Writing Problems Solved

What kinds of writing problems am I looking to solve in this section? Those very specific issues that every writer has to grapple with in their fiction.

Think of it like this...

The previous sections on narrative writing, descriptive writing, dialogue and monologue were about how to write well in general - or how to write any scene, any passage of description, any exchange of dialogue to a professional standard.

This section focuses on some of those very particular, but nevertheless very common, problem areas in areas - and offers solutions to the problems, too. More specifically, it looks at...

• How to write the two most important sentences in any novel (yep, the first and last ones).
• How to write about the weather without sounding like a forecaster (this is important for adding atmosphere to every novel).
• How to write about sex (no laughing at the back, please).

Writing Opening Lines and Closing Lines

A typical novel probably consists of something like 10,000 separate sentences. Out of all of them, the very first one and the very last are by far the most important.

• Opening lines in novels are important commercially. If publishers and book buyers don't like the first sentence, they will probably stop reading there and then.
• Closing lines matter artistically. They are like the very last note in a symphony - if it's off-key, it will ruin everything that has come before. (And this has commercial ramifications, too, because readers are unlikely to buy your second novel if they didn't like how the first one ended.)

Everyone who has ever written a novel has faced these dual problems - how to start right and how to end right - and that is why I have written dedicated articles on each one...

• Writing Opening Lines
• Writing Closing Lines

Writing About the Weather

Okay, I know I'm British and that we apparently have a problem with talking about the weather too much but, putting that aside, it's still very important in fiction.

It can make the difference between a great scene and one that is seriously short on atmosphere.

But what specific tricks are there to write about it well? You can find out in How to Write About the Weather.

Writing Sex Scenes in Fiction

Out of all the potential writing mistakes you can make, this one must rank pretty close to the top of the danger list. Why?

• Because 99% of novels contain love scenes of some sort (even if the scenes consist of just a kiss, or are implied and not shown to the reader at all).
• And love scenes and bad writing are often hard to separate (even with professional novelists who should know better).

Don't worry, though, because help is at hand in How to Write About Sex.