As an author who writes fiction, I’m always interested in ways to improve my writing and to keep my characters interesting. A long time ago, I read How I Write by Janet Evanovich. It was absolutely one of the best books I’ve ever read about structuring a plot, developing characters, and writing good dialogue. Janet’s advice has helped me to greatly improve the way I write the books in my mystery series and I can see the difference between the first book and the ones that I wrote after applying some of those principles.
I write a mystery series called The Rona Shively Stories. These books are about a female Private Investigator who develops her confidence and finds her purpose in life as she works through cases for her clients and through her own personal challenges. The Rona Shively Stories series is available in our Higher Ground Books & Media Store.
Before you set out to write fiction, get your thoughts organized. Check your facts, uses your own experiences, and stop trying to impress everyone. Write from the heart and use common sense when constructing your plots and the interactions between your characters. If you want people to love your characters and your stories, they have to seem like real human beings with real emotions and real responses to real situations. Even if those situations might seem unreal to some, you still want your characters to react to those unreal situations in a way that resonates with the reader. This draws your reader in and makes them want to find out what happens in the end.
For more information on writing fiction, you can check out these articles:
5 Common Writing Mistakes that Make You Look Like an Amateur by Justin McLachlan @ http://www.justinmclachlan.com/804/common-writing-mistakes/
10 Dialogue Mistakes in Fiction (and how to fix them!) by Eva Langston @ http://evalangston.com/2018/01/06/dialogue-mistakes/
Rebecca Benston is the author of The Rona Shively Stories mystery series as well as a number of inspirational works including Wise Up to Rise Up. She is also the owner of Higher Ground Books & Media (HGBM); an independent publisher located in Springfield, Ohio. HGBM publishes works that are inspirational, motivational, and education. Books available through HGBM include devotionals, memoirs, fiction, children’s books, poetry and assorted non-fiction works. The company has been in business since 2013 and continues to grow.
Benston is interested in changing the world through sharing stories of transformation. HGBM is a Christian-based publisher that accepts most genres with the exception of horror and erotica. The mission of HGBM is to help others tell their stories. Paired with Benston’s ministry, Higher Ground for Life, she hopes to bring the good news to those who desperately need to hear it.