Do you dream of being an author? If you think a career writing literary fiction sounds appealing, it’s time to put pen to paper, or in this case, fingers to keyboard.
Regardless of the genre of literary fiction you choose to write, universal guidelines offer you tips to improve your writing. This post unpacks five beneficial methods of enhancing your writing potential.
Tip #1 – Build a Writing Routine
If you want to be a great writer and have a shot at finishing your book, you need a routine. We’re not talking about a morning routine here. While that’s good, too, you need a writing routine to succeed in your quest to be a literary novelist.
Writing every day is the key to unlocking your potential and talent as a writer. Getting behind the keyboard and bashing out words is essential. If you fail to keep the consistency of your writing routine, you’ll get lazy. One day off turns to two or three, and pretty soon, a week goes by, and you haven’t done any work.
Create a workspace where you write every day. Sit down at the PC or laptop and write. Even if it’s only a couple of lines, doing something is better than doing nothing. You don’t have to churn out thousands of words every day; quality is better than quantity. You will have some days where you feel more like writing than others.
Take advantage of those days when inspiration floods your mind. Get into your flow state and capture the magic.
Tip #2 – Don’t Worry About Curating Story Collections
Writers with a published catalog of works might wonder how they all fit together to form a collection with a synonymous theme. Should your stories share a common theme or thread? Can they feature unrelated themes but stand on their merit?
Either strategy works. However, building a story collection has some benefits. The stories have better flow by placing stories strategically using reciprocal moods and settings. Each structure functions as a cohesive, holistic unit, impressing either individually or as a whole to impress and entertain the reader.
Tip #3 – Write about Something that Interests You
What theme or topic interests you? That’s where you start. Subjects have a universal or specific theme, influencing your character development in the novel. By choosing topics from your experience, you get a richer character and plot development for your storyline.
When you start, there’s no requirement to transpose your topic to a particular situation or character. Think about the issues you feel strongly about or find curious. These issues can relate to societal structures or the human experience.
Tip #4 – Understand Proper Character Development
Unlike actors who play a single role, the author plays all character roles in their story. You can think of it as playing chess or checkers against yourself. You imagine the characters and let them interact as you write them out to give you a better understanding of their development as you progress through your work.
This strategy allows you to explore your characters’ depth and personality. Many authors agree characterization is the most challenging part of story development. It’s the defining skill separating a potboiler from a literary novel.
Characters shape the storyline, not vice versa. If you attempt to force your characters into the plot, you’re writing a potboiler, not a literary work. Developed characters build into a more compelling storyline, altering and shaping it to your vision.
Tip #5 – Don’t Give the Reader a Moralistic Lesson
You flesh out how you feel about certain topical issues by overtly showing your personal beliefs and experience to the reader or letting them draw conclusions. It’s a natural process occurring as you write; you can edit it later.
If you have clear emotions, be careful not to write content that falls flat with the audience by implying a moralistic lesson. Think about how you mold your narrative to show nuanced complexities on various issues.
It’s fine to place contradictions in your work without teaching the reader how to navigate their moral compass. Remember this rule: No one appreciates you patronizing them.
Tip #6 – It’s Okay to Get Kooky with Characters
Literary fiction encompasses some strange storylines where writers test outlandish ideas. When writing a literary fiction novel, listen to wacky and whimsical ideas that pop into your mind. If your character develops an unhealthy relationship with underarm deodorant or cheesecake, it’s fine to converse ideas in ways readers might not understand from their experience.
Literary fiction is character-driven, exploring them through life events and revealing the aspects and textures of their unique personality. Stories that go nowhere aren’t permissible in literary fiction. You need events to move the story forward, giving you the circumstances required to unpack characters.
Tip #7 – Deal with Writers Block
Like any other part of our lives, inspiration for writing literary fiction ebbs and flows. Illness, boredom, and low-energy days will affect your writing and routine. We’re not robots. The best authors note there are days when you need to drill the rock rather than blast it with charges.
If you’re not feeling it, take a break and do something to reinspire or recharge your mind. In reality, there’s no such thing as writing a hard scene. Challenging scenes are only in your mind, and your anxiety about writing them kills your creativity, not the challenge itself.
Tip #8 – Read and Revise Your Writing
You’ll feel pretty good about yourself after you finish that first chapter, but the work is not over yet. Go back and re-read your work. You’ll find it surprising how much of a difference it makes to the finished product. Your work’s second and third read points out things you missed in character and story development.
Add, delete, and fine-tune it until it sparkles. Do it when your mind is fresh off finishing the chapter, not at the end of the book. Approach the task with an unbiased mind, and you’ll find you notice your creative errors. It’s a far better approach than revisiting it later at the editor’s request.
