. For instance, a female character by the name of Laquisha with a flair for hair-styling and penchant for ebony men would (usually) appear out of place in a 16th century Welsh-countryside romance novel.

At this point you should also think up the possible subgenres of your story.

History, fantasy, suspense and horror are popular romance subgenres. Timeslip is a possibility if you must mix up your characters and times, and is now fashionable – think of 'The Time Traveller's Wife'.

Characters

Romance fiction is not romance fiction without a heroine and a hero. There are few gay love stories; only buddy crime stories. To be honest, there is little room to avoid clichés here.

Popular pairings include:

  * damsel-in-distress and hero

  * the rich-girl and pauper (Fifty Shades)

  * the fiery double-trouble couple

Throw in an antagonist or two (jealous ex or jilted admirer) and you will set up enough room to progress to the next stage of the plot – conflict.

Relief characters

Also known as side-kicks or foils, or even a Greek chorus, a character that is there to comment on the action or provide a reflection in a lower key (mixed metaphors! That is verbal, visual and musical). Also provide moments of humor and pathos.

Modern romantic comedies, especially onscreen, have gay comedy relief characters. They act as foils for the main straight action. Don't ask me why. Actually it is marketing, a lot of gays and so-called 'metrosexual' males like to watch stories aimed at women. Is it just for the artistic pleasure, or picking up clues for clothes or pick-up lines, wanting to bond deeply with the female psyche... or all of the above.

Conflict

-An old flame of the hero's shows up and shakes up his relationship with the heroine

-The presence of another intriguing male character gets the heroine thinking twice

-The heroine and hero come from rival parties (think Montague vs. Capulet);

these are a few examples of ways to create the kind of friction you can use at the climax of your plot.

Suspense

\- Will he really end up proposing to her, or will he choose to elope with the other woman?

\- Is the secret agent heroine really into the guy, or is she just seeing him as a way to gain information?

The thing about written romance is that there will almost always be a happy ending.

Utilize romantic suspense to provide the twists so you won't have to sacrifice the joyful conclusion that your readers will be looking forward to.

Paranormal Romance – Twilight, Murakami et al. This will be in a future ebook.

##  How To Write Children's Stories

by Maria Z.

Writing for children requires a whole lot of imagination and thinking outside the box. There is much more to children's literature than mere nursery rhymes.

While many children's books out there seem simple to write, the canon of this genre proves that children's and kid's stories are getting much more sophisticated.

Popular children's authors include Dr. Seuss, Enid Blyton, R.L. Stine and Roald Dahl.

While JK Rowling's hugely successful Harry Potter series started off as children's literature, its readership spread to adults and was categorised under a different genre altogether. There are adult versions of some of these books.

Where To Start

• What is inspiring you to write?

Do you have a vivid memory of a colourful childhood that you wish to share with your young readers? Do you want to write a story based on one of your own personal favourite stories? Or perhaps you have a mythical bedtime story that your parents used to tell you?

• Which age group are your target readers in?

There are different levels of reading proficiency in different age groups, so make sure you identify them and prepare your diction and overall content appropriately.

Do you plan to write a didactic-themed (educational) story, or would you rather just write to entertain? Most of the time, books with lengthier chapters are more suitable for children aged 9 and above.

Young adult or YA fiction is for pre-teens and teenagers (13-19 years old), and is often also read by adults too. A more detailed look at YA is coming later in your membership.

• Choose a format

Will it be in verse-form or a short story? Will it have many chapters and will it have illustrations too?

Settings

• Choose a setting that would appeal to children

Why?

Children have to escape their parents in order to have adventures of any sort. Parent's observations and the call to reality ("no you can't be a mermaid, it is dinner time!") have to be ignored completely, as if they never existed.

So alternative worlds are a necessary staple. These can be reached through a wardrobe, from an invisible platform on a railway station, via a magic rabbit hole... try and think of a new one!

Alternative worlds

A popular concept of children's stories is sending the protagonist into a different world, like Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (which became the movie), or Harry Potter, who starts off in a cupboard under the stairs. Wardrobes could also be considered.

These alternate worlds contain extraordinary creatures and characters as well as unusual scenery and strange local habits (like playing croquet with flamingos in Alice in Wonderland).

This is related to world building in Science Fiction, which is a natural reading progression for children as their tastes become more sophisticated.

There is even a Harry Potter for adults series, making this connection explicit.

The Diskworld series from Terry Pratchet straddles the divide.

• Create a unique setting that captivates your readers.

Young readers are very impressionable, so presenting them with a setting they won't forget helps keep your story interesting.

Characters

• Your characters should be within the subgenre you choose.

Sorcerers, elves and fairies belong to the fantasy subgenre; wolf stories, ghouls, mediums and demons belong in the horror subgenre; and so on so forth.

• Anthropomorphism (talking animals) is very popular in children's books.

This is when animals or non-living objects (basically anything non-human) are given humanly characteristics. Famous anthropomorphic characters include any children's wolf stories, Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and Aslan, the lion in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

• Are you writing this with a particular message in mind?

Use the characters thoughts, actions and dialogue to portray themes or moral values.

• Make your characters stand out.

It is common in children's literature for certain characters to have significantly different ways of presenting themselves. Repetition of certain actions or speech is normal and creates character familiarisation for the reader.

Plot

• KISMIF

To quote the Scouts, 'Keep It Simple, Make It Fun'. Most children's stories do not have remarkably complex plots. Stories like Alice In Wonderland seem to have very vague, wandering plots. This is made up for by a series of bizarre and exciting scenes filled with nonsensical occurrences and amusing poems.

• Gauge by the age group of your target audience.

The older you expect your readers to be, the more elaborate your plot can be.

• Multiple endings?

Some children's books offer more than one ending. Books like the Goosebumps 'Choose Your Own Nightmare' series by R.L. Stine even let the reader decide their own fate, with the stories using the reader as the main character. This adds excitement and involvement to the reading experience.

In adult fiction this is known as non-linear narrative.

##  How To Write Action Adventure Stories

by Maria Z/GD.

Adventure and action fiction is one of the earliest literary genres that is still popular today.

This genre finds its roots in Greek and Medieval literature, becoming the basis of other genres like romance and mystery.

Characters in an adventure and action story must face some sort of risk, like imprisonment or mortal danger. Charles Dickens, Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson all wrote famous adventure stories.

Writing adventure and action is a great way to express your imagination and creativity, especially if paired with another genre like fantasy or mystery. It is also a great form of writing exercise and can be a good basis for other subgenres of fiction-writing. Many classic childrens' stories are adventures.

Subgenres

• Robinsonades

This name is derived from the famous novel 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe. It is often characterised as a story of survival.

• Picaresque

This subgenre has its roots in medieval Spanish literature and is often seen as more of a literary technique than a subgenre.

Adventure is a milder form than action, and can be just 'life's adventures' as the protagonist meets people on the way, without necessarily killing them all as in Action.

It tells the stories of an antihero (or antiheroine) who goes through life as a member of the lower social caste. These stories are usually told in a lighter, more humorous tone than other, more serious subgenres of adventure writing. The novel 'The Good Companions' by J.B. Priestly is written in a picaresque style.

Nowadays most middle class people aspire to be in a lower social caste (e.g. working class fashion model, rock star, actor, sports hero, reality TV star etc.) so a picaresque novel can be written about almost anyone (class blur, or democracy). Nick Hornby specializes in Sad Picaresque; Tony Parsons in Family Picaresque.

• War and combat

This is a vast genre of its own, both non-fiction and fiction, in print, TV and films, as well as computer games. Interleaves with many other genres like Spy, Horror, SF, Westerns, Historical... even Romantic. Especially Romantic.

A full examination of this genre will be coming along in your membership soon.

• Character-based – James Bond

Ian Fleming's James Bond series combine a number of genres including action, travel, spy, crime, romance, conspiracy also war (post war spy) and science fiction. Even character development, usually over the course of each book, where Bond has to overcome internal as well as external demons.

That is why they have such a large audience, a long term appeal, and make very good films.

This can be applied to any action story by foregrounding the lead character, rather than making him a cog in the plot.

Settings

• What time period will your story be in?

It could be a wartime story, a futuristic space adventure (a genre know as Space Opera), etc.

• Where will your story be set?

The Arabian desert, the Bermuda Triangle, a string of Polynesian islands and so on so forth. Pick places where you can create some conflict between the protagonist and the environment if you are short on other scenes of jeopardy. Extreme heat in the deserts, attacks by wild jungle beasts, monstrous aliens etc.

Characters

• Introduce a protagonist that is realistic and likeable, as well as realistically likeable.

A dapper, debonair hero who escapes peril through clever strategising can be an admirable character in a story. However, to say that this character is a clichéd one is an understatement. Create a character with flaws and a few interesting traits. This makes the protagonist one that is more human and less fiction.

• How about throwing in a villain or two?

Not all villains are like The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland or Stevenson's Mr. Hyde – malicious without a cause. Give your villain(s) some humane reason for being evil. This will work on several levels of conflict: the reader's perception of the character and the protagonist's perception of the character.

Plot

• Start with a bang

An introduction that takes the reader straight into an action scene will create the buzz of anticipation for the rest of the story.

• "The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sure, the hero can opt to safely run down the fire exit instead of risking being shot at by jumping off the roof of one building to another, but where's the fun in that? This genre is defined by adrenaline-rushes, risks and physical danger.

• What is your main character doing, again?

Don't lose track of the main plot. Sub-plots are like diversions for the readers, but don't let them distract you as a writer.

##  Short Stories

By Ivy Ngeow (Middlesex International short story prize winner 2005).

A short story is a piece of fiction around 1000 to 10,000 words. There is no hard and fast rule. Some are even shorter and some are longer than this range.

In general, if a story is 20,000 to 40,000 words, it would constitute a novella. If it gets down to Twitter lengths, see a psychiatrist. Although there is a book 'Twitterature' from Penguin.

Most writers start with short stories and so gain confidence to try a full length novel. Also it is easier to get published with short fiction, even though the market has reduced in print. Kurt Vonnegut and many others of that generation started out writing short stories to earn a living, as there were many competing magazines after good stories. Nowadays it is mostly online.

This advice can be applied to longer fiction too.

Short story versus anecdote

An anecdote is an amusing account of an event or of characters in a setting. It need not be creative or have artistic flair. It can be a straightforward narrative with a beginning, middle and end, even if it is fiction. It would read like a newspaper or magazine.

A short story is an artistic craft, with a theme, creative use of language, casting of a mood, development of characters. Most of all, it needs to have style.

There are six elements to a short story:

THEME

Short stories need to have a theme to weave the narrative together. A theme is a dramatic focus or overall idea.

Some common themes are for example, power struggle, love, ageing. Themes do not give rise to stories, instead, stories bring about inherent themes. They begin with characters and their conflicts.

From characterisation, themes and plots will naturally emerge, because of the use of simile, hyperbole, symbolism, metaphor, irony and figures of speech.

PLOT

Short stories need to have a beginning, middle and end. The plot is the sequence of events taking the story from beginning to end. A short story is too short to have subplots, so it must only have one main plot.

Beginning: the character or characters are presented with a situation that causes conflict.

Middle: the character or characters struggle to resolve this conflict.

Climax: a turning point in how the characters cope in dealing with the situation.

End: the conflict is resolved.

The end of a story is just as important if not more important than the beginning. At the end, there must be a transformation.

In a crime story, it could be a twist.

In a literary story, it could be a change in the character or characters.

In commercial fiction, the story could have a formulaic ending.

In any story, the ending must provide a sort of surprise to the reader.

In a successful story, this surprise must be so great for the reader that he or she is terribly sad that the story has ended, and wishes it could go on.

CHARACTER

The maximum number of main characters need to be limited to three in an average story. This is so as to intensify the interaction between the characters and depict their conflict within a short space of time. The main character is the protagonist. The others are the antagonists. In order for a story to seem real, the characters must seem real. The best way to write believable characters is to believe them yourself.

Avoid stereotypes and keep characters consistent, complex and fallible.

SETTING

This is the time and place of the story. The setting creates mood and atmosphere which is essential in any story.

CONFLICT

Conflict means problem. There is no plot without conflict. There are two types of conflict:

internal and

external.

Internal conflict is what a character goes through in his/her heart and mind.

The external conflict is imposed on him or her by another character, a place or an event.

##  How to Write Fiction, novels, novellas, short stories

by Maria Z.

The term 'fiction' is used to define a work of imagination in the form of prose, poetry, and various other types of literature, including comics, graphic fiction, and nowadays, virtual characters in virtual worlds .

There are two types of fiction: literary fiction and commercial fiction.

Commercial fiction is written to appeal to a wide audience and thus contains popular elements of modern life.

Literary fiction, on the other hand, is mostly explored by those seeking intellectually challenging storylines and unique concepts. It is characterized by excellent writing, distinctive styles and original plot designs.

The distinction has a big class element, in that to be a member of a certain class you have to get all the signifiers, such as particular cultural objects (types of novels), certain topics of conversation (the 'latest sensation' etc.). This applies both ways. This is all reflected in such things as cover art, fonts, quotations and so on.

As a beginner writer you might want to just write, but your agent will have other ideas.

Both commercial ('low') and literary ('high') fiction branch out into many subgenres like romance, mystery, fantasy and so on.

It is easy to be drawn into the world of fiction writing, what with authors like JK Rowling, Terry Pratchett and Kazuo Ishiguro making aspiring writers out of all of us.

There are also many writers who bridge the gap, such as Graham Greene, PD James, Iain Banks, Patricia Highsmith, Haruki Murakami (who writes paranormal suspense novels, which are labelled surreal by the marketers).

However, producing your own work can be a taxing experience as many obstacles may halt your writing process – writer's block, plot-holes, clichés and problems with character development are some of the common issues.

A lack of time will cause all sorts of subsequent problems, so be aware that regular writing time will be needed, and also that most of what you write will be edited away in future drafts.

So be prepared for the long haul.

Whole novels languish in drawers after taking years to write. This is normal for all writers, aspiring or successful (although once popular, old novels can sometimes be resurrected).

Beginnings and Endings

These are the most difficult parts of a novel. They have to be just right. The bit in the middle can sail along once you have the reader interested.

Often you might have only the Ending when you start; then you write towards it.

Cliff hangers

This is from old action movie serials, which would leave the hero literally hanging off a cliff at the end, to make you come back to find out what happens next.

This can be used in all sorts of situations, even in intellectual novels ('Sebastian glanced out of the window. His ennui had grown enormous. How could he continue living?'... so you read next chapter).

Page turners

This is a style of easy-to-read fiction, using short words and a lot of common phrases, combined with cliff hangers, to give an easy and enjoyable speedy read. Masters at this are Michael Crichton and most action or SF authors, also family dramas.

Also known as 'airport novels' as they can be read even when accompanied by a loud whooshing sound and imminent death.

Here are a few easy steps that you can take to lessen the chances of any problems arising throughout your writing journey.

Settings

• Visualise

Use labeled photos or drawings to help with this. Imagine viewing the setting from different angles, much like through the lens of a video camera.

• Specify

Present details of the setting (eg. Time of day, weather).

• Make it personal

Show the setting through the main character's eyes.

• Use unexpected details to change the mood of the story.

Creating fear or suspense

"Carmen walked down the isolated street; quiet and not a car in sight – just as she always remembered it to be. All of a sudden, she hears the roar of an engine as glaring headlights flash behind her."

Literary fiction next line: "Geraldo, his mind in the clouds as usual, he never could get the hang of slowing down. Just like in his life."

Commercial fiction next line: "Crazed by his drug habit, Jerry stamped on the pedal and aimed straight at Carmen as she jumped off the road. Aarrgh!"

Characters

We have used genres as an easy way for beginners to understand fiction, as it is always marketed that way. Also people will think 'I fancy a good Horror story for this train ride!' or whatever takes their fancy.

Literary fiction is a bit like poetry, it tends to be consumed by its practitioners, or would-be creators.

Genre fiction depends mainly on great characters, otherwise it becomes junk or pulp fiction.

• Seek inspiration

Flip through magazines, read books, watch movies and other sources (this is when the Internet becomes your best friend).

• Build on the character

Give the character a suitable name, unique traits and define its personality.

• Ascertain the following details for each character:

1. Age

2. Interests

3. Special talents

4. Secrets

5. Fears

6. Wishes

7. Likes and dislikes

• Express characters' feelings through dialogue (good time to expand on your repertoire of adjectives) and through their actions (select effective verbs and adverbs).

Try walking in your characters' shoes and then treat them as people you personally know.

Plot

• Pick a story pattern

It can be a quest, a tale of change (changing fortunes – eg. pauper-to-prince stories) or even your own spin of traditional folklore

• Plots – Martin Amis has said that genre fiction is the domain of the plot, but increasingly, literary novels (those marketed as such to a culture-consuming audience) have strong genre elements, especially crime. Also Family Sagas are a staple of literary novels, and that is a genre, although one where a plot can be left out.

• Ways to plan your story:

  * Multiple boxes arranged in a flowchart layout

  * Timelines

  * Storyboards

  * Pictures and images for inspiration or to show the mood of a section

  * Story mountains (a structure graph labelled with different stages of the plot; eg. Exposition, conflict, climax and resolution)

  * These are all easy to make with boxes on a large layout; and the boxes can be easily dragged around to rearrange the story

Story Language Toolkit

• Have you maintained the tenses? (Look out for slipping into past tense while writing in future perfect – this happens to many writers, even the more careful ones).

• Have you maintained the voice in which you've chosen to write the story? Voice is the combination of all aspects into the overall tone of the prose – you can usually tell one writer from another by the voice as much as the content of a story. Very few writers have a new voice for each novel.

As an example, think of Saul Bellow (one voice, many novels) and Joseph Heller (many voices, many novels).

Generally, once a writer has found an agent and publisher they will stick with their popular voice, rather than risking all with a new one.

This is one of the reasons genre fiction (crime, spy, SF) is considered inferior to literary fiction, as the stories are usually the 'latest episode' in the same old style (think of Ian Fleming's James Bond); literature is supposed to have more variety with the voice at least slightly affected by the story (although you know it if you look at say Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie or most Martin Amis).

First person narrative (close up), or third person omniscient – the author's voice (point of view?). This can be used as a plot device – the 'unreliable narrator' – as in the recent hit novel The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

• Have you kept your writing fluid and relevant?

Disconnected ideas will confuse your readers. Use transitional words and phrases to connect separate parts of your story together (eg. 'meanwhile'; 'on the other hand'; 'however'; 'nevertheless'). But don't get carried away, or it will read like childrens' fiction.

• Have you made your story interesting enough?

  * Add colour to your story by using effective verbs and adverbs.

  * Use similes to help your readers visualise your story (eg. 'Everyone knew Mr. Collins was as mad as the march hare.')

  * Use metaphors ("Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations."

  * Use personification to bring scenarios to life (eg. 'the merciless sun shone angrily down upon the desert sand')

  * Avoid cliches; avoid 'purple prose' (like that above!).

Checklist

• Balance out amount of dialogue, description and action. Unless you are tring for an effect like McCarthy's The Road, or experimental fiction.

• Keep a good story-telling pace. Make sure there aren't parts that are rushed through.

• Use settings to create a variety of atmospheres.

• Refer to your main story plan. Keep track of all the changes you make.

• Get someone to help read your completed work. Peer evaluation doesn't just help you filter out spelling and grammatical errors (which can be done by computer), but also helps you to work on your weak points which you may not be aware of yourself.

• Friends are not good critics and you want to avoid being praised by pals, and becoming convinced of your talent, when unpublished.

• Writers' Groups are like this; secretly everyone is envious of talent and so can become a sort of losers group; writers are individuals, so don't expect any support. Adversity is the norm, and will hone your talents.

• Your agent (if you have one) will provide specific story advice, and recommend changes which will make it more sellable to the publishers, who work years in advance and know what is due to be fashionable (public trends are not accidental!).

Always take their advice; unless you want another novel in your drawer.

##  How To Write Movie Scripts and Writing for Films, and Plays

by Maria Z/GD.

How many times have you watched a film and thought to yourself, "I wish the characters would talk less. It's so boring; even I could write a better script."?

Well, you can, but beware – it isn't as easy a task as it may seem. Other than coming up with the foundation of the main three elements (plot, setting, characters), you will need to think up a way to convey your theme or message through the scenes you string together. Even the sequencing of scenes can, in itself, be quite a challenge.

There are only two basic rules of movie and film scripts:

1/ Good will triumph over Evil

2/ True love conquers all

If you forget this, no-one will ever be interested in your script – so you will have to go to the Arts Council to get a grant, find someone who needs to get rid of some tax dollars, or make it on a digital camera and put it on YouTube.

Remember even David Lynch's Eraserhead (a romantic melodrama) has a happy ending – and a great soundtrack too.

Accept that the Director and more likely the Producers will hack your script to pieces and rearrange to make it more commercial. See the film The Player,a satirical film directed by Robert Altman from a novel and screenplay by Michael Tolkin.

Plays and playwriting

Plays at the theatre have a small but fanatical audience. Even Irving Welsh's various dystopias have made the stage. Apply the same rules but remember they all are on the same stage. And might have to change costumes so keep it practical.

Improvisation

This can add an exciting element in rehearsals or even live, usually in comedy theatre.

But don't forget the other basic rule:

If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.

Where To Start

• Read existing scripts.

• Topwritingcourses.com also has a large script writing course.

Read the scripts of movies you like. This not only makes the reading that much more enjoyable, but also lets you learn your way around a script and its intricacies in a way you would not be patient enough to do with a script of a movie you dislike.

• Familiarize yourself with the format.

The format of a movie script is very simple and quite standard anywhere in the world. Just remember these basics:

  * Have your title on the first page in uppercase.

  * Number the scenes and include setting descriptions at the start of every new scene.

  * Have the speaking character's name in uppercase.

  * Add simultaneous actions of each character next to their name in parentheses (GILLIAN (Takes out a gun)).

  * Try to keep one character's dialogue to one page. Ending it in the same page just makes it easier for everyone's reference.

  * Number the pages of the script!

• Know the jargon.

  * Prepare yourself with useful camera jargon (boom, pan, track; 'camera finds', 'hold', 'POV', etc.)

  * Know the terminologies for audio and visual effects (SFX, V.O. – voice-over).

• Define your writing purpose.

If it's to raise awareness of something or to encourage or discourage something, make sure you successfully weave the message into the story.

• Define your genre.

Study scripts of popular movies in the same genre you choose to do (eg.- horror- The Sixth Sense, comedy action – Get Smart, drama – Girl, Interrupted, etc.)

Settings

• What is your story about?

What is the first, most suitable place setting that you imagine when you think of the introduction to this story?

• In what period is the story taking place?

Pick a time-setting and while you're at it, think of how you will use the concept of 'time' as a whole in the story. When do you want to use flashbacks or flash-forward scenes?

Characters

• What is the significance of each character?

• Are they identifiable by their speech (speech impediments, a distinct accent, etc.) or actions (Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction brushed his teeth 46 times every morning), their physical features or their personalities?

• Are they impressive enough in some way for the audience to connect with them on an emotional level?

• Are all their traits consistent throughout the many scenes?

• Make sure the dialogues sound natural and aren't too long-winded. Don't make it sound like they're giving a lecture unless they actually are.

Plot

• Don't get lost in your own plot.

It's easier to get caught up in plot-making in screenplay rather than novel-writing because you tend to visualise it much more and expect it to appear just as clear in words. This might result in a confusing plot and a messy script.

• Does the plot advance at an acceptable speed? Does it retain a sense of logic (at least, logic in relation to the rest of the story – defying logic seems the norm for sci-fi and fantasy films)?

• The elements of plot should be suitable for the genre and the target audience.

##  Writing Poetry: Introduction

[Extract]

This is the start of a series of articles on how to write poetry. It will begin with the basics and work forward through all the different types of poetry, just like any book or course. It assumes only very basic knowledge of poetry: that it is an art form, and that it certain characteristics that make it different from any other form of writing.

In order to profit from reading this, the reader must have a basic understanding of the English language, be willing to try out the various suggestions and be willing to read a lot.

Your vocabulary need not be huge, but you will enlarge it in the process of learning to write poetry. You should have some understanding of grammar, and parts of speech in particular, because the more you understand the rules, the better you become at breaking them and making new ones.

Each lesson will have suggestions for further reading, web links and suggested activities to help you develop your craft. Yes, craft is that part of poetry which allows us to express our feelings in artistic form. Without learning the craft of language use, you will never become a poet. That said, the craft will not be delivered in dry brittle pieces you have to chew and force yourself to swallow, but more as a sauce which enhances the poetic vision you are seeking to develop.

Who this is for:

There are four groups who should read this.

People who want to learn how to write poetry or who already write poetry, but want to improve their writing or at least figure out how they do it are my primary target.

This will also be very interesting and perhaps helpful to teachers who have to teach poetry writing, but are not poets themselves and who have no idea or want to learn more about how to teach it.

The third group who would benefit by this are those who want to write in other genres, like advertising or public relations. Poetry is a very basic skill upon which you can build , and there is a connection with many other kinds of work to writing poetry.

The last group who would be interested are those appreciators of poetry who think they cannot write it or who simply don't want to, but are curious about the process.

The book will progress from the simple to the complex and then back to the simple. This is because many of the different forms we will cover are very difficult to master, but they form an excellent foundation and give the writer much disciplined practice. You need to know the rules before you can break them.

However, it would be counter-productive to throw people in at the deep end before they can even dog paddle, so I will begin with the seemingly simple forms and the development of the poetic vision. Then, finally, after all the various difficult forms are covered we will work with the seemingly simpler modern forms of free and blank verse, and prose poems.

Those reading this in order to learn how to write poetry will produce a body of work during the process. You may wish to find or establish a workshop.

This is the start of our great **The Modern Muse: Poetry and Copywriting writing course** , which has many practical exercises to get you going.

Visit our Top Writing Courses site for more now.

##  Dreams, dreaming, interpretation

Where do ideas come from? Dreams are a big deal for writers.

If you are writing commercial fiction, such as thrillers, you can research what is contemporary and popular in the news and then come up with a plausible and interesting story.

But literary fiction about character needs a more subtle origination. Which is not to say that any fiction is coming from somewhere deep, even the most hard-boiled of stories.

For instance, a popular fiction staple – Spy fiction – what is that all about? Secrets, cheating, lying, fear, punishment, shame, death. That sounds like an anxiety dream.

Dream diary

Many writers keep a dream diary, and have books on dream interpretation, analysis of dreams, books about dream movies, perhaps a dream dictionary or three... and of course some books by Sigmund Freud.

Dream films, books etc listed below: these are often 'dream-like' rather than straight 'dreams'. Many writers go for a state that is 'alternative reality' rather than 'dreams'; and some (like David Lynch) use hidden structures in their films or books, which means unless you can figure out the puzzle, the effect will be confusing.

Common dreams

  * Chase – scary or not. Often with action film elements, taken from TV or movies

  * Dead relatives – can be reassuring and part of healing

  * Wet (erotic) – anyone or anything can be the object

  * In the office – goes on forever with no apparent point

  * Anxiety – eg, Tests or Exams – lack of preparation

  * Falling – either with or without a bit of flying

  * Famous people – Madonna, Beckham etc.

  * Teeth – perhaps due to mild ache or discomfort

  * Death and/or the Void – scary or just weird

Types of Dreams

If you want to write a dream story, or use dream material, perhaps focus on a type of dream, or your story will get confused.

Daydreams – when awake, semi-directed fantasy, used in psychoanalysis. Might be about love, hate, sport, career

Lucid Dreams – when asleep, but can direct or somehow participate in direction. Often happen before waking up

Nightmares – scary dreams

Recurring Dreams – your brain is stuck; can change slightly each time; can be same night or over days

Healing Dreams – seeing others in a different light (no pun intended)

Prophetic Dreams – precognitive or psychic – religious or apocalyptic – too much cheese or junk TV?

False Awakening and Wakeup Dreams – Groundhog Day – can be quite scary or unsettling

Signal Dreams – solve problems, provide answers. The benzene ring structure was seen in a dream by August Kekule – a snake biting its tail

Epic Dreams – even more cheese

Naked Dreams – erotic or not, can be funny

Toilet or public exposure Dreams – shame

Dreams in popular culture

Often what seems like dreamy or dream-inspired work is actually a puzzle. Hidden plots, obscurantism, time slips, memories, etc. These are now a staple of Hollywood and are not really about dreams, more about the computer gaming generation being familiar with complexity and puzzles. Inception even has 'levels'.

Politics:

I have a dream – speech – Martin Luther King.

Music:

Outside the Dream Syndicate – Tony Conrad / Faust

Moloko – Fun for Me – "I dreamt that I was dreaming..."

Tomorrow's Dream – Black Sabbath – "this time I'm gonna have the star part"

Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream – King Crimson

Dream of Mirrors – Iron Maiden

Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin

All I have to do is Dream – The Everly Brothers

California Dreaming – Mamas & Papas

Day Dreaming – Aretha Franklin – from the album: Young, Gifted and Black

I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) – The Electric Prunes – written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz

Dream Baby – Roy Orbison

Dream Lover – Manhattan Transfer

Requiem for a Dream (soundtrack to Aronofsky film) – Clint Mansell / Kronos Quartet

Freddie and the Dreamers – all

Dream Movies – films

Anything by David Lynch – Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead

Wizard of Oz

The Matrix

A Matter of Life and Death (Stairway to Heaven, USA) – Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Requiem for a Dream

Field of Dreams

Waking Life

Vanilla Sky

Most interpretations of Philip K Dick – for example Total Recall – although he does memory/dream/reality which is a bit literary

What Dreams May Come

The Cell

Inception – although this could have been more dreamy and far out and less mechanical

Books

A Midsummer Night's Dream – William Shakespeare

The Interpretation of Dreams – Sigmund Freud

The White Hotel (and others) – DM Thomas

Mikhail Bulgakov- Master and Margarita

Kafka – arguably his scenarios are dreams – The Castle, The Trial, especially The Metamorphosis: "When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous insect", rather than comments on totalitarianism (which is a Western political interpretation)

Burroughs – generally, with the cut-up method, his fantasies, adventures, and so on, there is a large dream element

Many others...

Surrealism

The Surrealists explicitly used dreams as their inspiration as a way of breaking down bourgeois preconceptions. Unlike the Dadaists, who were more nihilistic, surrealism was very popular and has become scorned as 'poster art', especially Salvador Dali, who is the most well-known.

It was primarily a philosophy or movement, and the art works (paintings and writings) were the end result, not the start point. Nowadays, people see a Dali painting and think 'far out!'.

Other famous surrealists include André Breton, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Luis Buñuel (films), Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, Yves Tanguy, Alberto Giacometti.

Writing that is relevant to Surrealism, although not of the movement (which had Breton as 'leader') include Comte de Lautréamont, Arthur Rimbaud, and Raymond Roussel.

Surrealism was a between-the-wars phenomenon, a response to the horror of the First World War, the flowering of Dadaism, and a reaction to the political extremism in Europe at the time, the violent battle between Communists and Fascists.

Automatic writing

Automatic writing (stream of consciousness) was seen as the main route to a higher reality. So this form is always popular with young writers. It is also a useful method to get interesting poems or song lyrics, where profundity gleams from the strange phrases.

Writers included painter / writer René Magritte, Louis Scutenaire, de Chirico (dreamscape novel Hebdomeros), Desnos , Marcel Duchamp, Leiris, Peret, Queneau many others in the general and preceding period.

English writers did not really get into the movement although JG Ballard has a strong surrealistic influence, mainly in his early books; also see Angela Carter. Later unconventional writers like Steve Aylett are more influenced by post-Surrealists like William Burroughs.

Physiology

Sleeping has 4 or 5 stages, the first is the dozing off phase (transitional) the rest repeat 4-7 times a night.

Dreaming happens in the last phase called REM sleep (rapid eye movement). Most dreams are completely forgotten unless you are woken up in the middle of REM sleep. Often the dreams you recall are those that happen in the last phase before waking.

I had a friend who would wake up at 6am, eat rich food, then go back to sleep in order to have amazing dreams before he woke up again. He did a bit of painting of fantasy scenes. What a life eh? Only a student once.

Computer aided dreaming

Symbols in creative thought, which includes dreams, day dreams, rational (logical) thought and group brainstorming. Random generators can be used to make dream-like sequences of symbols (say, phrases or images). See Cow Boils Head in my author section.

##  Essays from personal experience – 5 point style

Writing from personal experience follows most of the rules for other types of essay writing:

1: You must have a thesis statement

Identify your subject. If it is an assigned topic, write it down. Why are you writing this essay? If it is an assignment, the assignment should include the essay type expected. Use this to guide you to your subject. (That your teacher requires it is not enough unless you wish to debate the issue of the requirement.)

Your thesis should be a question you will answer, an issue you wish to examine, a point you want to prove or disprove, or something you wish to illustrate. It should be expressed in one sentence before you begin. That way you can stay on track.

2: You must identify your audience

To whom or for whom are you writing? Generally even school papers should be aimed at a particular audience aside from your teacher. Once you have identified your audience you can adjust your writing style and vocabulary accordingly.

Try to pick an audience that would be interested in your topic, unless you want to try the extremely difficult task of interesting and entertaining an audience that is not generally interested as an exercise in compelling writing.

3: You must organize your material

Have any research materials available. Even when writing an essay based upon personal experience, it is good if you can back up your opinions with facts.

4: You must present a conclusion

This is what knits your essay together, and gives the reader a feeling of closure. Essays with ambiguous endings are seldom successful.

Procedures:

The first step in writing an essay or any other type of document from personal experience is to pick your subject.

This is followed by creating your thesis statement.

The next step is to simply sit down and write until you have nothing more to say on the matter. Don't worry at this stage about spelling or grammar or even organization. Just write.

Next create an outline with the 5 line formula while the preliminary writing "rests". You will usually have a really good idea by this time what your thesis statement should be. Sometimes I use a shortened version as a working title, as in the paper I will include here.

5 point essay style is as follows:

Write one sentence that is introductory. Write three sentences that are points you wish to cover that contribute to the "proof" of your thesis statement. Write one sentence that is a conclusion.

Next take each of these sentences and apply the same formulas above, using the sentence as one of the five: write one introductory statement, three explanatory statements or expansion points, and one conclusion. (You should now have 25 sentences in 5 paragraphs.

Apply the same treatment to each of these sentences until you simply have nothing more to say under that section. Proceed through all the sentences in this way until there is nothing more you can say. Now go back to your first writing, and see if there is anything you forgot.

Once you are done with this, do some research if applicable to your topic, and integrate your results into the work wherever they fit to prove or illustrate a point. Don't forget to cite your sources in the bibliography, or in APA style (see end) within the document.

Finally:

Look to see if you have proven your thesis statement.

Then read the entire paper out loud to find the flaws in your style. Anything that becomes difficult to read aloud should be changed.

Check your spelling and grammar.

Create a final title.

Cite your sources.

Then you have finished.

Part 2 of this course is at our courses site

##  Travel writing

Here we will look at non-fiction travel writing.

Biographical travel writing is in a half-way house between truth and fiction, as the locations have to be true to life, but the adventures can be real or exaggerated (or just plain made up).

Travel writing is big business. The outlets include:

1. the Web with thousands of travel and tourism sites that constantly need an infusion of content, which can be quite specialized such as travelling with small children, spas, golf etc.

2. newspapers for their weekend leisure editions

3. leisure and fashion magazines and magazines devoted to sports or hobbies, as these either promote travel or they have conventions and trade shows in many different places

4. magazines devoted to transportation and Recreational Vehicles, 4x4s, quad bikes, motorbikes and bicycles (mountain bkies)

5. niche magazines aimed at people who travel, AARP (retired people, adventurers or hotel hoppers), business, economics, marketing, arts and political magazines

6. local state or city magazines especially aimed at entertainment

In fact, travel can be connected to most genres of publication. Either the publication promotes travel or travel products or it appeals to travelers. Even things like technical magazines do conference reports, and 'scene' reports from unusual places (eg, Latvian startups)

Types of travel writing

  * Feature articles

  * Short how-to type articles and

  * Small fillers of things to do or see, or how to use certain products in foreign places.

One example might be how to use your cell phone to find the best restaurants or entertainment spots. An article on using your cell phone in different places would be useful in a number of different publications. A feature article could even be made on this subject.

However, the shorter articles are easier to sell, either on line or off. The blurbs and fillers would have to be submitted as a collection, since the publication would use them to fill space productively. What is nice is that you may start with any one of these and then adapt the same researched content to their needs.

Therefore, you can sell the product of your research several, even many, times over.

You do not have to travel to write travel articles. You do have to research. Of course, if you are traveling, then writing is one way to pay for it. You need to know about the place about which you are writing and the culture of the people.

In fact, cultural articles of any length sell very well. If you want to know what to write, you should read local publications weekend newspaper supplements and some of all the publications mentioned above. You can probably get these in your local public library and they may have an email newsletter or an RSS feed to which you can subscribe.

Just as for any other genre, you must know your audience.

Feature travel articles follow the same pattern as other feature articles. You begin with an interesting statement and then prove it. You need to create a catchy title: If you Want an Exciting Vacation, Visit Hong Kong during Typhoon Season.

Then you could detail why Hong Kong is one of the safest places in which to experience a typhoon. While you are doing this, some talk about the culture, local attractions, such as Disneyland and Ocean Park, shopping in Hong Kong and food add great interest and round out the article. Remember to include things like what season is typhoon season, what gear or clothing do you need, camera tips for video or photos, best places to stay, transportation and prices.

Shorter articles are usually targeted toward only one idea.

For example, they might detail an event, trade show or festival. Articles based upon a hobby might detail what will be shown or about competitions. Articles aimed at publications for which travel is an incidental subject should detail the important of some denature of the publication's main focus.

For example, for AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) the article might detail what benefits membership are most useful in any given location, such as specials on attractions or hotels. For a fashion magazine, you might want to write about fashionable luggage, and how to choose both fashion and utility items targeted for the destination and type of transportation.

As you research the place, how to get there, where to stay and what to see, you will have all kinds of little notes that you make about small items or strategies. These can make a collection of fillers suitable for publication as supporting information in a bigger articles, or publishable as a facts or tips list.

The Web does not really need fillers, except in the case of marketing with tips in newsletters or placing the tip next to an interesting affiliate link.

Use plenty of pictures and keep the language simple and direct. For example, many items bought in Asia come with small metallic twist ties that have a number of uses, such as affixing your glasses' ear arm to your lens frame when you lose or break the hinge or screw.

Travel blogging is a forthcoming separate article.

Travel writing can be fun and profitable. Make notes as you travel and take many pictures and videos of all kinds of things. Search your favorite travel writer's market list and see what you can write with what you have gathered. Research to fill in the gaps – places seldom visited – and have fun. People who travel want to learn something useful and fun.

Family travel blogging

This is a sub-niche. Many families travel the world now. Some with small children before school, others with school-age children. It is seen as an adventure and a freedom-loving way to exist. The families often become closer through their experiences. The children gain from seeing different cultures and might even learn a new language or two.

These families are interested in accommodation, schools (usually but not always International schools), eating, shops and markets, customs, good shopping, safety, links for official help and advice. Also links for people contacts in the new places.

##  How To Write Westerns and Cowboy, Frontier and Kung Fu, Fiction

by Maria Z./GD

Are you ready to improve with our writing courses with top tutors, at an amazing price?

Upgrade your membership to Gold

Western fiction features the American West as a fresh new frontier full of new discoveries, adventure and hope. Stories of this genre are written in the American Old West in the nineteenth century (or thereabouts).

Some related works of literature include tales from the Argentinian gauchos and stories from the Australian outback. A few notable names in the Western fiction world are Zane Grey, Owen Wister and Louis L'Amour.

The popularity of this genre was at its peak in the 1960's, following the end of most pulp publishing. This was most probably due to the rise of Western television productions in this era. However, the demand for this genre has fallen to an all-time low since the beginning of the 21st century. Writing classic Western fiction is an uncommon thing to do in this age of pop culture, but it is definitely something you could try your hand at.

Kung fu – shorthand for any martial art or fist-fighting style; for trendy try Aikido; old school try Judo; less pacifist use Jujutsu or Ju-jutsu.

Karate is less popular visually as it has a more blow-based technique rather than mighty acrobatics.

Eastern martial arts styles, often developed to attack or defend against mounted adversaries, have been adapted to the Western or Frontier novel many times, but will always add interest.

As an example see the movie Cowboys and Aliens (2010) which has exciting combat techniques. For low budget kung fu fighting, see the movie Superfly (1972). Of course Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a classic Anglo-Chinese wuxia film (2000).

Subgenres and Additional Elements

• Science fiction Western

The same American West setting, but with the presence of modern technology. Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds depicts a version of this – an ultra-modern time setting found in an old American West setting. Often this is along the lines of an advanced culture choosing old-time fashions – a bit post-modern.

• Steampunk Western

Steampunk is mainly a branch of both fantasy and science fiction and has most probably earned its name from the usage of steam power in appliances as was popular in the 19th century. Most stories of this subgenre are written in an alternative-history manner. (Try reading Mervyn Peake's Titus Alone, a title usually seen as straight fantasy)

• Weird West

This subgenre incorporates elements of horror and the occult with the traditional Western settings. Try reading Johnny Ray Barnes or Joe R. Lansdale's works to see how this subgenre works.

Settings

• Naturally, your first choice would be the American plains, but if you're planning to write a Peake-inspired story, plan out your alternate world in detail.

• Cross-era stories are interesting and fun to write, but make sure you match your content to the right time period.

• Most of the traditional Western literature is set in the latter half of the 19th century.

Characters

• Are there any figures in real history that you would want to write about? "Wild Bill" Hickok, the infamous frontier marshal and gunfighter? Billy the Kid, teenage outlaw? With some research on Western figures you can draw a lot of inspiration for characters.

• Alternatively, you could come up with your own version of existing fictional Western characters like Jim Lassiter and Bern Venters.

Plot

• Map out your storyline.

• Choose your critical moments. Bank robbery? Shoot-out? Stand-off? Jailbreak? Unexpected arrival of giant space ship in town?

• If you plan to work around a few themes, integrate them smoothly into the story's events.

• Read history articles or classic Western novels to help you figure out how to develop your plot. Then twist the expectations to make it interesting.

##  How To Write Horror, ghost, vampire, zombie fiction

by Maria Z.

Horror fiction is one of the popular book genres that evokes feelings of terror and suspense in its readers. This very fear differs from person to person as every reader interprets a piece of horror writing differently.

This is probably because readers have differing phobias and past experiences which relate to the horror in different ways. When they read horror fiction, readers willingly step into an unknown realm, preparing to face what they cannot expect.

Among the most noted horror fiction writers are Stephen King, Mary Shelley and Anne Rice. Each of them has written of different kinds of horror; from vampires, to possessions and Frankenstein.

As with these great writers, you should find your niche in horror writing. Do you do well with ghost stories or psychological thrillers; mysterious massacres or underworld wars? To write stories of this genre, one must perfect these three elements: the plot, extremes and suspense.

Horror subgenres

• Dark fantasy

  * Fantasy stories that contain supernatural elements but not the horror canon (vampires, demons, werewolves, etc.).

Can replace supernatural with pan-dimensional aliens for a cross-over style. Includes most SF alien horror tales, anything involving dimensions or parallel worlds. Which are of course horrible.

• Gothic

  * English Gothic fiction usually chose place settings that would reflect cruelty, decay and suffering (eg. crypts, isolated castles, etc.)

  * American Gothic fiction worked mostly around bizarre psychological conditions; how the human psyche deviates and deteriorates.

• Psychological

  * Psychological conditions or behaviour that is out of the ordinary are the highlights of this subgenre. The warped state of mind in which the antagonist (or sometimes by a tremendous manipulation of plot, the protagonist) is in usually leads to murders and the commission of abnormal, twisted deeds.

• Suspense and thriller-type horror

  * There is usually minimal to zero presence of supernatural elements here. This subgenre keeps readers sensing impending doom from which the 'horror' is drawn.

• Supernatural

o Possibly the most popular subgenre. It houses the demons, poltergeists, vampires, werewolves, zombies and so on so forth.

• Ghost stories

  * This is a huge area and also traditional – vampires etc are quite a recent invention.

• Teenage Horror

  * Popular now with a mass of TV series about teenage vampires, angels, etc. May contain mild peril.

• Torture or sadism

  * This is big film genre, and overlaps Suspense, Crime and Thrillers.

Think of (if you dare): the Saw films, James Bond's recurrent abuse by baddies, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, even CSI which seems to be mainstream horror.

Planning your story

• Which subgenre will your story fall into?

o If psychological, what illusion is your main character under? What mental 'disorder' does he have and what led him to that state?

o If supernatural, choose your place setting (it doesn't have to be entirely out of this world, it could be a completely innocent, ordinary place like modern-day Mumbai or a Swiss boarding school) and pick your monsters. Vampires? Evil spirits? Decide what their evil goals are and define them through the eyes of the protagonists.

• Are there any themes that you want to work around?

o The classic tale of Frankenstein had several themes: human injustice towards others and bliss in ignorance are among the main themes.

o Having a theme helps give you purpose in writing, which will in turn provide you clearer plot ideas.

Plot

• Begin your story with a brief taster of the horrors within the later pages. Using gruesome images or bone-chilling descriptions will do the trick; just remember to keep it short and lure your readers in with as concise and impactful an introduction as possible.

• Work up to the climax after introducing all the main characters of the story. Add in a few close encounters with the evil or danger that lurks within the next few pages to create suspense.

• At the climax, the protagonists meet the antagonists. Something extreme should happen here (an attack, a death, or transformation).

• The parts that follow the climax should reveal more about the evil that is taking place in the story. Eventually, the evil must be destroyed or overcome if there is a hero or heroine. The story could also end in a cliff-hanger that suggests the continuation of the evil (like in 'It' by Stephen King).

This is also used in the literary horror novel 'The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea' by Yukio Mishima builds to a horror climax, but is not revealed, so there is the possibility of a happy ending (although unlikely). Yukio Mishima's Japanese pen name is 'mysterious devil bewitched with death'.

• Unlikely happy endings are a secret weapon; as in the film Bad Lieutenant with Nicolas Cage.

Lots of literary novels us a bit of horror to spice up a dull plot; usually domestic horror, or travel horror (eg, Ian McEwan).

Characters

• Ascertain the following for all your characters:

  * Name

  * Age

  * Location (Where they live)

  * Occupation

  * Significant information (past experiences, family problems, depression, ancestor is a witch/vampire/the undead/an alien etc.)

• Draw a relationship map or web that shows every character link in your story. This will help clear up any confusion (it can take time for you get used to the names you choose for your characters) and thus make it easier to develop the rest of your story.

Historical fiction

Print this page Print this page

Jon Cleary Climate of Courage - War story - real life

Jon Cleary Climate of Courage - War story - real life

Are you ready to improve with our writing courses with top tutors, at an amazing price?

Upgrade your membership to Gold

##  How To Write Historical Fiction

by Maria Z.

Historical fiction stories use events in history, actual or fictional place settings and actual or fictional characters. Popular books of this genre include 'My Name is Red' by Orhan Pamuk, 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott and 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy.

To write historical fiction, you will need to be well-versed with the time period that you wish to base your story in. A vague knowledge of the events that occur in the particular time period is nothing a few quality reference books and the Internet can't help with. Thorough research and an eye for detail will help you prepare yourself for the task.

Subgenres

• Historical whodunnit

This subgenre involves crime-solving and mystery with a setting that has historical significance. Popular examples would include Umberto Eco's 'The Name of The Rose' and the 'Roma Sub Rosa' novels by Steven Saylor.

• Alternative history

As its name suggests, this subgenre is an exploration of 'what if's' and their consequences. This subgenre is usually written with elements of other genres like science fiction and fantasy.

Time-travel is a popular feature in this subgenre, too. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov is an example of writing in this subgenre. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick is another with a (very common) Second World War alternative ending scenario.

• Historical romance – a lot of what now appears as historical fiction was in fact just written a long time ago. So copying an old style is a way of naturally producing 'historical' fiction.

• War – a vast area with an endless supply of real-life stories.

• Historical fantasy or science fiction – includes steam punk, Alt SF.

• Domestic historical – trend in historical writing to focus on home activities with a big historical event going on elsewhere. Activities like cooking, sewing, romantic and labor relations provide an endless and familiar drama. Has a popular side – Upstairs Downstairs, Downton Abbey – and a Feminist academic side. Compartmentalises the violence of history so the reader (or academic) can think about nice easy things.

Settings

• Use an existing location.

If you choose an actual place, make sure you refer to its condition in that time period. E.g. if you use Malaysia as your main location, remember that it had a different name before 1963 (Malaya) and that most buildings in Kuala Lumpur (which was only made the capital city in 1896) were made of wood and thatched roofs before circa 1881.

• Use a fictional location.

Make sure the geographical location of this place makes sense (Villages and sand dunes are not common in Austria). Keep your vision of the place intact by including pictures of it, or add several pictures of places that closely resemble it.

• Keep track of time.

Use a sequence of boxes to keep your chronology of events correct.

Characters

• Writing non-fictional characters?

Do your homework. Know everything about them from their birth-dates to their sexual orientation. Make sure the people you choose are represented fairly and as true-to-life as possible. Avoid skewed perspectives of these characters as this will influence your reader's experience of the story too.

• Writing fictional characters?

You can choose to model these characters after existing figures in history. Make them realistic and relatable to the readers.

Plot

• If your story is based on real historical events, you know how the plot goes (unless you are writing alt history).

Keep in mind not to be biased. Write about the events as they really happened and not as how you think they happened.

• Taking the alternate history route?

Here's your chance to shape the future (or present, depends on how you look at it) of the world. This will make your story a cross-genre piece.

• Don't let a predictable ending make your story bland.

Sub-plots can vary in conclusion (sub-plots – like romantic relationships and family issues).

##  How To Write Family Sagas and Epics

by Maria Z.

Family sagas are a literary genre that follows the lives of one or more families which are inter-related in a certain time frame.

These stories usually depict certain historical events, changes in the society of a particular era or even the changes in current life as a result of fluctuating affluence. Susan Howatch, Frank Herbert and John Jakes are all popular writers of this genre.

Subgenres

Aga Saga

The 'Aga Saga' is a subgenre of family saga. The name 'Aga' is derived from the AGA cooker, a cooking oven popular in UK country houses in the early 1930's, and recently revived with some nonsense about it providing green heating. It is an allusion to British middle-class families and their households in which the AGA cookers were to be found, glowering in the corner.

Historical

The thriller writer Len Deighton wrote Winter: A Novel of a Berlin Family( 1987), a saga that starts in 1900 and goes through several generation of German families up to the end of the Second World War (WW2) in 1945. This is a very violent period in history, with Germany even being very violent in between the two world wars. This is also a historical drama due to the large amount of factual content.

Pulp / airport novel

Sexy family dramas with lots of showdowns, back stabbings and perhaps a bit of crime are very popular. A bit of true grit and overcoming of bad luck or a bad background are essential. Joan Collins is a master of this genre.

Real life drama

Writing a family saga can be a challenging task as it will require extensive research and well-developed characters, but these are highly achievable.

Some modern writers only write this type of fiction as they basically fictionalize their own life. The successful literary writer Hanif Kureishi is a specialist in this and has got into hot water with his family many times for presenting them in not particularly flattering light.

Even Martin Amis has done it recently in the novel The Pregnant Widow, which contains many parallels with his sister's life.

So if you secretly hate your family, put them in a novel.

Planning Your Story

• Why do you want to write a family saga?

Writing with a clear purpose will help you plan your story better.

• Researching your family tree can stimulate your saga creativity, as long as you don't stray into biography – unless that is the path you want. If you go back 110 years, you can include all the major world events: wars, famines, political upheaval, strikes, assassinations, the list is endless.

• Will you base it on your own family members?

Basing the characters on your own family members will speed up the process of creating characters. However, don't forget to add and deduct personality traits as suitable for each character to keep them interesting and relevant to the plot.

• What events coincide with the time setting of your story?

Conduct some research on the historical events that occur in the period you've chosen.

Settings

• Pick a suitable location.

Choose a setting which you are either familiar with, or can adapt to easily so that you have a clear vision of what it should look like. Avoid obscure locations like remote Borneo jungle villages if you aren't sure what's in there. Of course, families travel so anywhere can be included as long as it makes sense. Colonies were major world structures only 50 years ago, and led to huge migrations of people in both directions, Empire to colony. This was a more popular topic back in the 50s and 60s for English literature (George Orwell, Nevil Shute etc), but is now popular in developing countries.

• Choose an appropriate time setting.

If you plan to write about the happenings in a family from the beginning of an era to its end, make sure you have your facts right; e.g. using the World Wars as points of reference – WW1 (1914-1918) and WW2 (1939-1945).

For instance in Winter: A Berlin Family, 1899-1945 by Len Deighton, he writes about a world historical period and events, with a family caught up in all the action and intrigues.

The Cold War is an interesting period but has produced mainly spy thrillers due to the lack of overt 'hot' action. Due for a revival now.

Perhaps that is a way into a new approach to the family saga – choose an unpopular period or an unpopular place.

There is an odd little subgenre that is autobiographies of music fans who like 60s,70s, and 80s popular music – this ranges from the Beatles to Black Sabbath. (That is not much of a range, so there is a bit of scope).

These picaresque tales have the author at school, forming or accidentally joining his first band, humorously failing, a bit of life's ups and down, marriage, divorce, etc., until he realizes all along he was just a middle-aged music collecting nerd (even when in short trousers) and achieves zen-like repose in his vinyl collection. This means he gets his psychic sustenance from Ebay...

From the ridiculous to the sublime, we also have Star Wars, a family saga spread across the cosmos. Darth Vader, the 'dark father', death stars, long time spans. This is an example of mixed genres, SF, War and Family.

Characters

• Arrange your characters according to importance.

If you are writing beyond one generation of a family, this will help you keep track of the main family members in each generation.

• Diversify your characters.

Draw inspiration from movie characters, historical figures and the people around you.

Plot

• Draw a timeline.

It is important that you keep track of the chronology of events in your story. Break the timeline up into smaller ones and group according to chapter. From this, you can list down the characters involved and what their next actions are supposed to be.

• Have a clear idea of what your best ending will be like.

Use this vision to develop your plot. Use a few key themes to work around (family relations, sibling rivalry, inter-family love, etc.).

##  Copywriting

Copywriting is commercial writing, usually for magazines, directories and anything that is just descriptive or advertising or advertorial. The internet requires a huge amount of written material, in the form of web copy, which has a shorter form that traditional print copy.

Most magazine articles are advertorial or edutainment, which means they are copy to surround adverts, often in special themed sections.

Advertising copywriting is a specialised form and has affinity with poetry. This is because the writers are looking for memorable phrases and the words have to flow easily and remain in the memory. See below.

Popular areas for copywriting are:

SEO copywriting – search engine optimization – basically, web site writing using keywords (such as 'iPad' or 'computers' which relate to your website). Online marketing copywriting and SEO services are a good area for regular if dull work.

Business copywriting – writing the blurb in all sorts of manuals, annual reports, company histories, even speeches, although this is a more specialist area.

Web page copywriting – same as magazine writing but using shorter words, sentences, paragraphs, bullet points, lists, even diagrams, for onscreen reading.

Web page readers scan rather than read, so use titles, sub-titles, bullet point lists, one line paragraphs.

Try and answer their need rather than droning on too long.

Web writing can be further subdivided into writing for web pages, tablets and smart phones or mobile devices.

There is also Twitter writing (or twitterature) which is even more truncated.

Advertising copywriter, or ad copywriter – for adverts, has to be short and sweet, catchy, memorable, get the message across, and sometimes even rhyme.

A good example is 'Go to work on an egg', not as generally thought by famous writer Fay Weldon, but actually by Michael Twogood, who later became a Christian pastor.

Copywriting fees – well that is a good question, top copywriters can earn thousands per articles or per advert; but a lot of web copywriting is not so well paid.

But it is a still a writing job!

##  How To Write Mystery Fiction

by Maria Z.

Although mystery fiction is often closely linked to crime fiction, there are many instances where this genre stands on its own.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is an example of a novel which centers on 'mystery' more than 'crime'. It is said to be the first of the mystery genre. Supernatural mystery was also particularly popular in the 1930s and 1940s pulp magazines such as Grand Guignol by Wyatt Bjornson.

A mystery novel does not necessarily need to have a murder or an actual criminal act included in the plot. It could be anything from the sudden disappearance of a person to the presence of a bizarre new family in the neighborhood. What you should keep in mind when writing in this genre is to never lose your plot. A good mystery novel gives away the right clues, at the right time, by the right characters.

A recent arrival is the 'puzzle' film, such as Mulholland Drive by David Lynch or Inception, where the story is complicated and apparently baffling, but can be figured out with a little thought. This is due to the influence of puzzle-solving computer games on narrative.

Planning Your Story

• What is the mystery that needs to be solved? Who does it involve and where do they go to come across the clues?

• 'Acts of God' aren't much fun to use in a mystery novel. A particularly riveting scene where the protagonist trio is being chased by an unidentifiable creature would be cut short in a less interesting way if the creature were to be struck by lightning rather than being impaled with a makeshift spear by one of the protagonists.

• Another good way to keep your readers interested is by avoiding long-winded sentences, much like the one above.

Settings

• Choose locations you are most familiar with.

Work in an office building? Like trekking through the nearby forest? Jog around the neighbourhood park often? Using places you are familiar with will help make your descriptions less vague, as well as help you think up more ways to utilise the location to your fullest advantage.

• Gothic works well. Gothic is a good architectural background for anything from mystery to vampire stories, and can provide excellent (if clichéd) settings for werewolves, aliens, serial killers, stalkers...

• Choose a time setting that is relevant.

A mystery of the fortune-telling computer game would not mash well with a 1940's setting. Unless you were doing time slip fiction.

Characters

• As with any other type of fiction, make sure you have in mind all details of your characters (age, sex, identifying features, personal background, etc.)

• It is okay to base your characters on people you know personally.

This would actually make it much easier for you to create complete, wholesome characters. Unless you choose your unwholesome friends (or enemies) for spooky characters.

• Never lose track of every character's role in the story.

This is especially important if you have many sub-characters. It is common to lose track of the minor characters. If you kill off one of them, make sure they don't mysteriously resurrect later on (you would be surprised how often this happens).

• Sticky ends – it can be mystery why some characters meet nasty and violent ends. That can be the mystery to be worked out (although this is verging on crime and detective fiction)

Plot

• Plot is everything in a mystery novel.

Twists and turns of events are good elements of plot, but make them simple and unpredictable. Don't make more surprises in the story than you – or the reader – can handle!

• Maintaining a sense of reality will make the reader find your story believable, thus making any shocking incidents truly unexpected.

• Puzzling scenes are the essence of mysteries, so keep them slightly vague.

• Read up on popular mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle and secret societies. See how these can help you develop your plot.

• You could create theories of your own, too, but don't let these theories bog down the rest of your plot-making.

##  Teenage horror vampire werewolf and zombie

This is a newish sub-genre of Horror.

Even newer is Paranormal Romance, which is easy to figure out, the morbid and romantic imagination of the young: love bites?

"To be unloved and unhappy – how interesting that was," – Anton Chekhov.

Very popular with teenagers and others of limited experience but great imagination. Perhaps your teacher is a werewolf.

Vampires and similar are a major YA – young adult – genre. Along with Paranormal Romance, which is popular with all ages.

Add this to your Horror story idea:

Adolescent anxiety of identity.

Fear and ignorance of sex and intimacy.

Halloween.

Life's a party – a fancy dress party.

Gothic makeup.

Cheap quality drugs and alcohol on an innocent mind – and the hangover.

Too much internet porn and violence.

Cartoons. From Mickey Mouse to Anime.

Ronald MacDonald – and clowns in general. (Coulrophobia is fear of clowns).

Aliens with cool skin. (I mean cool as in cold).

Lizards.

Classic horror – blood, guts, shape changing, terror – vampires and all the rest of the creepy crew.

Add a few of these elements to a 19th century Gothic horror story, and you could have a hit.

##  Paranormal romance – the horror, the horror

This is a mashup of traditional romance fiction and anything half-dead, aimed at, but not exclusively for, teenagers and preteens, and YA, young adults. Even adults can't get enough of this. You will be skiving off work to read this in the toilet. I kid you not.

This is a lucrative new genre and we will be studying it in more detail.

First read our articles on romance fiction and horror stories.

For a more literary approach, think HP Lovecraft, the Christian SF of CS Lewis, and later William Burroughs. HG Wells, time travel, parallel dimensions, vampires, too much make-up, getting off school. Even George Orwell – 1984 is a love story after all.

##  Gritty realism: 101 dead dogs

Urban dictionary:

"No-one but film and TV critics ever use the term."

Wiktionary:

"(film and literature) Intense, starkly realistic, especially if violent."

Creative uses of additive Gritty Realism:

add to Romance for an East Enders / HBO vibe

add to Science Fiction for Cyberpunk

add to War to get either Rebel or Terror

add to Literary to get Charles Dickens, Ruth Rendell, Dan J Marlowe, Jim Thompson, James Ellroy...

add to Erotic to get AIDS

Granta, the UK book / magazine, did an issue on it a few years back.

The PEN American Center did a seminar on it recently, with topics like:

violence in urban environment

political correctness as violence

magical realism vs. gritty realism

why no politics in Latin American writing

To which we would add:

graffiti

insomnia

alcoholism

vile murder – the viler the better

drug abuse

domestic abuse

building abuse

sexism

racism

low life

pigeons

rats

slum landlords

and of course, dead dogs

Gritty also means sexy. And sort of crunchy. But don't try and get a commission from Kellogg's.

#  Also from Story Software:

### Visit the sites to get the app with the books:

  * ### How to Write Fiction and Narrative

  * ### Scripts for Film and Movies

  * ### The Modern Muse – Poetry and Copywriting, and

  * ### Graphic Novels, Pictorial Narrative and Comics

  * ### More...

Visit Top Writing Courses now for more articles and online courses

### Copyright Geoff Davis, Story Software, 2010 – 2016.

Visit Top Writing Courses for more courses and writing apps now 59

