"ACCOMPLISHED FICTION WRITING"
by zentao

In this article, I assume that you own a solid mastery of grammar, including punctuation, spelling, and proper construction of sentence, paragraph, and that you understand composition. I also assume that you have at least a basic understanding of the elements of creative writing.

A master fiction writer can sit down and draft a story without resorting to laborious outlining, plot mapping, character studies, and various other aids and tools employed by less accomplished fiction writers. Instead, words pour out the fingers, creating story on the fly with little to no effort. Implicit in that stream is a manner of writing that automatically stimulates reader question, drives the story forward, and compels the audience to read on.

Achieving that mastery requires mileage -- word mileage, manuscript mileage -- the writer having spent so much time and effort learning the craft and gaining the experience of how-to, then perfecting that expertise with so many more miles of words that writing effective fiction becomes second...even first nature to them.

But what actual mechanics combine to permit this to happen?

Here is a short, if incomplete evaluation:

• all elements of story -- setting, characterization, back-story, as well as details which lend believability and credibility -- are seamlessly woven into the storyline in such a way that the delivery always provokes increased interest and furthers plot and story question, while satisfying previous story question;
• story devices such as symbolism, foreshadowing, point of view, subtle changes in "camera angle," etc., likewise are blended with such expertise that they cannot be easily and quickly picked out and identified;
• phrases, sentences, paragraphing, scenes and chapters flow with such a smooth transition that, were you to remove formatting, you would be hard-pressed to know where to place the separations, yet the manner in which the author has affected those separations lends an implicit ease to a reader's assimilation of the story, thereby making that reading experience effortless;
• Punctuation, syntax, word flow, beat, and phrasing heighten the impact of story without drawing attention to themselves. Yet, when analyzed, it is discovered that these tools of craft have risen from the merely utilitarian to become subtle forces of manipulation.

All these skills invisibly maneuver the reader to exactly where the writer wishes them, moment by moment, controlling and heightening the desired story effect and impact through skill in delivery.

So how does a writer, having mastered the basics of grammar, composition, and creative writing, begin to develop this skill and innate ability to create story with as much ease and aplomb as does a basketball star sink a ball through a hoop?

Practice writing in such a way that:

• you only incorporate what can be there along with what needs to be there, with respect to stimulating interest, promoting story question, furthering plot and story, and satisfying previous story question
  
  EXAMPLE: ...

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  © 2007 zentao

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  Lesson TOC (Table of Contents)…4

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