How to Develop Your Writing Skills - Part Seven

So you have this great idea for a fiction piece. No one has ever gone down this path before. The premise is so unique that hordes of readers will line up around the block of national book outlets to purchase your innovative and provocative creation. O-o-o-o-kay. Let's step back into this reality and regroup.

Innovation and creativity are at the heart of fiction writing. Like most good writing, the author must create a "hook" to grab the reader and keep her interested. This can sometimes be accomplished by developing quirky characters, strange settings, or unusual dialogue. Note that I said this can sometimes be accomplished by the aforementioned means. However, these hooks should be used sparingly and not as the focal point of the story. Granted, there are exceptions to the rule, but as in many facets of life, moderation is an important component of success.

I'm reminded of an acquaintance from my college years. He declared himself to be a music major, striving to bring his gift of interpretation and creativity to the world. During his semester of music writing and editing he announced that his compositions were so complex that nobody could sing them.

Uhhhhh, hold on there buck-o! Doesn't a declaration such as that defeat the purpose of the creative endeavor in the first place? Sheesh! The music student in question soon learned that writing beyond the abilities of professional music talent resulted in poverty and obscurity, and was looked upon as an act of ignorance or arrogance . . . or both.

The point I'm driving at here is that the human psyche needs a certain amount of familiarity and comfortable surroundings. As writers, we need to use a good mix of innovation and familiarity when describing our settings and characters. To present a story to the reader that is so bizarre and obscure that there are no references to his or her own world is defeating the entire exercise of putting words to the page. We must draw readers into our world of fiction while still allowing them to feel the ground under their feet, or at least the arm of the chair under their elbows.

Keep asking yourself if what you are writing is beyond the comfort zone of the majority of your target audience. If so, dial it back a notch or two. Push the limits of reality, just don't burst the entire bubble.