The 8 Types Of Fiction

Writing Class Notes: 8 Types Of Fiction

I did not know, until I took a writing class, that there were different types of fiction you could write. I always thought there was only one: the novel. I was happy to know this was not the case and that I have different categories to chose from.

Novel - An extended piece of fiction, normally at least 40,000 words long. Most novels have multiple characters, a central plot building up to an important climax near the end, and two or more subplots.

Novella - A mid-length work of fiction, shorter than a novel but longer than a short story - typically between 20,000 and 35,000 words. A novella normally has some complexity in plot and characterization, but has fewer characters than a novel and may lack subplots. Also known as the short novel.

Short Story - A short work of fiction, usually under 20,000 words. It is traditionally based on a single plot, event, character, or set of characters, and typically leads quickly to a climax and resolution.

Short-short Story - A very brief story, usually 1,500 words or less. Most short-shorts are based entirely on a simple plot and end in a surprise, irony, or joke.

Vignette - A brief piece of fiction that vividly depicts or describes a person, place, or event. Vignettes need not (and typically do not) have a climax or much plot. Also called slice of life.

Prose Poem - A very brief piece of fiction, usually under 500 words, that emphasizes imagery, rhythm, and other elements of poetry.

Anti-Story - A Work of fiction that takes the form of an essay or other non-fiction work. Examples: Jorge Luis Borge's "Funes, The Memorious" and Woody Allen's "The Irish Genius."

Novelette - Not a literary form at all, but simply a designation used by some magazines for short stories longer than 7,500 or 10,000 words.

Counteracting Your Shadow Artist

Is your shadow artist still "stalking" you and won't leave you alone? Here are some "recovery" effects from your shadow artist:

1. Don't judge your early artistic efforts
2. Don't judge any artistic effort
3. Don't compare your works against masterworks of other artists
4. Don't compare your works with that of your friend(s)
5. Don't expose yourself to premature criticism
6. Don't show your work to overly critical friends
7. To recover your creative blocks it is necessary to go slowly and gently

All this might take time because we can be our own worst enemy, but it will pass. You will be able to freely write about anything, good or bad, and you will overcome your shadow artist.

Shadow Artist

One of the things my writing teacher talked about was that each of us, at one time or another, has a "shadow artist". A shadow artist causes you to have the following core negative beliefs:

I can't spell
My ideas are not good enough
I might end up alone
I do not deserve success (causing you to have a guilty feeling)
I only have one good piece of work in me and what do I do after this
Fear of success

Therefore, to take care of this shadow artist, it is good practice to write these core negative beliefs in your "morning pages". This gets them out of the way so you can freely express yourself in your writing. I think one of the greatest fears we have is that we are not good enough writers and we hold ourselves back. Our "logic brain" is at work as a blocking device. We need to let our "artist brain" go to work instead. This is our "inventor": it allows us to think in shadings and patterns, make associations, it is free wheeling, it unifies and does not analyze.

Writer's Perspective

What is your writer's perspective? In other words, where are you going to place your "camera"? The vantage point from where your reader is going to watch the action-whose "head" will they be allowed to enter? There are several types of perspectives:

Third Person perspective-follows one specific character; story is told by an observer. Close third person-the "camera" is over the character's shoulder.(up close) Distant third person-is further away. You feel "connected" with this perspective and most books are written in this way.

Second Person perspective-is very rarely used and is not recommended when writing a novel. It uses the word "You", but it is harder for the reader to connect to the story using this perpective because it does not seem natural.

First Person perpective-you use "I" throughout the whole story with this perspective. It is the way you would write in your diary and the reader is the main character (narrator) and puts themselves in the main character's shoes.

As a writer, you have to pick one perspective to write from that you feel your readers will connect most with. The story you write and what type it is has a lot to do in deciding this. I prefer to use the third person perspective because it gives me more freedom to be in different character's heads, not just one.

Reflections Of A Writer - What I Have Learned

The uniqueness of who we are should not be compromised by those who have no understanding of us. There are things you can live with and others that you can’t and should not, no matter the circumstances. We are on this earth, just once, why should we live a miserable existence? I would say that the key to our “happiness” is making wise choices when you are young. Wrong choices might take a while to straighten out, if at all. I have learned that patience is truly a virtue, things will happen when it is time. There is a reason for everything, even though you have a hard time figuring out what the reason is.

When in a relationship, make sure it feels “right”, don’t stay with someone you feel sorry for, think you love them, or think that is the best you are going to get. Love is something you feel, not force yourself to feel. No one can make you happy, only you can. You could have many friends, but have quality more than quantity. Then appreciate and value those friends, the same goes for family. Follow your dreams; make goals for your life. But don’t over do it and set yourself up for failure. Always remember to love yourself, even if no one else does. God loves you too. You are not alone, God is with you at all times.

I finally learned that no matter what mistakes, wrongs you have done, you must learn to forgive yourself and move on. You cannot be your own worst enemy. Life is just too short to dwell on the things you can’t do anything about. Try and I know this is hard to do, to find your inner and spiritual peace. I have wasted too many years on being negative, pessimistic and depressed. There is so much life out there to live. It is all around us. We must reach out and touch it. We are human beings after all, we do not need to stop feeling things and sharing our emotions. No one is prefect, but we are all special and have something to offer ourselves and the world. We are often torn in many directions in our lives: being a parent, spouse, child, employee, and it can be hard to keep a balance in our lives. It is important to find a middle ground, so that you are not doing too much of any one things. You will be running on empty and will soon crash.

Someone once asked me “What do you do for fun?” I could not answer or think of one thing. I had been too consumed with work and was not taking care of my creative, fun side. Do things that you like to do, break from the routines of life. We are all responsible individuals, but no one can take better care of ourselves than us. A friend of mine put it to me this way: Is what you are angry, upset about today, will it really matter tomorrow? If you had a short time to live, is what you are facing today, worth feeling down about? Well, this really put it all in perspective. I also think back to September 11. All those people who left their homes that morning to go to work in the Twin Towers and never made it back home or to their loved ones. I know that when I wake up, I have this day, nothing more. I don’t know about tomorrow, it is not promised to me. Treat today, as if it was your last. Enjoy the day, connect and be present with it. That is not to say to forget about your responsibilities or things you must do, but don’t let this consume you to the point that you are not living in the present day, because you are too worried about the future.

Be kind, compassionate to others. Treat them as you would like to be treated. The world is a small place and what goes around, comes around. Be passionate about things that are important to you, live your dreams, go for your goals, don’t give up. Be a firm believer that you can go as far as you want to. We must feel alive, and our lives must have meaning, if only to ourselves.

When I Write (Writer's Anthem) Song

On one of the blogs I follow, Juiced On Writing, www.juicedonwriting.com, a post was done with this video titled, "When I Write" (Writer's Anthem). I was impressed by the beat of this song, as well as by the lyrics. As a writer, I could relate to what the singer is saying and I have never heard a song done before about writing. The version below has the lyrics and the one right after is just instrumental.

What is a Plot?

Writing Class Notes: Plot

"Plot should come from within the characters, not be thrust upon them." - from Naming the World And Other Exercises for the Creaive Writer, edited by Bret Anthony Johnson. The plot is what happens in the story. It is made up of a series of events that take place. The following elements must be included in a plot:

Introduction: We meet the characters and learn about the setting, as well as what happened before the story begins. Setting - where the story takes place: state, city, county, town. It tells the time of day, day of the week, holiday decorations or preparations, precipitation (snow, rain), vegetation (palm trees), temperature, season, suburbs, animals, city, ranch. The characters are comprised of protagonist and antagonist. Protagonist is a person who does nice deeds and says kind words. Antagonist is the opposite and it is a person who bothers, annoys, or otherwise insights trouble with another individual or group.

Conflict: We learn about the problem or problems the characters must solve.

Events: Twists and turns in the plot that create tension and further conflict.

Turning Point: This event leads to the solution of the conflict.

Resolution: This is how the conflict is solved.

Falling action: The conflicts are settled, and the story is ending.

Conclusion: The story ends.

More Writing Pointers

I found some more writing pointers that my teacher gave us in the writing class I took, Writer's Way. They seem common sense enough, however, it is sometimes hard to be aware of these things when you are writing.

Be clear in your direction as a writer. Stay with details and your original direction. Don't get caught up in self-absorption. This creates a vague, muddy kind of writing. This happens if you get too absorbed in something you are writng and lose sight of the scene or action in your story.

Make the reader awake and present, a live part of your story. If you wander as a writer (in your mind), your reader will too. Stay present in your writing and write so that the reader keeps turning the pages.

Be precise and know what you want to say and say it. Know your goal, this is where you are going in your story. You have to know the ending of your story, as well as research what you are writing about. You can use Goggle to search for information about the time period you are writing about. You can type in a year and it will bring up everything for that year. It is important that you have some accurate details in your story so your readers can relate to it.

First thoughts - be fresh, be open. Do not screen your writing. You get to live an experience twice: when you experience it and then you relive it when you write it. Your mind sees and feels something. Lose the fear of writing down things. Let your writing bring up emotions, lose expectations. The process of writing must be wild and unbridled.

Be yourself - write about many different things to loosen you up, then pick something you really want to write about.

It is all about the details

This is a follow-up post to the one I posted on sensory lists and the importance of using descriptive words to "show" the reader what you are writing about. I would say one of the hardest things for a writer to do is learn how to describe things and know how much detail to use. I find that reading books about the craft helps, but I think reading the authors in the genre you want to write about is very helpful. You can learn the author's style and how they incorporate scene changes, character development, plot, etc.

Don't tell reader, show reader- how angry are you, write about anger: "red as a tomato" would depict the person was fuming.

Show with words-paint a picture. This will awake feelings within the reader and see what you are trying to tell them. Show as much information as possible but don't do it for too long.

Do not use "about" - go into the writing directly. Listen to how people tell stories, a writer justs needs to embellish and/or exaggerate; people want to hear this.

In writing, you can do what you want to do. Figure out ways to build details from a simple paragraph-this gives the reader more detail of what is happening. Back any statement you make with a concrete picture.

Be as specific as you can-if you mention a flower, give the name of the flower (red rose, pink carnation) Get used to naming things, name people,this brings the reader into your story.

Choose something specific to write about, then hone in on the details, but not so much that it gets claustrophobic and you lose the thread of the scene or story. Writing detail is valuable and the writer should not take this for granted.

See the ex ordinariness in your own life. If you see your life as ordinary, this will come out in your writing. Give your full attention to whatever it is you are writing.

Poetry Guide

I love poetry and I enjoy writing poems. Usually, I like to make my poems rhyme. To me they are quick to write and I usually convey a feeling or emotion in my poems. A friend of mine shared this poetry guide which outlines the different types of poems you can write. It is a good writing exercise too.

1. Acrostic-A poem where the first letter of each line spells a word that can be read vertically.

2. I am-A three-stanza poem made up of six lines (total 18 lines). Add a verb to each line.

3. Quatrain-A four-line poem. The ending words of each line create the rhyme scheme.

4. Limerick-A limerick is a humorous nonsense verse consisting of a triplet and couplet, making it a five line poem. Lines one, two, and five are the triplet and rhyme. Lines three and four a rhyming couplet.

5. Free Verse 1-Poetry that is written without rhyme. Needs to be 10 lines. Must include 1 simile and 1 onomatopoeia. SIMILE-a figure of speech in which things are compared using the words "like" or "as". ONOMATOPOEIA-words that sound like the objects are actions they refer to.

6. Cinquain-A type of poetry in which the first line has ONE word (noun), the second line has TWO words describing the first line (adjective), the THIRD line shows action with three words or a phrase (verbs), the FOURTH line has four words that convey feeling, and the FIFTH line has a word that refers to line one (synonym).

7. Haiku-A three lined Japanese poem about nature. The first line has five syllables. The second line has seven syllables. The third line has five syllables.

8. Concrete Poem-Concrete poems combine words and shapes to create powerful auditory and visual image. Concrete poems are basic poems that take some sort of shape. Needs to be 10 lines.

9. Free Verse 2-Needs to be 10 lines. Must include 1 metaphor and 1 alliteration. METAPHOR-a figure of speech in which things are compared by stating that one thing is another. (Does not use like or as). ALLITERATION-repetition of words with the same beginning sounds.

10. Personification-A figure of speech in which objects or animals are given human qualities. Need to be 10 lines with 2 examples of personification.