Have you ever written fiction?
Recently, a friend of mine (thanks Dan!) encouraged me to write fiction. Actually, the encouragement came primarily through him talking about a novel that he’s working on. So, (since he twisted my arm) I decided to start writing some fiction as well.
Several years ago – okay, many, many years ago – I wrote a few short stories. Primarily, I wrote these as school assignments, but I enjoyed writing them. A few years after that, I wrote another series of stories. This time, the stories were still fictional, but they were more closely related to parables than short stories.
But, I haven’t written fiction for a long time, and I’ve never written it like this. I have a story in mind, but I’m primarily writing it in short episodes. (I don’t know if I’m going to do anything with these stories, but if I do, I’ll probably let you know.)
I’m enjoying this change of writing genre and format. I’m learning to express myself in different ways. Specifically, I have to write narrative and dialogue in manner that my theme and message will be apparent without stating it outright. (Of course, I could have a character state it or think it, but that’s still different.) Plus, I have to consider plot, setting, characterization, etc.
I think this exercise is helping me to become a better writer overall. And, thinking about this, I wondered if any of my readers have written fiction. Or perhaps some of my readers have written other genres: journalism, poetry, anything.
So, what about you? Have you ever written fiction? Have you ever written any other type of genre? Do you find that writing in different genres helps your writing overall?
Alan
I have really enjoyed writing my novel so far. I usually write my opinions outright, so to try and weave them into the reality of my story is certainly more of a challenge, but I think it can be a lot more effective and it is certainly a lot more fun!
Dan
Have I? Yeah but it will never see the light of day!
Dan,
Thanks for the encouragement. I look forward to reading your novel.
Arthur,
Do you still write fiction today? Do you find that writing in different genres helps your writing overall?
-Alan
Yes, I’ve written fiction. Mostly science fiction and some of those concepts got made into comics that I created with a few incredible artists. You can see and read some of these over at my old Plastic Animal Studios site: http://www.PlasticAnimalStudios.com
In college I was a creative writing major (and this is what my BA is in) and I won first place in a fiction contest at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for a hard-boiled detective story called “St. Pete Florida Blues”.
One day I plan to return to some of my sci-fi projects and finish them as a series of novels. Until that day I’m focused mainly on writing for the Kingdom at my blog and writing for marketing/advertising projects at my day job.
Keith,
Thanks for the link! Do you think it’s possible to write fiction “for the kingdom”?
-Alan
Yeah, I sing in the shower, too. You really don’t want to hear either.
Ah, c’mon, Art.
-Alan
Absolutely, it helps to write in multiple genres.
I put up a little post yesterday detailing the various genres/subgenres I’ve written in. http://www.scottroche.com/thoughts/2011/04/13/clipbook/
Not all of my fiction is “for the kingdom†in the way that fellow believers usually mean. I write all of my characters as realistically as I can. There’s coarse language (though not to excess imo), violence, and other things you won’t find in books on a Lifeway bookshelf, but in some if not most of my stories there’s an honesty and a sense of redemption that I find in my own faith/belief.
Of course, some of the stories are just me having fun. 😉
Scott,
Thanks for the link. I hope to read through it soon.
-Alan
I have written Poetry, Fiction, and Biographical narrative…all at my blog…but, I have been shifting the labels around a bit…
If you are interested in reading, the narrative is entitled Running from the Sun
oh…here is some of the poetry Work in Progress 1, 2, 3
http://www.deliverdetroit.com/search/label/Work%20in%20progress
James,
Thanks! I look forward to reading some of your writings.
-Alan
Hi Alan,
I’ve thought of writing fiction, and even have a very rough idea in the back of my mind. Will it ever see print? The Lord only knows. Perhaps one day.
Right now I’m busy trying to complete the manuscript for my first book, which is non-fiction. While it is essentially written, there remains a significant amount of editing to be done. Hopefully it will be in a publishers hands before the close of the year. I will have more on that on my website as time goes on.
I continue to also enjoy my blogging experience which I began a little over three years ago.
Blessings to you and yours,
Will
Will,
I hope you are able to write you story one day.
-Alan
It’s interesting you write about fiction after I read this over at The Gospel Coalition about the power of stories
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/04/14/why-we-love-stories/
As for writing fiction myself, I haven’t written extended fiction in over ten years, but I get the odd twinges to do little stories here and there … of course that’s the kinda time when my harddrive dies and they are lost in time forever, but maybe I’ll be able to save them. And different genres, well I’m not that talented to cover different ones yet, but I’ll give it a go … eventually.
Christopher,
I’ve lost most (probably all) of my older writings as well. Thanks for the link.
-Alan
Alan,
I missed this post when it came out in April. Guess I was busy. I started a novel about five years ago. Got about 15,000 words and several chapters down. Then I lost my job, got the job I now have, and haven’t written since.
I like historical fiction and I was writing a WWII historical novel. I did lots of research, and was using many stories of my dad and uncles as they grew up during that time and served during the war.
In my previous job I had lots of free time. My current job requires so much out of me, mentally and time wise, that I lost the momentum I had before. I would like to get back into it, but the season of my life right now just doesn’t give me time now.