Do you have brilliant story ideas that evaporate the moment your fingers touch the keyboard? Or perhaps characters who throw tantrums in your head but refuse to behave on paper? Welcome to the gloriously maddening world of creative fiction writing, where we all occasionally wonder if our imaginations are trolling us.
The Blank Page: Your New Frenemy
Let's address the elephant in the room—that terrifying white expanse that stares back at you with judgment. The blank page isn't actually your enemy; it's more like that brutally honest friend who makes you face uncomfortable truths.
Quick Tip: Start by typing "This is terrible, and that's perfectly okay." Congratulations! The page is no longer blank, and you've already accepted the universal truth of first drafts.
Characters: The People Who Live Rent-Free in Your Head
Your characters should be flawed, complex individuals—you know, like actual humans. If your protagonist can bench press a truck while solving differential equations and never forgetting anniversaries, you haven't created a character; you've created a superhero with none of the fun costumes.
Quick Tip: Give your protagonist a flaw that actively interferes with their goal. Not a cute quirk like "sometimes they care too much," but something that genuinely makes life harder. Perfectionism that paralyzes decision-making. Trust issues that sabotage relationships. A chocolate addiction during a global cocoa shortage. You know, real problems.
Plot: Or, "Things That Happen for Reasons"
Remember when your high school English teacher droned on about conflict being the heart of story? Turns out they weren't just filling time until retirement. Without meaningful conflict, your story is just a series of pleasant events—also known as "a boring vacation slideshow."
Quick Tip: Ask yourself, "What's the worst thing that could happen to my character right now?" Then make it happen. Then ask, "How could this get even worse?" Congratulations—you now have a plot!
Dialogue: People Talking Without Actually Communicating
Real human conversation is a beautiful disaster of interruptions, misunderstandings, and unfinished thoughts. If your characters speak in perfectly formed paragraphs and helpfully explain the plot, you've written a lecture series, not a story.
Quick Tip: Read your dialogue aloud. If you sound like you're auditioning for Shakespeare, rewrite it. Unless you're actually writing Shakespeare, in which case, carry on, good bard.
Setting: More Than Just Fancy Wallpaper
Setting shouldn't just be the backdrop against which your story happens—it should be an active participant in the narrative. Your fictional world should have opinions about your characters.
Quick Tip: Write a paragraph where the setting actively interferes with your character's goals. A door that sticks when they're in a hurry. A rainstorm during an outdoor proposal. A neighborhood that judges their fashion choices. Make the world come alive by making it slightly hostile.
The Dreaded Middle: Where Good Ideas Go to Nap
The middle of your story is where momentum goes to die. You've burned through your initial excitement, the end is still frustratingly distant, and you're wondering if becoming a shepherd might be a more fulfilling career choice.
Quick Tip: When stuck in the middle, introduce a new complication or reveal a secret. Nothing energizes a sagging narrative like a well-timed "By the way, I'm actually your long-lost twin" or "That map we've been following is upside down."
Endings: Stick the Landing or Die Trying
A bad ending can retroactively ruin a good story. No pressure! Your ending doesn't need to tie up every loose end, but it should answer the central question your story posed.
Quick Tip: The most satisfying endings feel both surprising and inevitable. If readers say, "I didn't see that coming, but of course it had to end that way," you've nailed it.
The Editing Process: Where Writing Actually Happens
First drafts are just you telling yourself the story. The real magic happens in revision, when you shape that raw material into something worth inflicting on other people.
Quick Tip: Put your manuscript away for at least two weeks before editing. You need enough distance to forget how brilliant you thought you were when writing it.
The Final Word: Just Keep Going
Writing fiction is a peculiar form of voluntary suffering that somehow brings immense joy. There will be days when words flow like honey and days when extracting a single sentence feels like performing dental surgery on yourself.
The only guaranteed way to fail as a writer is to stop writing.
So go forth, brave wordsmith. Torture your characters, complicate their lives, break their hearts, and occasionally let them triumph. Your readers—and your therapist—will thank you. If you loved this post and want more of this, please check out my other post on how to learn creative writing and the courses I personally recommend.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stare at my own blank page for several hours before writing a single sentence and then deleting it.