How to Get Published

by Al Kalar

I was re-reading a great “how to” book from Ben Bova called The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells*.  This book was a great help to me when I was getting started as a writer.

In the book, Mr. Bova gives us the following list of tips that can be applied to just about any good fiction:

1. In a good story the reader forgets where he is and lives in the story; the reader wants to be the protagonist.
2. The protagonist must be admirable, or at least likeable, but he should have at least one glaring weakness that forms the underlying tension that drives the character’s behavior. Capture those conflicting traits in a simple emotion vs. emotion equation.
3. The protagonist must struggle to solve his problems. That struggle is the backbone of the story.
4. Avoid stereotypes!
5. Study the people around you; draw your characters from life.
6. Show the story from the protagonist’s point of view.
7. Use all five senses: Describe what your characters see, hear, touch, taste and smell.

* ©1994 by Ben Bova, published by Writer’s Digest Books

Tags: Ben Bova, characterization, characters, emotion, flaw, life, protagonist, senses, story development, weakness

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 2:00 am and is filed under Content, Writing skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.