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I would love to be a fiction writer. I am not good at fiction writing at all. But this is something I always romanticize about. Something about sitting in cafe

I would love to be a fiction writer. I am not good at fiction writing at all. But this is something I always romanticize about. Something about sitting in cafes or home and typing away seems like a perfect day to me. No need to debug, troubleshoot production issues, attend meetings, submit TPS reports, etc. Just you and your writing.

Blakestr 7y ago
I spent four years in college for English literature. You can do that or you can just read the book 'Self-editing for Fiction Writers' and do the same thing in a tenth of the time. The other thing you could do is to join a writers workshop, in person is always good but there's no reason why you couldn't join some remote thing. The caveat is that however big the workshop is you need to read everyone else's work and comment on it as well, which means if you have a workshop with four people you typically will need to read something for 4x for every one of your submissions. The other thing to consider is whether you want to write fiction that is necessarily entertaining or literature that is compelling. Those are two entirely different disciplines. Then simply write a single page every single day no matter what.
- 943_924 7y ago
  What material do you recommend that is on the subject of writing compelling fiction?
  - Blakestr 7y ago
    Generally you need to understand the concept of showing vs. telling which is described in the very first chapter of that book. The other thing you just need to do is read the masters. Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Try to find an example of some compelling fiction for yourself, something that moves you. then try to find some cliff notes or a summary regarding that's story's plot. The information is there, but the emotional reaction, the thing that moves you is missing from the summary. There is a story called "Litost" by Milan Kindera, that in my opinion does a very good job of explaining this without breaking the mood of the story through boring exposition. At its heart the story is simply about a youth in an affair with an older woman and unrequited love. But real compelling fiction is not just the story. It comes from a word without English equivalent. Litost is a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery” Try to find a copy of the story and read it. I looked for a link but couldn't find anything. Try to avoid reading literary criticism initially.
- amerkhalid 7y ago
  Thanks, I just bought the book. Hard part is actually writing everyday though. After day job and social responsibilities, I have barely anytime. Then I recently got real estate license.

Blakestr 7y ago

I spent four years in college for English literature. You can do that or you can just read the book 'Self-editing for Fiction Writers' and do the same thing in a tenth of the time. The other thing you could do is to join a writers workshop, in person is always good but there's no reason why you couldn't join some remote thing. The caveat is that however big the workshop is you need to read everyone else's work and comment on it as well, which means if you have a workshop with four people you typically will need to read something for 4x for every one of your submissions. The other thing to consider is whether you want to write fiction that is necessarily entertaining or literature that is compelling. Those are two entirely different disciplines. Then simply write a single page every single day no matter what.

943_924 7y ago
What material do you recommend that is on the subject of writing compelling fiction?
- Blakestr 7y ago
  Generally you need to understand the concept of showing vs. telling which is described in the very first chapter of that book. The other thing you just need to do is read the masters. Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Try to find an example of some compelling fiction for yourself, something that moves you. then try to find some cliff notes or a summary regarding that's story's plot. The information is there, but the emotional reaction, the thing that moves you is missing from the summary. There is a story called "Litost" by Milan Kindera, that in my opinion does a very good job of explaining this without breaking the mood of the story through boring exposition. At its heart the story is simply about a youth in an affair with an older woman and unrequited love. But real compelling fiction is not just the story. It comes from a word without English equivalent. Litost is a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery” Try to find a copy of the story and read it. I looked for a link but couldn't find anything. Try to avoid reading literary criticism initially.
amerkhalid 7y ago
Thanks, I just bought the book. Hard part is actually writing everyday though. After day job and social responsibilities, I have barely anytime. Then I recently got real estate license.