Our Articles

Ooh, the pesky voice!  

When my debut novel NINE DOLLS won the Joffe Books Crime Prize in 2024, the judges said a lot of lovely things — but one line stuck with me: “It feels wholly original, with entirely its own voice.” 

I was both flattered and slightly stunned. Not because I didn’t want to believe it — but because it hadn’t come easily. I had to work hard for it: consciously, for instance across a whole week on the life changing Self-Edit Your Novel course run by the wonderful Debi Alper and Emma Darwin. But also subconsciously, as I questioned everything that my character ever did (or didn’t do), delving deeper into their mind. 

So, if you’re feeling a bit lost trying to “find your voice”, I promise you’re not alone. It doesn’t come in a flash of inspiration. It comes in layers. Below are a few things I learned along the way — my own list of Do’s and Don’ts—that helped me get closer to the kind of voice that felt, finally, like mine. 

Do...

1. Leave your fingerprint

Voice is like a fingerprint. It’s uniquely yours — formed by your scars, secrets, inside jokes, heartbreaks, and the way you see the world when no one else is watching. 

When I finally stopped trying to sound “literary” and started writing like I think — a bit messy, sometimes sharp, always curious — something shifted. The writing got warmer. It got truer. 

So, write from that place. Your voice is already in you — you just have to let it out without judgement. 

2. Gossip with your characters

You’ve probably heard that old writing exercise — take your character on a dinner date. Find out what they wear, eat, the music they listen to and all those good things. And yes, that’s important. But I’d urge you to go one step further: make them your gossip partner (or, even better, the subject of the gossip).  

That’s where the real gold is. What do they say behind someone’s back? What do they admit only when drunk? What do they pretend not to want? This is where character voice becomes textured and real — when you understand not just what your characters do, but why they do it. 

3. Say one thing, think another

This one was a game-changer for me: don’t let your characters say everything they think. Most of us have a filter — even the bluntest among us! We present one version of ourselves, while something else bubbles underneath. 

In fiction, we’re lucky: we get access to both the inside and outside of a character. Don’t be afraid to use it. Let your character say, “I’m so happy for you,” while thinking, I’d rather be hit by a truck than see you win again. That tension between outer words and inner truth? That’s the voice. That’s what makes it human. 

Rupa Mahadevan is an acclaimed author of psychological thrillers. Her debut novel, NINE DOLLS, won the Joffe Books Prize in 2024 and will be published on 25 September 2025. She grew up on the south-eastern coast of India and has lived on the south-eastern coast of Scotland for over 15 years. She now resides in Edinburgh with her husband and two children. When she isn’t working on Excel in her day job, she enjoys reading and imagining her own stories. 

Hello again! Welcome back to my series of insights into what it’s like to undertake the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme.  

Month six means I’m now halfway through the course. Time really does speed up when you’re having your mind stuffed full of wonderful writing skills. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the halfway-through-the-course milestone is marked with the topic of ‘Pacing and Tension’...  

A critical story requirement, ‘Pace and Tension’ is the stuff that compels a reader to begin reading, keeps them turning pages to the end and, ideally, still hooked on the story beyond the final page. It’s what inspires us to implore our friends that they simply must read this book, too. It is the stuff of publishing lore. It’s what marks out the okay story from the brilliant story.  

Gaining expertise in this month’s topic of writing-wizardry is relevant for all writers and all stories. I’m writing within the literary genre and so might be tempted to think that this month’s topic sounds a bit too genre-trope-driven. But I’d be wrong. Whilst my stories may not feature a murder, a city-centre car chase or a cat-stroking international criminal, they still need to intrigue and compel, evoke movement and transformation. What author doesn’t dream of the fabled ‘a real page turner, kept me hooked to the end’ type of five-star review?

There are many methods by which it’s possible to engender that compulsion to find out what’s going to happen, and it’s clear we’re to be schooled in all of them this month: how to reveal and withhold information; how to ratchet pace up and slow it down (which you might think decreases tension, but can, if deployed effectively, increase it); how to raise the stakes for the character and ensure that each scene plays a role in keeping the reader locked in.  

We’re also being reminded of how every single month’s topic leading up to this point has prepared us. For instance, the choice of how to structure the timeline of a story plays a significant role in building pace and intrigue - something we learned about in Month 1, ‘Planning’. Month 2's ‘Point of View’ choices - third person / first person / unreliable narrator – are another core technique. Come Month 3, we were learning about how choices regarding setting were vital to lift and deepen our stories: another useful mechanism for controlling pace and curiosity. Months 4 and 5 dealt with ‘Character’ and ‘Emotions & Senses’ – the starting point for any story tension. An unrelatable, boring character always stalls tension and damages pace, no matter how many craft tricks an author throws into the mix. 

So, yes, we are at the midpoint of the course - classically the pivotal moment in a novel, or as James Scott Bell (author of Write Your Novel From the Middle) put it, “…the moment that tells what the novel or movie is really about.”  

It’s a point of no return; arguably the biggest turning point of the story. It’s where characters discover what they truly need versus what they thought they wanted. At the very least, it is the point at which the reader understands this. With the midpoint, we get deeper stakes, sharper goals and consequences closing in, with characters having no choice but to move from reaction to intentional action.  

And, in a moment of beautiful synchronicity this midpoint has applied to me, as a student of the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme, too. Recently, my tutor, Andrew Miller – himself no stranger to writing deeply compelling page turners, as evidenced by his latest longlisting for the Booker Prize – asked me a simple question. One that is, in fact, a core question my story needs to answer if I am to be successful in the tension and pace stakes: “But, what is [the main character] going to do with her [ESP type] skills?”  

I gave him an answer, of sorts. But Andrew’s question stayed with me. It niggled at me, and nagged, and niggled some more – and I realised my first answer was not good enough. It had dealt with important aspects of characterisation and themes but didn’t answer how I was raising the stakes or fundamentally changing how my character turned up in the world. What to do…?  

Ah-hah! In due course, the perfect plot device popped into my mind – a set of scenes showing specific actions which demonstrate a tonal shift, the character’s emotional crystallisation from relative despondency to determination, the provocation to utilise her set of special skills and the consequences which round out the story arc and her emotional journey. I duly emailed Andrew with my corrected answer and received an encouraging ‘go-for-it’ reply. 

I think this is why the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme often ends up being the turning point in many author’s careers. At the same time as I’m learning about turning points in the craft (and writing about them in this here blog) I’m given a turning point all of my very own. Real life proof that points of no return do happen; movement forward, beyond perceived boundaries, boosts to my writerly heart, girding my conviction to keep on keeping on writing, seeking to be the best writer I can be.  

The tweak to my character’s plot is wholly my idea, but I got there because of a wise and timely question posed by an author and tutor who is steeped in experience about how stories, and lives, may turn upon such tiny moments.  

This month’s Ultimate Novel Writing Programme topic has already paid me its dividends: improving the potential of my manuscript. All I’ve got to do is go write it. Simples!  

Until next time… 

Rachel Davidson is a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers prior to joining our Writer Support Team, Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada and is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.

Hello again! Welcome back to my series of insights into what it’s like to undertake the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme.  

No sooner had I cogitated on the aspects of character last month, when along came month five with its deeply intricate topic: emotions and senses. Never let it be said that the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme doesn’t deliver on detailed information, techniques and tips, and ‘Ah! I hadn’t thought about it like that…’ moments. My brain is full, straining at its zips, like an overstuffed holiday suitcase. And, just like a packed suitcase, I’m off on yet another happy writing adventure. 

From a certain angle, however, this topic feels like home. I’m writing in literary genre, so my stories are quiet in terms of dramatic plot action, but tend to go deep into character. I’m interested in all the questions about why people feel and behave the way they do. And I’m trying really hard to get better at seeing the emotional signs, the expected reactions, the unexpected reactions and the detail of what the situational experience involves. 

In martial arts, boxing and self-defence, students are taught to watch out for micro-movements: ‘tells’ or ‘tags’ like dropping a shoulder before a punch, shifting weight before a kick – even as tiny a ‘read’ as their eyes focussing on a point on your body. All of these can telegraph what the attack might be and help to quicken your response and choice of defensive move. The work authors have to do, to portray realistic, plausible emotion and sensations, isn’t too far off what a karate practitioner needs to do (less being thrown around, obviously!) My family are used to me constantly people-watching and being asked out-of-the-blue, random questions that begin with “How would you feel if…?” or “What’s your first thought if…?”  

All of us are so normal, average and ‘everyman’ on the surface. But we’re also, all of us, having a deeply existential experience on a massive spinning rock travelling at thousands and thousands of miles per hour, whilst hurtling towards an unknowable destination. Some of that internal truth – the marvel, the passion, the love, sadness, anger, resentment, the frustration, the happiness, the joy – it leaks outwards onto our surface, in tiny tells. It is this that a writer must become adept at seeing and noting. Then, ‘all’ we have to do is write it down with precision and brevity, as judicious as a scavenging crow, as shrewd and wily as a fox. Probably the best compliment I, as an author, could ever receive would be something like: “her writing is so observant, her storytelling beautifully astute.” I’m looking forward to seeing that in print one day in one of the big-name newspapers (big hairy audacious dreams are the best sort to have!) 

With this month’s topic, I’ve been thinking about the emotions and senses of the act of writing itself, of being a writer and trying to achieve big writing goals, and I realise how fractal this topic is. It is as if I am folding in on myself when I consider how to portray characters’ emotions and senses. The whole magical alchemy of it, the macro and the micro existing on the same pin-head. Or, as the legendary figure, Hermes Trismegistus put it: as above, so below, as within, so without. I find myself writing stories of emotion and sensation in order to describe the experience of learning the skills to write stories with emotion and sensation.  

I’m attempting something in my work-in-progress that is really technically challenging for me. I’m playing against certain conventions of narrative tension and introducing slippery point-of-view perspectives – issues that may trip me up if I’m not careful. Frankly, I’ve been questioning why I’m being so reckless. The answer comes to me in the form of a story. A memory. I am aged nineteen and I’m galloping across the stubble of a harvested corn field on my chestnut gelding. There’s a big oxer of a hedge ahead of us, a wide, dark ditch at its base, and that horse of mine was infamous for dropping a shoulder half a stride out from fences and throwing me. Regardless, I gallop him towards it, pressing my heels into his sides, standing up in the stirrups, encouraging him to go, go, go. I’m counting down the strides with the thunder of his hooves as my metronome, my fingers entangled in his mane, wiry as twine against my knuckles; an attempt to fool myself I’ll be able to hold on, be safe, if something goes wrong. And the moment comes. I’m out of strides. I’ve either asked him for the right take-off point and he’ll obey, lifting, leaping, flying up and across, into the summer blue... Or I’ve misjudged it and he’ll duck out on me, throwing me down there into that black ditch of brambles.  

Did I make it to the other side of that long-ago leap? Yes, I did. 

Will I succeed with this W-i-P and the portrayal of character I’m attempting? To be decided.  

One thing’s for sure, the structure and accountability that the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme demands of me – and the ongoing support of my tutor group and my tutor, Andrew Miller (longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize with his latest book, The Land in Winter – again, huge congratulations, Teach!) – is definitely giving me the courage to kick on.  

Rachel Davidson is a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers prior to joining our Writer Support Team, Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada and is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.

The whole Jericho Writers team agrees that, at this year’s London Festival of Writing, our Friday Night Live competition was a little bit special. For a start, it was on a Saturday – but leaving the misnomer aside, we were bowled over by the stellar standard of the entries we received.

Anyone who was in the dining room that night would surely agree that our finalists – although writing in diverse genres – had one thing in common. Their work was accomplished, affecting and intriguing.

A month on, we wanted to reflect on what made our entrants’ best work so impressive and look at some of the more constructive feedback our judges had to offer.

What we loved

Strong opening lines

Giving your novel a killer first line sounds like an obvious thing to do, but it’s not as simple as it might seem. Opening sentences shoulder immense pressure, often doing multiple things at once. They tell us something about our protagonist and the world they live in, hint at events that will be central to the story and strike a tone that will carry through the novel, setting up its genre and style.

We loved finalist Tori Howe’s arch, amusing line: “Our Christmas tree was definitely dead”, as well as Davina Bhanabhai’s devastating opener: “I spend my forty-fifth birthday identifying the dead body of my only child”.

Want to nail your own novel’s first line? Remember that this doesn’t have to be the bit of your book you write first! Hitting upon the perfect opening sentence is the sort of thing you might find easier to achieve in retrospect, when your draft is well underway and your characters and their world are firmly established.

Voice

What makes a strong narrative voice? It’s a question we get asked frequently, and – slightly annoyingly – the honest answer is you just know it when you read it.

Voice was something our Friday Night Live judges commented on frequently this year, highlighting the individuality and authenticity of many entrants’ writing. Sophie Holme’s entry, which made the live final, was a perfect example. Rich with wry wit, the first 500 words of her memoir are also shot through with a melancholy that hints at the darker themes her work explores – among them, the state of psychiatric care in the UK.

If you’re keen to develop your narrative voice, confidence is key. Know, right down to your bones, who your characters are, what the stakes are for them and how what happens in their world will shape them. Then you can tell their story with the sort of authority that resonates with readers – in a voice that, without needing to shout, demands their attention.

World-building... without info dumping

We had lots of fantastical, spooky and speculative entries to this year’s competition – and the best among them managed to establish the worlds their characters lived in without clumsily offloading key information. In her romantasy extract, finalist Isabel Norris made the smart move of drip-feeding just enough facts to let the reader orient themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, striking the perfect balance between providing details and provoking questions.

Friday Night Live winner Kate den Rooijen, in her speculative YA entry, achieved the same effect – allowing readers to conclude that her main character was dying at the same moment the protagonist realised this herself.

Things to think about

'Writing in'

Many of us do this, and it’s a very normal part of the writing process. For the uninitiated, ‘writing in’ is the act of producing scenes, or even whole chapters of a manuscript, whose (often unconscious) purpose is enabling you, the author, to work out who your characters are and what is going on with them.

The challenge is knowing when you’re writing in, and identifying those scenes or chapters as (gulp) potentially superfluous to the story you’re telling. Starting your novel in the right place is a skill – and to some extent it’s dependent on your ability to gauge how much ‘writing in’ content makes it into your final manuscript.

Our very best Friday Night Live entries this year boasted strong beginnings that took readers straight to the heart of action, setting, stakes and character, rather than explaining them. This is crucial for establishing a sense of pace and hooking your reader upfront.

Structure and style

We saw some Friday Night Live entries where judges praised “beautiful writing” but added that “the sentence structures chosen made it hard to follow”. In other cases, there was switching between tenses and points of view within extracts, which our judges found confusing.

Readers also said they found that, in a few cases, the genre of an entry didn’t quite tally with the style it was written in – often because the voice or narrative point of view felt jarring. It’s worth remembering that, if you’re writing a thriller, it needs to feel like a thriller from the very first page. Likewise, contemporary women’s fiction needs to open with a protagonist we can empathise with, in a setting readers will recognise. As one of today’s teenagers might put it: the vibes have to be right.

Over-writing

Finally, it’s no surprise that a small handful of our entries felt a little over-written. When you’re setting your work up to be judged, the temptation to keep embellishing it can be difficult to resist!

What is over-writing? It’s arguably a subjective concept, but it’s about using more words, more imagery and more bells and whistles than are needed. It can also be about making the same point in multiple ways when stating it simply would be more impactful.

Sometimes avoiding over-writing is about using one perfect word instead of five not-quite-right ones: getting to the heart of a feeling or experience in a way that feels true, rather than dressed up or manufactured.

Our advice? Don’t allow complex prose to obscure the point it’s supposed to be making. Ensure your words are meaningful, not just artfully arranged.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to enter this year’s competition. It was a privilege to read your work, and we can’t wait to see what you come up with next year.

Hello again! Welcome back to my series of insights into what it’s like to be part of the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme.  

This month feels like a deeply personal and challenging one: we’re spending the month covering character, in all its facets. I have a theory that this aspect of writing is where the maxim, “Write what you feel,” comes most to the fore. I see myself and my experiences in every main character I’ve ever written, to a greater or lesser extent. I hear my values in their dialogue. I recognise the resonance of my soul in theirs and, to be perfectly honest, I can’t actually imagine writing stories in any other way.  

I’m not talking about writing characters that match only my characteristics, my physical attributes, my socio-economic categorisation, my place of birth or the places I’ve chosen to live in. For instance, the two main characters in the manuscript I’m writing on the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme are, respectively, a male, 60-year-old, ex-special forces vagrant with PTSD, and a 20-year-old orphaned woman, living in a Suffolk commune. Both have significant powers of clairvoyancy.  

This, to probably nobody’s surprise, is not my actual life experience. No, what I mean is that I want to populate my stories with people who connect me to the commonality we all share: the frailty, the bravery, the drag of secret shame, the lift of delicate hope, our mortality and the knowing, innate within, that at some point this life will end. Beneath everything, I believe we’re not all that different to one another.  

I have another theory that the characters who arrive for each of us writers are embodiments of a particular, and highly personal, call to romantic adventure. The types of characters that turn up for me are an embodiment of what adventure means to me. They’re configured according to what my next lesson is, my next challenge. Us writers, us artists, us humans – we’re not built for safety. I reckon we’re built for lives of progress and questing! The characters that have gathered in my imagination across the years are not mere chance or some random coincidence – they mean something to me. In pursuing them, getting to know them across the one-hundred-thousand or so words I write, as I carefully observe them, record their actions and reactions, I am changing myself. My hope is that I am skilled enough to render them accurately, such that the spirit of adventure is a shared one – recognised in the hearts and imaginations of readers.  

I asked my writer-friends how their characters came to them. They spoke of their characters becoming great friends, of feeling shy of them at first, of falling in love with them. They even spoke of writing them as a form of magical possession; of being inhabited by a spirit who wishes to be known, sketched and seen. I love that idea. 

Aren’t the best books, the ones that stay with us, comprised of characters who we recognise in some way? There's a relatability to them, their humanity playing out in ways that make it easier to identify ourselves in all our perfection and limitations. It was always a book that enabled me to put words to a particular feeling or emotion. Penny-drop moments of concentrated complexity can be delivered in a sentence or two, like a light going on: “Oh, that’s it!”  

My final theory, therefore, is that it’s only books that can deliver this straight-to-the-point, I-get-it feeling. Paintings can move, sculpture can awe, music can inspire, films can amuse. But the written story is the sharpest, truest, longest-lived art form.  

Why? Because stories feature people in close-up, specific focus (no matter what narrative/psychic distance the author wields) and, being constructed of words on a page, they require complex focus and brainwork to read. Imagination takes effort, or sustained cognitive engagement, as the men in white coats might say. For this reason alone, it behoves us writers to come up with the most compelling, intriguing, daring (in all forms of courageous thought and action) characters we can muster – as a gift to both our own growth, but also to our readers. And where else better to go so wholly into the practical aspects of your story and your characters than right here on the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme?  

Rachel Davidson is a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers prior to joining our Writer Support Team, Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada and is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.

That’s right: eight months. Less than a year.  

If you’re like I once was – that is, if you’ve spent years thinking about writing a novel but rarely putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard – this timeframe might sound mad. But, as I discovered when I finally gave writing a proper go, showing up to your manuscript consistently can yield far quicker results than you might think.  

Now, having published four books, I’d say a good quality draft (90,000 words or so) takes me around six months to pull together. So, what took me from dreaming about writing to actually doing it? I didn’t undergo an overnight personality transplant or discover a magical wellspring of motivation. (Unfortunate, as that would still be super useful). In fact, I did that most cliched yet crucial of things. I gave myself permission to try.  

As if to signal to myself that having a bash at writing a book was 100% allowed, I signed up for a creative writing course. Ultimately, this made all the difference to my craft, discipline and self-belief – but in the short-term, following a structured programme felt far more comfortable than simply winging it in the hope I’d one day reach ‘the end’.  

If you think you’d benefit from a similar experience, our eight-month Novel Writing Course might be exactly what you need. It’s designed for writers who have great ideas but feel they’re flying blind when it comes to plot-planning, character development, worldbuilding and so on. 

Not ready to commit to a course? With a little planning, plus positivity and persistence, you can still get your book written (or at least well underway) in less than a year.  

Feeling fired up? Here’s what to do next… 

Eight steps to writing your novel in eight months

1. Plan your story upfront

George RR Martin could have written about the bitter divide between House Planner and House Pantser. For the uninitiated, the debate comes down to the difference between people who simply must have an outline before they begin drafting and those with the brass neck to sit down at a blank screen and just… see what happens.  

I joke, of course: there’s no real argument. We writers are a peaceful people, and most accept there’s no right or wrong way to work. Personally, though, I need a proper plan before I get going – and if your ambition is to write a book within eight months, I don’t think risking ‘dead time’ (where you produce thousands of words that may serve no clear purpose) makes much sense.  

If you’re a Premium Member, you can access our Build Your Book Month content for free. This includes a very helpful plot-planning spreadsheet and a bunch of fantastic video lessons on the three-act story structure. (Not a PM? You can buy the content as a standalone course for £99, or join us to get this, plus plenty more writing resources).  

Alternatively, you might want to consider the Save The Cat approach, the five-act story structure or the snowflake method, all of which will allow you to create an overall ‘shape’ for your story before you start writing. However you choose to plan, doing so will effectively stress-test your novel idea, helping you work out whether it will extend into a narrative that’s tens of thousands of words long.  

On the Novel Writing Course, students spend their first month focused on planning their novels, and I’d suggest devoting a similar chunk of time – weeks, rather than days – to interrogating your story arc independently. Imagine the events, twists and turns you’ll include in your plot and work out how they’ll affect the journey your characters go on. Rushing through this stage tends to be a false economy: fail to answer key questions now, and they’ll come back to bite you later.  

2. Consider your novel's characters, point of view and setting

Who are you writing about? What problems do they have, and how does your protagonist – or their situation – need to change in order for your story to be satisfying? Remember, a novel isn’t really about what happens: it’s about how what happens affects characters readers care about.  

Are you going to write in first person, third person, past or present tense? (You might have to experiment a bit with points of view in order to find out what’s most effective.)  

Where will the action of your story take place? Is there research you need to do, or worldbuilding you need to undertake, before you can start drafting in earnest?  

These questions need consideration both before you begin writing, but also as your story unfolds. Again, the Novel Writing Course offers tutorials and one-to-one support with all this. Meanwhile, if you’re a Premium Member, you’ll find there are multiple masterclasses available to help you.

3. Develop a novel writing routine

If you want to draft a novel in eight months, you’ll need to commit to writing regularly. Establishing a routine you can stick to (at least most of the time) is key, so ask yourself: when do you work best? How many hours per day, or per week, do you think you can spend on your manuscript?  

You might want to think in terms of word count milestones, rather than time spent at your desk – though this can be demotivating on days when the sentences won’t flow! That said, you’ll definitely need to set an overall wordcount goal that makes sense for the genre you’re writing in. If your book is commercial fiction, for example, you shouldn’t be aiming to write a 1000-page tome.  

You might want to put together a novel writing timeline that takes your final goal, plus any holidays or days off writing you’re going to need, into account. This will ensure you stay on track, but also that you keep your workload realistic. 

Whichever way you do it, create a plan that will make showing up to your work-in-progress something that feels natural: automatic. Being enrolled on a course did this job for me. I didn’t want to be the classmate who hadn’t done her homework, so I made sure to show up with fresh words every time I was supposed to! 

Finally, why not incentivise yourself a little? If you’re planning to write first thing in the morning, pair your early start with an extra-swish coffee. Alternatively, if your book work needs to wait until after the kids are in bed, make settling down with it feel like a treat: grab a cuppa, light a candle and settle in.  

4. Don't be afraid to deviate...

Having a plot plan shouldn’t stifle your creativity. See it as a roadmap for your adventure in story-telling – not a tunnel that offers only one way through.  

It’s not unusual for events to play out slightly differently on the page than they did in your head, or for a minor character’s voice to end up louder than you’d anticipated. Exploring opportunities when they arise – indulging these moments of inspiration – is where much of the true joy of writing is found.  

So, allow for deviations on the road to finishing your story – so long as they don’t take you to a completely random destination! 

5. Push perfectionism aside

If you’re writing to a deadline, you can’t afford to edit every single sentence as you go.  

Resist the urge to perfect each paragraph you produce in favour of pushing forward with your plot. If you must, highlight chunks of text you’re not convinced about so you don’t forget to examine them later – but focus on finishing your book before you worry about making every word beautiful.  

6. Write with authenticity

‘Sticky patches’ in writing often occur because getting the words out feels like pulling teeth. In those moments, I ask myself: am I trying to write something that doesn’t feel true, or in a style that’s not natural to me? 

Finding your own voice is a process, and it’s something we cover in detail on the Novel Writing Course.  

If you’re feeling blocked, try stepping back. Approach the plot point or scene you’re working on afresh. Write it honestly, with no spin – in the way you might if your only aim was entertaining a good friend. See what happens.  

7. Think about sharing your story

Different people choose to use buddies or beta readers at different stages of their writing journey – but constructive criticism can be helpful during, as well as after, drafting.  

As I worked on my first book, I found my friends’ and mentor’s feedback helped me avoid making mistakes that might have tripped me up – but their encouragement also kept me going when writing felt too hard and I lost confidence in myself.  

One of the best things about the Novel Writing Course is the incredible level of one-to-one support every student gets from their personal tutor: more individual guidance than is offered on any alternative out there.  

8. Power through your novel - then pause

The difference between people who write whole novels and those who don’t is almost always that the first group simply refused to give up. There are plenty of talented writers out there who’ll never complete a full manuscript – not because they lack the ability, but because they aren’t tenacious enough.  

With a plan and a writing routine in place, your job is actually pretty simple: keep showing up.  

If you do, in eight months (or within a realistic timeframe that works for you), you’ll have a full draft – a truly incredible achievement.  

When you get there, have a rest. Give yourself a little distance from your draft before diving back in to edit it.  

If they feel ready, students on our Novel Writing Course have the option to upgrade to the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme after spending eight months on their drafts. This involves extra tutoring on self-editing, the different routes into publishing and how to get a literary agent. For Premium Members, there’s Debi Alper’s fantastic Introduction to Self-Editing Your Novel course: the perfect, self-guided route into refining your own work.  

Whatever kind of support you seek with your writing – whether it’s through a course, Premium Membership or engagement with our Townhouse community – I wish you all the best with getting your novel written.  

You really can do it – and in eight months, too!

As thrilling as it is to share what I’ve learned in my 20+ years as an editor, one of my favorite experiences as an instructor on Jericho’s Novel Writing Course and Ultimate Novel Writing Programme is watching students learn from each other. 

As the course progresses, and as they get to know and trust each other, they go from suggesting what an author could do to improve their project to what they should do to fiercely protect whatever it is that sparked a story to begin with. Over time, they begin enthusiastically coaxing one another to fan those sparks into something astonishing. 

Whether you’ve written a chapter or a complete draft of a novel, chances are, at some stage, you’re going to feel like you’ve gone as far as you can go on your own. When that moment arrives, it’s time to get some feedback. 

For some writers, it comes when they’ve been over (and over, and over…) a draft and have hit the point where it’s all trees, no forest. It’s time to get some perspective, see what’s resonating with readers, and find out what still needs improvement. Other writers find themselves at a crossroads with their project: a story could go this way or that way, and the implications of choosing either route are huge. In this scenario, an outside reader is a brainstorming partner to help them think through the options.

In either case, sharing your work with others can be a little scary. It’s a vulnerable moment, and having a plan for how to request, receive, and implement feedback can help you make the most of it.

1. Choose wisely

Many writers reach out to those closest to them—friends and family—for feedback, and while that can yield constructive criticism, don’t be surprised if you get a resounding “I love it! It’s perfect! Don’t change a thing!” from dear Aunt Bernice. While that’s lovely to hear, it’s not especially helpful. 

Cherish those champions—that note from your aunt will help you power through your umpteenth revision—but choose readers who are ready to help you improve, too. 

2. Give your readers some direction

Don’t be afraid to guide your readers about what kind of feedback you’re looking for, and avoid asking them yes or no questions. “Do you think the novel is working?” is going to yield less helpful feedback than “What can I do to improve the pacing in the last thirty pages?” 

A list of 5-10 questions can help ensure readers give you feedback you can actually use – and invite them to share anything else they want to with you, too. Whatever you do, please don’t instruct your readers, “Just tell me if I should never write again!” 

Everyone — yes, you included — can improve.

Hello again! Welcome back to my series of insights into what it is like to work through the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme.  

Month two equals Point of View. An important moment in all writers’ lives: with our fingers pausing above the keyboard, our characters’ voices in our mind’s ear, we have to choose how to represent them on the page. Will the character be an ‘I’, a ‘he’ or a ‘she’? Maybe they’ll even be a ‘you’.  

More decisions: who is the narrator? You - the author, or a character? And how far from the story do they stand as they relate your tale? Are they in the present moment, or in the future describing the past, or even in the past or present describing the future? 

It’s true, Point of View is a technical decision, and a defining one. As my tutor, Andrew Miller, says, it can feel a bit ‘under the bonnet’. I liken it to the moment a builder digs foundations, setting the exact footprint and structure of the house. It can be altered if later you decide to change things… but it’ll cost you. Best to be secure in your choice of how many rooms and floor-levels before the concrete footings get poured. 

I’ve been paying close attention to the tutorials and reading material, figuring out how my two main characters are turning up on the page and trying out different options. Instead of first person, how do they sound in third person close? The effort is paying dividends. I’ve decided to stick with my first instinct – a character narrator in first person peripheral, telling the story of the other character in third person close. Now that I have learned the techniques, listened to the lectures on pros vs cons, I’m able to append my “Err, because I want to” gut feeling with considered justification. And that, my friends, has definitely helped my confidence.  

Confidence is important in this strange and sublime world of conjuring beauty through words on a page. In The Writing Life, Annie Dillard suggests painting, unlike writing, pleases the senses while you do it. Indeed! When I am adrift, suffering doubt and imposter syndrome, I have often thought how lucky painters are. What relief it would be to back up one step and see all of it – the whole novel, its brilliance and its weaknesses – and know immediately how to improve it. Reading Annie’s words made me think of the often quoted, “writing is easy, you just sit at the typewriter and bleed”. Whoever it was that actually said this (Quote Investigator steers us away from it being the great Hemingway) I reckon I know the feeling.  

What’s this got to do with Point of View month? Well, I find I am able to push my imposter syndrome demon a little further away every time I improve my technical skills. Gaining a sense of accomplishment - of capability - when it comes to the methodical building blocks of writing gives me solid foundations on which I may play and push my limits. Practicing writing in each point of view means I can demonstrate the benefits of one versus another to myself – and it’s a reminder that this is a key aspect of being a writer I will always have control over: working on my skills. 

Annie Dillard also quotes an unnamed, well-known writer who is asked by a university student, “Do you think I could be a writer?” 

“Well,” the well-known writer said, “I don’t know… Do you like sentences?” 

I do. Sentences and words. This is the level I like to play in, where I feel happiest. This is why month two of the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme, in all its technical, structural glory, has been fun. There’s been lots and lots of fascinating insights from the tutors, many excellent exchanges between fellow students and access to a huge well of writing masterclasses. 

Imposter syndrome nerves still lie ahead of me on my road to publication – the thought of trying to sell my writerly wares to the publishing gatekeepers gives me regular heebie-jeebies. But that’s a story for another month – in fact it’ll be the last third or so of the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme’s year when I’ll get expert schooling in the art of confidently querying literary agents.  

For now, from my point of view (written in first person central, present tense, with a sprinkling of second person) it is becoming very clear that structure, support and plenty of hand holding is the Ultimate way. 

I hope you’ll pop by next month when the topic will be ‘Setting’.  

Happy writing, all! 

Rachel

Rachel Davidson is a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers prior to joining our Writer Support Team, Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada and is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.

Rachel Davidson, long-time Jericho Writers Premium Member and now a part of our Writer Support team, is currently studying on the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme. She’s agreed to share her experience of the course with us month by month.

First up: a look at how she made the decision to invest in her writing – and believe in herself...  

Hey there – thanks for popping by. Let me introduce myself. I have been a Premium Member with Jericho Writers for many years. I’d give you the precise number, if only I could remember! Suffice to say, Jericho Writers has consistently walked beside me as I traverse the writerly landscape. 

More recent times have seen me joining the Jericho Writers team, in Writer Support – which means that for three days a week, I get paid to think about writing, talk about writing and help other writers with their writing. I love it! 

And now there’s another big tick on my to-do list. I’ve been accepted onto the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme. The first month’s topic is Planning and Plotting. Well, I’ve been planning and plotting this since the earliest of days. Let me go back to the beginning and tell you my story... 

I’ve wanted to be an author since primary school, where I discovered the wonder of writing stories. More than this, I discovered the joy of my stories being read. My teacher was a fan of the tales I wrote: a series of Nancy Drew-esque mysteries which my identical-twin characters solved with surprising ease. He was a kind teacher. I was awarded the English Literature Cup at our final ‘graduating’ assembly. Destiny set. I was going to be an author. 

Turn the page to the next chapter – the scene is my first secondary school English lesson. I am having my tall poppy head sliced off. I have no memory of what was actually said: can’t even remember the teacher’s name, or what she looked like. I do remember the crushing reset. How foolish, to think I could be a writer! My efforts were lacking. I did not measure up. Just who did I think I was? She had pointed at the part of me that thought I couldn’t and said: “You’re right.” 

It took me thirty years to get back to my dream.  

It took me falling in love.  

One day, my new husband asked: “Who do you think you are? Who do you really want to be?”  

“An author, please?” I replied. 

“Please?”  

He frowned, then pointed at the part of me that thought I could, and said, “You’re right.”  

That was ten years ago. Since then, I have written five full novel-scale manuscripts and have started my sixth. I self-published the first three and proved a boatload and more to myself. I could write books which did sell, and that people enjoyed reading. I decided to change genre and aim to be traditionally published – and this is the track I’m on today.  

My fourth manuscript garnered one competition long-listing and sixty-three agent rejections. My fifth manuscript earned a long-listing in another competition and is currently collecting its own set of rejection-gongs. It hurts. It’s okay. It’s the process. I’m older. I know better now to keep going, and why it is important to do so: because my heart and its contents matter. 

That moment of permission from my husband was my inciting incident – and the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme is perhaps my mid-point. Could this be the moment at which everything will change and there’ll be no going back? It’s a big investment in my dream of becoming the best novelist I am capable of being. I want to hone my craft and grab the opportunities the course provides. I want to be proud of my writing: confident that I’m on my way to being an accomplished – perhaps even a great – storyteller.  

There are going to be a few more ups and downs in this plot line of mine. A crisis (or two) is to be expected. Moving between the first, second and third acts always involves some level of hanging off cliffs, yes?  

Ultimately, I’m hoping this is a redemption story – that a happy ending looms in the future for me. If I end up attracting the attention of an agent or publisher – or if I don’t – I am giving myself permission to find out what I can achieve. I’m plotting and I’m planning. I’m defining character and honing my voice. 

So, who do I think I am? I’m an author – learning to fully inhabit the role. Perhaps you’ll let me share my progress and experiences with you, as I work through the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme?  

I hope so.  

See you next time, 

Rachel 

Rachel Davidson is a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers prior to joining our Writer Support Team, Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada and is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.

Over the past month, the Jericho Writers team has been tightly focused on helping you to write better scenes.

Through the Write With Jericho video course – free for Premium Members – we’ve explored:

• Making each scene purposeful
• Creating atmosphere in your scene
• Dynamic dialogue and internal monologue
• Show, don’t tell - and when to break the rule.

Many of you have shared examples of your work with us during the course, and our four tutors fed back on the writing they saw via the forums over on Townhouse.

Here, I’ll share some of the most common challenges authors experienced as they worked on perfecting their scenes – as well as our top tips for overcoming them.

Making each scene purposeful

Following lesson one, best-selling author Becca Day had the following advice to share with her fellow writers:

Remember the purpose of your B plot: This seemed to be a sticking point for some authors, but – in a nutshell – the B plot sums up the reason why the A plot is your character’s story to tell. What is it that makes this tale, and this scene within it, so personal to your protagonist?

Make sure the stakes are personal: Even if you think you’ve come up with something suitably emotive, Becca suggests digging a little deeper to see if you can make it more so. Instead of ‘My character will lose her job if XYZ,’ consider: ‘If XYZ, my character will lose her job – and it’s the job her father always wanted for her. She’ll be letting down his memory if she’s sacked.’ This calls into question whether the character actually cares about her job as much as her father did, or if she’s merely doing it because she feels like she owes it to him. See how much more powerful that just became?

Creating atmosphere in your scene

Meanwhile, Jericho Writers founder Harry Bingham shared these thoughts after teaching Write With Jericho lesson two:

Consider what to leave out, as well as what to put in: Repeated words and phrases, or detail where it isn’t necessary, can detract from the atmosphere you’re working so hard to create. It might sound contrary, but keeping your writing spare – choosing your words carefully – is a terrific technique for building atmosphere.

Be mindful of pace: On the flip side, make sure you’re not hurrying past moments where the reader might like to linger. As you’re describing a setting, ask yourself – does this need a reaction shot? Do I need to dwell, just for a moment, on the feeling this elicits in the character(s)?

If you create a moment, let it live: To some extent, this is about pace, too – but also the natural ways people react to things. When you introduce some action into your setting – a loud noise, say – make sure your character(s) respond to this in a way, and in an order, that feels believable. They won’t know what the sound is, so let’s see their experience of it, their shock and confusion, and then perhaps their relief at figuring out the reason for the din. Don’t name the noise or its source until your character(s) could reasonably know what it is and where it’s coming from or the moment will lose its authenticity.

Dynamic dialogue and internal monologue

In the lesson three forum, I shared the following feedback with our authors:

Avoid excessive formality: In my Write With Jericho lesson, I talked about the importance of keeping speech natural and appropriate for your characters and setting. This advice applies to internal monologue, too. If you want readers to feel close to your protagonist or narrator, you must make them feel like a friend. That means using contractions (‘won’t’ instead of ‘will not’ / ‘don’t’ instead of ‘do not’), and avoiding the sort of stiffness that might feel more ‘job interview’ than ‘intimate, honest conversation’.

Keep an eye on your POV: All writers are guilty of letting their point of view wander from time to time – but it’s important not to let it amble too far! If you’re working in first person or third person close, you need to be vigilant and stay mindful of what your main character can reasonably know about others’ thoughts, feelings and motivations. Be careful not to stray too far into omniscience, if this isn’t the mode you’re actually working in.

Watch out for clunky self-referencing: This is a pet peeve of mine, but in first person narratives (where protagonists are forced to think and talk about themselves constantly), I think it’s important to keep self-references natural. Does anyone really think about the colour of their own hair as they shove it out of their face? Or the precise shade of their eyes as they close them in despair? Obviously, your readers want this information – they need to know what your protagonist looks like – but real internal monologues simply don’t work like this. You need a reason for your character to be thinking about whatever they’re contemplating, so find one! Or, save the eye colour info for a moment where it will slot in seamlessly.

Remember, punctuation affects pace: The way you punctuate speech can have a huge impact on how it sounds – and whether it lands with a big bang or a whimper. If in doubt, read it aloud (even if your nearest and dearest will fear you’ve lost the plot). Consider the difference between: ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that,’ and ‘Sorry. Really. I didn’t mean that.’

Show, don't tell - and when to break the rule

Finally, over on the lesson four feedback forum, Sophie Flynn suggested the following fixes for writers trying to strike the right balance between showing and telling.

Beware of filtering: Words like ‘seemed’, ‘appeared’, ‘noticed’ and ‘felt’ can signal you’re a step too far away from your main character’s point of view – that you’re filtering their experience through a second pair of eyes. Minimise this if you can, and you’ll find your writing feels sharper and more immediate.

Watch out for showing that feels like telling: Running a fingertip over a barely healed wound, for example, is an act that needs to be connected to a thought or conversation that’s happening in the moment. Otherwise, it won’t feel natural.

Don’t show where telling would be clearer: Again, this is a question of getting the balance right – but if trying to show something takes longer, is more effortful and is potentially confusing for the reader, don’t be afraid just to state a few simple facts.  

Ready to dive in...?

If you haven’t yet taken this year’s Write With Jericho course, what are you waiting for? All four lessons are now available for Premium Members to watch at their own pace.

Not yet a Premium Member? Join us today to access Write With Jericho, plus a host of other video courses, live events and writing resources. Fancy watching lesson one of Write With Jericho 2025 for free? Check it out here.

Dialogue is one of the cornerstones of great fiction writing. Whatever genre you’re working in, and whether your novel is literary or commercial, your characters need to speak to one another.

Why? First, because talking is just what people do. A book where the characters didn’t have conversations would feel totally unrealistic, not to mention decidedly odd.

Just as importantly, dialogue provides blessed relief from long stretches of narrative description. While these are crucial for establishing context, worldbuilding and setting readers’ expectations, they simply aren’t sustainable over 300 pages. Dialogue is immediate and immersive: it lifts the tone of a scene and quickens its pace, providing vital balance. I think of it as a load-bearing wall: something that keeps the shape of your story sound, and its structure strong. Without it, your novel could sink beneath the weight of too much ‘telling’.

This leads me on to another reason why dialogue is so very useful for us authors. It allows us to show, clearly and effectively, all sort of things that might be tiresome to describe. Want to make clear that one character has history with another? Give them an opportunity to bicker about something that happened years ago. Need to signal that someone in your novel is more educated than they claim? Give them a short speech where jargon they’ve no business knowing creeps in.

In my Write With Jericho lesson, I go deep into the theory and practice of writing great dialogue – and I also explain how internal monologue can intersect with what your characters say out loud. Here, I’m going to share a few dos and don’ts that should help you while you craft or edit your characters’ dialogue. I hope you find them useful.

Do give your characters distinct voices.

Think about accents, dialect and vocabulary. A wealthy, Oxbridge-educated lawyer will likely sound different from someone who’s grown up in poverty, left school at sixteen and has spent time in prison – and please note, that remains true even if the characters are of equal intelligence!

What can the way your character speaks tell us about their background, upbringing, education and social status? Does their voice truly reflect who they are inside? If not, why not? (I’m looking at you, Charlotte from The Traitors…)

Do make characters' speech appropriate for the situation.

We all modify the way we speak, depending on who we’re speaking to; we chat with friends and family in a very different way than we’d talk to a job interview panel! While your character’s dialogue needs to stay consistent with who they are, you also need to allow for subtle shifts in how they speak.

Do remember that most speech is informal.

Unless you’re writing dialogue for a novel set in another world or time period, I’d always recommend using contractions and keeping your characters’ speech casual. In real life, we usually say ‘I can’t’, or ‘I don’t’, not ‘I cannot’ or ‘I do not’. Informality is key for making your characters’ speech believable. It ensures their conversations feel overheard, rather than artificial.

Don't allow your characters to speak in soliloquy or conduct Q&As.

Unless you’ve created a Winston Churchill-style character, it will feel unnatural for them to make long, uninterrupted speeches. Likewise, most conversations involve meandering and obfuscation – especially if one person is trying to extract information that another isn’t keen to share. Very rarely do any of us give a straight answer when we’re asked a point-blank question, so bear this in mind as you write.

Do make your dialogue work hard.

We’ve all heard the advice to strip adverbs out of our work and use simple dialogue tags – and I’m not the woman to gainsay it. Broadly speaking, if you’re choosing the words your characters speak carefully enough, they can do an awful lot of heavy lifting for you. Want to imply your character is shouting? Show their growing exasperation through the words inside the speech marks. Want to make it clear they’re grief-stricken? Use words that show this, so you don’t need to tell readers how they feel.

Don't overuse exclamation marks and italics.

This is an especially useful tip for when you’re editing dialogue: if it’s riddled with exclamations and italics, you probably need to tighten it up. Too much shouty, slanty content is a sign your dialogue isn’t strong enough, or that you didn’t have full confidence in it as you were drafting. Review it and see what could change.

Finally, don't worry that everything your characters say needs to match up perfectly with what's going on inside.

In fact, it’s thrilling for a reader when a character’s internal monologue contradicts what they’re doing and saying. This dichotomy is often key for developing a strong connection between your reader and your story’s protagonist – so exploit it if you can. Show them that your character’s outward loathing of their workplace rival hides a powerful, secret crush; signal that the perfect wife’s devotion to her husband is the smokescreen for her dastardly murder plot.

For more on dialogue and internal monologue, don’t miss lesson three of Write With Jericho – now available for Premium Members.

As always, happy writing!

Embarking on the journey to write a novel is both thrilling and intimidating. For me, the decision to pursue writing courses through Jericho Writers was about more than just learning to write — it was about growth, connection, and finding my voice in the literary world.

Here’s how these courses shaped my writing journey and why they might be the stepping stone you need, too.

Why I chose writing courses with Jericho Writers

Writing a novel has always been my dream, but like many aspiring authors, I felt unsure of where to start. I sought professional guidance to refine my writing and push my creative boundaries. I wanted to gain technical skills, build confidence, and surround myself with a community of like-minded storytellers.

I approached these courses as tools to help me develop as a writer, step by step. Each course I chose met specific needs, from drafting a manuscript to navigating the publishing world.

The courses that transformed my writing

1. The Ultimate Novel Writing Course

This was my first foray into structured learning. The Ultimate Novel Writing Course took me from a spark of an idea to a complete manuscript, offering the structure and accountability I needed. With expert guidance and peer feedback, I found myself pushing through moments of doubt and creative block. The course taught me narrative structure, character development, and, most importantly, how to finish what I started.

2. The Self-Edit Your Novel course

Once I had a manuscript, I knew the next step was refinement. The Self-Edit Your Novel course taught me how to view my work through an editor’s lens. I learned to identify areas for improvement, enhance clarity, and polish my story until it shone. This phase was truly eye-opening — it amazed me how much a focused revision process could elevate my writing.

One memorable piece of advice came from Debi Alper, who suggested I start my novel at chapter four and switch tenses. That single change transformed the pacing and impact of my thriller. She also encouraged me to imagine my protagonist as a famous actor, which resolved my struggle with their voice.

3. The Path to Publication course

With a polished manuscript in hand, Path To Publication helped me navigate the world of publishing — a realm I found both exciting and overwhelming. It provided invaluable insights into compiling a compelling query letter, synopsis, and submission package. The highlight of this course was the agent showcase, where we read our first 500 words to two agents. Their feedback was not only constructive but incredibly motivating. Receiving a full manuscript request from one of the agents less than a week later was a dream come true, and I wasn’t the only one on the course to experience this success.

Lessons learned along the way...

Each of the courses I undertook with Jericho Writers surprised me in unexpected ways. I discovered strengths in my writing I hadn’t noticed, as well as habits I needed to break. Feedback from tutors and peers was invaluable, teaching me the importance of listening and staying open to suggestions.

Some of the biggest lessons I’ve taken away include:

Resilience and Vulnerability: Sharing your work can be daunting, but it’s a necessary step in the creative process.

The Value of Revision: Editing is where the magic happens. It’s the bridge between a good draft and a great story.

Embracing Experimentation: Trying alternative approaches often leads to breakthroughs.

Connections Matter: The relationships I’ve built continue to inspire and support me.

Course highlights

The Ultimate Novel Writing Course helped me write my first novel and gave me a deep understanding of narrative structure.

The Self Edit Your Novel course boosted my confidence and taught me how to experiment with my writing.

Thanks to the Path To Publication course, the submission process is no longer a mystery, and I feel confident approaching agents and publishers.

Looking back and moving forward

These courses were more than just learning experiences for me — they were transformative. They equipped me with the tools to navigate the ups and downs of writing and publishing while fostering a sense of community that I deeply value.

If you’re considering taking the plunge, I can’t recommend Jericho Writers’ courses enough. Whether you’re starting with an idea, refining a draft, or preparing to submit, there’s a course to guide you every step of the way.

Here’s to your writing journey and all the stories waiting to be told.

Are you struggling to get started with your next writing project? Wondering which idea is the one to run with, or how to decide? Preparing for the launch of our new Premium Member course, Write With Jericho, has got me thinking about this very topic. What do you do when you have way too many ideas bouncing around in your brain? And what if you can't even decide which genre to dive into? If this sounds familiar, don't panic - I've got you covered. Let's figure it out together. (And don't forget - Write With Jericho is for Premium Members only, so be sure to join us to access this course! We'll be learning how to craft the perfect scene, so you'll be able to approach any story idea with confidence.) 

1. Start with what excites you most 

When you have too many ideas, start by asking yourself: which one makes you feel the most excited? Which idea has you daydreaming about characters or imagining epic plot twists? Sit with the ideas for a few days or weeks. If one idea gives you that little spark of joy and you find yourself constantly thinking about it, run with it. Writing a book is not easy. If the idea doesn’t make you bounce in your seat a little bit, it’s probably not going to be an idea you’ll want to sit with for 80k plus words and read and edit again... and again... and again. Excitement is the fuel that will keep you going. 

Pro Tip: If you’re excited about it, chances are your readers will be too. 

2. Create a “Battle Royale” of ideas 

Take all your ideas and pit them against each other. Write a quick elevator pitch for each one and see which stands out. When I say elevator pitch, I don’t mean the kind you’d include on a query letter. I mean the quick, dirty kind that you stick on a post-it note or scribble in the middle of the night. Take a look at this masterclass from Harry Bingham if you’re unsure how to do this. If you’re torn between a thriller about a missing heirloom and a romantic comedy set in a flower shop, ask yourself: which feels fresher? Which would you rather spend months (or years) writing? 

3. Test drive your ideas 

You don’t have to commit right away. Write a short story, an opening chapter, or even just a scene for a few of your favourite ideas. Why not use Write With Jericho, where we’re going to be writing a scene together, to try out your idea? As a Premium Member, you’ll have access to the replays for as long as you’re a member, so if it doesn’t work out you can always take the course again with a different idea. This process can help you see which one feels the most natural to write and has the most potential for growth. 

4. Combine ideas 

Who says you have to choose just one? Sometimes the best stories come from blending two seemingly unrelated ideas. For example, your dystopian sci-fi concept could pair perfectly with your love for cozy mysteries. Suddenly, you’re writing about a sleuth solving crimes on a spaceship. Genre mashups can be magical – and extremely sought after by agents and publishers if they’re done well. 

5. Explore your genre dilemma 

If you can’t decide which genre to write, think about: 

What you love to read? The genre you enjoy most as a reader might be the one you’ll enjoy writing. 

Your natural strengths: Are you great at building suspense? Maybe thrillers are your calling. Do you write snappy dialogue? Consider comedy. 

What scares you a little: The genre that intimidates you might be the one that helps you grow the most as a writer. 

6. Look at the long game 

Ask yourself: which genre do you see yourself sticking with for multiple books? If you’re hoping to build a career, it helps to establish yourself in a particular niche. That doesn’t mean you can never branch out, but if a publisher is considering offering you a book deal, they’ll want to know that you can produce multiple books in the same genre that will appeal to the same readers again and again. When I wrote my first novel, which was a sci-fi, this is exactly why I never queried it. I couldn’t see myself as a sci-fi writer. I didn’t think I could write another book in the genre, or at least, not multiple books. However, I could see myself writing lots of thrillers, so I decided to do that instead. 

7. Consult your characters 

Sometimes it’s the characters, not the plot, that can help you decide. Think about the people in your ideas. Which characters feel the most real or compelling? Which ones are clamoring the loudest for their story to be told? Follow their lead. 

8. Set aside market pressure 

It’s easy to get caught up in what’s trending. While it’s good to be aware of the market, trying to chase trends can stifle your creativity. It’s also a bit pointless. What’s trending today probably won’t be next year, so by the time you’ve written the book, edited the book, and started to query, it’s likely to no longer be in demand. Even worse – the market will probably be over-saturated by that point and you’ll be competing with writers who got there quicker than you. Instead, focus on writing what you’re passionate about. Trends come and go, but a story you love will always have value. 

9. Flip a coin (seriously) 

If you’re truly stuck, grab a coin. Assign an idea or genre to each side and flip. You’ll either: 

Get your answer, or 

Realize as the coin is mid-air which one you’re secretly rooting for. 

10. Remember to have fun 

Writing should be fun! Yes, it’s hard work, but it’s also your chance to create a world, fall in love with your characters, and tell a story only you can tell. Don’t stress about choosing the “right” idea. Whatever you write, it will be uniquely yours. 

So, take a deep breath, pick an idea (or two!), and start typing. You’ve got this! 

Don’t forget to join us as a Premium Member to take part in Write With Jericho. The first lesson is now live! You can find out more about the course right here. 

A retreat from reality. A whole day, or maybe even several days, wholly devoted to writing. An opportunity to focus solely on your work-in-progress: to smash a word count goal, get under the skin of your story idea or wrestle your plot into perfect shape. 

Sounds great, right? It’s no wonder that attending a writing retreat is on most authors’ wish lists for 2025 – mine included!  

However, writing retreats can be prohibitively expensive, especially in the aftermath of Christmas. They can also be tough to fit into everyday life if you have other commitments to consider.  

Luckily, there are ways you can bring the principles of a retreat into your own writing practice, whatever your budget and time constraints may be. Here are five helpful ideas for running your own DIY writing retreat. I hope they help you get 2025 off to a strong, creative start.  

1. Pick (or prepare) a place 

If spending a few hours away from home – perhaps in a particularly nice coffee shop – is an option for you, then this might be a good place to start. Alternatively, it could be that a day or two in a local hotel or B&B is within reach. If so, this could offer sufficient distance from the daily grind to boost your productivity.  

If you can head further afield, that’s great, too – though (unless your retreat is also a very specific research trip) beware the temptation to book accommodation in a location where you’ll be tempted to explore. Trekking to Scotland for some peace and quiet is all very well, but you’re unlikely to get much writing done if you can’t resist checking out local hiking trails or touring whisky distilleries… 

Which leads me nicely to my point. While the word ‘retreat’ probably makes you think of going away somewhere, in reality this is far less important than the decision to retreat – as in, step back – from what you normally do and think about. You could travel to a perfect, picturesque cottage in the middle of nowhere and still struggle to concentrate on writing if you can’t put down your mobile phone or silence the voice in your head that keeps whispering, ‘Don’t forget tomorrow is bin day!’ 

As you prepare for your DIY writing retreat – which can certainly happen in your own home – think about the distractions that typically pull you away from writing. How can you tackle them? You might consider asking a friend or partner to take charge of children or pets for a day, for example.  

If you’ve booked a day or two of leave from work to write, turn your ‘office’ phone off and put it in a drawer. Refuse to think about your day job until your retreat is done! Also, make sure those around you know that just because you have booked a day off work, it doesn't mean you are ‘off’. This is not the opportunity for accepting invitations to brunch, or tackling those extra projects around the home you've been meaning to do. You're still working. It's just a different sort of work. 

Give yourself permission to de-prioritise any chores and errands you’d usually get done during the time you’ve set aside for your DIY writing retreat. That said, make sure the space you’ll use for writing is clean and tidy… otherwise ‘neatening it up’ could easily become a smokescreen for procrastination.  

If you’re keen to dedicate some more time to your work-in-progress but don’t have the opportunity or funds to go on a traditional writing retreat, signing up for The Ultimate Start could also be a great option for you. This one day, online writing workshop offers five tutorials with expert authors, and is designed to kickstart your creativity for the New Year. Best of all, it costs just £49 for Jericho Writers Premium Members and £99 for non-members.

2. Set strategic goals 

So, you’ve decided when and where your DIY writing retreat will take place. Now it’s time to define what you want to achieve during the time you’ve set aside.  

Perhaps you want to plan your next project. Maybe you have a completed draft that you’re keen to self-edit. It could be that you’re desperately trying to get to ‘the end’ with a work-in-progress, and just need some focused time to help you bring home the final act of your story.  

Wherever you are on your writing journey, think about the best way to invest the time you’re devoting to your retreat. What can you get done in that period, and what impact will it have on your project overall? What aspects of writing do you normally find most difficult – and does this distraction-free time offer an opportunity to get to grips with them?  

Before you begin your DIY writing retreat, you need to know upfront what ‘success’ means for you. Without a clear goal in mind, you may struggle to stay motivated – and you also risk ending without that clear, satisfying sense of crossing the finish line.  

You must also make sure that, whatever goal you set, it’s realistic. If you have a single day to work on your writing, for example, don’t tell yourself you’re going to produce 10,000 perfect words. Aim for a number you know is feasible, then pat yourself on the back if you overshoot!

3. Create a schedule 

The phrase ‘writing retreat’ probably conjures up cosy images of people thinking very deep, writerly thoughts, snuggled up in front of roaring fires and sipping from bottomless mugs of hot chocolate. Lovely as such images are, the truth is that you can only spend so much time contemplating and quaffing sugary beverages if you want to get stuff done.  

By all means, make regular hot chocolate breaks a core component of your DIY writing retreat plan – but schedule them in advance. Make them a reward for an hour of good work. Think about how they can push you closer to achieving your goal, rather than hamper you from focusing on it. 

When you’re planning your DIY writing retreat, it’s a good idea to consider in advance how you can incorporate regular meals, small treats, physical movement and rest – particularly if you’re spending more than a day on focused work. It may sound puritanical, but creating a schedule will not only help you stick to writing, planning or editing; it will also encourage you to take good care of yourself.  

Through The Ultimate Start, we’re offering five workshops in a single day to help you plan a new project, review your work-in-progress or provide a fantastic framework for self-editing. You can view the schedule for the day (which includes plenty of all-important breaks!) right here on our website.  

4. Prepare your resources  

Think about ways you can prepare for your DIY writing retreat in advance. Could you batch cook a few meals, for instance, or stock up on healthy snacks that will keep your creativity flowing? If you’re a lover of fabulous notebooks and snazzy pens, would having a couple of new ones help motivate you during your retreat?  

You’ll also want to consider more mundane things like ensuring any research notes, files or books you might need are readily available. Collect everything together in one place so that, even if you’re staying at home, you won’t waste precious time hunting for them.  

Think about making sure you’re comfortable, too. If you have a favourite cushion, blanket or scented candle, incorporate this into your workspace.  

Such items should be a welcome reminder that your writing retreat is supposed to be pleasurable, as well as productive. Focusing on your writing in this way is something you get to do, not something you have to do. 

5. Celebrate your success (and analyse how you could improve) 

When your writing retreat is over, make sure you give yourself credit for the time and effort you’ve put into it – whether or not you achieved everything you set out to.  

If you didn’t quite hit your target, see if there’s anything you can learn from that. Was your word count goal too ambitious? Did you underestimate how long editing or planning certain sections of your story might take you? Or, did you find an idea you’d thought was good didn’t have legs and come up with something else instead? 

So often in writing, what seems like a setback is a learning experience, or an opportunity to pivot and improve something. When you look back on what you’ve managed to do during your DIY writing retreat, consider it with positivity and without judgement. That way, you won’t be discouraged from carving out time for another writing retreat in future – and you’ll be even better equipped to make the most of it.  

So, there you have it! Five tips for creating a DIY writing retreat that will help you start your writing year right.  

And if you’d like to find out more about the affordable mini ‘writing retreat’ we’re running for online this January, check out The Ultimate Start page on our website.  

‘The saggy middle’. Not a very attractive term.  

What does it mean, however?  

We could say that, broadly, the centre of a narrative should mark the zenith of its arc – and therefore, it is the pivotal point of the story. If your book loses momentum around this point, that’s problematic.  

So how do you avoid the dreaded saggy middle? Here are some ideas to implement.  

1. Consider a twist at the mid-point 

This will inject your plot with energy and propel the text on.  

Might one of your protagonist’s friends or allies betray them, offering new interest and prompting the reader to reconsider assumptions they’ve made?  

Conversely, someone the reader had thought was a villain may turn out to be something else. Perhaps they are more subtle, more intriguing, than they first seemed? Maybe that villain is wrestling with their own conflict, or fulfilling a role forced upon them.  

Thinking more about assumptions, could you offer something subversive here? Maybe a character readers have assumed to be truthful has been lying throughout the story so far. Or is your narrator less dependable than they seemed?  

What happens need not be a cataclysm; it could just be a series of hints to unsettle and intrigue your reader. All these things may come earlier or later in your novel – but do consider them here and see if they ignite your book. 

2. Up the stakes  

Often, a saggy middle comes from a lack of increase in stakes. What are the consequences if your protagonist succeeds or fails in their mission? What if it looks as though they might not answer the questions you posed earlier in the book? You could make the need to solve a problem more urgent, or introduce an additional element of danger or risk. You could add a setback or two. 

We don’t want your protagonist to arrive too smoothly at their destination. Do elements of the plot fall into place too neatly? In that case, the book might struggle to keep momentum as it moves towards its climax.  

Adding a setback, or a series of setbacks, around the halfway point is an effective way to keep the book alive. By creating new jeopardy and complexity, you’ll lead the reader on, making them wonder how the protagonist is going to recover. This is a terrific technique because wanting to know the answers to questions is instinctual in all of us – particularly when the questions are thorny!  

Added to this is the question of whether your protagonist’s (and other characters’) emotional arcs need to be more expansive. Have you tied their development closely enough to the setbacks they’re experiencing? Consider whether more is needed to develop and build to sustain the fascination of your reader with your characters from this point. 

3. Add more action 

Does your novel need more action at this stage? How might you add drama and tension?  

The action need not be physical – it can take many forms, depending on genre, plot and your readership. Consider an argument, where long-held resentments come to the surface; or perhaps a revelation that leaves one or more characters reeling. Whatever happens, will it open the way to further engaging twists, setbacks, and developments? Will it make your reader keep turning the page?  

4. Experiment with editing 

Just how badly is your book’s middle sagging? Is it time to make some cuts? 

Read the text aloud. Are you bored? If so, that’s a sign some trimming is needed. I have found that when a writer doesn’t know how to get from one point to another, their text may be mired in unnecessary dialogue, small events which do nothing to advance the plot (however lovely the language) or an efflorescence of detail that just grounds the book.  

Sometimes writers tell me they need to include lots of detail at this point because it is immersive for the reader. But the opposite can be true: it can be a drag factor. It might be that you are actively creating a saggy middle!  

In general, your reader needs less detail than you do – so consider whether there is just too much here. It can be a painful process, but it is part of authoring a book. Being tough on yourself here is excellent training, too – not least because edits are part of the process of bringing a novel to market.  

Bonus tip: if you do decide to trim your text, remember to keep any content you remove from your manuscript in a separate, clearly labelled, dated document. You never know – you may want to add it back in later, or even place it somewhere else in the text.   

Hopefully, these ideas are useful for you. Above all, please know that saggy middles are a common problem – and definitely something you can fix! 

So, you’re ready to get serious about your creative writing ambitions. Keen to hone your craft. Committed to writing more words, more consistently than you ever have before. Maybe you’re finally feeling brave enough to share your work with others: a nerve-wracking step that (in my experience) is far less scary, and far more helpful, than it’s possible to imagine upfront. 

Assuming the above isn’t too wide of the mark, you’re probably considering a creative writing course. I found myself in just that position five years ago, and I maintain that participating in one made a crucial difference to my motivation and self-belief. I’ve since written four completed books, three of which have been traditionally published. The fourth is due out next year.  

But how do you know which are the best online creative writing courses? 

The short answer is, it’s not easy! Picking the right course is a challenge: there’s a huge array of options out there. One size does not fit all, and it’s important to ensure that, whatever sum you invest, it yields the help and support you need. 

In this blog post, I’m going to share my thoughts on 10 important things to look for, to identify the best online creative writing courses before you make your decision. 

1. Reviews and testimonials

Positive feedback from previous students is a sure sign that a creative writing course is worth considering. Think not only about the number of starred reviews a course gets; read detailed testimonials if they’re available, so you can get a clear sense of individuals’ experiences and what the course has helped them achieve.  

Ask yourself: what does this course promise, and what does it deliver for the people who participate? If those two things match up, you could be onto a winner. If not, it makes sense to look elsewhere.

2. Reputable instructors

When you put yourself – and your beloved novel idea! – into the hands of experts who promise to help you, it’s important to make sure they really are experts. You need to feel confident that the people teaching on your creative writing course are credible. What publishing experience do they have? How many years does it go back? Have they won awards or prizes? Have their previous students found success? 

Just as importantly, you should look at the kind of writing a tutor or mentor works with and assess whether they’re a good fit for you. If you’re a committed fantasy writer, for example, it’s important for you to work with someone who both understands and enjoys your chosen genre. The Jericho Writers Ultimate Novel Writing Course tutors have a wide variety of specialisms, and we aim to match these as closely as possible to the projects of the individuals they work with.  

Another thing to consider is how well you feel you’ll gel with whoever will be teaching your course. Sharing your writing with anyone means making yourself vulnerable, and trust is a key component of the relationship you’ll forge with any creative writing tutor.

3. Flexibility

It’s important to think about how a creative writing course will fit into your life. The best course for you is always the one you will actually participate in.  

No matter what its merits or how much money you’ve put into it, if a course is structured in a way that makes it impossible for you to commit – perhaps because the schedule is rigid and you’re already dealing with work, domestic and family pressures – you won’t reap its full benefits. 

Online creative writing courses offer more flexibility than in-person options, but they don’t all work in the same way. Take a close look at how any course you’re considering works in practice, so you can decide whether you’ll be able to participate on terms that work for you. 

At the same time, don’t be afraid to decide that now is the moment to start carving out space on your calendar for writing. The trick is balancing this determination with a dash of realism. In my experience, both are important ingredients if you intend to bake a whole book. 

4. High quality course content

Don’t be shy about digging through the full syllabus of any creative writing course you’re considering. What, exactly, does it cover? What are the key topics you’ll study? How relevant do you feel they are for you and your project?  

Personally, I’m a fan of the blended approach – one that covers the craft of writing, plus how the publishing industry works. The beauty of an online course like the Ultimate Novel Writing Course is that it offers the best of both worlds: a focus on the nitty-gritty of characterisation and plotting (such as you’d find on a creative writing MA course), plus additional support with understanding how to get your work published.

5. One-to-one mentoring

Working with a mentor can make all the difference to your self-confidence, as well as the quality of your story. While some creative writing courses offer regular one-to-one sessions with a tutor, others don’t – and it’s important to know at the outset how much individual attention you’ll get from whoever is teaching you. 

We offer two versions of the Ultimate Novel Writing Course, and our FULL package includes monthly one-to-one mentoring with your tutor, as well as two one-to-one sessions with a literary agent at the end of the course.  

Students who choose our CORE package get a single session with a literary agent and have the option to book one-to-one mentoring with their course tutor should they wish to upgrade.

6. Detailed, personalised feedback

Actionable feedback on your writing is among the most important things you should look for in a creative writing course, whether you’re studying online or IRL. Good questions to think about include: how much of your novel-in-progress will your tutor read? Note that, in some cases, it won’t be your full manuscript. Will you receive a written report on your work? If so, how much detailed advice will it contain? 

In my view, a tutor who can look at big-picture stuff (such as your character arcs and overall plot structure) as well as how skilfully you craft individual scenes and dialogue, is definitely worth having in your corner.  

Students who opt for the FULL Ultimate Novel Writing Course package get a complete manuscript assessment as part of the course. This means their tutor will read their full novel (up to 100,000 words) and deliver a report of up to 4,000 words on its strengths and development areas, as well as how to perfect it.  

7. Publishing industry insight

This links back to the credibility of your course tutors, but I think it’s important enough to merit a specific mention. The publishing industry is complicated, competitive and constantly changing. Whether your ambition is to self-publish or submit to literary agents and hope for a traditional deal, it’s vital to understand how everything works.  

Look for a creative writing course that will support your understanding of the various ways to publish, as well as their pros and cons. Ideally, find one that’s taught by people who’ve been there and done it – and who still have their fingers on the pulse.

8. Opportunities for discovery

Imagine: you’ve shown up consistently and grafted hard to write your novel. You’ve taken on board your tutor’s feedback and edited your work, fine-tuning it so it’s finally ready to be shared more widely.  

What’s next? Ideally, if your creative writing course has got you this far, it will help you get your work out there, too – probably by helping you put it in front of literary agents. 

Many creative writing courses offer students the opportunity to have their work featured in a collection that’s shared with agencies, but make sure you know precisely what’s on offer before signing up.  

All students on the Ultimate Novel Writing Course are offered the opportunity to submit their work for our anthology, and will also receive feedback from our agency partners on their novels’ commercial potential. CORE students get a single one-to-one session with an agent, while FULL package students get two. 

9. Ongoing support

Writing is joyful, but it also has its difficult, dispiriting and lonely moments. No author is immune, whether they’ve produced one book or twenty, and no matter how much publishing success they may have had.  

That’s why a creative writing course that offers ongoing support – from the provider, and / or from your fellow students – is well worth thinking about. I finished my creative writing course in 2019 but, like many Jericho Writers alumni, I’m still in touch with several of my classmates. It’s a pleasure to be able to review and help promote one another’s books, and half a decade on we’re still celebrating each other’s successes.  

All Ultimate Novel Writing Course students retain access to their course materials for life, so they can revisit key lessons at any time. I also think it’s great that the FULL Ultimate Novel Writing Course package includes two years of Premium Membership to Jericho Writers. The best authors never stop learning, and accessing live masterclasses and video courses is a great way to keep pushing yourself. 

10. Value for money

Finally, you need to consider how much you’re able and willing to spend on your creative writing course before you commit. Prices vary hugely, but so does what providers include – so I’d urge you to think carefully about a course’s long-term benefits and whether it offers value for money, as well as its upfront cost.  

Spending a few hundred pounds on a short course that kick-starts your creativity may well be the best choice for you right now. Conversely, you might be ready to invest a bigger sum, and significantly more time, in developing yourself as an author.  

We’ve designed the Ultimate Novel Writing Course to offer everything we think beginner and intermediate writers need to complete high quality, publishable novels and prepare to seek publishing deals. However, we also offer a host of other writing courses and editorial services – and if you’d like some help with working out what’s right for you, you can book a free consultation with a member of our team. Honesty is one of our core values, so you can rest assured that if we don’t think the Ultimate Novel Writing Course is right for you, we’ll say so. We’ll also suggest a more suitable alternative if we can. 

So there you have it! My quick (ish...) 10 point guide to figuring out which are the best online creative courses out there.  

You can find out more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Course, and download the full course brochure, right here on our website.

When I started work on my first novel, I didn’t set out to write something funny. My priority was to craft something relatable: a story that would resonate with readers, as well as entertain them.

In pursuit of realism, I hit upon an important truth: real life – mine, anyway – involves endless mishaps, missteps and mistakes that can either be laughed at or cried over. Like most of us, I typically choose to chuckle – and pretty quickly, I found myself squeezing something sweet from the proverbial lemons my protagonists’ lives served up, too.

Three (almost four!) books in, I feel like I’ve found my comedy groove. Here are five things I’ve learned about writing to raise a smile – or, if you’re lucky, a belly laugh – from your reader.

1. Characters drive comedy (and plot)

In almost every funny book, film or play there’ll be at least one character who’s inherently amusing. Sometimes this will be because they subvert a cliché: think Sister Michael, the hilariously misanthropic nun from Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls.

Elsewhere, a character might have comedy chops because they embody a cliché. Jane Austen’s Mr Collins epitomises the kind of pompous, hectoring clergyman that nobody wants to sit next to in the drawing room.

If you’re creating a purely comedic character, bear in mind that they can’t exist only for the lols. They must serve a purpose or advance your plot. Sister Michael is the Derry Girls’ main antagonist, frequently an obstacle to their scheming. Meanwhile, when Lizzy, the plucky heroine of Pride and Prejudice, rejects Mr Collins’ proposal, he marries her friend instead. This throws Lizzy more squarely into the path of Mr Darcy, who (spoiler alert!) is her perfect match.

2. Don’t pull your punches – but throw them carefully

An important note on ‘laugh at’ characters: always punch up, not down. If you’re inviting your readers to find someone ridiculous, make sure they deserve it – and that they’re risible by choice.

Self-importance, snobbery and wilful ignorance are awful qualities in a dinner party guest, but brilliant foibles for a character you want readers to find funny.

My advice for writing such a person? Imagine someone you’d actively avoid in the workplace, would hide from at a family wedding or might refuse to get in a lift with, just in case it got stuck. Then, make them ten times worse.

3. Be specific

Close attention to detail can really help you nail a comedy character. Do they have a ridiculously elaborate hairstyle, or waft around in a cloud of too-strong perfume? Have they adopted a super posh, royal family-style accent, despite being from a small town in the middle of nowhere?

Think about little things that will help you to show, not tell, why this person is begging to be laughed at.

4. Comedy and empathy are cousins

Your next step is to force your poor, unsuspecting main character to interact with whoever you’ve just made up. If you’re as mean as I am, you might make the supercilious dullard their boss, or the interfering, hysterical fusspot their mother.

Putting someone your readers care about in a toe-curlingly awkward situation is not only a quick way to garner laughs – it’s a powerful way to stoke empathy, too. Who among us hasn’t experienced crushing embarrassment, or the intense frustration of having to be polite to someone they’d prefer to give a piece of their mind?

Comedy is a brilliant way to undercut a problem or circumstance that might otherwise feel bleak and depressing. In David Nicholls’ The Understudy, the protagonist is a failing actor. His hopelessness is underlined by the non-verbal role he’s playing as the novel opens: that of a dead body in a crime drama.

Far from sugarcoating the situation, the humour invites readers in – laughter somehow makes us participants in the story, rather than passive observers. From page one, the reader is invested in seeing this protagonist’s life get better. After all, it’s difficult not to root for someone who’s making a living by pretending to be dead. 

5. Layer your lols

Some books – The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, for instance – have humour hardwired into their basic premise. However, even giving your book a funny foundation doesn’t guarantee you’ll keep readers amused over several hundred pages.

As you’re writing, keep an eye out for opportunities to include humorous moments that feel natural: witty asides, snappy dialogue, misunderstandings and embarrassments. These can be blended with ‘bigger ticket’ comedy incidents you’ve planned more deliberately. The main thing to remember is that the laughs you add to your story are like seasoning. Think of comedy like salt on a chip, or sauce on a steak. Too much could overpower your plot, but the right amount will sharpen, enhance and enrich other aspects of your writing.

From judging competitions, overseeing writer’s editorial services, being keen bookworms and writers of books ourselves, we’ve read a lot of first pages. There are many ways to tackle the opening of your story, so how do you make an informed decision that best suits your story?

First, let’s go back to basics.

The first page makes a promise to the reader. (So does the blurb, cover and pitch – but that’s another story for another day.) The opening lines tell the reader 'this is what you’re getting yourself into' and asks 'do you want to come along for the ride?'

When a reader is deciding whether they want to spend approximately 8-10 hours or 300+ pages with your book, you want to make the best first impression. So, how do we do it?

Our most important piece of advice? Save something for later.

Consistently, we hear agents and publishers turn down submissions that contain too much, too soon.

It's important to remember that stories are built from units of change. A reader wants (and expects) to see new details emerge, for the characters to evolve and reveal hidden sides of themselves.

By parcelling out information and aspects of your character, you can not only strike the balance between hooking your reader’s attention and overwhelming them, but you can offer them something new throughout the story.

Trust your reader. Let information unspool slowly and with care.

What is your opening image?

This first moment should achieve several things for your story:

• Establish normalcy. What does this world look like on this particular day? What stage is the character at in their own life?
• Establish a tension or instability, something that signals change is not only coming, it is necessary to the story. What challenges does the character face? Note: we’re not saying the change or inciting incident need to happen right away, but there should be signs, even if your character is unaware of them.

With this in mind, have a think about the moment you have chosen to start your story. Why now? If it doesn’t achieve the above, consider how you can adjust the timeline to capture your reader’s attention. And remember the advice: start late, finish early.

Now we’ve chosen our first moment, ask yourself are you ‘telling’ what you could ‘show’?

Full disclaimer, we believe that the ‘show don’t tell’ rule can be unhelpful to writers when followed blindly. Both are tools and have their purpose within a novel. Debi Alper’s Psychic Distance masterclass is an essential watch for all writers, but especially those wanting to understand the push and pull between show and tell.

Another way of talking about show and tell is scene versus summary.

A scene is in real-time. It is action, on the spot reflection, (and if you aren’t telling the story in 1st person and present tense, a narrator’s commentary but for more on this do go and watch Debi’s masterclass).

Narrative summary is exactly as described. It is writing that spans time in the story and it might include specific details and dialogue (and we think that it should contain both to create strong visual images in the reader’s mind).

For the opening of a novel you want to immerse your reader efficiently. This means, by providing enough detail to snag their attention, but not too much that you run the risk of overwhelming your reader with too much story, information or worldbuilding all at once.

A scene is an excellent way to do this, but before we dive in let’s look at some examples.

Pick up a few books that you’ve already read (so you are aware of the full narrative shape, and crucially, how it ends) and see how they open. Do they begin with scenes? Do any begin with summary instead?

Look at an example that starts with summary and think about why you think the author chose to do this. Are they using a retrospective point of view, with the narrator is looking back on events from afar and capturing a period of time? How long do they do this before moving into a scene? As you might find, there are plenty of books that open with narrative summary and do it well.

The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson begins with small sections of narrative summary told in quick succession. It breaks lots of ‘rules’ but with good reason that suits the style, the genre and the story being told.

Through quick glimpses into this world, the reader gains an instant and rich impression of the story we are about to step into. There is no info-dumping or heavy world-building, tension and impending change is established, and we are left wanting to know more.

If you want to take a look for yourself, you can view a sample of The Principle of Moments over on Amazon here.

Remember, if it makes sense for your story and engages readers, there are no rules to what you can and can’t do.

Now, we’ve discussed why you might begin by summarising events (though we caution against it as it is difficult to do well), let’s end with a brief note about scenes.

Find a book that opens with a scene.

What do you learn about the world the story takes place in? It doesn’t need to be set in a fantasy land or another planet, it can be a world similar to our own, but crucially, it’ll be dramatized by the author in a deliberate way.

As you read, note down what information you learn about the world. How do they deliver this information? Has the author trusted you to draw any conclusions? Are you left with questions or wanting to find out more?

Are there specific details that the author draw your attention to? If you know how the book ends, why do you think this is?

…

We hope this helps you consider how you open your novel in a more meaningful and deliberate way.

We were thrilled to hear that Samuel Burr's debut had found a home with Orion books. We caught up with Premium Member and now Sunday Times bestselling author, to hear all about his writing journey so far.

Hi Samuel, congratulations on the publication of The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers! You've had a whirlwind writing journey that includes being a part of our community but also writing for TV, and now having your debut novel come out. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got here?

Thank you! It’s been a mad few years, but I’m thrilled to finally be sharing my Puzzlemakers with the world! Ever since I started dipping my toes into the world of novel writing, I’ve tried to embed myself into as many writing communities as I can - not least for the brilliant resources that are so widely available, but also to build my network and make friends with fellow writers. Writing a novel is no mean feat and it’s also a very solitary pastime, so having people to lean on for help and support is totally invaluable. Jericho Writers has been a brilliant for that.

I started writing my debut at the Faber Academy, having previously completed an online course with Curtis Brown Creative, but I realised quite quickly after graduating from Faber (and securing an agent) that I wasn’t done learning! In fact, I was hungry to continue developing my craft, and to meet more writers! So that’s when I joined Jericho Writers as a Premium Member, whilst editing Puzzlemakers, which ended up selling in an auction in Feb 2022. It’s being translated in 14 languages around the world, which is something I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get my head around!

My role in television involved devising, developing and selling new unscripted TV formats, so I’ve always been someone full of ideas. During my career I’ve also learnt to develop my pitching skills. I understand that the most sellable ideas can be pitched in just a few lines, and so I've honed the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers elevator pitch over and over!

We’re thrilled to have been part of your journey, and, we’re always keen to talk elevator pitches. They are so tricky, but once you’ve nailed your book’s concept, they can be a secret weapon. If you’re up for it, could you share your pitch with us? (And anyone who isn’t familiar with The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers).

Of course! It’s the story of Clayton Stumper - a young man who is a bit of a young fogey. Clay dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt. At 25 years of age, he finds himself as one of the surviving members of a very British institution. The Fellowship is a retirement community made up of some of the smartest minds in the country and it’s where he was abandoned at birth. Among the residents are a mazemaker, a quiz setter, and a jigsaw artist to name just a few.

But there’s a mystery at the heart of the Fellowship…. a puzzle that’s yet to be solved…. and that’s how Clayton came to be there, and where he came from. 

When the founder of the Fellowship – an esteemed cruciverbalist (or a crossword compiler) called Pippa Allsbrook passes away, she bequeaths her final puzzle to the young man she’s raised as her own. And so, we follow Clayton on a quest, as he pieces together the clues of his past, and finds himself at the same time.

At its heart, it’s a story about young man finding his place in the world. But it is also a celebration of the wisdom of age and the friendships that can exist between the old and young.

We know how much a manuscript can transform during the process of writing the first draft through to publication, what was that process like for The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers?

As one of my characters points out in the book, ‘…nothing worth solving is ever easy…’ and it was no exception with this book. I think editing any novel is a bit of a puzzle in itself – trying to work out where all the parts belong, searching for missing holes to fill in. I suppose what made my novel particularly challenging to write (and specifically to edit) were the interactive elements embedded into the story.  I knew I wanted to feature actual puzzles within the text for readers to solve – to make it a book you can read and play. After countless revisions and tweaks we finally got there! But it was anything but easy!

Were there any surprises along the way? Or perhaps anything you wished you had known earlier, or been prepared for?

Adapting the text for the audiobook was another very unique challenge as you obviously can’t see the puzzles while listening, but I’m thrilled with how it’s turned out. I think that’s something that doesn’t really cross your mind when you’re writing, at least it didn’t for me. It was only after signing the deal that I realised we’d be making an audio version of the book and that’s when I had to put my thinking cap on! I must say, our readers Dame Penelope Keith and Russell Tovey are just perfect and it’s a fantastic listen!

You were developing your craft for several years before you were published, is there anything you found particularly useful on your journey?

I’m always impressed by how many brilliant resources there are out there for aspiring writers. I benefitted hugely from plugging into the community as quickly as I could. Coming from television, I didn’t really know anyone in books, so I knew I needed to build my network of contacts in the same way I had done in TV. I attended countless events – in real life and virtually – signed up for courses, followed my favourite writers on socials, as well as the big influencers, publishing houses etc, just so I could understand how the industry worked, learn from other people’s experiences, and build my own writing tribe. It’s been completely invaluable, particularly in the run-up to publication. I’m so lucky to have people cheering me on, helping to spread the word. Of course, I’m now keen to pay it forward and do the same for other debut writers.

After spending so long writing and re-writing the same story, spending infinite amounts of time with your characters – how did you know it was time to submit?

It’s so difficult to know! Someone once told me a book is never finished, but it is ready, and I found that immensely helpful. I think by the time my agent and I were going out on submission I had reached a point where I knew I couldn’t continue without the input of someone else. I needed fresh eyes on it. I had done as much as I physically could with the story, honed every sentence countless times, and I felt proud of the story I’d created. I think that’s quite key. Are you comfortable sharing this with others? Do you feel good inside about it?

Do you have any advice for writers hoping to get published?  

Nail your comp titles! I really think this is key. There is so much competition and agents are so overworked that you need to be able to say where your book might sit figuratively on a shelf. I always encourage people not to go too literally when coming up with comps. Think about the core elements of your book – its identifying features – and find other books that have similar touchstones. If you can’t think of any, you might have a problem. Selling a book that is entirely ‘unique’ (i.e. It can’t be compared to anything else in the market) makes it almost impossible to sell. Publishers can be risk averse so make it easier for them to say yes. Nail your comps! 

Before we go, can you let us know what are you working on now?

I’m delighted to have the opportunity to write a second book with Orion Fiction, which is another standalone novel. While I can’t say too much at this point, I hope that anyone who has read and enjoyed The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers will also enjoy my second book. Nostalgic joy. That’s all I’m saying for now!

If you've ever felt the thrill of following clues, the satisfaction of piecing together a complex puzzle, or the rush of adrenaline as you uncover a hidden truth, then you're in for a treat. Today, we're sharing some fun murder mystery story ideas to get those literary cogs turning and your creative juices flowing like a river of suspense. From classic whodunits to tales of the supernatural and mind-bending mysteries that defy time and space, where secrets are buried deep, motives lurk in the shadows, and the pursuit of justice keeps your heart racing, we’ve got it all covered.

Murder mysteries are like a puzzle waiting to be solved, a riddle itching to be unravelled, and a suspenseful rollercoaster ride that leaves you breathless. They're the literary gems that keep us up at night, eagerly flipping page after page, driven by that burning question: "Whodunit?" And now, it's your turn to become the mastermind behind the most mind-boggling and diabolical murder mystery stories that will captivate and mesmerize your readers.

Remember, these are just starting points. You can take inspiration from one or many of these ideas and work on fleshing them out with our book outline template.

What makes a good murder mystery story?

Before we dive headfirst into the treasure trove of murder mystery story ideas, let's unravel the essence of what makes these tales so utterly captivating.

A murder mystery is an intricate dance of clues and misdirection that challenges both the sleuth within us and the boundaries of our imagination. At its core, it's a narrative journey where a crime, most often a murder, becomes the focal point around which suspense, intrigue, and tension swirl. The heart of any compelling murder mystery lies in the pursuit of truth and justice, as we follow the footsteps of detectives, amateur sleuths, or even ordinary individuals thrust into extraordinary circumstances, all determined to uncover the secrets concealed within the shadows of a crime. So, as we explore a plethora of murder mystery story ideas, remember that these tales are not just about "whodunit" but also about the thrilling journey of unravelling the "why" and "how."

Where can you find ideas for murder mystery stories?

When it comes to finding inspiration for your murder mystery stories, ideas can be found absolutely anywhere. Here are just a few places where you can start looking:

• Real-Life Crimes – Real life is often stranger than fiction! Draw inspiration from true crime stories, unsolved cases, or historical mysteries.
• Local Legends and Urban Myths – Explore local folklore, urban legends, or mysterious occurrences in your area. These tales often contain elements ripe for a captivating murder mystery.
• Character Quirks – Start with a unique character and build a story around their quirks, flaws, or hidden past. Characters can be both the heart of the mystery and the source of intrigue.
• Exotic Settings - Transport your readers to intriguing and exotic locations, such as remote islands, ancient castles, or bustling cities, where secrets lurk in every corner. Often with a creepy or interesting setting comes a spark of an idea.
• Historical Periods - Dive into a specific historical era or event and craft a murder mystery within that context. Historical details can add depth and richness to your story.
• Unusual Murder Weapons - Think beyond the conventional and create mysteries with unconventional murder weapons, from poisoned desserts to deadly heirlooms.
• Relationship Dynamics - Explore complex relationships like family feuds, love triangles, or business rivalries. Emotions and motives can be the driving force behind your murder mystery.
• Unanswered Questions - Take inspiration from unanswered questions or loose ends in existing stories, history, or folklore. Fill in the gaps with your own imaginative twists.
• Bizarre Phenomena - Consider unusual phenomena like paranormal events, time travel, or bizarre occurrences that challenge logic. These elements can add a unique twist to your murder mystery.

By drawing inspiration from these diverse sources, you can craft murder mystery stories that intrigue, surprise, and captivate your readers. The possibilities are endless, and your creative journey begins by exploring the mysteries that pique your interest the most.

Murder mystery story idea prompts

If that’s not enough to get your imagination going, I’ve put together some prompts for your writing. Feel free to add your own twist or mix them up. You’re only limited by your imagination.

1. "The Poisoned Pianist"

Imagine a world-class pianist in the midst of an epic concert. The lights dim, the audience holds its breath, and just as the final note is struck, the pianist collapses, poisoned! Who had access to the pianist's water bottle, and why would anyone want to silence this musical genius forever?

2. "The Haunting of Hollow Manor"

Set in a creepy, centuries-old mansion, a group of strangers gathers for a masquerade ball. Suddenly, the lights flicker, and a blood-curdling scream echoes through the halls. But when they find the victim, there's no one else in sight. Is the mansion really haunted, or is there a sinister plot afoot?

3. "The Time-Traveling Murderer"

In a small town known for its mysterious temporal anomalies, a murder occurs that defies all logic. The victim appears to have been killed with a weapon from the future, and the clues lead the detectives on a mind-bending journey through time itself.

4. "The Deadly Art Heist"

A world-renowned art collector's prized possession is stolen right from under his nose, but the thief is found dead at the scene. The collector insists it's a murder, not a robbery gone wrong. The question is, who wanted the artwork, and why was the thief silenced?

5. "The Circus of Secrets"

Under the big top of a traveling circus, a high-flying trapeze artist plummets to their death during a daring act. But was it truly an accident, or was there a web of jealousy and betrayal lurking behind the scenes of this colourful circus world?

6. "The Phantom of Penrose Park"

Penrose Park has long been rumoured to be haunted, but when a well-known ghost hunter meets an untimely demise during an investigation, the town is thrown into chaos. Did the ghost get revenge, or was there something more sinister hiding in the shadows?

7. "The Cryptic Cruise Conspiracy"

On a luxury cruise liner in the middle of the ocean, a wealthy passenger is found dead in their locked cabin. With no way on or off the ship, the killer must be among the guests and crew. But how did they commit the murder without leaving a trace?

8. "The Vanishing Village"

An entire village disappears overnight, leaving behind empty houses and abandoned possessions. But a lone survivor claims to have seen something that night – something otherworldly. Can investigators unravel the mystery of the vanishing village and the survivor's cryptic tale?

9. "The Enigmatic Lighthouse Murder"

Perched on a desolate island, a centuries-old lighthouse stands as a beacon of hope and mystery. When a lighthouse keeper is found dead at the top of the tower with the light extinguished, it's not just his life that's gone dark. As investigators arrive, they must contend with treacherous cliffs, relentless storms, and the eerie whispers of ghostly legends surrounding the lighthouse.

10. "The Culinary Conundrum at Gourmet Gardens"

In the heart of the culinary world, at the renowned Gourmet Gardens restaurant, a famous chef is found dead in the walk-in freezer, surrounded by a tantalizing array of frozen delicacies. As sous-chefs and servers become suspects, tensions rise in the kitchen. Was it a cooking rivalry gone too far, or does the secret ingredient lie in the chef's mysterious past?

11. "The Curse of the Crimson Ruby"

A cursed gem with a blood-soaked history disappears from a museum, only to resurface at an extravagant gala. The owner of the ruby is killed, and the gem vanishes again. Rumours of the curse spread like wildfire, and detectives must unravel the dark secrets behind the gem's curse, the gala guests, and the elusive thief.

12. "The Disappearing Detective"

A renowned detective known for solving the most complex cases vanishes without a trace while working on a high-profile murder investigation. His disappearance coincides with a cryptic letter left at the crime scene. The detective's protege and a sceptical journalist must team up to follow the trail of clues their mentor left behind and uncover the truth behind his vanishing act.

13. "The Suburban Secrets Society"

In a seemingly idyllic suburban neighbourhood, a series of seemingly unrelated murders occur. As the body count rises, it becomes evident that the victims were all members of a secretive neighbourhood club with dark, closely guarded secrets. With tensions rising and neighbors turning on each other, a detective must navigate the web of lies and betrayals to unveil the truth behind the suburban secrets society.

14. "The Whispering Woods Homicide"

In a secluded woodland retreat known for its tranquillity, a famous author is found dead in a cabin, surrounded by manuscripts filled with cryptic messages. The victim had been working on a controversial book that exposed the secrets of the town's most prominent citizens. As investigators delve into the reclusive community's hidden tensions and buried secrets, they must decipher the author's enigmatic notes to uncover the truth behind the murder.

15. "The Midnight Carnival Conundrum"

A traveling carnival that appears only at the stroke of midnight in a remote town becomes the eerie backdrop for a series of bizarre deaths. Each victim is found wearing an elaborate costume from the carnival, and their deaths are staged as macabre performances. With the carnival's elusive and enigmatic owner at the centre of the mystery, a detective must navigate the twisted funhouse of clues and illusions to unmask the killer before the next midnight arrives.

16. "The Phantom Photographer"

In the age of social media and selfie culture, a renowned photographer mysteriously vanishes after a high-profile photoshoot. Her camera, however, continues to upload unsettling images to her website, each one containing cryptic clues. As detectives and online sleuths attempt to decode the pictures, they unveil a dark world of secrets hidden behind the lens.

17. "The Quantum Conundrum"

In a cutting-edge laboratory, a brilliant physicist is found dead, seemingly killed by a paradoxical phenomenon related to her groundbreaking experiments in quantum physics. Her colleagues are baffled, unable to explain the bizarre circumstances surrounding her death. As investigators delve into the complexities of quantum mechanics, they must uncover the truth hidden within the blurred lines of reality itself.

18. "The Cryptic Case of the Lost Memory"

A man wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He soon discovers that he's the prime suspect in a murder case. With only fragments of memories and a sense of dread, he becomes both detective and suspect, piecing together his past to unravel the mystery of the murder and clear his name.

19. "The Puzzle Box Predicament"

A renowned puzzle designer is found dead in his locked study, surrounded by his most intricate creations. The only clue is a cryptic message hidden within a seemingly unsolvable puzzle box. As detectives struggle to crack the code, they uncover a network of puzzle enthusiasts with motives that are as enigmatic as the puzzles themselves.

20. "The Museum of Mysterious Artifacts"

A curator of an eccentric museum specializing in unusual and obscure artifacts is found dead among his exhibits. Each item holds a secret, and as investigators delve into the collection, they unearth a labyrinth of ancient rituals, forgotten legends, and hidden truths that may hold the key to solving the murder.

21. "The Cipher of the Secret Society"

A secret society steeped in arcane rituals and guarded knowledge is shaken when one of its members is found dead, bearing the marks of an ancient cipher. As investigators infiltrate the society's clandestine meetings, they encounter a web of allegiances, betrayals, and hidden agendas that lead to a shocking revelation.

22. "The Midnight Mosaic Murder"

A mosaic artist is discovered dead amidst a gallery of breathtaking artworks, each piece holding a fragment of a larger mystery. As detectives piece together the shattered clues, they uncover a tale of passion, betrayal, and an artistic rivalry that turned deadly.

23. "The Forgotten Vault"

In an old, forgotten bank vault, a box of unsolved cases is discovered, each containing the remains of cold, forgotten crimes. Among them is a mystery that has baffled detectives for decades. With fresh eyes and modern techniques, a new generation of investigators must crack the code and unearth the truth behind the forgotten vault.

24. "The Labyrinth of Lies"

A notorious maze designer is found dead at the centre of his most complex creation. The maze itself holds the key to his demise, concealing a trail of secrets and betrayals. As investigators navigate the twists and turns, they must confront the truth that lies at the heart of the labyrinth.

25. "The Riddle of the Time Capsule"

When a time capsule from a school's past is opened, it reveals a series of cryptic messages hinting at a long-forgotten crime. As former classmates reunite to solve the mystery, they uncover buried secrets and confront the shadows of their shared past.

26. "The Vanishing Act"

A renowned magician, known for his jaw-dropping illusions, disappears during a high-profile performance. His body is never found, and the mystery of his vanishing act becomes an enduring legend. Years later, a series of events hint at the truth behind his disappearance, leading a determined investigator to unravel the enigma of the vanished magician.

27. "The Forgotten Island"

A remote island, long forgotten by the world, holds the key to a centuries-old mystery. When a group of adventurers arrive to uncover its secrets, they find themselves entangled in a web of hidden treasures, ancient curses, and a murder that echoes through the ages.

28. "The Infernal Inheritance"

When a wealthy eccentric passes away, leaving behind an intricate series of puzzles and riddles, his heirs must work together to claim their inheritance. However, as they delve into the enigmatic challenges, they realize that the clues may lead to a dark family secret and a murder that has remained hidden for generations.

29. "The Haunted Hotel Heist"

In a once-glamorous but now abandoned hotel rumoured to be haunted, a notorious gang of thieves plans a daring heist. However, when one of the thieves is found dead under eerie circumstances, it's unclear whether supernatural forces or human treachery are at play. A detective must untangle the web of secrets that haunts both the hotel and its criminal occupants.

30. "The Cryptic Codes"

A retired cryptographer is found dead in his secluded cabin, surrounded by coded messages that have baffled even the best codebreakers. His final words hint at a long-buried conspiracy, but the meaning remains hidden. As investigators decode the cryptic messages, they unearth a conspiracy that threatens to rewrite history.

Remember, the key to crafting a killer murder mystery is to sprinkle in red herrings, create complex characters with motives aplenty, and keep your readers guessing until the final page. Whether you choose to weave a tale of time travel, haunted houses, or cunning criminals, these murder mystery story ideas are sure to spark your creativity and leave your readers on the edge of their seats. So, get writing and let your inner detective shine!

Happy sleuthing, and may your plots be as twisted as a pretzel on a rollercoaster!

Tropes can be easily overdone, but when applied with care, they can enhance your writing and engage your readers.

In this article, I'll discuss the definition of the term trope, describe the most predominant tropes in sci-fi, and explain how you can utilise tropes in your science fiction novel.

What Is A Trope?

A trope is a common, recognisable plot feature, theme, and/or premise that recurs throughout a certain genre or subgenre.

Science fiction as a genre is over 200 years old, so there are many sci-fi tropes to choose from.

Tropes are sometimes considered cliché, but if you use them effectively (or add in a twist to keep your readers on their toes) they can help develop and strengthen your story.

Top Sci-Fi Tropes

Here are 25 of the most common, and interesting, science fiction tropes.

Time Sci-Fi Tropes

Time is a key theme and concept in science fiction, as characters often travel backwards and forwards in time, lose their sense of time, and try not to alter various timelines.

Alternate History

This trope has been used with increasing frequency in recent years. An alternate history can involve one specific adjustment to past events (such as if women had been granted the right to vote 20 years earlier) or a myriad of them which all add up to create a society that's recognisable, though distinctly different from our own.

Using an alternate history can enable you to add lots of different themes to your work, explore the ramifications of making one or several adjustments, and highlight the fact that every action and event affects the ones that follow it.

Parallel Universe

This is different from an alternate history, as parallel worlds involve different universes and events that are often happening concurrently, and sometimes feature various versions of each individual. Your characters may even be able to travel between these universes.

Whereas, with alternative universes/alternate histories, some of the specifics of a universe have been changed, but the rest is the same, and these two universes are separate entities that do not co-exist.

Time Paradox

A time paradox is a classic for a reason. If your characters are travelling through time, any actions they take may alter the past and have unforeseen consequences in the future. This trope has to be intricately woven into the story, as every minute action your characters make will have a cumulative effect, and readers will enjoy looking back at all the clues indicating that things are going wrong.

A Time Loop

The trope in which the main characters in a story get stuck in a time loop has become increasingly popular over the past few years and has featured in quite a few recent science fiction films. This often revolves around characters repeating the same day over and over until they've resolved any unfinished business they had, changed their ways, or dealt with a serious life-threatening obstacle.

Many of them feature some kind of time machine or portal that is the key to the characters returning to their daily lives once they've resolved the issue that's forced them into time purgatory. It can be easy for these stories to feel a little repetitive, so try to ensure that you're still moving the story forward and adding interesting elements to keep your readers engaged.

Science And Technology Sci-Fi Tropes

Sci-fi classics, like Star Trek, often explore our relationship with science and technology, as new discoveries alter our perception of reality.

Mad Scientist

The mad scientist trope is a much beloved one and is frequently used in sci fi. While the outdated term 'mad' is inaccurate and cruel, the meaning behind the phrase is still valid. This trope generally refers to scientists with ideas that far exceed others' understandings, causing them to be teased until the inevitable revelation that they were right all along. Though they often struggle to come to terms with the unforeseen consequences of their discoveries.

This trope goes hand in hand with all sorts of hijinks, miscommunications, foreshadowing, and character development, so it's one that you can really have fun with.

Genetic Modification

Genetic modification is the kind of trope that you can hang your entire plot upon, or use to enrich your world-building. This trope may involve the creation of new creatures, parents having the capacity to alter their childrens' genes before birth, or a world in which your status is determined by how 'perfect' your genes are (as only the wealthy can afford to alter them). There's certainly a lot to explore with this trope.

Artificial Intelligence

Untrustworthy artificial intelligence is a trope that was once scary in a hypothetical sense but is now eerily edging closer to our own reality. This can involve robots that no longer follow commands, AI that is trying to replace and eliminate humans, or robots/machines that are becoming sentient and are being held captive by humans.

This evokes lots of themes about philosophy, morality, free will, consciousness, and what it means to be human. It also explores the rapid growth of technology, and how it can have both profoundly wonderful and irreversibly detrimental effects.

Cloning

Cloning is another trope which brings up issues of ethics, morality, and philosophy. There are lots of options in terms of who is doing the cloning (scientists, aliens, robots etc.) and who is being cloned.

Nuance is important here, as if one of your characters is suddenly extremely apathetic when they're usually incredibly enthusiastic, your readers will catch on quickly, and they won't have the chance to slowly unravel the puzzle you've created.

Think about how you can use clones in an unusual way. Perhaps the clone only goes out at night, so it takes a while for them to be spotted. Or maybe they lurk in your protagonist's home while they're out at work.

Teleportation

Teleportation as a regular mode of travel is one sci-fi trope that many of us wouldn't mind making into a reality. Though, of course, there would be implications to teleporting everywhere.

Perhaps humans' legs are growing weaker as a result, or the government is charging a high toll fee for people who teleport to places outside a 20-mile radius. You could also think of interesting ways in which your characters can teleport. Do they flash neon purple for a second as they teleport? Or perhaps they freeze for half a second before they disappear.

Creating Monsters

This harks back to the classic horror/science fiction of Frankenstein, wherein a scientific breakthrough goes awry, and a scientist unintentionally wreaks havoc on themselves and the world. Fun.

You could tie this into AI, medical advancements, or new technologies, and play around with your monsters' horrifying abilities and skills.

Government Surveillance

This is another sci-fi trope that's becoming uncomfortably close to our reality. You could make this something that a few people know about, or implement it so that it's a part of daily life in the world you've created.

You could have the government employ one or two surveillance tactics, like facial recognition being installed on all public cameras; or you could decide that the government tracks people's locations, finances, healthcare data, internet usage, and every other conceivable thing.

Using this trope, and writing about it, may end up terrifying you as much as it will your future readers.

Organ Harvesters

Lots of sci-fi and speculative fiction stories depict fictional worlds in which human resources are running low, and so those higher up in the hierarchical structure receive more access to them. In darker sci-fi tales, this can involve organ harvesters who track people down to steal their organs. This often occurs in post-apocalyptic narratives which take place in already dire circumstances.

Everything Is A Simulation

This particular trope can easily veer into being cliche, especially if it's used as a plot twist right at the end of the story. If you're working up to the revelation that the events of your story are all part of a simulation, try to include lots of hints leading up to it, and make sure that it's an interesting addition to the story, rather than something that the whole framework of your book hinges upon. Ideally, your book should still make sense even without this revelation.

Alternatively, you could have some of your characters aware that they exist in a simulation (think The Matrix) while others are totally unaware, which would enable you to really utilise dramatic irony.

Space Sci-Fi Tropes

With the popularity of space operas such as Star Wars, space-related topics and tropes are generally predominant in science fiction.

Space Pirates

Space pirates are the ideal characters to turn to if you want your characters' trip to space to come with a little chaos. Like their seafaring compatriots, space pirates steal and capture other vehicles (in this case, spacecrafts) and they may kidnap, enslave, or even kill the passengers and crewmembers on the spacecrafts they take over.

Wormholes

Wormholes are another satisfying science fiction trope, though try not to rely on them too heavily. Wormholes are portals that allow you to travel to different dimensions, and they can be an interesting addition to your story both in allowing your characters to make progress on their journeys and in acting as an obstacle if they suddenly stop working, disappear, or if only some characters know how to navigate them.

They can be the tool used by your antagonist to help them ensure they're always one step ahead of your main characters. Or perhaps they explain why one of the characters suddenly has access to technology and rare plants that the other characters have never even heard of. Not only can you toy around with the types of dimensions your characters enter, but also what the wormholes themselves look like. Are they disguised as billboards? Or perhaps every broken swing in a public park is a well-hidden portal.

Lost In Space

Another frequently used sci-fi trope (often utilised in sci-fi movies too), is the notion of being lost in space. This can refer to an entire spacecraft, an astronaut that's accidentally left behind, or any other scenario you can concoct. The focus here is usually on survival, the desire to return home (if, in your story, Earth is still there/at all hospitable), and navigating any extraterrestrial conflicts.

Alien Sci-Fi Tropes

Space and aliens often go hand in hand, and in your story, you get to decide whether aliens are technologically advanced allies or the species set upon destroying humanity.

Aliens Crash Landing

The alien crash landing is perhaps the most ubiquitous of all sci-fi tropes. This startling event is often witnessed by a child, elderly person, or someone with a very active imagination, as it is generally believed to be a falsehood until people are met with the irrefutable truth. You could twist this by having a parent trying to convince their child of this unexpected occurrence, or having someone who's very logical and trustworthy witness it. This trope often goes hand in hand with a mysterious overnight abduction.

Alien Invasion

The classic conflict of humans vs. aliens is at the heart of many hard science fiction stories. You could write about a world in which aliens have already completely invaded Earth, and humans are forming underground groups as they plan to fight back. Or you could start your book right as the alien invasion begins, and have some territories remain under human control. With this trope, there's often a discrepancy between the more advanced technology and resources aliens have and what humans possess in comparison, so lots of other tropes weave into this one nicely.

An Alien Signal From Space

Having your characters hear an alien signal from space is a great way to start a story. Especially if it's the first contact humans have made with aliens.

This trope is particularly effective with soft science fiction, as you can explore the aliens' capabilities, and build up to a potential meeting, adding in elements of space travel and the potential limits of our own technology as you go.

General Sci-Fi Tropes

There are so many different subgenres and themes in the sci-fi realm, and these tropes can help you explore a different side of your story.

Survivalism

Survivalism is a trope that was once exceedingly popular but is now a little less common. This trope refers to characters being stranded somewhere (perhaps on a foreign planet) or existing in a post-apocalyptic universe where survival is their biggest obstacle. Searching for sustenance, finding shelter and a place to rest, and determining whether or not there are any nearby predators are just a few of the things they'll prioritise as they navigate unfamiliar terrain. Resilience, adaptability, and the power of hope are all themes which this trope draws from.

Utopia

Utopias are science fiction tropes that aren't utilised as much as the others. Idealised utopian worlds are often universes where things like racism, homophobia, sexism, and capitalism have been eradicated. The conflict here could arise from the early stages of development, where these enhancements are being gradually integrated into society. Or, as is most popular, the main issue could be that life in this world isn't quite as perfect as it seems.

Dystopia

The utopia's opposite and adversary, dystopian worlds are such popular sci-fi tropes that they've become a subgenre in their own right. In this world, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, and life is extremely bleak.

To some, this reassures people that things could always be worse. For others, it's just a reminder of how terrible life can be. If you're in the latter camp, and your book's heading in a dystopian direction, might I suggest that you have a list of your favourite songs/things/TV shows etc. to hand so that you aren't constantly in a sombre mindset during the writing process.

Immortality

The theme of immortality is present throughout many sci-fi stories, as science fiction authors explore their interpretations of an immortal being. It may be that your book features evil aliens who are unfortunately immortal, immortality is achieved by implanting human brains into robot forms, or, in relation to the genetic modification trope, scientists are manipulating genes in an attempt to create infallible immortal beings.

A Human Gains Superpowers

A much-beloved trope, a human gaining superpowers after being exposed to an alien substance, radiation, or some other species or powerful force, serves as a great inciting incident for your story.

People love an underdog, and with this trope, there's plenty of room for character development, and you can explore the everyday version of your protagonist as well as their superhero alter ego.

Plus, you can experiment with the kinds of abilities your character has at their disposal, from super speed to psychic powers, and from the ability to heal people to superhuman strength.

Post-Apocalyptic Worlds

Multiple science fiction/dystopian films, TV shows, books, video/virtual reality games and other storytelling formats feature post-apocalyptic worlds. These often take place in the near future, after an environmental collapse, nuclear war, the effects of climate change, a mutant virus/bacteria, alien invasion, or the infiltration of various artificial intelligences etc. Post-apocalyptic worlds are also likely to feature desolate landscapes, totalitarian governments/leadership, government surveillance, and some kind of developing uprising/resistance.

How To Use Sci-Fi Tropes In Your Writing

So, now you know some of the most interesting and commonly used science fiction tropes, it's time to think about how you can apply them to your own writing.

Here are our top tips for using sci-fi tropes:

• Don't overload your book with tropes- focus on just a few tropes that will genuinely add to your story and engage your readers
• Don't feel you have to use any tropes at all- tropes are useful devices, but only include them if it makes sense to do so; if you add them in because you think you have to it'll seem forced
• Think about how your chosen trope is typically used, and see if you can find a way to subvert the norm
• Combine genres- you could use a trope from a common subgenre of sci-fi (like dystopian fiction) and blend it with another genre; perhaps your protagonist ends up in a parallel world wherein their sister is a powerful sorcerer

Create Your Alternate Universe

Tropes aren't inherently good or bad, it's all about how you use them. Experiment with different tropes, see what works best for your story and characters, and focus on the execution.

It may be that researching different tropes prompts you to look into related topics that intrigue you, and soon you'll be adding a whole host of other planets, wormholes, or aliens to your work in progress.

We spoke to UNWC course alumnus Alan Fraser, who has just received a publishing deal, about the crucial things he learned about revising his work ready for submission.

JW: What was your favourite part of the Ultimate Novel Writing (UNWC) course?

For me, the part I loved most was actually the part I thought I would like least: commenting on other people’s work – and having them comment on mine. Thinking about why I like, or don’t like, someone else’s writing made me think more about my own. It’s easy to pick holes in other people’s writing, but, more often than not, as I started to type out what I thought could be improved, I’d find myself thinking, ‘But haven’t I done exactly the same thing in my book?’ And having people critique my writing in detail was fantastically helpful in sharpening up the book

Thinking about why I like, or don’t like, someone else’s writing made me think more about my own.

JW: Tell us about your journey to finding a publisher. What steps did you take, and were there any turning points/transformative moments?

I started writing my first novel more than eight years ago when I was stuck on a plane with nothing to read and no access to my tech. I had the arrogance of a beginner and, after I’d mapped out the basic structure of the plot, just started writing with no help, and without doing any research about how to write a novel. It was only when I came to think about submitting the completed 192,000 word opus I realised there was a whole load of stuff I needed to know – and really should have thought about before I’d even started.

That was how I first came across Jericho Writers. They gave me a manuscript assessment which really helped me get to grips with what writing a novel involved, so I signed up to Harry’s weekly emails. This meant that when I was working on my second novel, I was far more aware of the industry’s expectations. I was determined to be more professional this time and signed up for the UNWC in the hope it would help me navigate publishing. Whilst on the course I started submitting to agents. I had five full manuscript requests in the first six months which gave me real hope – but then nothing. On one of the agent one-to-ones I got with the course, an agent said that the industry had moved on and what I was writing didn’t fit with what publishers were looking for now. I was despondent, but everyone in my tutor group – and my mentor – said how much they liked my book and reminded me that my writing was really strong. So I decided to have a ‘last throw of the dice’ and submit to small presses. In the end, I got two offers of publication but opted to go with Lightning Books.

I was really lucky to be in a fabulous and supportive tutor group. There’s no way I would have kept going without their encouragement.

JW: In what ways has the UNWC helped you to where you are now in your writing journey?

I was really lucky to be in a fabulous and supportive tutor group. There’s no way I would have kept going without their encouragement. When the rejections started to come, they really rallied round and encouraged me to believe in my writing. I also had an excellent mentor in Helen Francis. She believed in the book, but more than that, she believed in me as a writer and believed I could get published. Every time I thought I’d come to a dead end she encouraged me to keep going. The fact that she works in the industry, took the time to really understand my manuscript, and still felt that I should keep going when I’d lost all hope myself meant the world to me.

JW: Do you have any advice for new students for making the most of the course?

Don’t think you know it all. Commenting on other people’s stuff and responding humbly to other people’s comments about yours is actually a surprisingly effective way to become a better writer. Oh, and make sure you take advantage of every opportunity the course offers. It’s pointless investing in a course like this if you don’t commit the time to learning. I picked up loads of great tips – often in the places I least expected to. The course only works if you work the course!

About Alan

Alan Fraser is a writer from Birmingham (UK) who, after his dreams of rock stardom were cruelly dashed, took up writing.

His play, Random Acts of Malice, won the inaugural Derek Lomas Prize for New Writing, but for the past eight years, his focus has been on fiction.

His novel, The Muse of Hope Falls, will be published by Lightning Books in the second half of 2023.

You can follow Alan on Twitter here.

Utopian fiction is a diverse and fascinating genre. It's an ideal form of literature for these trying times.

In this guide we will: 

• Clarify what utopian fiction is 
• Discuss the difference between utopian and dystopian fiction
• Explore the different types of utopian fiction that are available
• Discover some examples of published utopian fiction 
• Consider how you might set about writing utopian fiction 

So let’s begin by considering the genre itself. How is it defined? 

What Is Utopian Fiction? 

A utopia is an imagined, perfect world, often set in the distant future. In utopian fiction, the author has created a setting which is seen as fair, idealistic and harmonious. Its society will be striving for perfection and will seem to have no obvious flaws.  

Utopian science fiction often explores the question – 'are perfect societies even possible?'. However, this question is an interesting one in itself – as many utopian fictions will often expose the flaws involved with a ‘perfect’ and ‘fair’ world. Is there something that is sacrificed in the pursuit for perfection and complete equality?

Utopian and dystopian fiction have characteristics of both science fiction and fantasy, but the emphasis is often placed on the emotions and perceptions of the characters living in these conditions. 

Sir Thomas More 

Sir Thomas More was a lawyer, judge and social philosopher and is seen as the first writer of the genre. He even invented the word ‘utopia’ from Greek roots when writing his first book of the same name in 1516. Interestingly, utopia in Greek can either mean ‘no place’ or ‘good place’ depending on the roots used. More’s Utopia imagines a perfect state and utopian society on an imagined island that has been cut off from Europe for over 1,200 years.  

To fully understand utopian fiction, we also need to understand how it compares with its sister genre – dystopian fiction. 

What Is The Difference Between Utopian Fiction And Dystopian Fiction?  

Dystopian and utopian fiction can often be confused, and the lines between them can be blurred. In this section we will explore the main differences between utopian and dystopian Fiction. 

In utopian fiction, we are imagining society that is true perfection. However, in dystopian fiction we are exploring a world where society has gone wrong. It is the direct opposite of utopian and is often chaotic, challenging, unfair and disruptive. The problems that might be affecting our world today (for example war or disease) are often more extreme in dystopian fiction and its depiction of an often anarchist society.

It is interesting that in many utopian worlds or settings it will start as a perceived perfect and well managed world but will soon turn in a destructive and harmful dystopian world once the individuals in the setting find flaws in the utopia. A perfect example of this is found in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, where the State has total control of a supposed perfect state. Another example is George Orwell’s 1984. 

Simply put, one explores an ideal society (utopian), the other an anarchist society that lacks justice and fairness (dystopian).

So now that we've considered the difference between utopian and dystopian fiction, let’s explore the different types of utopian literature available. 

Types Of Utopian Fiction  

The different types of utopian fiction include:

Ecological  

In these types, society is working in harmony with nature to avoid producing waste and pollution, and nature is prioritised.

Economic

These types of work were popular after the 18th century and explore the concepts of Marx and Engels to explore self-sustaining utopian economies that benefit everyone.  

Technological 

In these types of modern utopia, technology meets all human needs and functions, to improve their quality of living. 

Religious/Spiritual  

In these societies, people are living in religious harmony without conflict or warfare. 

Scientific 

Similar to technology, in these settings science has helped to improve living standards, cure illnesses, and perhaps even help human beings avoid death. 

Examples Of Utopian Fiction  

Here are some examples of utopian fiction across the centuries. They are all considered excellent utopian works and will help to provide a fuller understanding of the subject.

As discussed before, some of these examples – for example Brave New World – are utopian novels that become dystopian, but these genres often blur.  

• Utopia- Sir Thomas More (1516) 
• New Atlantis- Francis Bacon (1626) 
• The Blazing World – Lady Margaret Lucas Cavendish (1666) 
• Gulliver’s Travels- Jonathan Swift (1726) 
• Erewhon- Samuel Butler (1872) 
• Gloriana – Lady Florence Dixie (1890) 
• News from Nowhere – William Morris (1890) 
• Looking Backwards – Edward Bellamy (1888) 
• Mizora: World of Women – Mary E Bradley Lane (1991)  
• Woman on the Edge of Time- Marge Piercy (1976) 
• The Culture- Iain M Blanks (1987 – 2012) 
• The Dispossessed  - Ursula K Le Guin (1974) 
• The Ones who Walk Away – Ursula K Le Guin (1973) 
• Star Trek – The Original Series (1966)
• Herland – Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915) 
• Brave New World- Aldous Huxley (1931)
• When it Changed – Joanna Russ (1972) 
• Afterland – Lauren Beuke (2020) 
• The End of Men – Christina Sweeney-Baird (2021) 

Now we have shared some utopian examples to explore, let’s consider how you might start to write a utopian novel yourself. 

How To Write Utopian Fiction  

In this section we will explore some key tips and considerations to make when writing utopian fiction.

Explore Theme & Issues 

Consider the theme that you want to explore in your utopian fiction. Is there an issue happening in society today that you can explore further in your fiction? Maybe your book will join the group of increasingly popular feminist utopias.

Which type of utopian fiction is it likely to fall under? Scientific? Political? Environmental? Or a combination? What could provide an ‘ideal solution’ to the problem you have considered, and how will your society feel harmonised? 

Build Your Utopia 

Once you have understood what themes you will explore in your utopian fiction, it’s important to understand the setting and the people that will sit within it.

Do you need to draw a map of your utopia? Is there a manifesto or guiding set of rules for your people to follow? Are there any compromises to consider?

Have fun creating and playing with your world and thinking about the types of characters that sit within it, and the sacrifices they might have made. 

Read! 

The best way to understand the utopian genre is to read books on the genre. This will fuel your imagination and get those creative juices flowing. So there are no excuses, pick up that book! 

Frequently Asked Questions  

What Is Utopian Fiction In Literature?  

Utopian fiction in literature explores an imagined or perfect world, something that we aspire to, or dream of. In these settings society is seen as fair and just, and people are living in harmony and without fear. Utopian fiction often poses the question, 'is a perfect society or world possible?'.

What Is An Example Of Utopian Fiction? 

One example of utopian fiction is the first utopian work, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, in which he imagines a perfect island state.  

What Is The Difference Between Dystopian And Utopian Fiction? 

In utopian fiction we are imagining a society living in harmony. However, in dystopian fiction we are exploring a world where society has gone wrong. It's the direct opposite of utopian and is often chaotic, challenging, unfair and disruptive.

Writing Utopian Fiction

I hope that this article has helped with your understanding and knowledge of the vast and interesting genre of utopian fiction. It is extremely beneficial to read and understand this genre, as it poses so many thought-provoking philosophical questions – such as ‘what is a perfect society?’ and ‘can it be truly possible to live in complete harmony?’. Utopian fiction can also help to explore human flaws and weaknesses in a perfect setting.  

Utopian fiction is great genre to read and write as it crosses into so many other areas and often blurs into many great works of dystopia.

It may seem like a difficult genre to write, but it is such an inspiring one – as it often produces work that makes the reader consider deeper questions. 

So, if you feel inspired by this, there is no excuse. Pick up that pen and begin to create that new utopian world! 

As authors, we work hard to engage our readers. We try to ensure emotion is on the page, craft dialogue that's realistic, and make sure our settings place our audience at the heart of our stories.

But if you really want readers to get a sense of your character's inner thoughts, writing stream of consciousness can be an incredibly powerful and effective device.  

This writing technique allows you to express the deepest inner thoughts of a character, and as a literary technique, it can bring the reader much closer to the emotion of the moment.  

In this article, I will provide a stream of consciousness definition, explain a little about the history of this writing technique, how you can utilise it within your own writing, and walk you through a few stream of consciousness writing examples. 

What Is Stream Of Consciousness Writing?

Stream of consciousness is a technique that allows the reader to ‘listen to’ and fully understand a character's deepest and unordered thoughts.

It’s a technique often used to highlight the complicated ways our thoughts move from one idea to another and allows the writer to delve deep into the mind of a character and their most vulnerable thoughts.  

Using this technique means allowing a river of words to flow directly as they form in your mind, through your fingers, and onto the page without restriction.

It's a literary device that is used most commonly (but not exclusively) in fiction and poetry. 

Understanding Steam Of Consciousness 

To understand stream of consciousness, you need to first ignore the rules you learned at school regarding punctuation, grammar and structure. 

Our thoughts very rarely come as fully formed sentences, so when writing stream of consciousness, you need to embrace that and learn to write your inner thoughts exactly as they manifest in your mind.

Embrace run-on sentences that are often interrupted by other thoughts, and questions that lead you from one path to another, and don’t be scared of heightened emotions.   

Often in fiction we are warned to use repetition sparsely, but our brains are often repetitive, and so fixating on certain words or repetitive thought processes can highlight the cyclical process our brains use to make sense of the world. Repeated words or phrases are often used to highlight the importance of significant themes.  

Our brains don’t ‘think’ using punctuation, and so it very rarely has a place in this particular writing style.

When writing stream of consciousness, many authors use italics, line breaks, ellipses and dashes to indicated pauses in thought processes or shifting directions.  

Essentially, within this writing style, you are urged to break the rules you were taught and embrace the messiness of the human brain. 

What Is The Difference Between Inner Monologue And Stream of Consciousness?

There are some fundamental differences between internal monologue and stream of consciousness, and using each technique comes with its own set of rules.

Understanding the difference and when to use them is essential. 

Inner monologue takes the inner thoughts of your character and forms them into fully coherent and structured sentences.

This writing technique allows us to understand a character's thoughts but only contains the information that the author needs us to know.  

As a literary device, inner monologue still uses accepted forms of grammar, syntax and traditional structure with a natural progression from one thought to the next. 

In comparison, stream of consciousness tends to be much less ordered than interior monologue. The author will use the freedom of thought without restriction to immerse the reader in the unfiltered thoughts of their character.  

Our own inner thoughts are often chaotic, we don’t think in full sentences, often argue with ourselves and question our own thoughts. The stream of consciousness technique highlights this and allows us to see the chaotic nature of the human brain. 

The History Of Stream Of Consciousness In Fiction

The term 'stream of consciousness' was first used by the psychologist William James to describe thought patterns in psychology, long before it was used in literary circles as a narrative style.

Back in 1894, James defined stream of consciousness in The Principles of Psychology as “consciousness as an uninterrupted 'flow': 'a 'river' or a 'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described.” 

Later, clinical psychologist Matthew Welsh, MS, PhD went on to further explain this, “Stream of consciousness is writing the first words or thoughts that go through your mind without actually planning or consciously thinking about what you are writing. Some people may refer to it as automatic writing.” 

The stream of consciousness narrative has been used in fiction for centuries, but literary circles first highlighted the technique in the early 20th century when describing works by the likes of James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.  

It’s hardly a surprise that these authors adopted such a technique as it was widely understood that they all had a deep understanding of (and a desire to explore) psychology, and embraced the exploration of thought processes and internal character development to express turmoil and the messy chaos of the human brain. 

Looking back, we can see seedlings of stream of consciousness developing in Shakespeare’s works, with soliloquies in both Macbeth and Hamlet showing what would develop later into stream of consciousness.

But it wouldn’t be until the early 20th century that writers would abandon use of punctuation and embrace ‘flow’ and actively discuss the use of stream of consciousness to deepen the understanding of character and emotion. 

Examples Of Stream Of Consciousness In Literature 

In the early 20th century, Virginia Woolf used this technique often, with two of her most notable novels To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway using stream of consciousness as a narrative technique to draw the reader in.  

As we can see in the below example, Woolf uses stream of consciousness to voice the internal feelings of Mrs Dalloway and explore memories of both past and present, moving freely from past to present and giving us an insight into the characters true unordered emotions. 

What a lark! What a plunge! For so it always seemed to me when, with a little squeak of the hinges, which I can hear now, I burst open the French windows and plunged at Bourton into the open air. How fresh, how calm, stiller than this of course, the air was in the early morning; like the flap of a wave; the kiss of a wave; chill and sharp and yet (for a girl of eighteen as I then was) solemn, feeling as I did, standing there at the open window, that something awful was about to happen …

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf   

Poet and author Sylvia Plath often used the technique in her work, and most notably so in her novel The Bell Jar. Telling the story of a woman’s journey through depression, the use of stream of consciousness makes this piece of writing one of her most powerful and allows the reader to really experience the disordered thinking of someone struggling with mental illness.  

More contemporary examples of this technique can be found in works such as Beloved by Toni Morrison. This novel, published in 1987, contains many beautiful and evocative passages, but the following example, in the voice of the main character Beloved, perfectly highlights all the techniques associated with this writing style.  

I am alone    I want to be the two of us    I want the join    I come out of blue water after the bottoms of my feet swim away from me    I come up    I need to find a place to be    the air is heavy    I am not dead    I am not    there is a house    there is what she whispered to me    I am where she told me    I am not dead    I sit    the sun closes my eyes    when I open them I see the face I lost    Sethe's is the face that left me    Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile    her smiling face is the place for me    it is the face I lost    she is my face smiling at me 

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Morrison does not use ‘correct’ grammar or punctuation at all. Repetition is prevalent and the gaps in the text highlight the pauses the ‘brain’ is taking in between thoughts.  

Other examples of stream of consciousness writers are James Joyce, David Lodge, William Faulkner and Leo Tolstoy.  

How To Use Stream Of Consciousness In Your Writing 

It’s often difficult to break out of learned skills and techniques, and ‘free writing’ can feel unnatural to those who have spent their lives writing in a structured manner.  

Try some of these techniques to free your brain.  

1: Limit Distractions

It’s so important not to have external distractions interrupting your flow. Be fully in the mind of your character; don’t distract yourself with your own surroundings for inspiration.  

2: Try Meditation

This can help with limiting distraction. Free your mind entirely by meditating and focusing solely on your character and the story in front of you.

Getting into a state of stream of consciousness writing often means getting into a state of flow and focus. Mediation can help unlock that space in your brain where you can truly embrace free writing.  

3: Do NOT Self-Edit!

This is particularly hard for those who are used to writing in a structured manner.

To truly understand the thought process of the character, you need to embrace the messiness of the brain which means not polishing those words into perfect prose. If your brain hops from thought to thought, let it.  

4: Create A Detailed Character Profile

Character profiles are incredibly helpful no matter what style of writing you are attempting, but when it comes to stream of consciousness, it is vital to know your character inside out.  

5: Try Using Writing Prompts

Use some tried and tested writing prompts.

Having a specific topic to bounce from will give you a small feeling of structure to start with, but make sure to stay in the head of your character and free write as much as you can, remembering not to self-edit along the way. 

Tips For Writing Stream Of Consciousness

Now, it wouldn’t be writing if there weren’t a few contradictions to take into consideration.

As much as I have stated that there are not ‘rules’, and though I’m telling you to embrace the messiness, there are a few guidelines you need to take into consideration.  

1: Stay Character Focused

Remember that stream of consciousness must always be character specific. Focus on the thoughts of your character. Stay in their mind, not your own. 

2: Don’t Stop!  

Follow your characters thoughts all the way to the end, even if the thought process changes direction. Embrace each fork in the road. 

3: Ignore The Rules

Don’t use structure, or grammar, or any other ‘learned writing skills’.

What Are The Benefits Of Stream Of Consciousness?

Each technique we learn as writers benefits us in different ways, so what are the benefits to learning how to write in a stream of consciousness style? 

Overcome Writers Block

If you are struggling with writer’s block, freeing your mind up to really delve into the motivation of your character can be the perfect antidote.

If you’re struggling to organise your thoughts, free writing using stream of consciousness can help you get them all down on the page and reveal aspects of your character that you weren’t previously aware of. 

Emotional Release 

Writing is often used as therapy and using this technique can be incredibly useful when attempting to tap into the deeper emotions of your characters, or indeed yourself.

Adopting this technique will free up thought processes you would generally edit out of your own work. 

Elevate Your Writing Skills  

To become a better writer, you need to write, write and write some more; however, developing new skills in your author's tool chest will always help you become a stronger writer.

Stream of consciousness is a technique used to shed light on the deepest and darkest parts of our soul, so this kind of free writing can often illuminate areas we never knew existed which can result in you becoming a better, more well-rounded writer.   

Frequently Asked Questions  

Why Do Writers Use Stream Of Consciousness? 

Stream of consciousness is a great way to allow your reader to truly ‘hear’ the thought process of your character, to see their true and undiluted thoughts and connect of a deeper level with the emotions.  

Is Writing Stream Of Consciousness Hard?

Like any writing technique, it’s something to learn, but it’s a valuable technique. Like everything, practise makes perfect, but it’s a writing technique that can unlock interesting thought processes and is often a fun process to use in the beginning stages of developing an entire novel. 

Stream Of Consciousness Writing

Like all writing techniques, stream of consciousness is something you can learn, but practise makes perfect.

Many will struggle to break away from the restrictive lessons we have been taught when it comes to traditional rules surrounding structure, grammar, and syntax. However, embracing the chaos can elevate your writing, provide invaluable insight into your characters, and truly draw the reader in to your story.

So don’t be afraid, jump in with both feet and swim around in the chaos of the mind. You never know what you might discover. 

Dialogue prompts, and writing exercises in general, are an excellent way for writers to get their creative juices flowing. 

They provide a starting point and inspiration for writing conversational dialogue between two or more characters in your novel or short story. 

In this article, we will discuss 45 dialogue writing prompts that you can use in your story; whether you've just started writing or don't know how to start your final scene.

What Are Dialogue Prompts? 

Dialogue prompts are excellent for writers looking to improve their dialogue skills.

With dialogue prompts, writers are given a specific situation or scenario to write about, helping them to focus their dialogue and create more natural speech. 

Additionally, dialogue prompts can help writers to practice different dialogue styles and experiment with different voices for their characters.

They can consist of a single line, or contain the opening of a conversation, and each provides a strong idea that will spark inspiration.

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, dialogue prompts are a great way to improve your dialogue writing! 

Tips For Using Dialogue Prompts 

Writing dialogue can be one of the most challenging aspects of creating a short story or novel. After all, how do you capture the way people actually speak? 

You can quickly improve your dialogue-writing skills with a few simple tips:

Pay Attention To The Way People Talk In Real Life

Notice the rhythm of their speech and how they use inflection to emphasise specific words. Then, when it's time to write dialogue, try to capture that same natural rhythm. 

Keep Your Dialogue Brief And To The Point

People rarely speak in long, drawn-out speeches, so avoid writing dialogue that sounds unnatural. 

Make Sure Your Dialogue Matches Your Genre

If you're writing a romance, for example, your dialogue should contain some love and passion.

On the other hand, if you're writing a thriller, your dialogue should be full of tension and suspense.

Matching your dialogue to your story's genre helps set the tone for your story and engages your readers.

Many writers find that trying dialogue exercises, such as using writing prompts, helps them write a new story.

Experiment with them - there's no wrong way to use a prompt!

45 Dialogue Prompts To Jumpstart Your Writing 

1. "I'm going to give you ten seconds to pick that shirt up off the floor." 
2. "How did you last only five days at that job?" 
3. "I've had it with this guinea pig! Greg, get over here!" 
4. "Things haven't been right between us since Thailand. You can't say you haven't felt the same." 
5. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This isn't what I signed up for!" 
6. "You're not listening to me. Did you ever really care?" 
7. "It's time you loosen up and have some fun for once! Let's go roller skating!" 
8. "I don't know why you keep on denying that we need help with this project." 
9. "You are supposed to be my best friend, but you're not holding up your end of the bargain." 
10. "You don't think I know what you're doing? I see you sneak out at night." 
11. "I'm tired of being the only one who takes this seriously. Is everything a joke?" 
12. "You think I'm being unreasonable? You should listen to yourself some time!" 
13. "What makes you think I don't understand what's happening here?" 
14. "The dog or me. Your choice." 
15. "It's time for a change - and it needs to start with our family." 
16. "I can't believe we made it. What were we thinking?" 
17. "It feels like I've been waiting my whole life for this moment." 
18. "I don't think I can ever get enough of you, no matter how much time we spend together." 
19. "Don't turn around - I'm warning you!" 
20. "It's too late for us now. We're all going to die." 
21. "My world changed when you walked into it - and I'll never be the same again." 
22. "Don't move... I can feel your fear from here." 
23. "I can't do that! It'd be like trying to say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' three times fast!" 
24. "I know what you did. And you won't go unpunished." 
25. "I'm surrounded by the most ridiculous people in the world. What am I going to do with all of you?" 
26. "The only way out is through me..." 
27. "Didn't I tell you not to touch that button? Now, look what you've done!" 
28. "I bet you I can get to the top of this mountain before you can - what do ya say?" 
29. "Let's all take a break and come back to this later. Agreed?" 
30. "This isn't the world I remember. What happened here?" 
31. "And this is where they found the body? That can't be right!" 
32. "We don't have much time. We need to get out of here now!" 
33. "We've been searching for this land for so long - but now that we're here, what do we do next?" 
34. "Do you think we'll ever make it out of this forest alive?" 
35. "The fate of our kingdom rests on that diamond. Where did you hide it?"
36. "We're in over our heads - but it's okay, I have a plan!" 
37. "I can't believe we have to stay late! How are we supposed to get out of here?" 
38. "Well, here’s the bad news. We need to find £1000, and fast. Any ideas?" 
39. "Is anyone else as bored as I am?... Ooh, I know! Let's get the Ouija board." 
40. "I'm so sick of being cooped up. Want to take a drive?" 
41. "You won't believe what happened to me today." 
42. "Did you hear that strange noise? We should check it out." 
43. "Let's make a pact - no matter what happens, we'll always be there for each other." 
44. "You will not believe the dream I had last night! You were in it, but it was terrifying." 
45. "Words cannot describe the beauty of this place. I've never seen anything like it!" 

Frequently Asked Questions 

What Are The 5 Elements Of Dialogue? 

Dialogue includes the following elements: the speaker (who is speaking?); tone & mood (how does the speaker sound when they're speaking?); content (what is the dialogue about?); interaction: (how do other characters respond to the dialogue?); and setting (where does the dialogue take place, and what environment is it taking place in?)

How Do You Write Compelling Dialogue? 

You can write great dialogue by avoiding long speeches, using dialogue to reveal character and advance the story's plot, and using it to create tension and conflict in your story. And by using these prompts, of course!

Using Dialogue Writing Prompts 

Creative dialogue writing prompts are a great way to jumpstart your story ideas and your writing.

They can help you get out of a rut and start writing, push through writer's block, or provide a new challenge to keep your creative writing fresh. 

By mixing up your dialogue, you can also create more engaging and believable characters. So, why wait? Try some dialogue prompts and get writing! 

Do you love reading about the dark depths of the human soul?

Do you want to create characters who are drawn into worlds of evil serial killers?

Do stories where the human mind is put to the test entice you?

Then you might be a fan of psychological thrillers!

This guide will explain just what a psychological thriller is, equip you with some top tips for writing your own, and give you some fantastic recommendations from the genre. 

What Is A Psychological Thriller?

So what is a psychological thriller? Well, while the wider thriller genre is characterised by suspense, action and darkness, psychological thrillers focus on the element of darkness. Action adventure thrillers are often pacy and events progress with a breakneck speed, while many psychological thrillers are likely to be ‘quieter’ and more focused on the inner life of their protagonist(s).  

It is likely in a psychological thriller that external events will prompt an inner crisis, where perhaps a protagonist investigating a crime finds themselves with a dissolving sense of reality due to the investigation’s impact on them. A suspicion about a loved one might prompt our main character to spiral, questioning what they truly know about others around them – and themselves.  

Psychological thrillers have obvious associations with the crime genre, but a less well-known aspect is how strongly they are related to the gothic genre. The tension between appearance and reality, a preoccupation with altered or disturbed mental states, and isolation of their protagonists are all common features of both the gothic and psychological thrillers. 

Types Of Psychological Thriller

There are a number of types of psychological thrillers, which all share the key element of a preoccupation with darkness and the inner life of their protagonist(s).  

Domestic 

These stories will often have ordinary characters living mundane lives that are disrupted by an inciting incident. This incident prompts a crisis for the main character, who becomes more isolated as they struggle with an external mystery and an internal conflict.  

Supernatural 

Supernatural psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of the paranormal and occult, which intertwine with the protagonist’s perception of reality and may be a factor in the balance of their mind becoming disturbed.  

Revenge 

In these types of stories, protagonists are driven by vengeance. Perhaps they are the one who is wronged, or someone important to them was. Either way, the desire for revenge at all costs takes a toll on their life, relationships, and ultimately their sanity.  

Workplace 

The workplace is a perfect setting for a psychological thriller – the possibilities for stressful situations, life-defining events, and toxic relationships are endless. Workplace psychological thrillers will centre around a sudden change in someone’s working life with ever-increasing fallout, threatening the protagonist’s career, relationships, and perhaps even their sense of identity.  

Cuckoos 

Cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, to be raised as their own. The fear of an interloper stealing your very identity – while no one else seems to even notice anything is amiss – is a key feature of the gothic genre with the archetypical doppelgänger: a chilling and unnatural double. Psychological thrillers featuring the fear of replacement play on this trope, and can cross over with the ‘domestic’ subgenre – someone being replaced in a relationship – or ‘workplace’ – being usurped in their career. 

The Key Elements Of A Psychological Thriller

From the types outlined above, it is clear to see that a psychological thriller will likely feature a protagonist who experiences an inner crisis due to external events.

That crisis will often cause the protagonist to question their understanding of reality and truth, especially if they experience an altered state of mind. This also links to one of the most enjoyable elements of a psychological thriller – the unreliable narrator.

The reliability of other characters around your protagonist is also brought into question. Who is telling the truth? Who thinks they are telling the truth, but actually is not? Who can be trusted?  

All of these aspects of a psychological thriller play out in the genre’s exploration of the darkness in humanity – the capacity for evil in an individual or societal group. The more familiar the settings, individuals, or groups, the more chilling the exploration of the potential for evil can be.  

Familiarity provides excellent opportunities for twists – play with your reader’s expectations of families, colleagues and social groups so that you can pull the rug out for them at the opportune moment.  

Ultimately, the best psychological thrillers live and die on the authenticity of their protagonists. Providing a backstory that explains who your character is and why they act in the way they do is a key element in creating an authentic and compelling character – but you may want to hold elements of that context back, so that the character’s history forms part of the twists and turns of your plot.  

Examples Of Psychological Thrillers

The Last House On Needless Street By Catriona Ward

Catriona Ward’s gripping psychological thriller fits well within the ‘revenge’ subgenre, as one of the main protagonists, Dee, is engaged on a years-long crusade to find out what happened to her sister. Convinced that the reclusive Ted is the prime suspect in her kidnapping, Dee sets up in the house opposite his to watch him and wait for her chance to prove his guilt. However, nothing in this story is quite what it seems – including the characters themselves. Ward’s gradual revelation of her characters’ backstories is a masterclass in building a compelling and shocking plot that keeps readers engaged until the last page.  

The Talented Mr Ripley By Patricia Highsmith

A classic of the genre, Highsmith’s Ripley stories show him inveigling his way into the lives of others – making it an excellent example of the ‘cuckoo’ subgenre. The tension in the plot is driven largely by Ripley striving to replace others in his quest for acceptance and affection, and the lengths that he is willing to go to in order to achieve this. As a result of his subterfuge, even the most innocuous scenes and events are dripping with tension. 

OldBoy By Park Chan-wook

Another classic in the ‘revenge’ subgenre, Park’s stylish and disturbing film follows Dae-su, a businessman who is inexplicably kept prisoner in an apartment for years. Swearing revenge on his mysterious captors, Dae-su embarks on a mission to discover who they are once he is released, and to take his revenge. Twists and turns follow, including who is actually taking revenge on whom.  

My Sister The Serial Killer By Oyinkan Braithwaite

Korede has a quiet and ordered life – except for when it comes to clearing up her sister Ayoola’s messes. Braithwaite’s examination of Korede’s relationship with her sister, how it developed and what it implicates her in, is the backbone of this darkly hilarious domestic psychological thriller. The juxtaposition of the mundanity of Korede’s life and the brutality of the murders Ayoola blithely commits provides a gradually escalating conflict – especially when Ayoola sets her sights on the man Korede is secretly in love with.  

#Fashion Victim By Amina Akhtar

Akhtar’s darkly comedic take on the – literally – cutthroat fashion industry has elements of the ‘workplace’ and ‘cuckoo’ psychological thriller subgenres. Anya St. Clair has fought her way up the fashion world totem pole, and her main rival is also the woman she most desires a friendship with – the beautiful and privileged Sarah Taft.  An entertainingly unreliable narrator, the increasingly unhinged Anya will do anything to get to where she wants to be, providing much of the dark humour of this novel.  

How To Write A Psychological Thriller

Include An Unreliable Narrator

A psychological thriller features a protagonist whose perspective is or becomes compromised in some way – perhaps they are gaslit, or deceived, or suspect they are. They may be under the influence of mind-altering substances, or in the grip of an addition or condition that affects the balance of their mind.

Whatever the reason is, your protagonist’s reliability being in question will provide much of the tension inherent in a psychological thriller’s plot. Playing with your readers' expectations of who can be trusted makes for an enjoyably twisty plot as you gradually reveal what is really going on, and what the truth really is.  

Steadily Build Tension

In all thrillers, steadily increasing tension is a must. Lacking the sudden ‘jump scares’ notable to the wider thriller genre, the best psychological thrillers will gradually ramp up the tension to make an unputdownable read. But how to do this? Incorporating the key elements outlined above, such as twists, unreliable narrators, the exploration of darkness, and drip-feeding the reader key backstory information can all be utilised to increase tension.

Also consider continually raising the stakes – what begins as a small, seemingly innocuous change in the protagonist’s life should snowball, widening the impact out to all corners of their life.  

Give Your Characters Limitations

Psychological thrillers often have a mystery at their centre, which is not resolved until the end. This mystery might be a large, external one – 'who was responsible for my loved one’s death?' – or it might be internal and personal – 'am I going mad?'

In order to effectively build tension, introduce limitations to your character’s quest for the truth. Perhaps key evidence is missing, or other characters act as obstacles. Increasing the limitations (is their freedom restricted? Have all their friends/family/colleagues turned against them?) will work to increase the stakes as well, as solving the (murder) mystery becomes intertwined with vindicating themselves as well. 

Create Plot Twists

In Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’, he wrote: “tragedy represents not only a complete action but also incidents that cause fear and pity, and this happens most of all when the incidents are unexpected and yet one is a consequence of the other.” This is often paraphrased as the advice that plot twists should be ‘surprising yet inevitable’. Basically, you should not ‘cheat’ at plot twists by introducing something so out of left field that the reader could not possibly have seen it coming.

Although a twist should be a shock, it should also retrospectively make complete sense. Developing such a twist is where your editing and revising skills come in – adding details in subsequent drafts once you’ve come up with your big twist enables you to lay a trail that, though hidden when first travelled, is obvious when your reader looks back.  

Withhold Information

This step comes in handy with other elements of writing a psychological thriller, such as having unreliable narrators, twists, and backstories. Holding back key information allows you to misdirect your reader, leading them to believe – or suspect – one thing is true, while in fact something else entirely is. Key information might include details about a character’s history, but might also take the form of what really happened during significant events, which is revealed as the plot progresses and the protagonist’s investigation takes them further towards the truth.  

Frequently Asked Questions

Is A Psychological Thriller A Horror?

While a psychological thriller contains some aspects of horror, it is distinct in key ways. Horror stories have supernatural or occult elements, which are integral aspects of the genre, while not all psychological thrillers do. A horror is also more likely to have sudden, shocking events – also known as ‘jump scares’. Due to the focus on an internal conflict in psychological thrillers, jump scares are not often key features of the genre. 

Some horror stories do have a strong psychological element to them, while other horror stories do not. The psychological horror genre consists of stories which contain elements of both the psychological thriller genre and the horror genre.

Why Are Psychological Thrillers So Popular?

There are a number of theories as to why psychological thrillers are so popular. Some psychologists suggest that people are drawn to stories which examine the awful things humans are capable of as a kind of preventative action – raising their awareness of these things so that they can recognise and avoid them in real life. Others have theorised that stories where things are initially strange and inexplicable, but where the truth is ultimately revealed, are cathartic and satisfying to consume – no matter how disturbing that truth may be.  

What Are The Main Elements Of A Psychological Thriller?

A psychological thriller will feature a protagonist who experiences an inner conflict prompted by external events. There will be a focus on the dark side of life, and gradually increasing tension. Often, protagonists will be unreliable – this can be due to having their perception affected by paranoia, substances, or obsession. The plot will feature twists; sometimes linked to the revelation of their characters’ backstories.  

Writing Psychological Thrillers

Making psychological thrillers allows us to plunge into the depths of darkness that people are capable of, but also provides us with an opportunity to shine a light on how humanity can survive – and even emerge triumphant – in the face of such darkness. Stories which show us a mind creaking under strain can also show us how terrible events can be overcome.  

For all their grim and grit, psychological thrillers can ultimately be hopeful and inspiring stories, showing how resilience is possible even when things seem hopeless.  

When the word ‘trope’ comes to mind, we tend to think of something overused or reductive, as in recent years, tropes have been perceived as negative.

But in this article, we're going to dig a little deeper.

We'll look at some examples of tropes and how we can use them in literature, as we demystify literary tropes and answer some pressing questions regarding their function and use.  

What Is A Trope? 

A trope can either be a figure of speech or a recurrent theme or storyline, that a reader can relate to, but one that runs the danger of becoming a cliché if overused.

‘The chosen one’ is a popular trope in young adult and fantasy novels and basically explores how a character goes from being ordinary to extraordinary, case in point being Harry Potter.

When used effectively, tropes can help writers craft stories that resonate with their readers. They can add perspective, meaning and freshness to our writing.  

Today, tropes can be divided in to classic and modern. Literary critics have a lot to say about common tropes, so it is pertinent that we look at what the purpose of a literary trope might be. 

The Purpose Of Literary Tropes

When used properly, tropes can immediately elevate your writing, and also make your story more relatable.

If the reader senses that your story is veering towards a theme that they're familiar with and enjoy reading, they know they're likely to enjoy it.

While tropes are in constant danger of becoming clichés, which is probably why they get a lot of negative press, the fact remains that they can make our writing memorable.  

Examples Of Literary Tropes 

There are countless examples of classic and modern literary devices and tropes, and while it would obviously be impossible to list them all, we can at least discuss a few popular ones.

There are some that have become clichés like the wicked stepmother and the damsel in distress, but there remain plenty that can add to the story: 

Metaphors

A metaphor is the art of describing one thing in terms of another for which it cannot be literally applicable.

‘He spoke to me with a wooden face’ means something else, but the implication in the figurative language is that the person was expressionless. 

Hyperbole 

Hyperbole is when we exaggerate for effect. It’s a very popular trope and used quite effectively in satire and humour.  

Irony

Irony is when the literal meaning and expression is the opposite of its underlying meaning. It is a very useful technique that has been employed to great effect by writers across the world.

For example, a hypocrite preaching about the disadvantages of hypocrisy would be ironic. Similarly, if you're feeling very ill and respond with ‘I’ve never felt better’ to someone asking about your health, you’re being ironic.  

Litotes

Litotes is when two negatives are used to express a positive, like responding with ‘I’ve not been unwell’ instead of ‘I’m doing well.’  

Love Triangles

The love triangle is a common trope in literature wherein two people are in love with the same person. Often overused, this is a very popular romance trope that adds an extra layer of tension.  

The Twilight Saga

The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer is an excellent example of the love triangle trope. Bella falls in love with Edward, but also finds herself drawn to Jacob. Throughout the saga, there is an undercurrent of jealousy and competition as Edward and Jacob try to win her over.

While we know deep down that Bella will probably choose Edward, Jacob’s love for her provides a lot of tension and keeps us turning the pages.  

 The Chosen One

The 'chosen one' trope is a staple in YA, science fiction, and fantasy novels (fantasy has lots of genre tropes), wherein a character - often the reluctant hero - goes from being ordinary to extraordinary.  

The Hunger Games

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen goes from being an ordinary girl from District 12 to taking the place of her sister Primrose to compete in the Hunger Games. All of a sudden she’s gone from being an ordinary girl watching the new players being chosen to being ‘the chosen one’ herself. This trope is very useful in setting the tone of the story.  

The Ticking Clock/Time Bomb

The ticking time bomb trope is used effectively in TV series, movies, and other forms of pop culture.

In this trope, there is usually a race against time where the characters need to fix a problem or everything will go up in flames.  

24 and 2012

The television drama 24 made full use of this trope with each season spread over 24 hours, with the main protagonist having to solve a problem with a literal clock counting down the minutes.

Similarly, the popular film 2012 also uses this trope. In the film, it is estimated that the world as we know it will cease to exist in a matter on months and in order to save a portion of the human race, special ships are being made.

Not only does this kind of trope make everything more compelling, the sense of impending doom also prompts readers to keep turning the pages and causes viewers to stay glued to the screen. 

Using Cities As Characters

Using a city as a character is a trope that can be found in many literary genres.

In this trope, the city is another character in the story. The city may be personified and given its own POV, or it may be a strong influential force.

The Bastard Of Istanbul 

This trope is used to by Elif Shafak in her novel, where Istanbul is brought to life and portrayed as an ever-changing creature. It grows and shrinks, all the while taking on the feelings and emotions of the protagonist.  

How To Use Tropes In Your Own Writing

Tropes can add a lot of depth and texture to our writing. However, it is essential that they're used properly.  

1. The first step is to make sure the trope fits the story. Just because you're writing a romance novel doesn’t mean you have to add a love triangle. Romance novels work just as well without them. The point is to use a trope that gives the reader some sense of familiarity, but only do so if the trope fits the story.  
2. Giving a twist to a familiar trope is an excellent way of infusing new life into a story. Psychological thrillers like Better Confess by Alan Gorevan and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn turn the ‘the man did it’ trope on its head to give us a fresh and compelling perspective. This showcases their mastery over storytelling and helps elevate them in the eyes of readers as excellent writers.  
3. Fully understanding tropes is equally important. Instead of shying away from them because they're sometimes considered to be lazy writing, we need to understand tropes and use them to make our writing immense. Not all tropes are clichés.  

Frequently Asked Questions 

 What Are Literary Trope Examples? 

There are various kinds of tropes, some classic and others modern. Metaphors, litotes, irony and hyperbole are some examples of classic tropes; while love triangles, ‘the chosen one’, ‘the wise old man’, and ‘the damsel in distress’ are examples of more modern tropes.  

What Is The Purpose Of Tropes In Literature? 

Tropes can get a lot of negative press, as they can easily become clichés, but they can also be used to elevate your writing and make it more compelling. A trope establishes familiar territory for a reader, but we can just as easily twist the trope on its head and create a fresh reading experience.  

Using Tropes

There is no easy way to avoid tropes in creative writing. As a matter of fact, they shouldn’t be avoided at all, rather embraced.

Not only can they help set the scene for the overall story, but they can also make the story more compelling, tense and readable.

Hopefully this article will help you use tropes effectively in your own writing. Happy writing!

Writing dystopian stories can be one of the most valuable things you can do.

Dystopian fiction is famous for its big, bold themes and the ground-breaking ways in which they’re conveyed.

So, if you’re looking for a fiction project, and you want a meaty challenge, look no further than writing the next great dystopian story.  

In this article, we’ll cover how to write a dystopian story, as well as:  

• What is a dystopian story? 
• Key elements of a good dystopian story 
• Dystopian story examples 
• Our tips and tricks for how to write dystopian fiction 
• Frequently asked questions 

Read on to learn how to write a dystopian story.  

What Is A Dystopian Story? 

Dystopian stories are a subgenre of speculative fiction focused on the destruction of society. This can be due to totalitarian rule, international or civil war, apocalyptic events (and their post-apocalyptic effects), or injustice and suffering.  

Often associated with Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984, dystopian fiction as a literary genre began with Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin and his book My — published in the US as We in 1924. Works like Zamyatin’s follow in the footsteps of fellow Russian Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s explorations of evil and freedom, setting the scene for what we know as dystopian stories today.  

Dystopian novels cover topics like climate disaster, tyranny, nuclear war, anarchy, pandemic disease, extra-terrestrials, artificial intelligence (AI), and even zombies.

If a story is set in a dystopian future, it may also take on elements of science fiction e.g. technology and its implications.  

So, what makes a good dystopian story?  

Key Elements Of A Dystopian Story 

This is where we get into the paradox of dystopian stories: that despite their weighty subjects, they can make for grippingly good reads. Let’s dive in.  

Worst-Case Scenarios 

The key to great dystopian stories is that they don't tread lightly. Instead, they take our fears and anxieties and turn them up to eleven.

Worried about climate change? Here’s a thinly-veiled conceit that ends in disaster thanks to humanity’s morally apathetic, egocentric leaders (the film Don’t Look Up).

What about technological progress and the future of AI? Have some time-travelling cyborg assassins (The Terminator series).

These are film-based examples, as we’ll cover books below, but the point is that a powerful dystopian story doesn’t shy away from its premise — it pulls the problem apart like an onion to get readers thinking about complexities from differing angles and points of view.  

And if we know anything about differing points of view, it’s what they can lead to.  

Dramatic Conflict  

But first, let’s take a step back. As I’ve covered in this guide to central conflict, a story’s conflict is the result of a protagonist’s want vs. obstacle. Due to the nature of dystopian fiction, you can bet any obstacle is going to be huge, with life or death stakes. This makes such conflicts strong, which is a major part of successful storytelling.

Now, if we think back to our definition of dystopian stories, in stories with themes about power structures, which create external conflict, anti-establishment characters will layer their own internal conflicts on top of that. This is where characterising different points of view can ground philosophical stances in reality, with clear choices for characters that readers can identify with.  

Inventive World-building 

It’s not all about concept, conflict and characters, though. Dystopian stories go big to convey big messages, so when you’ve got an apocalyptic scenario, it needs to be reflected in your dystopian world. As a result, world-building is where premise and conflict come together for effect; it’s also useful for characterisation.

Got a dystopian story based on a totalitarian government? How is that reflected in the way civil servants look, dress and live? What do they eat? Where do they sleep? How is this different to the general public — are they poor, or homeless by contrast?  

Well-crated dystopian settings help stories feel authentic in fictional worlds.  

As a writer, you can use this world-building to also build on a story’s themes.  

Thematic Resonance 

The way dystopian themes resonate can take on significance during periods of relevant upheaval. In 2017, George Orwell’s 1984 became a sudden bestseller after Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration; a big deal for a book published in 1949.

The broadest dystopian themes revolve around destruction, the abuse of power, and survival, and, depending on what’s top of mind in the cultural consciousness, such stories can galvanise people’s real-world opinions, which can impact future decisions and behaviour (as we saw in the US 2020 election).  

Humanity As Good Or Evil (Or Both) 

One of the fascinating things about dystopian fiction is who the author chooses to be on the side of good, or evil (or neither, in true ‘grey’ character style).

Is the protagonist a hero, an anti-hero or a closet villain? What about the supporting cast? Who is making the right choices, or the wrong choices, and why?

Human beings are complex, fuelled by emotion but capable of rational thought, and dystopian stories are an excellent vehicle for making the pitfalls of that duality scarily clear.  

Yet dystopian novels can be uplifting, too. Of those that don’t end in tragedy as a cautionary tale against their themes, many strive to show the power of the human spirit and its enduring potential. Characters in these tales often labour through long, painful journeys to reach their goals, but that struggle is what makes their eventual success so fulfilling. We can’t help but find triumphing over adversity inspirational, and these dystopian books tend to stay with us long after we’ve finished reading. 

Dystopian Story Examples 

So, now that we know what makes a good dystopian story, let’s take a look at some dystopian books that do it well.  

The Hunger Games Series By Suzanne Collins 

The biggest entry to reignite interest in dystopian stories, The Hunger Games trilogy (and subsequent films) kick-started a movement in young adult (YA) fiction that paved the way for dystopian novels like Divergent and The Maze Runner.  

Teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen lives in Panem’s impoverished District 12, where she hunts to provide for her family. When her little sister is selected for the annual reality TV battle royale known as The Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place alongside other teens who will fight to the death in the Capitol — including a fellow District 12 boy who once saved her life. Being YA, there’s also a love triangle, and happily, the seeds of rebellion.  

Remember what I said about worst-case scenarios, dramatic conflict and inventive world-building? This book’s got all three in spades, with a focus on youth leading the way in a hopeless situation.  

1984 By George Orwell 

Speaking of reality TV, the only ‘Big Brother’ we’re here to talk about is the original, chilling government version. Orwell’s dystopian story, written after the end of World War II, is a modern classic and a warning against totalitarianism.  

Winston Smith lives under the watchful eye of the Party and its leader Big Brother, rewriting history in the Ministry of Truth. In defiance, Winston starts a diary, a capital offence given what he does for a living — the risk compounded by telescreens that watch and listen 24 hours a day. He also starts dating a female colleague, which is forbidden as only loyalty to the Party must exist.  

What makes 1984 such potent dystopian fiction isn’t that the Party oppresses all the way down to love and sex, or that Winston is eventually found out, or that he’s tortured and reconditioned... it’s the ominous ending.  

The Handmaid’s Tale By Margaret Atwood 

After that last example, you may be wondering how much darker things can get. Answer? A lot. Welcome to Gilead.  

June, who's now known as Offred (a patronym for the man she’s assigned to), lives in the Republic of Gilead, previously the US, which is now controlled by right-wing extremists as a totalitarian, theocratic state. Offred is a Handmaid to her Commander Fred, and assigned to bear his children in monthly sex rituals witnessed by Fred’s wife, as infertility is the norm thanks to chemical warfare. With no freedom, and the Eyes (the secret police) everywhere, Offred has no real options — or so she thinks.  

According to Atwood: “When I wrote The Handmaid's Tale, nothing went into it that had not happened in real life somewhere at some time.” That’s a big statement, and a testament not only to her research, but also her commitment to authenticity. Next time you’re watching the TV show, keep that in mind.  

Brave New World By Aldous Huxley 

And the darkness keeps on coming, though it’s cloaked in Huxley’s wit and irony. Despite being a decade short of its 100th anniversary, Brave New World is a brave iconic take on dystopian writing, with lots still left to offer readers.  

Bernard Marx lives 600 years 'after Ford' in the dystopian future World State, where people, like cars, are mass-produced with individualism conditioned out. Yet Bernard's not the real hero of this story — John ‘the savage’ is, who Bernard meets on a trip to the wild Savage Reservation, and brings home. But when Bernard is eventually banished, how will babe in the woods John cope with civilisation?  

This dystopian novel is high-concept, so there’s a lot to unpack (e.g. social norms like promiscuity and Valium-like ‘soma’), and John’s ending is achingly poignant. With a theme like truth over happiness, it’s not hard to see why.  

Lord Of The Flies By William Golding 

We started this section with characters aged 12-18 in The Hunger Games — now we turn to characters aged 6-12 in Golding’s story about the surprisingly few steps between civilisation and a dystopian society.  

Ralph and a group of British schoolboys crash-land on a deserted island during a nuclear war; the group voting Ralph as their chief, with Piggy advising him. But hunter Jack wants to lead too, recruiting other boys with his barbarous violence; soon, most of the boys have joined Jack. Things turn ugly when Piggy’s glasses, used to make fire and smoke signals, are stolen and boys are killed. Ralph escapes and lives, saved by a British naval officer, but it’s too late for Piggy.  

Despite the idyllic tropical island, this dystopian story’s main theme is that humanity is essentially evil (yes, even kids). Another post–World War II novel, it’s also an allegory for war and leadership.  

Fight Club By Chuck Palahniuk 

For our last example, say hello to Palahniuk’s short story turned novel (and two comic book sequels), which disappointingly, isn’t on popular dystopian fiction lists. The book presents modern life and consumerism as a dystopian regime that needs blowing up, and certainly tries to — succeeding in the 1999 film adaptation. Yes, it’s satire and a damning social critique, but it’s also anarchic at heart and that’s a fundamental source of its conflict, with the twisty alter ego conflict layered on top. I’d say more, but you know the first rule of Fight Club…  

Now, onto what we’re here for (and what we can talk about) — how to write a dystopian story.  

How To Write A Dystopian Story 

Given the calibre of examples covered, writing a dystopian story might feel like an insurmountable task — but in practice, the steps aren’t dissimilar to ordinary fiction.

So, how do you do it?

For ease of use, I’ve broken it down into 5 key steps. 

Here’s how to write a dystopian story:  

Choose Your Problem 

This is where you choose the issue (or theme, then brainstorm from there) that you want to explore. For many dystopian authors, and those in other speculative fiction subgenres with a dystopian society, the first nugget of an idea often arises from real life.

Atwood’s idea for The Handmaid’s Tale came to her after a conversation during the 1980s about women outside the home, and what would force them back. Tomi Adeyemi’s award-winning YA fantasy series Children of Blood and Bone was inspired by racism and extreme police brutality.

Both are powerful examples of taking a real-world issue and expanding it into a successful dystopian premise, which brings us to our next step.  

Make It A Premise 

You’ve chosen your problem, and now you want to flesh it out into a full concept. Excellent! This is where more brainstorming helps. So does an example.  

Say you’re looking at the government and wondering how they get things so wrong (a little meta, but let’s go with it). Make a list of what they’re mismanaging right now, and pick what you see as the biggest issue. Electricity and gas? Inflation and the cost of living? Or something else? Now, what’s the absolute worst thing that could happen from this problem? Got it? Great. Then multiply it by ten.

If it’s electricity and gas, maybe your premise is that they no longer exist; or maybe they only exist for certain people. Tease out the how and why. What happened for some people to lose these utilities, or keep them? What does this difference look like — do the have-nots use fire to cook and heat instead, and what does this mean for the environment? These knock-on effects will make your premise all the more real.  

Choose Your Protagonist 

For some writers, you’ll arrive at your premise with a character in hand. For the rest of us, you need to think about what you want from your dystopian story, and what kind of protagonist works best.

Do you want your main character to win, or is your aim an exercise in caution (see 1984)? The answer will determine what traits and skills should be inherent to your character, or learned throughout the story.

And while we’re here, don’t forget your supporting characters. With the weight of the dystopian world on your protagonist’s shoulders, they’ll need help and support, not to mention people that challenge them, along the way.  

Check Your Conflict 

Now that you’ve selected your problem, expanded it into a compelling premise, and have a protagonist in mind, it’s a good time to confirm that your conflict is strong enough to carry your story.

Dystopian novels tend to fall into the category of external conflicts: character vs. society, technology, nature, the supernatural etc. With a strong central conflict, your main character is forced to reveal themselves through action and the decisions they continue to make as the plot advances. Remember: your character’s want + its obstacle = conflict.   

Build Your World 

If you’re like me, you’ll have been making notes as you go, but for those new to world-building, it’s completely fine to start once you’ve gotten your head around the steps above.

Bringing your story to life involves building on earlier questions to craft your dystopian world and its people i.e. nature and geography, and people and governance (as well as various cultures).

This not only means the physical landscape, climate and seasons, resources, and plants and animals, but also a population’s races, genders, sexualities and classes, plus language and religion, norms, values and economic systems.  

Tips For Writing Dystopian Fiction 

Okay, you know how to write a dystopian story in theory — but you want a few more tips and tricks. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.  

Here are five tips for writing dystopian fiction: 

1. Pick an Issue You’re Passionate About: Circling back to our 5 steps for how to write a dystopian story, if you’re stuck on choosing your problem, what issues happening around the world get you angry? What matters to you? Scour news and current affairs for meaningful inspiration. Having own-voice experiences can be beneficial here, too.  
2. Bring the Catastrophe: Alternatively, if translating your problem into a premise is the sticking point, you may be thinking too small. Now is not the time to round down — don’t just go big, go gargantuan! Think of the most extreme outcome and explore that.  
3. Nail Your Main Character’s Backstory: If you’ve followed the first five steps but are stumbling over your protagonist, maybe a character profile will help. You can use everything you’ve noted about your dystopian setting to flesh out your protagonist’s background, role and goals, characteristics, and personal conflicts to layer accordingly.  
4. Research, Research, Research: While much of your research will go into world-building, you’ll still need to fact-find for your premise. If your story is based on large-scale war, authentic specifics are crucial, whether that’s reading up on World War II or going down the science fiction path of something like H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds.  
5. Read the Dystopian Greats: Speaking of which, if you want inspiration, read dystopian stories like the examples listed in this guide, but also read other dystopian writing widely. This will help you learn the ropes (and tropes), as well as any pitfalls you’d like to avoid in your work.  

Frequently Asked Questions 

How Do You Start A Dystopian Fiction Story? 

You start a dystopian fiction story like you would any other: with a hook and inciting incident. For dystopian stories, that hook is your unique premise and what it means for your dystopian world. You also need to introduce your protagonist and how they fit (or don’t fit) into the world, which the inciting incident makes clear. The best dystopian fiction stories do this in the first few chapters, then further the plot while deep-diving into character, the world and the central conflict.  

What Are 3 Common Themes In A Dystopian Story? 

The 3 most common themes in a dystopian story are destruction, the abuse of power, and survival. Destruction can be technological, nuclear or environmental, even apocalyptic, with mass poverty and violence as outcomes. Abuse of power, often governmental, can include censorship, extreme oppression, and loss of personal or cultural identity. Survival then becomes the goal, whether it’s physiological as in air, food, water and shelter, or psychological like mental health.  

What Are The 5 Elements Of Dystopia? 

The 5 key elements of great dystopian stories include: worst-case scenarios, dramatic conflict, inventive world-building, thematic resonance, and depicting human beings as good or evil. For a dystopian premise to be successful, it requires a significant potential for harm, a strong external conflict, a fully realised, authentic-feeling world, big themes with broad appeal, and an answer to the question of whether humanity is the problem or the solution.  

What Is The Opposite Of Dystopian? 

At the opposite end of the dystopian spectrum is utopian fiction, which depicts an ideal or utopian society. English philosopher Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) coined the term with his perfect island society that cut itself off from the world. Utopian fiction is around 500 years older than the dystopian genre, and in it, authors invert problems to show what could be, rather than what is; ecological sustainability might be explored by depicting a human society in harmony with its natural environment, for example.  

Writing Dystopian Fiction Stories 

There’s a lot to love about dystopian fiction. Yes, it can be dark. It can be harrowing. But from darkness comes enlightenment, and thankfully, we can experience these dystopian stories from the safety of our homes.

Dystopian novels guide us and teach us where to do better in the hope of a better future. Sometimes they’re bitter pills to swallow, but nothing truly worth it is easy. That’s where doing the work comes in.  

If this line of thinking appeals, now that you know how to write a dystopian story, it may just be your time to begin.  

We all dream of that day we read a review that says, “I couldn’t put this book down”. We want our readers to be eager to turn the pages; but how do we achieve that?  

By using tension. That’s how. 

Tension is not an easy technique to learn as a new writer, but it is essential for a long and fulfilling writing career. In this article, I will explain what tension is, why it is important to a story, and how to create it on the pages of your next work in progress.  

What Is Tension?

Tension building is a phrase used in creative writing circles when discussing the conflict that is explored in the novel by the main characters.  

It is essential to know that to create tension, you must first give your readers something to be afraid for; but be aware, being afraid of something is not the same as being afraid for something.  

Being afraid of something is to fear something that may harm you; being afraid for something means to be worried that it might be harmed in some way. The it being something your character cares deeply for, or desires. 

Think of this in the context of your novel. You want your reader to be worried that something could get in the way of what your character truly desires. You want readers to be fearful that something will get in the way of the protagonist's ultimate happiness.  

Tension Vs Suspense

Although many will see these two terms as being interchangeable, they often work hand in hand, but they are not the same.  

Tension happens as your reader anticipates conflict (that thing that is stopping your character getting what they really want) impacting the thing your protagonist desires the most.  

Suspense grows steadily throughout the course of a novel while the conflict remains unresolved. 

 You can’t have tension, or even suspense, without a central conflict.  

Why Is Tension Important In A Story?

We now know that conflict (that thing stopping your character getting what they want) leads to tension (that thing that makes us care about the character resolving the conflict) which in turn leads to suspense (as we keep that resolution of the conflict from them).  

This results in your reader feeling a compulsive need to keep turning the pages.  

Tension is also about tapping into the emotion of your character and creating a presumed emotional impact if they don’t get what they truly desire. You are creating an emotional connection between your protagonist and your reader, encouraging emotional investment. 

So, why is tension important? Essentially, without it, you will have a dull book that your reader does not feel emotionally invested in or compelled to finish. 

Which Genres Rely on Tension?

I don’t believe there is a single genre that does not use and embrace tension.  

Thrillers, mystery, suspense and even horror are easy to identify as those that rely on strong tension on the page, but the truth is, you can (and should) create and build tension in any genre.  

Take romance for example, and Romeo and Juliet. The tension in that story is created by telling the reader that it matters little how much the pair love each other, as their love is forbidden. Shakespeare created a central conflict so strong that it in turn created tension on the page for the reader.  

How To Create Tension In Writing

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to building tension on the page – but there are 8 simple steps you can follow to make sure you have your reader begging for just one more page before bed. 

Character Led Conflict

To create tension in your novel, first your readers need to care about the protagonist. It's essential that you have well developed characters that your readers find themselves rooting for.

You need to find the one thing your character wants the most in life. 

Then, find a way to keep it from them.  

The key here is to make sure this is specific to this character. To their life. It must be something that will emotionally affect them if they don’t achieve it; but here is the kicker, your reader needs to care too.  

Your reader needs to want your character to achieve their goal as much as they do. So, dig deep and find out what they really want, and just what they are prepared to do to get it.    

Conflicting Characters With Opposing Goals

The best way to keep something from your character, is to create someone (or something) to keep them from their goal. Your reader wants to see your character's personality develop as they fight to achieve their goal, so put someone in their path with opposing goals or give them something to fight against. This rising conflict will increase tension and keep the reader engaged.

If you want your reader to be a page turning cheerleader, give they something to cheer for. 

Raise The Stakes – Then Raise Them Again!

What does your character stand to lose if they don’t achieve their goal? How will it change them, affect them, harm them? How close can you get them to their goal before taking it away again?  

You want your reader to want to jump into the book and fight for your protagonist.  

For narrative suspense and tension, you want your character to try and fail multiple times. Many authors use the rule of three, although it’s not a ‘rule’. In essence, have your character fail twice, each time raising the stakes, before they eventually succeed.    

Pacing Is Key

Pace is key, pace is King!  

Creating tension and suspense does not mean that every single chapter needs to be fast moving.  

Fast paced chapters, urgent, sharp and to the point, will create forward momentum and a sense of urgency; but slower paced chapters can be gentle, giving your character a chance to reflect on what they want and why.  

Slower paced chapters can also be packed with the emotion you need to get your reader to care. Play with pace; it can make or break a successful novel. 

Create Curiosity In Your Reader

One of the best ways to create and sustain tension as your story progresses is to keep your reader asking questions and engaged at all times. It’s essential to keep your reader curious, so have them asking enough questions in those quiet moments to keep them turning the pages.  

Internal And External Conflict

Internal conflict is just as important to tension as external conflict. Although we mention creating something or someone to keep your main character from their goal a lot, often the most difficult conflict to overcome is the one in your own head.  

How is your character stopping themselves from getting what they want? Fighting external sources is a great way to create fast paced chapters, but those quiet moments are when the internal struggle of your character will show itself. What do they need to change within themselves to achieve happiness?   

Master The Sub Plot

Sub plots are your friends! Embrace them.  

You don’t want your characters to live in a one-dimensional world. External factors and other people’s lives will affect your characters journey. How can you use the sub plot(s) to raise the stakes? Tension coming from multiple sources will create a sense that the world is closing in, adding to a sense of urgency and emotion on the page. You can even add a plot twist or two to keep the reader interested.

The Ticking Time Bomb 

From some of the earliest books we read as readers, to some of the most successful novels ever published, we see authors using the ‘ticking time bombs’ to add tension.  

Take Cinderella for example; there was literally a clock ticking down to her reveal. Another more contemporary example might be that of Dan Brown in his Robert Langdon books; working against the clock to solve the mystery before anyone else is hurt.  

Introducing a time limit/deadline injects your story with stress - having your characters work against the clock (either towards an actual or an imposed deadline) will force your protagonist to make snap decisions, heightening anxiety and conflict. 

Top Tips For Creating Tension

Now, we know what tension is, we know the difference between tension and suspense, and we know that conflict is key; but how exactly do you implement that in written form? 

Use All Your Senses

Your characters should be fully formed, well rounded people, so don’t forget that they have more than one sense. Don’t just see; touch, taste, hear, and smell your surroundings. Immerse your character and you will immerse the reader. Have them feel ‘that icy breath’ on their neck, or the ‘quickening of my heart, a stampede through the African plains of my chest’. Don’t just tell them how to feel, make them feel it. 

Use Short Sentences

Play with sentence length, structure, and cadence. Placing short sentences together will force a quickened pace of reading. Use the cadence of your sentences to emphasise sudden events, or wistful moments. If you want the reader to feel a quick heartbeat, try mimicking the rhythm of a heartbeat with the words on the page.  

Consider Your Language

Think about the words you use and when. Use panic heavy conjunctions to emphasise pace and speed. Panic conjunctions such as ‘suddenly’ are often overused, but you could try ‘abruptly’, or ‘unexpectedly’ or even ‘without warning’.  

If you want the reader to see, feel and hear your character, make sure the language matches the action. 

Use Your Surroundings

The weather can be, and is often, used to help create tension, suspense, and emotion on the page. Pathetic fallacy is where we attribute emotions or feelings to weather patterns.  

For example, ‘the flowers danced in the breeze’ - now we know that flowers don’t dance, but this description allows the reader to know that this scene is a serene one.  

Whereas, with ‘the wind whispered its secrets through the trees’ - we know that wind doesn’t whisper, but this sense of foreboding creates tension on the page.  

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do Writers Create Tension And Suspense? 

There is no hard and fast rule– but there are 8 simple steps you can follow to make sure you are creating tension and suspense. 

• Create character led conflict  
• Characters with opposing goals  
• Raise the stakes  
• Perfect your pacing 
• Create curiosity  
• Balance internal and external conflict 
• Master the sub plot  
• Consider a ticking timebomb 

How Do You Create Tension On The Page And In Dialogue?

Here are some of mytop tips for increasing tension on the page and in dialogue:

• Be clever with your use of short sentences, sentence structure and cadence 
• Use all your senses 
• Consider your language carefully - try using panic conjunctions and pathetic fallacy 
• Use interruptions during dialogue 
• Narrate tense moments in between dialogue 

What Are The Four Types Of Tension? 

Tension in fiction can generally be grouped into one of these four categories: 

• Tension of the task 
• Tension of relationships 
• Tension of surprise 
• Tension of mystery 

What Is The Difference Between Tension And Suspense?  

Tension happens as your reader anticipates conflict - that thing that is stopping your character getting what they really want - impacting the thing your protagonist desires the most.  

Suspense grows steadily throughout course of a novel while the conflict remains unresolved.  

Creating Tension

Mastering the skill of tension requires practise, but once mastered, you will have a loyal following of readers always eager to come back and read more. It’s all about balance, nuance and detail. Give your reader just enough time to breathe before you set them off running again, and always give them something to run towards.  

Do you love murder mysteries? Do you want to write your own but don't know where to start? 

Well, you've come to the right place! 

In this article, you will learn how to write compelling murder mystery stories that move the plot forward and keep your readers guessing until the end. We'll discuss structure, key moments, character development, and setting. 

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, read on for all the tips and tricks you need to create an edge-of-your-seat murder mystery! 

What Is A Murder Mystery? 

A murder mystery is a fast-paced story in which a killing is committed, and the characters must solve the mystery by uncovering clues and identifying the culprit.

The murder mystery genre includes elements of suspense and detective work, making it a popular choice for readers who enjoy puzzles and trying to piece together all the clues. 

While the plot of a murder mystery can be complex, the basic premise is reasonably simple: someone has been killed, and it is up to the main characters to find out who did it. 

How Are Murder Mysteries Different from General Mystery Stories? 

There are many types of mystery stories, from classic whodunits to modern thrillers. But what sets murder mysteries apart from other types of mystery stories? 

For one thing, murder mysteries usually involve much higher stakes. After all, the victim in a murder mystery is already dead, so there's very little chance of a happy resolution. 

In addition, they tend to be darker and more violent than other mystery genres. They often explore the dark side of human nature and the motivations behind why someone would kill another person. 

Finally, good murder mysteries typically have a larger cast of characters than other types of mystery stories. This is because each character usually has something to hide, and the murderer is often someone who was least expected. 

These elements combine to create a unique and addictive genre that will keep readers guessing and turning pages! 

Next, let's look at the critical aspects of a murder mystery novel. 

The Key Elements Of A Murder Mystery 

1. Start With A Strong Hook To Capture Your Reader's Attention 

In any good murder mystery, the crime that sets the story in motion needs to be compelling enough to hook the reader from the very first page. After all, once somebody has been murdered, it's up to the private detective (and the reader) to put together the pieces of who did it and why. 

A strong hook will keep readers engaged as they try to solve the puzzle along with the detective.

To be effective, a hook should be mysterious and intriguing, making the reader want to find out more. It should also introduce the key players in the story so that readers have a sense of who they're rooting for (or against!). 

2. The Protagonist Should Be Someone The Reader Can Sympathise With And Root For 

In any good murder mystery, the protagonist should be someone with whom the reader can empathise. After all, it's hard to get invested in a story if you don't care about the main character! 

A sympathetic protagonist gives the reader someone to identify with as they try to solve the mystery. They also provide a human element to the story, making it more relatable and realistic.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the protagonist has to be perfect. In fact, many of the best murder mysteries feature protagonists with flaws and secrets of their own! 

3. Create Believable, Complex Characters For The Supporting Cast 

The murder victim is only the beginning. Creating a web of complex and believable characters for the rest of the supporting cast is essential to keep readers engaged. Each character should have unique motivations, secrets, and skills that come into play as the story unfolds. 

Furthermore, the relationships between these characters should be rich and multi-layered, providing clues and red herrings for the reader to follow. 

4. Include A Plot Twist That The Reader Won't See Coming 

A murder mystery is only as good as its plot twist. The best plot twists are entirely unexpected but still make perfect sense retrospectively. 

An excellent way to achieve this is to plant false clues throughout the story that point the reader in the wrong direction. This will make the true killer's identity all the more surprising when it is finally revealed. 

5. There Should Be Plenty Of Red Herrings To Keep The Reader Guessing Until The Very End 

A murder mystery is not a true mystery if the reader can figure out who did it long before the end of the book. 

A key element in writing a successful murder mystery is to include a red herring - a false clue that points the reader in the wrong direction.

These can take many forms, from physical evidence that appears to incriminate a character but is later revealed to be planted, to eyewitnesses who give conflicting testimony. 

6. The Ending Should Be Satisfying 

A vital element of murder mystery books is that the ending should be satisfying, with all loose ends tied up neatly. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule, but generally, a well-written mystery should provide closure for its readers. 

You can achieve this by providing a credible explanation for all of the clues that have been left throughout the story. This not only allows readers to see how everything fits together but also leaves them feeling satisfied that they were able to solve the mystery themselves. 

Another way to create a satisfying ending is by ensuring that all of the characters get what they deserve. This means that justice is served and that everyone who played a role in the story gets their comeuppance. 

Different Forms Of Murder Mysteries 

Murder mystery stories are a popular genre that can be written as novels, short stories, screenplays, stage plays, or even television shows.

While each type of story has distinct benefits, they all share one common goal: to keep the audience guessing about whodunnit!

Let's take a closer look at the different murder mystery forms. 

Murder Mystery Novels 

The novel form of a murder mystery allows for more significant character development and a more complex plot than a short story or a screenplay, allowing the reader to delve into all the nuances of each character and their motives. 

Murder Mystery Short Stories 

A short story is a more concise, focused way of telling a story, with fewer characters and fewer distractions from the central mystery, while centred on the inner workings of a specific character's mind. 

Murder Mystery Screenplays 

A screenplay can be an excellent format for a murder mystery, allowing the author to control the pacing and tension of the story. Typically, a script for a film is best suited to fast-paced action and suspense, with an emphasis on characters and visuals. So, a murder mystery script exemplifies the strengths of the subgenre and the screenplay format simultaneously.

Murder Mystery Stage Plays 

A stage play is primarily dialogue-driven, which is an excellent format for a story based on a central character interviewing others to determine the culprit. 

Murder Mystery TV Shows 

Serialised television has always been popular for telling murder mysteries, with shows such as CSI and Law & Order, as it allows for complex plotlines and character development in a short time frame.  

Murder Mystery Examples 

Knives Out By Rian Johnson (Movie) 

This offbeat film, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, follows the investigation into the death of a renowned crime novelist and every shocking twist and intriguing turn keeps you guessing until the end. 

And Then There Were None By Agatha Christie (Novel, Movie, Stage Play) 

One of the most famous murder mystery novels ever written, this story follows a group of strangers who are invited to an isolated island off the coast of England. Once there, after they are accused of various crimes and murders, they are picked off one by one by an unknown killer. As the body count mounts, the survivors realise that there is no way off the island and that they must find the killer before it's too late. 

Columbo (TV Show) 

If you're a fan of detective shows, you've probably seen at least one episode of Columbo. The iconic series starred Peter Falk as a wily police detective who was always one step ahead of the killer. Unlike standard whodunnits, each episode began with the audience knowing who the murderer was, but seeing Columbo piece the clues together was always a delight. 

Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn (Novel, Movie) 

One of the most popular murder mystery novels in recent years, Gone Girl tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne, a married couple whose relationship is on the rocks. When Amy goes missing, Nick becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance. As the police investigation unfolds, dark secrets about their marriage are revealed, and it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems. 

Hound Of The Baskervilles By Arthur Conan Doyle (Novel, Movie) 

This classic story revolves around the investigation of a series of murders committed on the desolate moors of Devonshire. Sherlock Holmes is hired to solve the case, and he quickly realises that the culprit is a large, ferocious hound that has been terrorising the local villagers at the bidding of its secretive master. In the end, Holmes is able to put an end to the murders and uncover the culprit. 

Mystery At Rogues' Roost By Ellery Queen (Short Story) 

Rogues' Roost is a remote and isolated inn, the perfect setting for a murder mystery. When Ellery Queen arrives, he finds that the innkeeper has been killed and the other guests are all suspects. As Ellery begins to investigate, he quickly realises that each of the guests has something to hide. The question is, who is the murderer? Ellery soon discovers that the answer lies in a hidden room at Rogues' Roost, a room that holds the key to a decades-old mystery. 

How To Write A Murder Mystery 

Step 1: Determine Your Setting & Main Character 

The first step is to determine when, where, and who. Will your story take place in a small town or a big city? On a beach or in the mountains? Is it a period piece or contemporary? 

Once you've decided on the location, it's time to introduce your main character. Is she a famous detective or an amateur sleuth? A hard-boiled private investigator or an inquisitive novice? By understanding your protagonist's motivations and backstory, you'll be better equipped to write a compelling mystery. 

Step 2: Who Is The Victim? What Is The Murder Or Crime Committed? 

Is your victim innocent or guilty of misdeeds? Are they a good person or are they thoroughly nasty? How you paint the victim will reflect in how they're viewed by others, including your readers. 

Once you've chosen your victim, it's time to get into the nitty-gritty of the crime itself. Where did it take place? When? How was the body found? These are all essential details that will help to set the scene. You should also consider what kind of weapon was used and whether any evidence was left at the crime scene. 

Step 3: Create A List Of Potential Suspects, Along With Their Motives, Opportunities, And Alibis 

The best murder mystery stories always have a large cast of potential suspects. After all, part of the fun is trying to figure out who did it! So, once you've decided on your victim and your crime, it's time to start brainstorming a list of possible killers. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you create your list of suspects: 

• Each suspect should have a motive for killing the victim. What would they stand to gain by the victim's death? 
• Each suspect should have an opportunity to commit the crime. Where were they when the crime took place? Do they have access to the murder weapon? 
• Each suspect should have some kind of connection to the victim. How do they know each other? What is their relationship like? 
• Each suspect should have a seemingly valid alibi for where they were when the crime was committed. Think of each character's backstory and what they might have been doing at the time. 

Always make sure to think about what clues and red herrings you want to include in your story when you are thinking about your suspects! 

Step 4: Create A Unique Twist On The Actual Murder 

This is where you take the basic concept of the murder and make it your own. It's essential to come up with something that will surprise your readers and keep them guessing until the big reveal. 

One way to do this is to change the motives for the murder. Maybe the victim was killed for insurance money, or maybe there was a love triangle gone wrong. 

You can also change the way the murder is carried out. Instead of a bullet to the head, maybe the victim is poisoned or drowned. 

Whatever you choose, make sure to include a feeling of improbability or impossibility to the crime. This increases the mystery and engagement! 

Step 5: Create A Timeline Of Events 

The last step to writing a murder mystery is to create a timeline of events. This may seem daunting, but it's not as difficult as it sounds. Here are a few tips: 

Start by brainstorming a list of all the events that take place in your story, no matter how big or small. Little details matter! Once you have your list, arrange the events in chronological order. If you're unsure about the order, that's okay - you can always go back and adjust as needed. 

Next, flesh out each event with more details. What happened? Who was involved? Where did it take place? When did it happen? Why did it happen? Answering these questions will help you create a more detailed and believable timeline. 

Finally, don't forget to include clues and red herrings to help keep your story suspenseful and unpredictable! 

Tips For Writing A Murder Mystery 

1. Plan out your ending before you write your story. 
2. Ensure that everyone in the story is a potential suspect (the main character included!). 
3. Set your murder mystery story in an exciting or unique location that adds detail to your narrative. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

How Do You Outline A Murder Mystery? 

When outlining a murder mystery, it is essential to start with the basics: who was killed, where did the murder take place, and who are the possible suspects? Once you have these crucial elements in place, you can begin to flesh out the story. For example, what was the victim's relationship with the suspects? What was the motive for the murder? What evidence is there that points to a specific suspect? 

How Many Suspects Should You Have In A Mystery Novel? 

In a mystery novel, the number of suspects is important. Too few suspects, and the reader may feel that the answer is obvious. Too many suspects, on the other hand, can make the ending feel contrived. The key is to find the right balance. Ultimately, the story's plot will determine the number of suspects. However, as a general rule, having at least three suspects is advisable. This will give the reader enough options to consider without making the mystery too convoluted. 

Murder Mystery Writing

If you're excited to try your hand at writing murder mystery stories, start with a great hook that will capture your reader's attention. Once you have them hooked, include plenty of plot twists and red herrings to keep them guessing until the very end. And don't forget to create relatable characters that your readers will love (or love to hate!). 

With these tips in mind, you're ready to write murder mysteries that will keep your readers glued to the page. Ready, set, solve! 

The ‘rule of three’ is as familiar to you and I as fairy tales like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or genies who grant three wishes, or sayings like ‘good things come in threes’.

It’s a rule we use all the time in everyday life.

But what makes three such a magic number?

And when it comes to fiction, how can we use the rule of three in writing?  

In this article, we’ll cover:  

• What is the rule of three in writing? 
• Examples of the rule of three, and what it looks like in practice 
• Our tips and tricks for the rule of three as a writing principle 
• Frequently asked questions 

So, what is the rule of three, and how do you use it to engage readers in your own writing?  

What Is The Rule Of Three? 

The ‘rule of three’ in writing is based on groups of three items being more memorable, emotionally resonant, and persuasive than simply one or two.  

In literature, the scope is broad: from having the word ‘three’ in a novel’s title, to three characters’ points of view (POVs), or even just using a three-act plot structure.

We’ll delve into these later, so stay tuned.

But for now, why is the number three so established when it comes to storytelling?  

To answer this question, I dug out my psychology textbooks and went trawling through the scientific research, as the overall consensus online is that three is the smallest grouping for pattern recognition in the human brain.

Frustratingly, there’s not a lot of research to back this statement up.  

What I did find was an excellent resource, The Rule of Three (or Four), and Pairs by Professor Dominic Cheetham, who expressed the same frustration and used his paper to explore the rule of three in writing (citing Ursula LeGuin, no less).  

Cheetham’s takeaways on the rule of three in literature:  

• Repetition is an established memory aid. 
• Repetition can be used to signify importance, as in emotional intensity (and therefore significance). 
• Repetition is core to persuasion, especially the number three.   
• Cheetham posited that three reasons are more convincing than one; this is supported by a two-part study from Shu & Carlson (2014), who found that three claims were the ticket to consumer persuasion.  
• Cheetham went on to summarise that ‘the rule of three is not just a rule of three or four things together, but a rule of sequential repetition … in a clear and meaningful order’.  
  • i.e. there is semantic progression, which can become more complex, or even humorous, once a pair primes us for a third list item.  

So, there’s a little background on why the rule of three is used in literature, and in life more generally.

Next, we’ll take a look at some examples.  

General Examples Of The Rule Of Three 

Our love of triads has led to great case studies on the rule of three in action.

Let’s start with real-world examples.  

Marketing 

‘I’m Lovin It’

McDonald’s 2003 slogan has just three words but has lasted for 19 years (the fast-food brand’s previous record was four years).  

Did anyone else not know this jingle is a Justin Timberlake song?  

'Just Do It’

Another example of the power of three-word advertising slogans, Nike’s motto was inspired by the last words of a death row prisoner, and that resonance carried.  

Public Service 

‘Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.’

The UK government’s slogan from the COVID-19 lockdowns went for shock-factor with its implications. 

‘The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’

The English common law oath is a judicial convention spanning the Western world.  

Religion 

The Fates: The Ancient Greek Moirai or Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) were said to spin the threads of birth, life, death, and ultimately, destiny.  

The Holy Trinity: In Christianity, this is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (one God in three persons), invoked during the ritual of baptism. 

The Three Wise Men who travelled to see the baby Jesus are another example of three figures in the Christian faith.  

Proverbs 

‘Omne trium perfectum’

‘Everything that comes in threes is perfect’ is a long-standing Latin declaration for the rule of three.  

‘Mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru’

‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ is based on the Japanese pictorial maxim of the Three Wise Monkeys.  

Phrases 

‘Ready, set, go’: This shorter, more effective version of ‘On your marks, get set, go’ shows the power of brevity (and three words).  

‘Blah, blah, blah’: For an even simpler example of a three-word phrase, this triple-single idiom has roots in a similar expression from the 1800s.  

Examples Of The Rule Of Three In Writing 

We’ve looked at general examples — now it’s time to examine some modern and classic examples of the rule of three in writing and the creative industries.  

Fables And Fairy Tales 

Circling back to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this British fairy tale has more threes than you can poke three sticks at: three chairs, three bowls of porridge, three beds, and the eponymous three bears (who then go through the same chairs / porridge / beds shtick as Goldilocks, only to discover a pint-sized intruder in their midst).

As you can tell, repetition here is key.  

With slightly less repetition, the fable The Three Little Pigsincludes not only the three pigs, but also three houses built from increasingly hardy ingredients which they use to finally outsmart the Big Bad Wolf.  

For a Norwegian example, De tre Bukkene Bruse or Three Billy Goats Gruff is another well-known fairy tale that employs three goats, each bigger than the last, to trick a hungry bridge-blocking troll.

Literature 

The category we’ve all been waiting for!

And for our first example, you can’t go past Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol.

Here, the original Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge, is visited by ​​three spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

In terms of the rule of three in fiction writing, this story has the trifecta of repetition for memorability, big feelings, and of course, a dose of ghostly persuasion.  

Les Trois Mousquetaires orThe Three Musketeers by French author Alexandre Dumas, which gets points for having the number three in its title, follows d'Artagnan and his three swashbuckling heroes as they duel their way through Paris and London — for honour, naturally.  

A less obvious example of the rule of three at work is by another Frenchman Jules Verne in his Around the World in Eighty Days.

After travelling to India, Phineas Fogg’s group is a party of three; and when he returns to London, he’s hit with three final ordeals.

The clincher? Fogg wins the book’s titular bet with three minutes to go.  

Plays 

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, three witches (‘wayward sisters’) visit the Scottish General Macbeth with the prophecy that he will become king.

As we know, this leads Macbeth down his dark, ambitious path, with tragic consequences.

Unlike Dickens’ ghosts, the three witches spell trouble and temptation for Macbeth, their fateful words finally guiding his (stabbing) hand.  

A scarily meta example is one by the master of murder mystery tales herself, Agatha Christie, aptly called Rule of Three.

This triple bill of one-act plays includes Afternoon at the Seaside, The Rats and The Patient. 

Not to make this about Shakespeare again, but if we’re talking plays, an oft-quoted line is his ‘Friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’ from another well-known tragedy, Julius Caesar.  

Film 

Arguably the world’s most famous trilogy, the creator of the Star Wars films,George Lucas upped the ante by planning prequel and sequel trilogies for a total of nine films in the space opera.

This opened up the three-act structure to a new, epic scale of storytelling — not to mention intellectual property.  

The romantic comedy When Harry Met Sallyis a cult 80s film with a flair for the rule of three.

The pair meet three times before becoming friends, and after the final New Year's Eve party, where — ***SPOILER ALERT*** — Harry declares his love for Sally and they kiss, they get married three months later.  

Credit to Reddit for reminding me that each key character in Signs has an identifying trait or issue that rears its head three times before the end. 

Television 

The rule of three or ‘threefold law’ in modern-day witchcraft was front and centre in Charmed, with three key characters (even when Shannon Doherty exited the show in season three): the three Halliwell sisters, who used their magical 'power of three' to fight supernatural baddies.  

I’m including Schitt’s Creek in this list because: a.) it’s brilliant; b.) Moira Rose’s iconic ‘Sunrise Bay’ triple-slap is funnier than the Three Stooges’; and c.) there is even an episode called ‘The Throuple’, where David, Stevie, and Jake take their accidental dating triangle to its comical conclusion.  

For anyone who watched The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s season one finale, the three Elven rings are another recent example.   

How To Use The Rule Of Three 

So, now we know why three is such a magic number: because it’s effective.

But how do we use the rule of three in writing?  

Here are three examples of how to use the rule of three:  

Three-Act Structure 

The simplest way to utilise the rule of three is with a three-act structure, which is a fancy way of saying your story should have a beginning to set things up, a middle for the confrontation of your central conflict, and an end where things are resolved.

If you want to get technical, the three acts are as follows: 

1. The first act begins with exposition (setting the scene), an inciting incident for the protagonist, and a turning point into act two.  
2. Next comes the rising action, which leads into the story’s midpoint, as well as a turning point into act three; this is typically where the protagonist fails.  
3. Finally, the last act follows with a pre-climax to build tension, before the actual climax, then denouement.  

Example:  

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has a compelling three-act structure: Katniss volunteers as tribute for the Hunger Games; the Games start; and Katniss wins and goes home (albeit to more potential danger).  

Tip:

A great way to weave complexity is to include three characters, who move through your acts together but with differing points of view.

Which leads us to…  

Three Point-Of-View Characters 

Creating three characters who all experience the plot of your story in different ways, with differing opinions or agendas, can make for an exciting read. This is especially effective if each character gets a point of view (POV); adding a third character adds some nuance to a dual narrative.

Example:  

This was done incredibly well in Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, which follows the POVs of protagonist Zelie, and siblings Amari and Inan.

Outside of the book’s fresh concept and stellar execution, what makes this interesting is that one of the POV characters is ***SPOILER ALERT*** gravely injured in the finale.  

Tip:

Want even more complexity? Simply add a love triangle (and therefore conflict) between your three point-of-view characters.

Stylistic Patterns 

Finally, for the craft-lovers in our midst, there are also many ways to style your prose to incorporate the rule of three in writing.

Stylistic patterns like a tricolon, hendiatris, or even something as simple as alliteration can be beneficial for your word choice.  

• Tricolon: This is when three words of a similar length or form are used as a means of emphasis or inspiration, frequently in political speeches.  
  • Here’s an example from Barack Obama: ‘Our generation's task is to make these words, these rights, these values — of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — real’. 
• Hendiatris: Taking the tricolon a step further, hendiatris uses three words to communicate a core idea, again in speechwriting or marketing.  
  • One of the biggest quotes of all time is Julius Caesar’s ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ or ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ in Latin, after triumphing over Pontius.  
• Alliteration: This is when words beginning with the same letter (or sound) are used in quick succession for aesthetic effect.  This often appears in lists or when three adjectives are used.
  • ‘While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping’ from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven nails it.  

Tip:

Don’t overdo it.

Literary devices like these can easily err into the dreaded flowery or purple prose if you’re not careful, so use them wisely.  

Frequently Asked Questions 

What Is The Rule Of Three In Persuasive Writing? 

The rule of three in persuasive writing goes back to ancient times with Rhetoric by Aristotle, a three-book treatise on persuasion.

According to the Greek philosopher, the ability to persuade relies on three factors in rhetoric: ethos, the speaker’s character and credibility; pathos, the listener’s emotional state; and logos, the actual argument when proving something is true.  

What Does The Rule Of Three Do To The Reader? 

The rule of three in writing is a successful literary technique because it makes stories memorable, emotionally impactful, and persuasive for readers.

Grouping things in threes leverages the power of repetition to aid memory; denote emotional intensity or importance; and ease persuasion (research by Shu & Carlson (2014) found that three positive claims is the most effective for persuasion).  

Where Does The Rule Of Three Come From? 

The earliest known example of the rule of three in writing is Aristotle’s Rhetoric.

The ancient Greek philosopher argued not only for three means of persuasion — ethos, pathos, and logos — but also for three genres of public speech, with such speeches involving a speaker, a topic, and a listener (sensing a pattern?).

The best part — Rhetoric was a three-book discourse.  

Writing Engaging, Compelling, Unforgettable Stories

As you’ve learnt throughout this article, the rule of three isn’t just a rule of thumb — it’s a writing principle that can make your stories more memorable, emotionally resonant, and persuasive.

Give the rule of three a try and let us know how it helped you in your own writing!  

Suspense, action, and darkness are three crucial elements of a gripping thriller.

This guide will take you through the various types of thrillers out there, from psychological to political, and give you some top tips to create your own edge-of-the-seat whirlwind thriller novel.  

What Is A Thriller?

Thriller novels are generally plot-driven narratives, with complex, morally grey characters, featuring suspense, action, and an exploration of the dark side of human nature.

Good thrillers are pacy and tight, leading the reader through a twisty plot and building to a breakneck speed.  

What Is the Difference Between Thrillers, Mysteries and Suspense Fiction? 

There are many crossover elements between thrillers, mysteries and suspense fiction. Things they are likely to all have in common include: 

• A focus on building tension 
• A fast pace 
• A plot revolving around crime 

However, there are key differences as well. While mystery novels use a central question or investigation to move the plot forward, paying off with a reveal at the end of whodunnit, the thriller genre may not hide who the villains and antagonists are; they may even be a central focus of the plot.  

A suspense novel may have a similar focus, but it is driven by character rather than action. Many, or even most, thrillers will have chases, surprise attacks, and a race against time… while suspense novels are often ‘quieter’ and focused on the interior experience of the characters.  

 That’s not to say that thrillers cannot have shocking revelations or complex characters!

Let’s have a look at the different types of thrillers below. 

Types Of Thrillers

Psychological Thriller

Along with action adventure and crime, psychological thrillers are one of the most well-recognised thriller subgenres.

Psychological thrillers are focused on the inner lives of characters who find themselves drawn into dangerous and threatening situations, either through chance or through a personality flaw or obsession.  

Her, Mira V. Shah’s upcoming domestic suspense debut, perfectly encapsulates the approach of having an obsession spiral out of control, which is so often taken in psychological thrillers.

Rani’s obsession with her neighbour Natalie’s apparently perfect life escalates until both women’s lives are inextricably intertwined, and Rani has discovered that Natalie’s life might not be quite as idyllic as it seems. The tension and conflict that the two face provides the kind of gripping narrative that thrillers do so well, as the novel builds towards its inescapable conclusion.  

Supernatural Thriller

Supernatural thrillers are having a bit of a heyday recently, popularly revived as they have been by the Duffer Brothers’ wildly successful Netflix series, Stranger Things.  

Drawing heavily on classic supernatural thrillers by writers such as Stephen King, Stranger Things fits well in this subgenre with its evocation of fear, tension and dread.

Supernatural thrillers often contain elements of other genres, such as science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and the gothic.

Threats in supernatural thrillers are often unknowable creatures, who cannot be reasoned with or understood from a human perspective, resulting in situations where the dread is turned up to 11 as the main characters battle forces that they can barely comprehend.  

Political Thriller

The essential ingredient of a political thriller is high stakes and plot twists. Many lives are at risk. High-level political figures are personally threatened. Often the protagonist is alone or becomes so – stripped of support, they must survive and defeat the antagonist(s) based on their wits and guts. 

Stacey Abrams, best known for her political career in the United States, has also written a number of books under the pseudonym Selena Montgomery. Her most recent book, however, a political thriller titled While Justice Sleeps, is her first work of fiction published under her own name.

The story follows law clerk Avery, who is plunged into a world of intrigue and conspiracies after her boss, a high-level judge, slips into a coma and leaves her in charge of his affairs. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the trail takes Avery all the way to the top, with elements of mystery and suspense coming in as she discovers the truth behind one of the judge’s most high-profile cases.  

Action-Adventure Thriller

Like political thrillers, action-adventure thrillers are high-paced, high-stakes, and high drama. Expect plenty of action set pieces, like chases, fights, and explosions (and more, averted at the last possible moment).  

An example of this type of thriller is The Ninja Daughter, by Tori Eldridge. Lily Wong is a Chinese-Norwegian woman whose purpose in life is to defend abused women and children.

The novel is full of thrills and action, including fight and chase scenes, with a central mystery that builds to an explosive climax.

Cleverly riffing on the noir genre, Eldridge gives us a modern twist on the ‘femme fatale’ character, and this action thriller is full of excitement and tension.  

Crime Thriller

A crime thriller is a subset of the crime genre, and, along with the typical elements of a focus on crime and the subsequent investigation, has the exciting elements of a thriller, with conflict and tension fuelling the pace of the narrative. Legal thrillers are also part of the crime thriller subgenre, and they emphasise courtroom proceedings and the legal aspects of crime.

Girl Zero, A. A. Dhand’s gritty and at times bleak crime thriller, utilises the central investigative element by having his main character, D. I. Harry Virdee, hunt for the murderer of his niece.

The thriller element is brought in with the pacing, as Harry and his gangster brother have to race against time to stop a child trafficking gang.  

Investigative Thriller

Although this type of thriller may seem very similar to crime thrillers, the key difference is that the character leading the investigation is not from a traditional investigative background.

While a crime thriller will typically have a protagonist who is a police officer, or attached to the police in some manner, an investigative thriller will likely have someone pursuing the truth from a more unconventional angle.  

Dark Pines is the first of Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series, about a Deaf journalist in a small Swedish town who is drawn into a decades-old mystery when two hunters are found, murdered in a manner similar to an unsolved case from long ago.

There is plenty of tension as Tuva grapples with the various conflicting loyalties of the villagers, as well as her desire to write the story of her career and break free from the life she feels trapped by.  

Spy Thriller

Twists and turns are the name of the game in spy thrillers, where the central character is often at the centre of a web of lies, deceit and cover-ups at the highest levels.

Expect plenty of thrilling chase scenes, explosive conflicts, and death-defying escapes in this type of thriller, as well as continual surprises as motivations and loyalties are uncovered.  

One of John Le Carré’s best-known spy thrillers is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, his 1974 novel starring his recurring character George Smiley. Smiley’s job in this book is to uncover a Soviet double agent within the British intelligence service. The trail leads him through twists and turns, through which almost no one can be trusted completely.

There is plenty of elegantly executed suspense in Le Carré’s work, and a complex plot that is set against the background of a waning empire, nicely dovetailing with his ageing protagonist. Both provide additional tension as the plot is eventually untangled and the secrets Smiley has been chasing are exposed.  

Historical Thriller

Historical settings might be as far back as medieval times, as in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, or as recently as a few decades ago, like the TV series Life on Mars.

These settings are often excellent for increasing tension, as modern sleuthing methods like CCTV and digital databases are non-existent, and characters may have to battle against limiting social roles as well.  

A recent excellent historical novel is The Confessions of Frannie Langton, by Sara Collins. There are many thriller elements to this historical narrative, as the central character is on trial for a crime she cannot remember committing.

As the child of an enslaved woman and her enslaver, Frannie is in a difficult social position. Although she is educated, she is also subject to the limitations and prejudices of racism, which impact how likely it is that her story will be believed. The historical setting of Collins’ novel allows her to delve into the dark side of humanity, as we also expect from thrillers.

How To Write A Thriller

So, how do you go about writing a good thriller? Looking at all the different types above, we can see that there are some commonalities among them that thriller writers should know. 

1. Start With A Moment Of Change 

Let us join your character at a moment of change in their life: whether that be a dramatic, explosive one (they’re hanging off a building! They’re chasing a suspect! They’ve been betrayed!) or a quiet, interior one (they’ve realised they’ve been mistaken about a small but crucial detail about their job/loved one/life), a character’s life is most interesting when it takes a turn.  

2. Know What’s At Stake 

It’s important early on that your readers know why your character’s goal is so important to them. If your character is working to uncover the truth about a murder, what is their personal connection to it?

It simply being their job to investigate it isn’t quite enough.

Perhaps it has some personal resonance with them due to a past experience, or there is a family or community connection. Perhaps they need to prove themselves in some way. Maybe there is a time pressure – thrillers often feature characters who have to race against time to solve something.

Whatever the stakes are, make them personal in some way to your character.  

3. Ensure We Care About The Characters 

Some stakes are very high and quite abstract – saving a building/city/country. Giving the character a loved one who is also personally at risk in some way helps to make this threat immediate and personal and contextualises the larger threat.

Equally, your character must be vulnerable in some way. As exciting as it is to read about a dapper hero skilfully knocking out bad guys, it becomes dull if there is no sense of personal danger to the character. Giving them something they love that is at risk is a good way to make them vulnerable, and ensure that the reader cares about them, too. 

4. Gradually Increase The Suspense 

Continually amp up the tension by gradually increasing the threat that the character faces.

These threats can also be made more daunting if your character has few resources to work with – taking these away over the course of the narrative will enable you to ratchet up that edge-of-your-seat feeling that you want your readers to have! Keep your readers guessing.

5. Make Limitations Work For You 

Whether it be something intrinsic to the setting, such as a lack of modern policing technology; something external to the character, such as social attitudes or previous attributes being withdrawn (think of those ‘you’ve gone too far, hand in your gun and your badge’ scenes); or something that rises from the characterisation itself, such as physical injuries or psychological states, limitations are key to stacking the odds against your protagonist. 

6. Build Up To The Climax 

Stacking the odds even higher is an excellent way to build to a climax.

Your character should encounter ever-more daunting challenges, and be gradually stripped of help and resources until they are faced with overcoming something that seems insurmountable.

Your reader won’t be able to put your story down! 

7. Ensure The Ending Is Satisfying  

A satisfying ending might come from a crime being solved - the perpetrators brought to justice. Or it might be a disaster averted, the day saved, the love interest suitably impressed.

It might also be a situation where justice is not served, and the outcome isn't entirely what the character wanted. The satisfaction then comes from character development and the emotional arc of the protagonist, who has gone through trials and come out changed in some way. Although they might not have won the war, a personal victory will leave your reader satisfied with the journey.  

Thriller Writing Tips

These are our top tips for writing thrillers.

1. Plot Twists. All should not be as it first seems: perhaps friends are not to be trusted, and rivals become allies. Perhaps your character’s understanding of the world is radically changed in some way with the discovery of key information.  
2. All Is Lost. At some point, your character should be faced with their dark night of the soul – it will seem as though their goal will never be met, their resources are gone, and their life has changed for the worse. Bringing your character back from their personal abyss makes the ending that much more satisfying.  
3. Play With Expectations. Much of the fun of a thriller is the unexpected elements of the plot. Embrace this by playing with your readers’ expectations. It might sound far-fetched for the hero of a spy thriller to be a Scottish granny, but Christopher Brookmyre made it happen in All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye! 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are The Key Elements Of A Thriller?

Suspense, action and darkness are key elements in a thriller. Your readers expect thrills, tension, conflict, and an exploration of the darker side of human nature. 

What Is The Structure Of A Thriller?

A gripping thriller follows the classic three-act structure. In the first act, the character is introduced, and the plot is set up. The second act adds complications, and the character suffers failures but also gets closer to their goal. The third act is the final showdown – the character is faced with defeating someone or something, and they may or may not be victorious in the way they originally imagined.  

What Makes A Thriller successful?

Thrillers do just that – thrill. Readers want to be gripped, enthralled, fascinated, and horrified; they want to root for the success of the protagonist against all the odds. They want exciting events, overwhelming opposition, and a narrative that draws to a satisfying conclusion.  

Writing Thrillers

As we have seen in the various types of thrillers we’ve looked at, there are many thriller elements in lots of different types of narratives.

Even if you’re not setting out to write a traditional thriller, you can still utilise a lot of the genre's elements in domestic suspense, historical fiction, and crime writing.

Including the key thriller elements of suspense, action and darkness will add another dimension to any story, and provide your readers with a popular narrative style that will keep them gripped until the last page.  

Upmarket fiction combines the best aspects of literary fiction and commercial fiction; is sellable and successful; attracts an intelligent, loyal readership; and agents and commissioning editors love it.

Does all this sound too good to be true?

And what on earth does ‘upmarket fiction’ mean?

Read on to find out.  

In this article, I’ll explore what upmarket fiction is all about, and what agents and editors mean when they use the term.

I’ll look at the differences and similarities between upmarket fiction, commercial fiction, and literary fiction, and I’ll give you several examples – without spoilers – so you can explore the category for yourself.

Then you’ll get a set of practical steps to use if you want to write and sell upmarket fiction.

What Is Upmarket Fiction?

There are a number of categories used by agents and commissioning editors that describe the types of novels they are hoping to discover or aiming to sell, resulting in some rather general terms that can be confusing to writers, especially beginners.  

These terms aren’t genres as such but are more to do with 1) the book’s readership; 2) the way language and/or storytelling are handled; and 3) how well they think a book will sell, based on others of the same type that have already been published.

You might find the term ‘book club fiction’ on the manuscript wish list of a literary agent you're interested in querying, for example, which (at least on the face of it) describes the type of audience they hope will be attracted to the book, rather than its tropes, themes and ideas.

These terms include: 

• Commercial fiction (relates to selling potential) 
• Literary fiction (relates to the use of language) 
• Women’s fiction (relates to potential audience) 

Agents and editors sometimes use other categories, to do with how a book makes the reader feel.

For example: 

• Up lit fiction, which is heart-warming, and emphasises empathy 
• Misery memoir, a rather derogatory term for unhappy life stories 

When you first set out to write a novel, these terms are probably too broad to be useful, but they can be helpful when you come to redrafting or when you want to sell your book and need to describe it to others. Personally, I find this a relief to know! 

Upmarket fiction is one such category. In fact, it’s a hybrid term.

As you may have guessed from the introduction, upmarket fiction refers to a combination of commercial and literary fiction; it is strongly plotted but the language is also carefully crafted. It may include complex plotting, such as multiple viewpoints.  

Upmarket fiction often appeals to readers who are in book clubs, which is why it's sometimes used interchangeably with the term book club fiction.

Sometimes, but not always, upmarket fiction involves family dynamics or family secrets, using family and its shifting meanings as a framework for storytelling and as one of the main themes.

Many examples involve life and death or mortality as a theme, too, possibly because – in order to create a strong plot – writers of upmarket fiction sometimes use crime to structure the story.  

As upmarket fiction is more of a category than it is a genre, it can be broken down even further using terms like upmarket women's fiction and upmarket historical fiction. This can help readers and writers alike find the niche areas in which they want to surround themselves/write about.

So, let’s compare upmarket fiction to both commercial fiction and literary fiction, to clarify what it is and how to write it.  

Upmarket Fiction Vs Commercial Fiction

Underpinning the categories I mentioned above are various assumptions – or a sort of tacit knowledge – about how a book will be written.

For example, there’s an assumption that commercial fiction will have a strong hook and gripping plot and therefore will sell well.

Commercial fiction is generally also genre fiction of some kind. It might be a romance, thriller, crime, sci fi, or fantasy, for instance, or a well-established subgenre or combination of genres, and will conform to genre tropes and expectations. 

Commercial fiction is often found in supermarkets and airports as well as in bookshops. These books are likely to be real page-turners: the sort of novel you just have to keep reading to get to the end.

Writers of commercial fiction achieve this in six main ways: 

1. A strong – and clearly articulated – premise or hook. You could sum it up in a sentence or two, like an elevator pitch or a tagline for a Hollywood movie. 
2. High-stakes – the consequences of the plot are life and death for the main characters, or, worse, the whole world/universe will be destroyed.  
3. Cutting away from the action at exactly the moment the main character is in the most danger. 
4. Introducing cleverly foreshadowed twists that the reader didn’t see coming. 
5. Using ‘traditional’ genre expectations and conventions that the reader will recognise.  
6. Economic use of language, keeping chapters short, with no room for beautifully crafted prose or for complex characters.  

Upmarket fiction is considered to sell well precisely because it contains many of these elements of commercial fiction.

In fact, upmarket fiction could be described as a kind of commercial fiction.  

Upmarket fiction could include any or all of the facets above, apart from number 6.

Upmarket fiction does employ beautifully crafted prose and complex characters, but they mustn’t get in the way of the page-turner plotting. The craft, the characterisation and the strong plot are intricately interwoven. 

Upmarket novels must include numbers 1 and 2 – the strong premise and the high stakes – although the stakes might be more nuanced than life and death. They might relate to a metaphorical death: social death, or the death of one kind of life and the beginning of another, for example.

Upmarket books may be less likely to include number 5 – or to stick to recognisable genre conventions – than other kinds of commercial fiction; in fact, they may well include cross-genre or multi-genre storytelling or play with the various fiction genres available. 

Upmarket Fiction Vs Literary Fiction

Literary fiction focuses on the beauty of language, on its literary heritage, and on complex characterisation.

It might win prizes, but will have a smaller audience, and therefore it doesn't sell as well as commercial or genre fiction. You’ll likely only see literary novels in supermarkets or airports if they've won a big prize.  

Literary fiction explores themes and ideas that are bigger than the book itself, and that may have occupied writers, artists and philosophers for centuries, such as appearance and reality; loss; mortality; free will; criminality; identity; and war and peace.

This is the biggest difference between literary and commercial fiction, as the latter doesn't delve into such themes. In terms of big themes, the two categories are polar opposites.  

In literary fiction, the plot is not as important as the craft, the characters and the themes I mention above.

We might be mesmerised by the language or caught up in the ideas, but we’re not reading to find out what happens next.

Writers of literary fiction achieve this in six main ways: 

1. Viewing the craft and process of writing as an art form – how long it takes to write doesn’t matter.   
2. Using evocative imagery and carefully considered language. 
3. Showing the influence of other (probably canonical) writers. 
4. Creating thoughtful and thought-provoking, sometimes ponderous, characters.  
5. Exploring big (sometimes called ‘universal’) themes. Making the reader think. 
6. Letting the interaction of the characters create the plot, without needing a strong page-turning hook. 

Upmarket fiction might do any or all of these with a few caveats, apart from number 6; these books need a strong plot as we said above.

Arguably it does matter how long upmarket fiction takes to write, because, as it's a type of/is similar to commercial fiction, agents and editors might well expect the writer to produce a book every one to two years. (Try our article on how to write faster if you're looking for some guidance in this area.)

Therefore, the language can’t be so considered and the characters so ponderous that it slows the pace. A varied pace will keep readers engaged.  

If we created a chart and used it to list the key facets of commercial fiction and literary fiction, we could tick off which of those features would also be common in upmarket fiction.

In fact, if you’re serious about writing and selling it, you might want to create a chart like that for yourself.

You could then use your chart to discover examples of novels that fall into the upmarket category, such as those I’ve argued for below, remembering that they’ll always have a clear premise, strong plot, and well-crafted prose.  

Examples Of Upmarket Fiction

In this section, I'll take five examples that fit the description of ‘upmarket fiction’ and explain why they fit into this category. 

The Children Of Men By P.D. James

This near-future dystopian novel is based on the premise that humans are now infertile and face extinction, causing society to fracture.

Although it probably predates the use of the term by publishing professionals (it was published in 1992), I’ve included The Children of Men because the novel has the strong premise and high stakes of commercial fiction and uses recognisable genre conventions, showing the influence of other writers in the genre, such as H.G. Wells and Aldous Huxley. 

The characters are complex, and James uses the story to rewrite ideas about family and parenthood and to explore other ‘universal’ themes, such as hope and despair, and death and survival, making us think, but not to the extent that characterisation and theme get in the way of the plotting.  

The Time Traveller’s Wife By Audrey Niffenegger

This is both a love story and a time-travelling sci-fi adventure. It’s a kind of upmarket science fiction romance.

The unpredictable time-jumping of Clare’s husband Henry gives the novel a clear framework, that both disrupts and re-establishes the narrative cohesion.

In an innovative way, time travelling also provides the premise and the resolution, meaning the writer can continue to play with storytelling conventions.

As with other examples, Niffenegger treats both family and mortality as important themes but also works them into the plot.  

Everything I Never Told You By Celeste Ng

This is a murder mystery as well as a family drama.

When sixteen-year-old Lydia dies, her mother Marilyn wants someone to be held to account, and along the way, Ng explores themes such as race, prejudice, identity and the meaning of family. 

The novel is pacy like a thriller but includes striking characters and complex plotting. 

It’s a good example of upmarket fiction, because the use of language is evocative, moving and at times sensual, which is why I’ve included it here. For instance: 

“All through the second lecture, Marilyn remembered the smell of his skin – clean and sharp, like the air after a rainstorm – and the feel of his hands at her waist, and even her palms grew warm.” (p. 38) 

The Immortalists By Chloe Benjamin

In this book, a psychic claims to be able to predict the day you’ll die. The novel tells the story of four New Yorkers after they visit the psychic as children.

Again taking family as a theme, Benjamin uses multiple viewpoints, and the book reads like literary fiction, but the premise is so strong that we have to keep turning the pages. 

The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle By Stuart Turton

This book was described in a Guardian review as ‘a gift to the marketing department’ and that neatly sums up why upmarket fiction is so sought-after!

Turton’s debut is multi-genre, and– like literary fiction– plays tribute to other writers of murder mysteries, such as Agatha Christie.

Reminiscent of Groundhog Day and Cluedo, Turton gives us well-written characters and the novel is tightly plotted; in fact, the same review described the ‘mind-boggling complexity’ of its plot. 

These are some examples that I think fit the description of upmarket fiction. They all feature a strong premise that would certainly be ‘a gift to the marketing department.’ 

How To Write Upmarket Fiction  

Here are some key practical steps to consider when writing upmarket fiction.  

1. Start With You

Start with what you love to read, in terms of genre and subject matter, and with what intrigues you so much that you are willing to spend a year or more writing about it.

Starting with the aim of writing upmarket fiction is too broad to be useful – starting with yourself is much more likely to yield promising results.  

2. Become A Plotting Ninja

Learn to plot.

There are lots of guides to narrative structure out there, some of which are made especially for beginners. I’ve written one myself!

They might seem formulaic– and they are before you bring your own specificity to them– but they will help you to shape your ideas.

To cite just three examples: Nigel Watts’ Teach Yourself Writing a Novel will give you the essentials; Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel is helpful when establishing the link between character and story; and Harry Bingham’s How to Write a Novel has a whole section on different kinds of plots and also contains advice on marketing your book from the get-go.  

3. Plan Like An Expert

You don’t have to plan in advance if you hate the idea. Plan as you go along if you like or after you have written the first draft.

But to make the readers turn the pages, the plot has to work, therefore you need to plan at some point!

If you’re wondering how to plan a novel, check out our step-by-step planning guide for more.

4. Cross Those Genres

Consider combining two or more genres (like historical romance, for instance) but make sure they're genres you love to read and are interested in.

Get specific by thinking in terms of subgenres. Audrey Niffenegger uses a particular kind of sci-fi – time travel – to make her plot work, for example.

Remember that you can play around with genre when writing upmarket fiction, but this is also about what you love to read and write, not what you think you should write! It will be easier to play around with it if you love what you’re doing. Have fun with it.  

5. Create Complex Characters

Work on character development.

Spend time with your main and secondary characters, so they feel like well-rounded human beings with quirks and contradictions.

Write in the first person as your characters regularly even if you don’t plan to use the results in the finished novel– it helps you to get to know them.  

6. Consider Using Multiple Viewpoints

Got more than one compelling character? Good! Consider using dual or multiple viewpoints to tell your story. Read examples of stories told this way before you start writing.

Try a spot of ‘method writing’. That is, write as if you were each of your main characters, telling the reader about the same event.

If you’re stuck, use an existing story as a prompt. For example, write about the day we found a body in the lake, or the day we visited a fortune teller, or the day we found out I was pregnant (when the whole of humanity was supposedly infertile), or the day we realised I could time travel. 

7. Answer These Questions To Nail Your Themes

Decide which themes you will explore in advance, by considering which ‘universal’ ideas fascinate you the most. Not sure what to use? Answer these questions.

What deep conversations have you been drawn into recently? Which nonfiction books and documentaries fascinate you? Which big life experiences have taught you the most?  

8. Twisted Family Values Anyone?

Consider using family dynamics and family secrets as part of your plot and as a way of connecting characters in the story.

You don’t necessarily have to use this plotting device/theme when writing upmarket fiction, but it does seem to be a fairly common trope. 

9. Death Makes For High Stakes

Themes of death, dying and mortality also come up a lot in upmarket fiction and while this isn’t compulsory, it will automatically provide a way to ‘raise the stakes’; something you must do to draw the reader in.  

10. Use Your Senses When You Make Your Tea/Coffee 

Work on your writing style. In particular, practise sensory writing.

For example, try this: stop regularly during the day – perhaps every time you have a cup of tea or coffee. Using all the senses available to you, observe the world around you and write quick descriptions based on each one.  

Tips For Writing Upmarket Fiction

Here are some quick tips for writing upmarket fiction: 

1. Read plenty of examples of upmarket fiction to get a sense of the balance between literary fiction-type language and commercial fiction-type plotting. 
2. Create a strong premise: can you sum the book up in a couple of sentences? Practise doing this with examples of upmarket fiction first. You don’t have to do it in advance.  
3. Once you have the premise, use it to write a blurb. Both of these will help you to sell the book to others and to clarify your ideas for yourself. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

In this section, I’ll address and answer some of the most asked questions in relation to upmarket fiction.   

What Are Examples Of Upmarket Fiction?

Some examples of upmarket titles include Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi, Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold.  

What Is The Difference Between Literary And Upmarket Fiction?

Literary fiction is preoccupied with the use of language, the craft of writing and situating itself amongst other literary works. It also involves the investigation of so-called ‘universal’ themes. Upmarket fiction uses evocative language and thought-provoking themes but is tightly plotted with a strong premise and so is considered more ‘sellable’ than literary fiction. 

How Many Words Should An Upmarket Novel Be?

It’s difficult to give a precise number as full-length novels can range from around 70,000 words to 120,000 or longer – 250,000 to 350,000 would be considered very long – but there is no hard and fast rule.  

That said, commercial fiction tends to be on the shorter side, literary fiction could be long or short, and upmarket fiction tends to be in the middle of the range, at around 90 – 120,000 words long.  

To get a sense of the sheer range of differing lengths, take a look at our article on novel word counts.

Why Are Agents Interested In Upmarket Fiction?

Upmarket fiction gives agents the best of both, or all, worlds. This category of novel attracts committed, loyal readers and is likely to be favoured by book groups, so upmarket fiction is usually considered book club fiction too. It’s well-plotted and well-crafted, meaning readers get drawn in.  

All of that means that upmarket fiction sells well, and often converts well on the screen. In fact, almost all of the examples of upmarket fiction I’ve given in this post have been optioned for TV or film or adapted for the stage. In other words, it has commercial appeal.  

Upmarket Fiction

It’s so valuable for writers to explore the nuances of upmarket fiction, both in terms of reading it and writing it. It teaches us a lot about the perception of what sells well and what doesn’t and demonstrates what many agents and editors are looking for: a strong premise; complex characters; well-plotted, page-turner stories; and beautifully crafted prose.  

I hope you enjoyed this article and will try some of these key practical steps. Let me know how you get on! 

Have you ever read a book that has kept you gripped throughout with its twisty or unique plot structure?

Or perhaps you have been enthralled by a character-led story, that has fully engaged you in the minds and imaginations of others? 

In this expert guide, we will explore the differences between character and plot-driven stories, learn how to decide which one to use, and we'll provide some tips to ensure you are using these methods in the best way possible. 

Hopefully, by the end of this guide, you will be able to recognise the difference between character and plot-led stories and be able to use these skills to make your writing even stronger. 

What Is A Character-Driven Story? 

In short, a character-driven story is one where the focus will be more on character development than on the plot.

In these stories, you are more likely to feel fully engaged with the character and become more focused on their personal journey. 

In a character-led story, the emphasis is on the character's emotions and the reasons why they make the choices and decisions that they do.  

How then, does this differ from a plot-driven story?  

What Is A Plot-Driven Story? 

In plot-driven writing, the story will be more focused on action, with a developed and exciting plot.

As a reader, you will be drawn into the action and the twists and turns of the changing circumstances that influence and motivate the characters.  

So how do you choose between writing a character-driven story versus a plot-driven one?

Plot Driven Vs Character Driven: Choosing Between Them

The key difference between a plot-driven story and a character-driven one is that in a character-led narrative, the focus is more on the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist and the decisions that they make. Whereas, in plot-driven narratives, the action and occurrences that unfold will be the main point of focus.

When writing character-driven stories, the plot is the mechanism used to develop character, and in plot-led stories, the character is used to view and comment on the plot. 

Very often the type of genre that you are writing will help you decide whether your story would work better as a plot-driven, or character-driven piece.

Many crime and thriller books tend to be plot-driven, as they are focused on the turn of events occurring around the character. Sci-fi and mystery books also tend to lean into the plot-driven space.

In literary fiction, the emphasis is often on character-driven stories which develop interesting and compelling characters.

However, it is important to remember that there are no rules to this and there are always exceptions. 

Here are a few things that you might wish to consider when deciding whether your story should be plot-driven or character-driven. 

• What genre are you writing in? 
• What is your usual writing style – do you like to develop your characters in depth, or are you more drawn to the action and environment? 
• What are the overall messages and themes of the story? What would you like your reader to take away and learn? Something about the character’s growth? Or something about the events and actions that surround them? 
• What type of books do you most enjoy reading?  

Plot-Driven Story Examples 

Below are some examples of excellent plot-driven stories: 

Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn 

Gone Girl is a twisty, pacey thriller that relies on its dark and enticing plot to keep its readers on edge. Tension is built via external circumstances and the characters are very much influenced by the events around them. 

The Lord Of The Rings – J R R Tolkien  

The Lord of the Rings, like many fantasies, has wonderful world-building and a strong, engaging plot to keep readers engaged. Characters in this story are very much motivated and influenced by external driving forces and the imagined world they exist in. 

1984 – George Orwell  

1984 is another example of a book where extreme world events and external factors influence and drive the interesting characters of the story, leading them to make certain decisions and actions. 

 Tips For Writing A Plot-Driven Story  

• Focus on the external conflict. What are your characters striving for? What are they up against? What obstacles will they face? 
• Focus on the hooks. Where are the plot twists? How can your surprise your reader and keep them hooked? 
• Ensure the structure is tight and the plot points are marked out. In a plot-heavy story, you need to ensure that the story arc is carefully considered. 

Character-Driven Story Examples 

Here are some stories with character-driven plots:

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman 

This is a wonderful example of a book that truly focuses on a character’s development – exploring Eleanor's emotions and internal thoughts and using her moving backstory to drive the story forward. 

Brick Lane – Monica Ali 

Brick Lane is a wonderful character study, introducing a variety of vibrant and diverse individuals to the reader and exploring the complexity of real-life drama. 

Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler 

Anne Tyler is an expert at writing character-led and emotive pieces of work. In this example, we can experience her character's emotional journey through both reflection and insight. 

Tips For Writing A Character-Driven Story  

• Focus on the internal conflict. What is your character battling with emotionally? What are their goals? Fears? Desires?  
• Create a backstory to ensure that you truly understand your character and can make them more compelling and engaging to the reader. 
• Consider your characters’ motivations. What are they looking to achieve in the story? Will their desires be fulfilled? 
• Develop a strong voice. In character-led stories, we need to be able to connect strongly with the protagonist. Consider how you can make their voice distinctive and believable.

Frequently Asked Questions  

What Is The Difference Between A Plot-Driven And A Character-Driven Story?  

In a plot-driven story, the focus is on the action and activity surrounding the character, and a well-developed plot with external conflicts that challenge the main characters is crucial. In a character-driven story, the focus will be on the character's journey – their thoughts, feelings and emotions, and the inner conflict they are experiencing.  

In short, when writing character-led stories – the plot is the device used to develop character, but in plot-led stories, the character is used to view and comment on the plot. 

What Is The Relationship Between Plot And Character? 

The plot is the device which moves the story forward, and the character embarks on their journey through these plot points – experiencing challenges (both external and internal) and obstacles along the way. 

How Can You Tell If A Story Is Character Driven?  

You can tell a story is character driven if it's mainly focused on the character’s internal conflict. You are more likely to experience character-driven writing in literary books and real-life accounts. 

Writing Your Story

In summary, it is important, as a writer, to explore the nuances of both character and plot-driven stories to work out which one is the best fit for you. There are no hard and fast rules here. It may be that a character-driven story suits your need to explore the character more fully and produce internal conflict. Alternatively, you might be writing a story that relies on lots of external conflict and finely tuned action points – in this instance, a plot-driven story will possibly suit you best. 

It's important to note that many stories work with a combination of character and plot-driven sections, where there's character reflection and development leading into moments of more plot-focused work. It might be that a hybrid model suits you better, and many books successfully use this method.  

The best thing to do, as a writer, is to experiment and play. Get those words on the page. Plan your next scenes. How do you want your reader to feel, what journey do you want to take them on? 

Ultimately, have fun working out if your story is plot-led or character-led. As long as it's a good story, that’s all that matters. 

Fundamentally, narrative writing connects events in our stories using character, conflict, plot, setting and theme to create a narrative writing arc. 

Throughout this article, I will highlight different types of narrative writing. I will also explain the six key elements that make up narrative writing and why they are crucial.  

I will also offer some tips on how to use narrative structure in your own writing effectively.  

What Is Narrative Writing?

Narrative writing is, quite literally, exactly what it says on the tin. Narrative writing is a structure of storytelling told in a narrative manner. Only, nothing is really that simple when it comes to the world of writing, is it?  

There is so much more to learn about how the rules of narrative writing could help elevate your own work in progress.  

It doesn’t matter if you are writing fiction, non-fiction, short stories, descriptive essays or full-length novels, narrative writing utilises the six key elements of writing to convey a story to a reader, often using the age-old technique of writing a ‘beginning, middle and end’ (linear) structure. But not always… narrative writing can also be non-linear! 

I told you it wasn’t as simple as you may have first thought.  

Think back to your school days. We were taught the basics of storytelling from a young age, and we were taught at first to write in a narrative format. We were being taught how ‘tell a story’.  

Over the years we develop ways to make those stories more compelling, more complex, and sometimes more emotional, but at the heart of it, we were learning narrative structure.  

Linear Narrative Writing Vs Non-Linear Narrative Writing 

Before we talk about the key elements that all narrative writing relies on, it’s important to know the difference between linear and non-linear narrative writing. Overall, there are five different styles of narrative writing, but understanding the difference between linear and non-linear is crucial, as each of the others can be written in either of these sub-styles.  

Linear Narrative

What Is A Linear Narrative? 

Linear narrative describes a structure of narrative writing that follows a traditional pattern. It's a narration that tells a story of events in the order in which they occur, in sequence.  

Linear narrative is the most common form of writing and is the most basic of structures, following a story in a continuous fashion from beginning to end, describing events as they happen. 

A writer will still use all six key elements of narrative writing to complete the structure, but they'll stick to a flow that unfolds in a chronological manner.  

What Is The Benefit Of Writing In A Linear Narrative Style? 

When writing in a linear style, character arcs and causation are easily identifiable on the page. As humans, we lead linear lives, so to see this replicated on the page can often create an instant sense of understanding with a reader.  

What Is An Example Of A Linear Narrative In Fiction? 

An obvious example of a linear narrative can be found in Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. The entire novel is written in a linear fashion. Although Crusoe often remarks about memories of the past, we are propelled through the novel in chronological order. 

Non-Linear Narrative

What Is A Non-Linear Narrative? 

Non-linear narrative is the direct opposite of linear narrative. This structure of narrative writing presents a story with events unfolding out of order.  

The events in the narrative/story are not told chronologically and will often make use of devices such as flashbacks to transport the reader back (or indeed forward) in time. 

What Are The Benefits Of Writing In A Non-Linear Style? 

Non-linear writing can be trickier to pull off and the writer must be careful not to use ‘flashbacks’ to info-dump on the reader. However, if successfully used, a non-linear structure allows a writer to tell a story, slowly releasing information from the past to highlight issues in the present, or even hint at possible issues in the future.  

Non-linear writing can help to represent changes in your character's emotional state, or even highlight reasons why your character is acting a certain way. For example, if past traumas resurface, highlighting these will give your characters depth and help create a strong character arc.  

Non-linear writing can also be used to create and build suspense. For example, Donna Tartt opens The Secret History by telling us about a murder, but then takes us back to events before the murder, making us wait for the story to unfold to find out what events lead up to the killing. 

What Is An Example Of A Non-Linear Narrative In Fiction? 

There are many examples I could use as fabulous examples of non-linear writing in contemporary novels, but one such novel that sticks out for me is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. In this novel, although the two magicians are battling a jealous rivalry, they move between different points in time to highlight the rivalry over the decades. A clever non-linear structure can move through weeks, months, years and sometimes even decades if done well.  

Key Elements Of Narrative Writing

Now that we understand the two main areas of narrative writing style, it is time to look into the elements of story writing that can be utilised to ensure you carry out this style of writing effectively.  

Irrespective of whether you are writing a linear or non-linear narrative structure, six key elements are used to create this style of writing. These same six elements remain the same, in both fiction and non-fiction writing.  

The six key narrative elements:  

• Character 
• Plot 
• Setting 
• Conflict 
• Theme 
• Narrative Arc 

Using these six elements accurately will help create both linear and non-linear narratives.  

It is important to know what each of these are and how they work together.  

Let’s take one of our previous examples and break them down. We'll use the example of Donna Tartt's A Secret History.

Character

Characters are the people in the story that propel it forward using the plot.  One of the most important aspects of narrative fiction is character development.  

In A Secret History – Richard Papen is the narrator and protagonist (main character).   

In this novel, we see Richard as a young graduate student in California. Over the course of the novel, we follow his story and character development as he pursues his ambitions.  

Although we are using an example of fiction here, character development through narrative writing in non-fiction is just as important. If you want your reader to follow your story, you have to create a reason for them to be invested. A strong sense of character does just that.  

It doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or non-fiction, the main point of narrative writing is to create an interesting story, and you can’t create a story without character.  

By the end of your narrative writing piece, your character should have been on a journey, told in story form, with the development of this character being the driving force for the narrative.  

Plot

The plot is the thread of events that create the story you are telling.  

Let’s go back to The Secret History. It is, at its heart, an inverted detective story narrated by Richard Papen, one of the six students involved in the murder of their friend Edmund ‘Bunny’ Corcoran. 

Whether you are writing a space opera fiction novel, or a biography on King Henry IIIV, narrative writing is at its core a ‘story’. To have a functioning story, be it in a linear or non-linear form, your characters need to have a plot to follow.  

Make sure you ask yourself ‘why is this story important?’ and ‘why am I using these characters to tell this story?’  

Setting

Setting is crucial in any written work. If you are writing historical non-fiction, making sure you describe the settings is crucial in narrative writing. After all, if all your readers want is ‘facts’, they can get them in an academic text. They are reading narrative non-fiction to feel more of a connection to the story.  

Let’s go back to Donna Tartt and The Secret of History again. Set against the backdrop of a liberal arts college in New England in the 1980’s, the setting of this novel reveals just as much about the characters themselves as the plot of the novel.  

Conflict

Conflict is the problem at the heart of your work that needs to be resolved.  

The conflict in The Secret History is clear, and centres around the death of ‘Bunny’.  

The conflict in your narrative writing will help clarify your themes.  

If you are hoping to create a sense of tension within your narrative writing, conflict is crucial. You can choose to create conflict between characters, or even use setting to show conflict between worlds, but making sure the conflict at the centre of your plot is strong will be what your narrative fiction lives or dies on. 

Theme 

Theme is arguably the most important of all narrative elements. You are telling a story, that much we know, but what is the moral of that story?  

What do you as a writer want the reader to be asking?  

In A Secret History, there are a few main themes working together. Tartt wants the reader to understand and examine the consequences of secrets, the superficiality of appearances, the dangers of isolation and reality versus illusion. Tartt uses character, plot and conflict to ensure these themes are strong on the page.  

Themes are essential in all styles of writing. It doesn’t matter if you are writing in a linear or non-linear fashion, your themes will be vital to telling the story. Remember, you are telling a story, ask yourself, what lessons do you hope to share?  

Narrative Arc

Narrative arc is how we describe the story structure.  

In almost all works of fiction, a narrative arc is a fundamental building block for what makes a good novel. To create a narrative arc, you need to consider who your character is, what it is they want in the story you are creating, what conflict they will encounter, how they will resolve that conflict and how those lessons will culminate in a satisfying ending. Essentially, you take all of the other elements of narrative writing to create an arc that leaves your reader satisfied.  

Types Of Narrative Writing

Although we have already discussed the difference between linear and non-linear narrative writing, there are three other main areas of narrative writing.  

• Historical narrative writing 
• Viewpoint narrative writing 
• Quest narrative writing 

Historical Narrative Writing

Historical narrative writing is how we describe the writing of historical events in a story-based format. 

Historical narrative writing is most commonly found in biographical and autobiographical historical writings, but can also be seen as fiction such as historical romance, and historical fiction novels. 

Historical narratives can often include ‘primary source material’ which will present first-hand accounts and knowledge, often in the form of diary entries, letters or personal memories in an autobiographical, biographical or memoir style. 

Historical writing is used to help tell a story about a past event, which can be told through the eyes of a fictional character, or through the eyes of an important historical figure.  

Historical narrative fiction is an interesting topic because despite many believing that historical events are factual, the way we view history can be clouded by our own perceptions, and opinions, and coloured by our own experiences.  

One aspect that most historical narratives have in common is the use of the structure to show a chain reaction of events that happen over a long and extended period of time. Many historical narrative writings will skip large chunks of time between events and refer to time periods often. 

Historical narrative fiction and historical non-fiction require a lot of research but can be some of the most interesting forms of writing. Only through the past can we learn about the future, so shaping these events on the page for readers can truly be rewarding.  

Viewpoint Narrative Writing

The main point of viewpoint narrative in writing, is to show and understand multiple view points of the same story. Each of the separate points of view will show each individual's own opinions and can be written in a linear or non-linear fashion.  

This style of narrative is incredibly strong and is used often in fiction writing. With multiple POVs, we are able to experience the same issues and conflicts from multiple angles. 

Limiting the point of view in a scene to one character can make a reader feel closer to the action, but you can choose how much information you are giving your reader by limiting or expanding the points of view in your work.  

Similarly, if you are writing from one point of view only, you can create real empathy within your reader; a true and strong connection. But what if you want to create doubt within your reader, or include an unreliable character? Multiple viewpoints will allow you to explore more emotions in a much wider way.  

Viewpoint narrative can be incredibly effective, withholding information, creating suspense and even creating desire within your reader can all be achieved just by playing with a viewpoint narrative. 

Quest Narrative Writing

Quest narrative writing is a structure that follows a protagonist as they work towards achieving a goal. In many cases, this narrative will showcase characters tackling multiple obstacles that are placed in their way as they continue towards the end of their journey.  

More often than not, a quest narrative will see characters travel geographical distances while battling issues that threaten to throw them off course.  

A very obvious example of a quest narrative would be that of Bilbo Baggins in the popular novel The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien. We read along as Bilbo travels, in a fairly linear fashion, with his companions to reclaim lost gold. The quest takes them across vast expanses of land and across territories, facing many conflicts and crises along the way before they are able to complete their journey.   

In order for a quest narrative to be successful, the protagonist must have a place to go, a reason to go there, challenges they will face along the way and a realisation at the end of the story as to what the real reason for their quest was.  

How To Craft A Strong Narrative

A strong narrative writing piece, no matter which style you chose, needs to capture the imagination and attention of your reader. After that, you need to consider that if your readers are searching out and reading narrative work, they are asking to be told a story. Don’t forget that. Always refer back to the good ole days, sat round a campfire telling stories with friends.

The stories you tell must be compelling and memorable and, most of all, they must be complete. You must have a beginning, a middle and an end– even if they don’t necessarily come in that order. A strong and well-written piece of narrative writing should profoundly impact your reader in some memorable way.  

Before you set to work on your narrative writing piece, consider these points. 

• First, decide what the story is that you are telling. If you can’t nail that in a few sentences (at the very most) you won’t be able to convey that story to your reader. 
• Decide which structure is going to work best for your work. Linear vs non-linear.  
• Walk through the six elements of narrative fiction and make sure you are clear on each point.  
• Identify the audience you hope to reach and make sure you are using the tone, mood and setting to create a piece of work that will grab the attention of your chosen audience. 
• Determine the ‘arc’ of your narrative writing piece. Remember:
  • Exposition (the reader's introduction to your story) 
  • Rising action (when the conflict will arise and show itself) 
  • Climax 
  • Falling action 
  • Resolution 

Remember, to create a sense of satisfaction in your reader, a completed arc is important. Fiction, or non-fiction, narrative writing always has a story at its heart – so make sure you can resolve the story. 

Narrative Writing Tips

I was given some amazing narrative writing tips by a fabulous creative writing teacher when I was younger, and I have never forgotten them. They apply to all kinds of narrative writing, whether you're writing a novel, short story, or narrative essay. Today, I pass them on to you! 

• Be mindful of your themes, always. Make sure they are clear in your mind throughout the entire writing process and reinforce them often. You can use setting, tone, language and imagery to do this, but always have your themes at the forefront of your mind .
• Set the tone of your work at the beginning, and use keywords along the way to reinforce this. For example, narrative writing can be humorous but make sure that humour is peppered throughout. If your narrative work is dark and mournful, make sure you create areas of shade to let your reader breathe and take in the moments of darkness. 
• Play with language. Always. As humans, we constantly look for different ways to explain the world around us. Imagine you are narrating the story yourself, don’t use the same words over and over again, and explore language in the same way we do in life. It will ensure your work feels more authentic.  
• Always keep your eye on the prize. You know the ending before you even start the novel. You are narrating a full story, so keep the ending in mind as you write and create milestones along the way so your reader feels they are enjoying the journey with you.  
• Write often, even if it’s only a little. And read even more than that.  
• Talk to yourself– I am serious!  Talk to yourself. Embody one of your characters and spend a day narrating your life through their eyes. Hearing how you narrate your own life will help you find a flow in which to narrate the story in your head.  
• Read your work out loud. Often. Narrative writing is meant to be narrated. So, narrate it. If it doesn’t feel or sound right to you, re-think things a little. Imagine what it would sound like if it was read back to you around a campfire.  

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Main Purpose Of Narrative Writing?

At its heart, the main purpose of narrative writing is to tell a story. It really is that simple. A beginning, a middle and an end – but not necessarily always in that order.  

What Makes Good Narrative Writing?

Narrative writing is most successful when writers utilise the 6 key elements of writing to tell a story that will affect the reader and leave a lasting impression. The very best works of narrative writing are deeply descriptive, include visual imagery, strong characters with believable arcs, and a plot and theme that evoke an emotional response in the reader.  

What Are The Six Elements Of Narrative Fiction?

The six key narrative elements are:

• Character 
• Plot 
• Setting 
• Conflict 
• Theme 
• Narrative Arc 

If a writer uses all six key elements together in the correct manner, they can create both linear and non-linear narratives. 

What Is The Difference Between Linear And Non-Linear Narrative Writing? 

A linear narrative describes a structure of narrative writing that tells a story of events in the order in which they occur, in sequence. A non-linear narrative is the direct opposite of a linear narrative. This structure of narrative fiction presents a story with events unfolding out of order. 

What Are The Five Main Types Of Narrative Writing? 

Narrative writing can be broken down into five key main areas:

• Linear narrative writing 
• Non-linear narrative writing 
• Historical narrative writing 
• Viewpoint narrative writing 
• Quest narrative writing 

Writing Narratives

Narrative writing and narrative storytelling have been around for as long as time. It’s how we communicate as a species. It’s how we relate to the world outside and understand those living around us. To write narrative writing is to pass on the skills of our ancestors. That's why teaching narrative writing and sharing its various techniques is so important.

If done properly, narrative writing will allow you to pass your own stories on to others, so they will live in history and be passed on. Narrative writing, in my opinion, is the purest form of storytelling we have at our disposal. Learning how to harness these skills will not only allow you to pass on your own stories, but those stories will, in turn, help the writers of future generations to follow in your footsteps.  

Fantasy is a vast literary genre that can be sub-categorised into many different subgenres including urban fantasy, fantasy romance, paranormal fantasy, and even sci-fi.

As a fantasy author, there is nothing I enjoy writing and reading about more than worlds full of magic and monsters. Yet with so many different fantasy subgenres to choose from, it's often difficult for writers to know where to start when planning their own fantasy books.

For me, the easiest way to differentiate between fantasy genres, is by looking at where the book is set. This means deciding whether a story is high fantasy or low fantasy.

In this article, I will be exploring the difference between the two.

We will be looking at fantasy world-building and comparing high fantasy vs low fantasy. I will also be providing you with a list of books and shows from each category.

And hopefully, by the end of this article, you will know exactly what kind of world you'll want to set your own fantasy story in.

What's The Difference Between High And Low Fantasy?

Any novel that includes a level of the unbelievable (be it magic or monsters) is described as fantasy.

The difference between high fantasy stories and low fantasy is simply the setting. Whereby all fantasy fiction includes characters who are doing unbelievable things (from talking to goblins and flying, to fighting dragons and performing magic) - only high fantasy is set in a make-believe world.

Low fantasy, on the other hand, takes place in a real-world setting - although that doesn't mean it has to be any less fantastical!

Let's take a look at each in more detail, starting with high fantasy novels.

High Fantasy

The high fantasy genre is a fun one to read, albeit a more convoluted and complicated one to write.

The defining aspect of high fantasy is that the (usually) epic story is set in an alternative fictional world. A secondary world full of magical elements.

This epic fantasy genre is very much inspired by Greek mythology and Norse mythology; masters of allegorical tales involving scary beasts and valiant heroes.

A lot of high fantasy novels are set in a time that is reminiscent of our own medieval world; ie people travel on horses, drink tankards of ale, and fight with swords. Although that doesn't mean your high fantasy novel has to remain historically accurate. The beauty of writing fantasy is that nothing is stopping you from adding a modern twist to your world.

10 Characteristics Of High Fantasy

A high fantasy story always takes place in a fictional setting that is very different to our own world. Its defining characteristics include:

• A fantasy fictional world
• A map (this helps readers imagine the landscape)
• A high page count
• A challenge or quest
• Many characters (with unusual names)
• Mythical creatures including monsters and other races
• Plenty of magic
• Battles and adventure
• High stakes (ie good versus evil, defeating the monster, returning victorious)
• An engaging plots with lots of twists and turns

10 High Fantasy Books You Should Read

High fantasy literature can be enjoyed by all ages and genders. There are some great examples of modern fantasy fiction out there, including high fantasy that is both diverse and original.

When you think of a traditional fantasy story, many automatically think of Tolkein, Greek mythology and fairy tales. But there are some extraordinary modern high fantasy books out there that are better than many classics.

High fantasy also dominates the Young Adult readership market as it gives writers the opportunity to explore themes that are a lot more relatable to young people today.

Here are ten very different high fantasy stories to enjoy:

1. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis
3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4. The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
6. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
7. Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
8. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
9. To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
10. A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

5 High Fantasy Examples On Screen

Many high fantasy movies and shows have been adapted from novels. Because they are set in a fantasy world unlike our own, many of these stories also veer into science fiction, such as Star Wars and Dune.

Below is a list of movies and television series that perfectly capture the wonder and intricate world-building of high fantasy, allowing viewers to witness the wonder of these worlds visually.

Lord Of The Rings

Tolkien's middle earth has long been seen as the ultimate example of a high fantasy imaginary world. Tolkien not only created an unforgettable fantastical world but also populated it with imaginary races, history and even languages.

In Peter Jackson's movie adaptation that world is brought to life in an epic way.

The Witcher

Adapted first from Andrzej Sapkowski's novel, then made into a computer game, The Witcher also became a Netflix sensation. Set in a medieval-like world full of humans, monsters, and witches, it follows the adventures of Geralt of Rivia - a mutated monster-hunter for hire.

Shadow And Bone

Leigh Bardugos' Shadow and Bone trilogy was merged with her Six of Crows duology and turned into a much-loved Netflix fantasy series. In this Russian-inspired world Grisha are able to do various types of magic and monsters lurk in the very real darkness.

Game Of Thrones

A Game of Thrones is the first novel in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. The popular high fantasy series was adapted by HBO and became one of the best-loved fantasy series on TV.

Again, the author chose to create a world that looks a little like ours but is medieval in style... but with dragons and ice zombies!

His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman adapted for the BBC and HBO. A coming-of-age story about two children wandering through a series of parallel universes, His Dark Materials is a great example of high fantasy literature for younger readers.

Now we've established what high fantasy looks like, let's take a look at the other type of fantasy genre - low fantasy fiction.

Low Fantasy

As opposed to high fantasy, low fantasy is set in our primary world. Sometimes low fantasy is referred to as intrusion fantasy because the magical and fantastical elements in the novel 'intrude' into our real world.

Fantasy genres such as urban fantasy, historical fantasy, time slip, dark fantasy, superhero, contemporary fantasy, magical realism, and paranormal fantasy all fall under the category of low fantasy.

In these stories you have fantastical elements, such as monsters and characters with magical powers, living in the world as we know it (be it the world now or in the past).

10 Characteristics Of Low Fantasy

Low fantasy stories can be a lot of fun to write as you can twist reality as we know it, adding magic to an otherwise normal world.

You also don't have to go to the trouble of creating a brand new fantasy setting as you can base your magic and mayhem in the same world where we all currently live.

The defining characteristics of low fantasy include:

• A modern life full of fantasy elements
• A magic system hidden in our own world
• Characters with supernatural elements living a modern life
• Normal human characters who may, or may not, be aware that magic and monsters exist in our world

Unlike high fantasy stories, low fantasy doesn't need epic battles or big quests as the 'magic in our own world' element is often intriguing enough for readers.

10 Low Fantasy Books You Should Read

As a writer of low fantasy I really enjoy injecting magic into our real world, especially when readers say how those fantastical twists help them see very normal things in a more magical way.

Low fantasy books can include mythical creatures (devils, angels, vampires and dragons), as well as time travel, superheroes, and even a distortion of history as we know it.

Here are ten (very different) low fantasy novels you may enjoy:

1. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
2. The Atlas Six by Olivia Blake
3. Vampires of Moscow by Caedis Knight
4. Ninth House by Laigh Bardugo
5. The Binding by Bridget Collins
6. The Path Keeper by N J Simmonds
7. No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
8. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
9. Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
10. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

5 Low Fantasy Examples On Screen

Low fantasy is a fun way of pushing fantastical boundaries and stretching reality in a way that makes people believe in the unbelievable.

Popular examples of low fantasy on screen include:

True Blood

Set in the American Deep South, True Blood is an adaptation of The Southern Vampire Mysteries by bestselling author Charlaine Harris. It follows the paranormal adventures of a mind-reading barmaid who navigates a world where vampires have been accepted into everyday society.

The Boys

This dark comedy series (adapted from a comic book) takes a look at what would happen if people lived amongst us with supernatural powers - and how that power could so easily be corrupted.

Harry Potter

Everyone is familiar with the story of Harry Potter, a boy who discovers he's a wizard. It's an epic tale for children set in a magical boarding school, where good versus evil, including plenty of fun mythical beasts (both good and bad).

Outlander

A historical fantasy series of impossible love. Claire Beauchamp Randall, a married nurse from World War II, mysteriously goes back in time to 18th century Scotland where she falls in love with a Highland warrior.

Raising Dion

Another comic book adaptation, Raising Dion is about a widowed single mom who discovers that her son has superpowers. She must figure out how to raise him safely and responsibly in a world full of danger.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is High Fantasy Vs Low Fantasy?

High and low fantasy are the two main categories of fantasy. High fantasy refers to epic fantasy which is set in an alternate world. It typically includes lots of magical elements, fantastical creatures, and unusual technology. Whereas low fantasy is when magical creatures and elements intrude upon the regular world.

What Are Common Fantasy Elements?

Some of the main elements of fantasy are magical systems, world-building, a well-crafted cast of characters, a quest, and the endless battle of good vs evil.

World's Apart

Writing fantasy stories involves a lot of imagination, time, and research - but creating both original worlds, and magical worlds within our own, can bring a huge amount of pleasure to both writers and their readers.

I hope you have had as much fun learning about high fantasy vs low fantasy as I have had writing this article, and that it has inspired and helped you decide where you will be setting your next fantasy novel.

Good luck and have fun creating exciting and unforgettable worlds!

For many of us, books and reading provide a means of both leisure and pleasure- a way to escape the everyday and into the world of literature. This is no truer than in speculative fiction. A collection of genres that puts the ‘creative’ in creative writing, the imaginative nature of speculative fiction sets our minds free to envision worlds, people and cultures different from our own. It’s the broad-mindedness that results from such thinking that makes speculative fiction so truly special.  

In this article, we’ll cover:  

• What is speculative fiction (and what isn’t)? 
• The history of speculative fiction 
• Subgenres of speculative fiction 
• Examples of speculative fiction 
• How to write speculative fiction 
• Top tips for speculative fiction writing 
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs) 

So, just what is speculative fiction, and how can you depict imaginative realms in your own stories?  

What Is Speculative Fiction? 

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, or ‘super-genre’, for genre fiction about things that don’t exist in our world. It asks questions, and often the question is, ‘what if?’. Contemporary speculative fiction has subgenres like science fiction (sci-fi), fantasy, dystopian fiction and more.  

Historically, speculative fiction has been a nebulous literary term. We’ll look at why in ‘The History Of Speculative Fiction’ below, but for now, it’s a term that’s evolved since its inception, progressing alongside the novels it aims to describe. Even today, there’s still debate about what is considered speculative fiction.  

For example, Margaret Atwood states that ‘speculative fiction is a way of dealing with possibilities that are inherent in our society now, but which have not yet been fully enacted’. Atwood, with speculative fiction successes like The Handmaid’s Tale, is certainly an authority; and yet at the same time, we must acknowledge that such definitions limit speculative fiction to ideas overtly grounded in real-world context. As a result, this omits secondary-world stories like Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (despite its setting being ‘Middle-earth’), which fantasy fans might argue firmly belongs in the realm of the speculative.  

This is where definitions of speculative fiction diverge, and it comes down to a question of emphasis. Revisiting our definition above, if your focus is on ‘things that don’t exist in our world’, then like Atwood, you may prefer the challenges of a narrower definition. If, however, your focus is ‘things that don’t exist in our world’, then it’s likely your interests sit at the broader end of the speculative spectrum.  

When it comes to a term that’s as fluid and eclectic as speculative fiction is, perhaps a better question to ask is: what isn’t speculative fiction?  

What Is Not Speculative Fiction? 

Speculative fiction represents concepts that err outside the bounds of our real world in some way, whether great or small. So, what doesn’t speculative fiction cover? Here are three examples:  

• Historical fiction where the only speculative element is a fictional character that doesn’t affect chronicled events. 
• Horror fiction with fictional antagonists that aren’t paranormal in nature — think serial killers as opposed to vampires, werewolves, zombies etc.  
• ‘Mundane science fiction’, a sci-fi subgenre founded by Geoff Ryman and the Clarion West Class of 2004, which limits its scope to Earth-based worlds, no aliens or interstellar travel, and only pre-existing or plausible technology. This is akin to hard science fiction, which focuses on technical accuracy.  

If you’re into sci-fi, Ryman and co.’s ‘Mundane Manifesto’ is brilliant (case in point: calling the genre’s tropes a “bonfire of the stupidities”). Definitely recommended reading.  

The topic of sci-fi is an excellent segue back into the history of speculative fiction, so let’s take a brief look at that now.  

The History Of Speculative Fiction  

The idea behind speculative fiction — to ask ‘what if?’, and remark on a world that may have been, that is or that could be — is one that goes back to the classics.  

A well-cited example is Medea, a tragedy by ancient Greek playwright Euripides, who explored the sorceress Medea murdering her own children for revenge — whereas in versions of the legend, she was not directly responsible. Euripides used speculation to write an alternate history.  

A less famous example is the cleverly-titled novella A True Story, a fiction work by Lucian of Samosata in the second century. Similar to Euripides, Lucian was an ancient Greek writer, but one who speculated on fantastical space travel and war, not to mention aliens. Lucian became the first writer of his time to openly pen fiction (and satirical fiction at that, given the title vs. topics).  

Another example is Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, which unites the Greek hero Theseus of Athens, the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta, and King Oberon and Queen Titania of the Fairies alongside other characters. Nowadays, the play is known as speculative fiction, despite the phrase not existing then.  

Bonus example: I’m going to add one more here, simply because it’s amazing. Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World is a speculative work from 1666 about a utopian society, accessible through a portal in the North Pole. Utter genius.  

The term ‘speculative fiction’ was eventually coined by author Robert Heinlein in 1941 and publicised in his 1947 essay, On the Writing of Speculative Fiction. Heinlein, a science fiction writer, argued that unlike the pulp sci-fi of his time, speculative fiction focused on human-centred reactions to posed scientific or technological problems, and deserved the artistic merit of literary fiction. Sci-fi’s close association with speculative fiction is largely thanks to Heinlein.  

As successful authors like Margaret Atwood and Ursula Le Guin weighed in on such delineations (Le Guin has argued for abandoning genres altogether), speculative fiction expanded into particular genres like fantasy, dystopian fiction and more. Today, speculative fiction’s family of subgenres make it a broad literary term in keeping with the evolution of its stories. It’s to these subgenres that we’ll turn next.  

Subgenres Of Speculative Fiction 

Science Fiction 

Given sci-fi’s relationship to speculative fiction, it’s a good subgenre to start with. Science fiction with speculative elements uses advanced technology like interstellar travel, which can lead to encounters with extraterrestrials. It employs tropes like teleportation, parallel worlds or alternate universes, time travel and even magic; space operas, as a subset of sci-fi stories, are particularly grand in scale. Such speculative leaps are precisely what mundane sci-fi opposes, as they’re deemed too unlikely to ever happen in the real world.  

Fantasy Fiction 

Fantasy is a purely speculative genre of fiction, where concepts are fantastical because of the inclusion of magical powers, mythical creatures etc. Like sci-fi, fantasy exists on a spectrum from low fantasy based in the real world, to high or epic fantasy (eg. ‘sword and sorcery’ fantasy) set in alternate or secondary worlds. Fantasy fiction also includes many subgenres like dark fantasy, fables, fairy tales, urban fantasy and magical realism.  

Science Fiction Fantasy  

As you might guess, sci-fi fantasy is a blend of science fiction and fantasy stories, wherein the sci-fi also has fantasy elements such as magic and myth.  

Superhero Fiction 

While we’re still thinking about sci-fi, consider superhero fiction like DC’s alien superhero Superman, or Marvel’s many superheroes eg. the Avengers. While tales about beings with superhuman powers fighting evil supervillains could easily be categorised as fantasy or paranormal, superhero stories have become a behemoth in their own right — just look at the world’s devoted comic-based fandoms.  

Paranormal Fiction 

Similar to superhero fiction, paranormal fiction could also be classed as fantasy, but the sheer volume of topics and titles has culminated in its own recognised genre. Paranormal fiction tells of secret phenomena that generally defy science and the natural world, involving creatures from fables, folklore, fairy tales and pop culture eg. vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches. It can also include psychic abilities like levitation and telepathy. This particular genre has many subgenres, such as paranormal romance, which has produced multiple international bestsellers, particularly in the young adult (YA) category.  

Supernatural Fiction 

Like the paranormal genre, supernatural fiction also eludes scientific explanation, focusing on death and the afterlife — with heavenly deities like gods/goddesses and angels, as well as resurrection, reincarnation and the soul. Subgenres include supernatural horror and thrillers; ghost, gothic and weird fiction; and anything else of a spiritual nature that morphs into the macabre.  

Utopian Fiction 

Utopian fiction centres on the concept of an ideal world, and the potential impact of human beings on these seemingly perfect civilisations.  

Dystopian Fiction 

Conversely, dystopian novels depict governments and societies, often totalitarian, where people’s suffering is as rampant as the injustice at its core. Such speculative literature often sets stories in places not normally equated with bleak future states.  

Apocalyptic Fiction 

Apocalyptic fiction involves disasters that end in large-scale population death and destruction. Stories involve catastrophic events like meteorological disasters, nuclear wars or pandemic diseases, centring on characters fighting to survive.  

Post-Apocalyptic Fiction 

If the apocalyptic genre is ‘before’, then post-apocalyptic fiction is the ‘after’ of these monumentally devastating events. Any characters that survived must now learn to endure the consequences of the apocalypse, which can range from a nuclear holocaust to societal breakdown, and may include paranormal aspects.  

Alternate History Fiction 

As we saw in Euripides’ Medea, alternate history fiction provides a fork in the road to explore historical events and their potential for lives unled.  

Examples Of Speculative Fiction 

The Expanse Series By James S. A. Corey 

This hard sci-fi modern classic, starting with the first novel Leviathan Wakes, speculates about humans colonising the solar system without interstellar travel eg. Mars and the Asteroid Belt beyond it — but with Earth and Mars in conflict.  

A Song Of Ice And Fire Series By George R. R. Martin 

We’ve already mentioned Tolkien, so let’s look at Martin’s epic fantasy works, also known as the TV adaptation Game of Thrones. You can’t get more speculative than situating this fictional ‘War of the Roses’ alongside dragons, sorcery and ice zombies.  

Dune Series By Frank Herbert 

An older classic and fantastical space opera, the titular first novel and its series are a sci-fi fantasy of grandeur. Unlike The Expanse, Dune does have interstellar travel, as well as magic, alien sandworms, a prophecy and the mystical Spice Melange.  

Warbringer By Leigh Bardugo 

YA fantasy bestseller Bardugo picks up the mantle of depicting Wonder Woman in a comic novelisation of Diana’s origin story. Prior to becoming the superheroine we all know and love, the novel sees her befriend a descendant of Helen of Troy.  

The Vampire Chronicles Series By Anne Rice 

Before the TV series hits our screens, revisit Rice’s fully-realised paranormal world of vampire mythology in the series’ first novel Interview With The Vampire, which is not only a cultural phenomenon but also a masterwork of the genre.  

The Call Of Cthulhu And Other Weird Stories By H. P. Lovecraft 

Lovecraft’s supernatural The Call of Cthulhu is one of his best-known stories, and features a kraken-like creature with wings — complete with a cult of worshippers — and the power to drive people insane through subconscious control.  

Gulliver's Travels By Jonathan Swift 

A stinging satire of adventure travel that helped birth the novel format, Swift’s protagonist journeys to far-flung locales where he meets philosophers, scientists, mages, immortals, and intellectually superior horses ruling over humans. 

1984 By George Orwell 

You could well argue there’s no more relevant dystopian tale than Orwell’s 1984 — and we’re 38 years on from that fateful year. Yet here we are, still grappling with the same totalitarian fears; the unfortunate hallmark of a truly well-crafted tale.  

World War Z By Max Brooks 

Given the last example, it’s not surprising we’ve made it to the zombie apocalypse; though Brooks’ novel is simultaneously post-apocalyptic, with its 10-year span that begins with rumours of a new pandemic from China (sound familiar?).  

The Stand By Stephen King 

Following on from a zombie pandemic, let’s get a little more real with fiction master King’s actual pandemic novel, a post-apocalyptic tale of an influenza-based plague that (wait for it) kills 99.4% of the population. Cue civilisation imploding.  

The Man In The High Castle By Philip K. Dick 

Finally, we end on an alternate history classic, with Dick speculating, ‘what if Germany had won World War II?’. The answer to this question sets the novel in an America where New York is Nazi territory and Japan rules over California.  

How To Write Speculative Fiction 

Now that we’re clear on what speculative fiction is (and what it isn’t), how do you go about creating these world-bending stories for yourself?  

Here are our 5 steps to writing speculative fiction:  

1. Form Your Idea 

Your first step is to identify an idea for a story. Speculative fiction deals in ‘what if’s, so let’s start there. Here’s an example you may already be familiar with. 

Margaret Atwood’s idea for The Handmaid’s Tale came from a conversation with a friend in the 1980s about feminism and women being outside the home, and those who wanted to reverse the trend. Atwood wondered what it would take to do that, and in answering her question, the world of Gilead and its handmaids was born.  

Whether you subscribe to Atwood’s definition of speculative fiction or not, mining current events, society, culture, and the latest research for good ideas to build a concept from will grant you many an interesting ‘what if’ to ponder.  

2. Do Your Research 

Despite the fantastical nature of speculative fiction, if your story is in any way based on the real world, it’s likely you’ll need to do some research, such as when writing sci-fi stories inspired by science or technology. Not all science fiction will need this as a prerequisite, but grounding such stories with real things tends to strengthen them.  

There’s also a point to be made here about sensitivity. If you’re broaching topics that involve those in a minority, potentially triggering subjects or cultural taboos, it’s important to do your due diligence as a professional in the writing community. And that means doing your research and crafting authentic portrayals.  

3. Build Your World 

If you’re like me, this is the fun part. World-building, particularly in fantasy, looks top-down at the world you’re creating — from the realm’s geography, to its people and civilisations. This also includes society, politics, the economy and technology; which in turn means defining warfare, and what magic or myths to include.  

That said, your world-building doesn’t need to be complex. The key is consistency, and rules with discernable stakes (which also aid your central conflict). Within the realm of the speculative, as in fantasy or dystopias, defining your magical systems or the rules your society is based on will help readers navigate your story.  

For more on world-building, see our ‘Top Tips For Speculative Fiction Writing’ below in the section following this one. 

4. Outline Your Story 

So, you’ve got an idea, and you’ve done your research and world-building. Great! Now comes your story outline. This can be as simple or as granular as you like, depending on whether you’re a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’ when it comes to planning. Either way, the reason for outlining in speculative fiction is to clarify your world and its consequences for your characters, and then build your arc.  

Think about the idea you’ve come up with and how it impacts your main character. Are they high or low on the food chain of the world you’ve developed? Where do you want them to end up, and how? What are the main problems that they’ll face? Asking yourself these questions will help you plan your story’s outline. Need help? Check out our article on plot points.  

5. Write! 

For the plotters amongst us, your research, world-building and outline should equip you with more than enough to get started. For the pantsers, this will be where you finally dispense with all the planning and just write. So, what are you waiting for?  

Pro tip: Some people recommend writing first thing in the morning or late at night — essentially, when our thoughts are more free-flowing — for creative effect.  

Top Tips For Speculative Fiction Writing 

What if you really want to try your hand at speculative fiction- but you just can’t seem to make the words happen? We’ve got you covered.  

Here are 3 more tips and tricks for writing speculative fiction stories: 

1. Brainstorm  

This is where you try and think of as many ideas as possible without judging them, then tease out the golden thread of a story. You don’t need to do it all in one sitting, but your goal is to look for new and unexpected combinations and connections.  

One way to do this is by thinking about conversations eg. like Margaret Atwood, or eavesdropping on new ones in cafes, on public transport, at the park, anywhere; all for the sake of potential inspiration, and to get you asking questions that can lead to intriguing tangents, and eventually stories.  

Here’s my own method: handwrite your brain dump of ideas, if you can, as there’s something about physically jotting them down; it probably facilitates the next step. Then, go do something else- ideally, something manual like cleaning, exercising, showering, or driving (Spielberg gets his best ideas on the road). And finally… wait. When your mind is quiet, like when meditating or on the verge of falling asleep, that’s when your best ideas will strike.  

Or, why not use one of our sci-fi writing prompts or our fantasy prompts as a jumping-off point?

2. Research Building Your World 

If going directly from researching to world-building is too much of a jump, don’t worry. The internet has a plethora of resources to help you build your world.  

• Brandon Sanderson, author of bestselling fantasy and sci-fi stories like the Mistborn series, has entire YouTube playlists devoted to his writing process. As part of his 2020 creative writing lectures at US Brigham Young University, check out his world-building part one and part two videos.  
• Another writer of bestselling speculative fiction eg. the Broken Earth trilogy, N.K. Jemisin is a fantasy and sci-fi author with superb educational content; her website hosts a great presentation from one of her webinars.  
• World Anvil is a resource I’ve been recommended on Twitter more times than I can count for world-building, whether for writing fiction or D&D-style RPGs (that’s ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ and role-playing games, for you non-nerds). A word of warning: get ready for more links than you can poke a sword at.  
• Why not check out our articles on world-building or have a look at our upcoming events or courses that will help you get started?

3. Read, Read, Read  

This is a wonderful tip, particularly if speculative fiction is new to you (and if you’re a bookworm, all the better): immerse yourself in the greats. Writing isn’t just rewriting, as they say- it’s reading, and reading speculative classics, modern or otherwise, can give you the hit of inspiration you need to think outside the box. So, jump back to the ‘Examples Of Speculative Fiction’ above, and add them to your to-be-read (TBR) list for a heady dose of speculation.

Frequently Asked Questions 

What Is Speculative Fiction? 

Speculative fiction refers to genre-based fiction with concepts grounded in things that don’t exist in the world as we know it. An umbrella term, it includes genres like fantasy, dystopian and science fiction (which it was originally associated with), and covers imaginative stories of conjecture that ask questions, particularly ‘what if?’. Speculative fiction has evolved since its twentieth-century inception to become the creative ‘super-genre’ it’s known as today.  

What Is The Main Purpose Of Speculative Fiction? 

The purpose of speculative fiction is, unsurprisingly, to speculate: to think, to guess,  and to ask questions (eg. ‘what if?’) of the world we live in, its history and its future. Speculative fiction then explores the answers to these questions through stories of varying imaginative degrees. Like reading more generally, speculative fiction can be a form of entertainment and escape. Where it differs from literary fiction is perhaps in its attempt to not only illuminate the human condition, but also challenge our own world views and understanding of them- with the goal of deeper personal insight.  

What Is The Difference Between Science Fiction And Speculative Fiction? 

Science fiction (sci-fi) is a genre within the ‘super-genre’ of speculative fiction, and tells stories about science and technology with outer space as a frequent theme. ‘Speculative fiction’ as a term has been strongly connected with science fiction since its inception and popularisation by Robert Heinlein in 1941 and 1947, who was himself a science fiction author. Heinlein argued that speculative fiction was a subset of sci-fi more slanted towards literary fiction, unlike the formulaic pulp sci-fi of his day. Today, speculative fiction has expanded to include genres like fantasy and more.  

Is Magical Realism Speculative Fiction? 

Magical realism, as a subgenre of fantasy fiction, can be classified, like fantasy and science fiction, under the broad ‘supergenre’ of speculative fiction. Magical realism can be speculative as the fantastical elements of such fictional worlds exist beyond the realm of our own. This, however, does depend on your definition of speculative fiction being less strict than author Margaret Atwood’s, which leans into real-world societal scenarios that have not yet come to pass (such as in her speculative novel and bestseller The Handmaid’s Tale).  

Writing Speculative Fiction Stories

As you’ve seen throughout this article, speculative fiction is a broad literary term. But more importantly, speculative fiction isn’t just an assortment of other genres- it’s a way of telling visionary stories that excite and inspire us as engaged readers, in a world that sometimes fails to. Speculative fiction highlights the awe of exploring other realms and other ideas, and in doing so, reflects something back to us: the limitless potential of the human imagination.  

And, happily, that’s something we don’t need to speculate about.  

From a young age, I gravitated towards anything that might spook or scare me, finding a thrill in the fear and the curling of toes, drawn always to the dark and the gothic.

I am still the same today, and people have been fascinated with these fictional worlds filled with ghosts - where usually your imagination alone can be your worst enemy - for hundreds of years. There is psychology behind this, but we won’t go into that here. Instead, let’s celebrate the genre that sets hearts racing, that makes characters out of eerie settings and that lets you explore that space beyond reality.  

Our love of the gothic must surely come from the exploration of unknown worlds, dark places and the supernatural; all those things that are usually out of reach for us but that we can leave safely behind once we close the pages. It’s a genre that has reinvented itself many times over the centuries and birthed numerous sub-genres, and which still to this day attracts readers of all ages.  

In this guide, we will discuss all things gothic literature, its inner workings and its influence on our wider cultures, taking a look at key tropes, themes and motifs. And if you aspire to be a gothic writer yourself, this guide will show you everything you need to know about gothic fiction and its essential ingredients. 

What Is Gothic Literature?

There are many definitions of what gothic literature is, but all state that it is a story of fear and terror with emotional extremes and dark themes. It has regularly been used as a literary device to highlight social issues and injustices, which is possibly one reason for its enduring popularity.  

Gothic literature rose from the Romantic period of the eighteenth century and you can trace its roots to the architecture of medieval Europe, with buildings that were full of intricate details and cavernous spaces, and ornate decoration that gave us gargoyles and grotesque waterspouts - foreboding spaces that looked like they had a story to tell. Romanticism was characterised by emotion and individualism, nature and the glorification of medieval times. Gothicism embraced these elements, too, but it focused more on the darker side of humanity, particularly evil, sin and purgatory.  

The root of gothic literature is widely attributed to Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto in 1765 - he even put the word ‘gothic’ in the subtitle of the second edition. But what did that word mean to him all those years ago? It meant ‘barbarous’ and ‘deriving from the Middle Ages’, not words we might associate with it now, but from his novel trick, he spawned an entirely new genre. One which included the supernatural, the classic gothic tropes of doors closing and floorboards squeaking, and most importantly a frightening old building. 

This is the heart of gothic fiction - the things that lurk in the corners both in reality and in the mind. But it was the gothic stories of vulnerability and conflict that were relatable to society, and so gothic literature flourished. 

Let’s take a closer look at the elements that make up gothic fiction. 

Key Elements Of Gothic Literature

Place 

Probably the most important part of the gothic novel is the setting. Most will think instantly of castles and gloomy houses, of heaths and moors, of isolated, dark corners of the world. Many gothic novels contain a haunted house or building, but in reality, the house comes to represent more than just bricks and mortar. It is a mirror of the mind, of compartmentalising, of locking away the truths of a life, before the lies and deceit come back to haunt our characters.  

Physically, too, the setting typical of gothic literature is hidden, pulling our characters further from society and further from help, leaving them to the elements of the Earth and the evil that might be seeking them.  

Think of Jonathan Harker becoming trapped in Count Dracula’s castle, or the secrets of Manderley in Rebecca, or the brooding, sweeping moors of Wuthering Heights. The place becomes a character, influencing our protagonist from the first page. 

The Supernatural 

Can we call gothic fiction gothic without a ghost or two? Or at least the threat of a ghost? Sometimes, simply, it is all in the mind, but this is where gothic literature stands apart from all other genres - your imagination does the work for you. What might be there is often far scarier than reality. But what gothic literature does so well is present us with a world of doubt, particularly about the supernatural and spiritual. It presents the possibility of things beyond reason and breaks down the limits of our everyday lives. 

Ghosts bring with them a demand, a curse or a plea. Out of their proper time and place, they disrupt our sense of what is present and what is past, but more about this later. 

Atmosphere 

Gothic literature is dripping in atmosphere, probably more so than any other genre. Place, as mentioned above, plays a big part in the setting of the atmosphere, but it goes much deeper than that. Atmosphere comes from the writer’s tone and use of language, from the implied, from the internal and external conflicts, from the characters themselves, and from the building of suspense and mystery. 

Often, too, the atmosphere created is claustrophobic. Settings are small, with little opportunity to escape. 

Secret Places 

Gothic literature is full of secret places - rooms, entire wings, attics. Places that are out of bounds for the protagonist and which, like a child drawn to a jar of sweets, call out for them to go there against all better judgement. What if Belle hadn’t gone to the forbidden west wing and found the rose in Beauty and the Beast? And let’s not forget the secret places in our characters’ minds. They are often places that a reader won’t want to go to either. 

Damsels 

When we look at the classic gothic novels, a damsel in distress is usually a central part, and this plays into the regular gothic theme of an imbalance of power - women were seen as weaker and often victims of violent acts.  

In an opposite way, women are also often portrayed as evil, possessed characters in contrast to their perceived motherly qualities. 

Time 

Time plays a key part in gothic fiction. There is a preoccupation with glorifying the past. It is typical for there to be elements of the past clashing with the present, bringing with it threat, terror and truth. But it isn’t simply a case of the past catching up with the characters. The past will invariably be accompanied by the uncanny - something frighteningly unfamiliar. The past literally deranges the present.  

Terror Vs Horror 

There is a clear difference between a reader who enjoys being terrorised and a reader who enjoys being horrified, and here lies the difference between gothic fiction and horror fiction. Ann Radcliffe, a pioneering gothic writer from the late eighteenth century said that terror merely suggests horrific things rather than showing them. Terror is concerned with the psychological experience of being full of fear and dread and thus recognising human limits. She said: 

Terror and Horror are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes and nearly annihilates them.

Ann Radcliffe

There is a subtlety to gothic stories that allows the mind to wander, a mere hint or suggestion is often enough for us to believe.  

Melodrama 

Gothic fiction is dramatic because the stakes are high. Characters are usually troubled, with bad things happening to them and around them. Expect much swooning, fainting and screaming. They often, also, have troubled minds. 

Burdened Male Protagonist 

The men in classic gothic literature are usually wealthy, entitled, and hold a lot of power. Or they may be burdened by a mad wife they need to hide away, or required to marry somebody they don’t love. They represent the best and worst of society and often must face the demon within them in their search for peace. A perfect example of the burdened male protagonist is Maxim from Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. 

Death 

When we think about gothic stories, death is usually a central part of it. Deaths in the past, the threat of imminent death of the protagonist or wider characters, the death of a way of life, even. Let’s look at the opening of Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward: 

I like to think I know what death is. I like to think it’s something I could look at straight. When Pop tell me he need my help and I see that black knife slid into the belt of his pants, I follow Pop out the house, try to keep my back straight, my shoulders even as a hanger; that’s how Pop walks. I try to look like this is normal and boring so Pop will think I’ve earned these thirteen years, so Pop will know I’m ready to pull what needs to be pulled, separate innards from muscle, organs from cavities. I want Pop to know I can get bloody. Today is my birthday.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Those two opening lines set the tone of this novel perfectly. Death is the theme of this beautifully devastating Southern Gothic novel, and that is something that is made clear from the start. I don’t think it is possible to have gothic without death. 

Key Tropes In Gothic Fiction

Gothic fiction has a set of tropes that are seen over and over again. These are devices used in every novel that the reader will recognise instantly.

Here are some of the main ones:  

Lights

The flickering of lights points to something otherworldly in control. Or a light in an abandoned place tells you something is there that shouldn’t be.  

Weather

Nothing says gothic more than inclement weather. A good thunderstorm suggests impending doom, high winds are disorienting for our characters and imply godly forces are in play. Typically, classic English gothic texts take place on windy, barren and isolated moors, but by contrast, the sub-genre novels of the Southern Gothic are set in heat-sweltered southern US states, using the dusty, dry environments to show isolation in a different way. These are places that are hard to endure. 

Noises

Things that go bump in the night. There is always a noise that might draw your character from their bed in the dead of night to investigate. And, of course, you know that is the last thing they should be doing.  

Laughter

There is truly nothing spookier than hearing a child laugh from somewhere deep in the heart of a gloomy, abandoned house. It is a definite sign that something bad has happened there and you should likely run the other way. 

Animals

Savage nature- crows, ravens, and wolves have all been vilified in gothic fiction, used as symbols to impress the coming darkness. 

Imprisoned Characters

There is nothing more gothic-esque than an imprisoned character. Think of Mr Rochester’s wife locked away in the attic in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, or of Paul Sheldon in Stephen King’s Misery being held captive by a crazed fan. 

Key Themes In Gothic Literature

What I love more than anything about gothic fiction are the themes that are tackled. A ghost story is never simply a ghost story, a story of madness is never simply a description of insanity. Gothic writers want to convey their message through the story and the underlying meaning of the story - the theme. And the themes of gothic literature draw attention to the very dark side of humanity.

Here are some of the main themes of Gothicism: 

• Appearance vs Reality 
• Doppelganger/Duality of humanity 
• Isolation and seclusion 
• Challenging gender roles 
• Imbalance of power 
• Corruption of innocence 
• Place 
• Romance 
• Injustice 
• Searching for the truth 

Gothic Fiction Motifs

Motifs are recurring symbolic references that a writer uses to convey an idea. Gothic fiction is full of them, and writers use them repeatedly throughout their novels to reinforce the point they are trying to make.

Here are some of the main gothic motifs: 

• Dreams, nightmares and visions 
• Mistaken Identity 
• Omens and prophecies 
• Light vs darkness 
• Secrets 
• Madness 
• The Uncanny 

Examples Of Gothic Tales

Some of the greatest stories have been spawned by the gothic genre. Let’s look at the most popular classic gothic novels. 

• The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is considered the first gothic novel, written in 1764. Set in a haunted castle, the novel combines Walpole’s love of medieval and terror. 
• The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, written in 1794, combines the typical gothic tropes with the author’s love of gothic romance. There’s a crumbling castle, a villainous man, supernatural happenings and a persecuted heroine.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story known the world over. Here we have the archetypal mad scientist and his monstrous creation. The novel centres around Victor’s isolation from society as he delves deeper and deeper into his studies and experiments, losing sight of his responsibilities through his determination to achieve something memorable. 
• In The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, the setting in the gothic Notre Dame Cathedral is a full homage to gothic architecture. The classic gothic novel tackles the medieval sin of lust and presents it as natural, at the same time challenging our perception of beauty and what it means to judge people on appearances.  
• The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe is considered by some to be the start of the Southern Gothic sub-genre. It has the personified house (“There I could see reflected in the water a clear picture of the dead trees, and of the house and its empty eye-like windows.”), the madness, the typical gothic tropes listed above. But at the heart of this story is decline - the house is split between crumbling walls and perfection, which mirrors the well-being of the characters, the individual, the Usher bloodline, the familial and the collective South. 
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte hits all the right gothic notes - an eerie, gloomy setting, with the potential of ghosts intervening in the present. Again, this classic tale combines Romanticism with Gothicism. 
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is the ultimate gothic story concerning the duality of human nature.  
• Although not always thought to be a true gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde contains the symbol of the devil, devil pacts, and the motif of an ever-changing painting, representing the change in Dorian as his character ages. Dorian’s terror lies in his need to stay forever young and maintain his youthful beauty - a need that takes him down a murderous path. 
• Dracula by Bram Stoker is probably one of the best-known examples of vampire fiction. But as with all good gothic tales, the themes are what elevate it from simply a blood-sucking story. It draws a picture of Victorian society and the need to lock away people deemed mad or insane, especially the more regularly afflicted women. Isolation and madness are closely linked in this novel, as is the Christian belief of freeing your soul for heaven, which is prominent in many of the works of early gothic writers.
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a true ghost story with all the gothic elements you would expect - ambiguity about the presence of ghosts, external views vs internal feelings, perception vs reality, and secrets in all the characters. 

Now let’s take a closer look at some important contemporary gothic novels from the last hundred years. 

Rebecca By Daphne Du Maurier

Rebecca is probably one of the best novels ever written (bold statement, I know!) and is a perfect example of contemporary gothic. The novel takes us to Manderley, an imposing home on the isolated Devon coast where the unnamed narrator takes over the role of Mistress of the house. But lurking in every corner is the memory of her husband’s dead wife, Rebecca. Again, the past impacts the present, but the novel really is a masterclass of gothic literature. It addresses themes of isolation, which is such a common thread through the genre, and imprisonment, both literal and of the mind.

But the novel particularly excels at linking these themes with place. Manderley is a character in itself which imprints its shackles on the narrator’s mind, sending her to the brink of insanity (helped along nicely by the trickery of Mrs Danvers, of course). Du Maurier creates an atmosphere of threat (a key gothic element mentioned above) as the narrator arrives at Manderley: 

…on either side of us was a wall of colour, blood-red, reaching far above our heads. We were amongst the rhododendrons. There was something bewildering, even shocking, about the suddenness of their discovery. The woods had not prepared me for them. They startled me with their crimson faces, massed one upon the other in incredible profusion, showing no leaf, no twig, nothing but the slaughterous red, luscious and fantastic, unlike any rhododendron plant I had seen before….And these were monsters, rearing to the sky, massed like a battalion, too beautiful I thought, too powerful; they were not plants at all.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Can you see how Du Maurier personifies the rhododendrons, creating something threatening from something usually natural and beautiful? This sets up how Manderley will control the protagonist.  

Power and control is another theme of Rebecca, but it is rarely physical power that is shown, but rather knowledge wielded over those who are less informed. How can you ever take control if you know nothing of what has come before and those around you know everything? The power will always be with them, regardless of their social status. And this plays into the feelings of isolation and imprisonment for the narrator. 

The Haunting Of Hill House By Shirley Jackson

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Please, do come in…. or maybe not? This is the opening of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and here we have the master at work again. A perfect haunted house novel that hits all the right gothic notes.  

Beloved By Toni Morrison 

I couldn’t write an article about gothic fiction without including Toni Morrison’s Beloved. This is a pure southern gothic novel that forces readers to face the long-lasting, damaging impact of slavery. It doesn’t shy away from brutality, and has all the elements of gothic fiction that you would expect - death, a haunted house, a ghost, and a past impacting on the present.  

124 was spiteful. Full of baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, was dead, and the sons, Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old - as soon as merely looking in a mirror shattered it (that was the signal for Buglar); as soon as two tiny handprints appeared in the cake (that was it for Howard). Neither boy waited to see more.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Woman In Black By Susan Hill 

There is a deep, creeping sense of dread in The Woman in Black, which Susan Hill conjures so well with her atmospheric writing. Eel Marsh House is a typical gothic building, claustrophobic, spooky and isolated, and Hill uses all the classic gothic tropes that readers of the genre would expect to great effect.  

So I thought that night, as I laid my head on the soft pillow and fell eventually into a restless, shadowy sleep, across which figures came and went, troubling me, so that once or twice I half-woke myself, as I cried out or spoke a few incoherent words, I sweated, I turned and turned about, trying to free myself from the nightmares, to escape from my own semi-conscious sense of dread and foreboding, and all the time, piercing through the surface of my dreams, came the terrified whinnying of the pony and the crying and calling of that child over and over, while I stood, helpless in the mist, my feet held fast, my body pulled back, and while behind me, though I could not see, only sense her dark presence, hovered the woman.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Last House On Needless Street By Catriona Ward

This very recent novel (2021) crosses many genres in my opinion. It is a psychological thriller with moments of pure horror, but it also ticks many of the gothic notes, too. There’s a house, for a start, and this house is boarded up and very creepy. There are bad things that happen there. There’s a cat narrator requiring readers to suspend their disbelief. There are grotesque happenings. But more importantly, there is a past that plays into the present, and that is at the heart of every gothic story.  

The past is close tonight. The membrane of time bulges and strains. I hear Mommy in the kitchen, talking to the Chihuahua lady. Mommy’s telling her about the thing with the mouse. That was where all this started. I stop up my ears and turn the TV up, but I can still hear her voice. I remember everything about the thing with the mouse, which is unusual. My memory is Swiss cheese, in general.

The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward

I can’t say much more about this novel because I wouldn’t want to ruin the brilliance of it - but please do read it. 

Gothic novels are as popular now as they have ever been, so let’s discuss why that might be. 

The Gothic Genre’s Prevailing Popularity

The gothic genre has gone through many revamps and spawned many sub-genres over the centuries, such as Southern Gothic and psychological gothic horror, but it is still as popular today as it ever was. We, as inquisitive humans, want to explore the possibility of the ‘other’, the unknown that brings us fear, and literature is a great way to do that. But Gothicism also shines a light on the injustices of society, which again is a huge draw for readers. There is real depth to the storytelling that goes far deeper than simply the hauntings of a ghost or the blood-sucking of vampires.  

Gothicism can be seen across the world, accessible to all cultures, all with their own histories to retell through the uncanny. A whole fashion exists around the world of the undead, and let’s not forget the other forms in which the gothic is celebrated - film and television, poetry, art, music, and computer games. I don’t see gothic literature going anywhere and I’m excited to see how it transforms itself as societies shift around the world. 

But put simply, I think we will always have an obsession and interest in the past, and that is why I think Gothicism will endure as it shines its light in all the dark corners of humanity. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are The Five Main Elements Of Gothic Literature?

Gothic novels all have a few major elements in common:  

• A dark and gloomy setting, such as a castle or house 
• A threatening atmosphere 
• Supernatural elements, such as a ghost, or the idea of one 
• Terror that plays with your perception of reality 
• Death 

What Is Considered Gothic Literature?

Gothic stories are those that fill readers with terror. They will follow a set of gothic tropes employed to spook and haunt both characters and readers, and they will invariably be set in haunted houses or castles, or in isolated places full of foreboding.  

Why Is It Called Gothic Literature?

Gothic literature derives from the gothic architecture of medieval times, based on a love and admiration of that period of time. 

What Makes A Good Gothic Story?

A good gothic story will have a gloomy setting, lots of atmosphere, supernatural elements, and a sense of terror. It will play with the readers' idea of reality and the bounds of humanity, it will terrorise and spook, it will clash the past and the present, and it will challenge a reader’s understanding of society. 

Writing Gothic Fiction

Gothic literature has a long and rich history and has had a huge bearing on wider culture across the centuries.

As gothic writers, it is important to understand this history, to know what has come before and therefore what readers might expect from us as we pen our own gothic stories. But, of course, to know the rules is to also know how to effectively break and invert them.

Let’s keep telling these dark and twisted stories so that in centuries to come the art of Gothicism is still very much alive, unlike the ghosts that might grace those pages.

Have you always wanted to write a historical novel but wondered what that specific literary genre includes? Perhaps you're looking for inspiration to create your historical characters?

In this guide to historical fiction, I will be discussing what the term means, the various sub-genres of historical fiction, plus top writing tips from successful historical fiction authors, and a summary of all the places you can find inspiration for your own novel.

First thing's first...

What Is Historical Fiction?

The historical fiction genre is fiction set during a historical time period.

Although some of the events that take place in the book may be based on real events, with a story set against a historically accurate setting - the book is generally populated by fictional characters and is therefore categorised as a work of fiction.

Historical fiction includes any books set in the past. That means your book can take place during the ice age, the American Civil War, World War II, or even 1970. A rule of thumb is that if a novel is set more than 50 years in the past it's classified as 'historical'.

Although the setting and descriptions of that time should remain historically accurate, the fictional elements can include the events that take place and (most certainly) the characters.

Who Is Historical Fiction Written For?

Everyone and anyone!

Historical fiction caters for adults and children of every age and gender. Because it's not pure fiction - elements of it must remain historically accurate - authors are able to adapt it for every age.

For instance, you can write a historical fiction book about World War II that caters to all types of audiences:

Children: The Skylark's War by Hilary McKay and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

Young adults/teens: The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell and Once by Morris Gleitzman

Adults looking for historical satire: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Adults wanting poignancy: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

The beauty of historically fictional stories is that you can take any historical period and add your own concept, and depending on the audience and their needs, each book can be totally different.

What Historical Fiction Is Not

Just because historical fiction includes a historical era, do not get it confused with biographical novels, books that were contemporary in their time but are now classics, or non-fiction books written about a certain time in history.

When considering writing historical fiction, first ask yourself whether you will be adding fictional elements or keeping it all facts.

Why Write Historical Fiction?

When it comes to creative writing, and penning your own historical fiction novel, it's important to understand exactly who you are writing for and what you want to say.

Some people choose to write historical novels because they are interested in specific historical events or eras and want to explore them further through their fiction. Others enjoy the challenge of combining the real past with fictional characters.

Alternatively, if you don't wish to set your entire book in the past you can write a variety of speculative fiction and have books that time hop (ie time travel novels) or ones that include dual storylines or flashbacks.

Different Historical Fiction Genres

There are many different types of historical fiction books. Below is a list of some of the most popular along with examples of novels from that sub-genre.

As I mentioned above, you don't have to stick to just one specific genre in order to inject a little history into your novel - mix them up! Why not write historical romantic adventures, or historical science fiction with LGBT themes?

It's important that historical fiction is written by as many people from different backgrounds as possible. To understand our future we must understand our past, and to do so effectively we need to hear everyone's voices and see the world through the eyes of everyone who came before us.

Let's look at some sub-genres:

Historical Romance

Example: The Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn

This is by far the most popular genre of all historical fiction. Whether your hero is falling in love with Regency aristocracy, or a Victorian orphan, many readers enjoy being transported to a time in history where lovers, and love, looked very different.

Biographical Historical Fiction

Example: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Not all biographies have to read like boring history textbooks. Many biographical authors take a real historical figure, or a time in their own life, and weave stories amongst the facts.

You have to be careful not to re-write someone's history, but if you are basing your memoirs on your own life or real family members it's okay (with their permission) to add a few fictional twists and turns to make the story more compelling.

Historical Fantasy/Science Fiction

Example: Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

Historical fantasy and science fiction is a genre that combines fantasy set against the backdrop of a real time, and/or place, in history. It's a fun way to add a sprinkle of magic to real historical events and places of interest.

Perhaps you want to have dragons fighting alongside Romans in the arena; or write about Cleopatra having magical powers; or have a character who has the ability to jump from century to century.

Playing with history this way through fiction can be very rewarding and opens up countless possibilities.

Historical Mysteries

Example: A Plague on Both Your Houses (Matthew Bartholomew series) by Susanna Gregory 

Everyone loves a whodunit - but setting your mystery against the backdrop of a historical time or place adds an extra level of fun and intrigue.

Historical Horror

Example: The Spirit Engineer by A J West

This genre is one of my favourites because there's nothing creepier than adding an extra layer of dread to a time in history that was already difficult. In C J Cooke's Gothic The Ghost Woods, the author tackles the difficult topic of mother and baby homes and adoption in 1950s and '60s Britain - set in an eerie mansion beside a haunted forest.

Historical Adventures

Example: The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

When writing historical fiction there are so many events and settings that lend themselves well to action.

Whether you are writing about a battle, a quest, or an exploration, you can pick from real events that you embellish, or create your own adventure set in a time period that interests you.

LGBT And Diverse Historical Fiction

Example: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Diversity of every kind has always been part of history. Some readers are surprised when they come across a historical fiction novel where the hero isn't white or the love isn't heteronormative - but history proves that this was not rare and deserves to be seen and celebrated.

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters is the perfect example of a successful queer historical fiction debut. Set in England during the 1890s, it tells the story of a young woman who falls in love with a male impersonator.

When writing diverse historical fiction remember that the characters and the plot must, as always, take centre stage - with the theme and historical setting woven through.

Children's Historical Fiction

Example: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

The best way to educate children of all ages on history and the way we lived a long time ago is through the joy of storytelling.

From The Book Thief to Last of his Name, any time in history can be brought alive for children through storybooks.

5 Elements Needed For Writing Historical Fiction

When planning your fictional historical novel there are five important aspects that you need to be aware of before you start writing.

1. Pick A Time Period

You can't write a historical fiction novel without first choosing a time in history (or more than one time). Historical context is vital for all historical fiction stories as without accuracy you may as well call the novel a fantasy inspired by a certain era.

Choose a time in our historical past that resonated with you, and that excites you, as you will be doing a lot of research. If it bores you, then your writing will also bore the reader. Choose a time period that makes you hungry for more!

2. Choose A Historically Accurate Setting

Many places are considered historical - others are merely old. Whether you are inspired by a certain castle, monument, natural area or even a place that no longer exists, adding a backdrop that people are familiar with in your book can really ground a reader.

Your historical novel only works if the setting and the time period work side by side, and suit the sub-genre.

For instance, a Regency romance set in a grand English stately home works really well. Whereas an Egyptian adventure story set in Finland may be a little harder to pull off!

3. Base It On A Historic Event

Once you have your chosen period in time and your setting, you're free to create your characters and plot.

But before that, some writers like to centre their novels around certain historic events.

The most important aspect of this is that the historical facts you feature in your book must accurately reflect what really happened at that event.

If you're writing historical fantasy then it's okay to twist things up, but if you intend for your fictional events to be accurate then it's very important that you do your research - which means reading as much as you can on the subject and watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, and talking to experts in that era.

4. Create Memorable Main Characters

It goes without saying that every memorable book is full of memorable characters.

Although you may wish to base some of your characters on real historical figures, the fact you are writing fiction means you are free to create your own characters.

It's very important that your characters speak, dress and behave appropriately for that time period - but equally, never forget that their sensibilities, emotions, and interactions with others won't be too different to how we all still act today.

When creating characters also remember that class, social standing and rank were a lot more defined back in the day. Ensure that, before writing your characters, you are familiar with what was (and wasn't) acceptable in that time, the foibles and interests of that time period, and create a storyline that fits that era.

5. Make Sure You Know Your Genre

Lastly, make sure you know who you are writing for.

You may well want to write a historical novel about the Crimean War - but the tone, language, and plot will change dramatically depending on whether you are writing it for a child or an adult, or whether it's a romance, adventure or mystery.

Top Tips For Writing Historical Fiction

The only difference between writing historical fiction and any other genre is that research is key. Getting your historical sources right can be the difference between a good book and a great one.

To represent true history, a writer must ensure they know the epoch in which their book is set inside out. They also must enjoy what they are writing about, because they will have to fully immerse themselves in that world for a long time.

Let's take a look at some other tips top historical fiction authors shared with me for this article:

Historical Fiction Authors Share Their Writing Secrets

I find it useful to write a plan for my stories, because it guides me to the research I'll need. Having to stop and research while writing can really hamper your feel for the flow and plot. Not researching can undermine your work, so getting started early really helps.

A J West, author of The Spirit Engineer

Always remember that people are people no matter what century they're in. For my debut, I made the mistake of thinking I needed to be an expert in the subject matter to the extent that my story was almost overwhelmed by research. The research needs to complement the character's storyline. Please don't do what I did and go off on a tangent about 17th-century table looms because a character mentioned it in passing!

Stacey Thomas, author of The Revels

I find reading contemporary fiction written during the time period more helpful than academic texts. Partly for getting dialogue right, but also just a sense of how people used their time and their priorities in life.

Mathew West, author of The House Of Footsteps

My biggest tip is to only write what you’re absolutely passionate about. Readers can feel that in their bones, and will buy into your story because of your informed enthusiasm.

Jacquie Roberts, author of the Quintus Valerius Roman Britain mystery novels

I think it’s important to consider what you’re writing. Is it so deeply immersed in the period that you want it to present as if it could have been written by a contemporary author, or is it more modern, or even subversive of the norms of the period? That will affect style.

Rosie Andrew, author of The Leviathan

For me, I try to really enjoy going down those rabbit holes, exploring details about food, clothes, events that may or may not be relevant. But don't be afraid to never actually use any of it in the writing. It's still a wonderful way of immersing oneself in the period.

Lucy Ashe, 2023 debut novelist

The story is the important thing whenever it's set, so try not to get bogged down in details. As in all fiction, you want to present great characters with great problems, the historical is just another tool to help you do that.

Lizzie Page, author of The Orphanage

It’s important to find a way in, to root yourself into the story. My first novel, Rebecca’s Choice, was set in the house my grandparents lived in, where I played as a kid, a house I loved. I took it back to the 1890s and threw research and imagination into the mix.

Heidi Gallacher, author of Rebecca's Choice

5 Popular Historical Fiction Tropes

Like with most genres of books, readers of historical fiction enjoy certain tropes in their stories. Here are five of the most common tropes you may want to include in your own work.

1. Book's Titular Hero Returns

Much like the parable of the prodigal son, many historical fiction novels love to feature the hero returning home.

Perhaps they have been away at war, or on a voyage, or have returned to the family home with a new bride. How have they changed? What secrets are they hiding? What has changed in their absence?

2. Young Woman Determined

Many books set in the past enjoy showing women in a time where they had very little autonomy, and having them take back some of that power.

Whether that may be a poor widower getting revenge, an orphan girl marrying into a rich family, or a woman out to prove herself against men or a higher class.

3. Wrong Woman

This is another popular trope. Perhaps the 'wrong woman' is a gentleman bringing home a new bride that is about to shake things up for his family. Or perhaps a woman is mistaken for someone she is not.

4. Rags To Riches

Much like the story of Aladdin, everyone loves a tale where a person with nothing rises to a higher rank and makes a success of their life.

5. Feuding Families

Shakespeare started it with Romeo and Juliet, and now this trope can be found in most genres.

Featuring feuding families works really well in the historical fiction genre because there were many times in the past when class put pressure on established and successful families to dominate society.

Where To Find Inspiration

Are you currently writing historical fiction? You will be surprised how easy it is to find inspiration for your historical stories in the current day.

Movies & TV

There is no shortage of costume dramas on television and in movies (old and new) that will help you with both plot ideas and research. From the hair, fashion and make-up of the leading ladies, to the historical events that shape the lives of your characters, you can have a lot of fun taking notes while watching your favourite period dramas (not to mention it's a great excuse to sit and watch TV all day)!

It's also useful to make a note of how they spoke back then and the mannerisms of the characters, to help shape your own characters.

Real Events

There's nothing like true events from historical times to make you realise truth can be stranger than fiction. Many authors base their historical fiction novels on an event or a character that once existed, and then filled in the gaps.

Whether you are exploring difficult times such as the slave trade or The Great Depression, or more wondrous and niche events such as the invention of the hot air balloon, or the Victorian obsession with seances, there's a lot of information to be found online, in libraries and history books.

Basing your book on real-life events can be easier in a way, as you have a solid platform from which to launch. But it also means you must be very careful and accurate with your research to ensure you get all the facts right (unless you are writing historical fantasy - in which case you can bend the truth at your whim).

Historical Setting

Use your book as the perfect excuse to travel.

When I was writing Son of Secrets (the second book of my fantasy series) I visited the fabulous Fiesole in Tuscany, Italy. My series is full of past life flashbacks, and I wanted to feature one life set in Roman times.

Visiting the setting of my novel was so much more evocative than simply Googling as I got to see not just the sights and history (I visited lots of museums) but experience the smells, the sounds and the general awe of the place.

Visiting a place in the past made writing my scenes a lot easier and much more poignant.

Museums

If you are writing about a specific time in history, museums and working museums (where people are dressed up as characters from that era) can really help.

Whether you are researching ancient kings of Egypt at the British Museum, or Jane Austen's own house museum in Hampshire, not only will you be inspired by the artefacts and information on display, but you also have access to experts who will be more than happy to talk about their favourite subjects

Galleries

Likewise, art gives us a unique glimpse into a far-off time.

Whether you are at an art gallery for story inspiration or to research fashion and setting, it's a great place to soak up the style of a bygone era.

In the final book of my fantasy trilogy, Children of Shadows, I was inspired by the painting Primavera - I spent some time imagining the lives of two of the models Botticelli used for the painting and featured them as characters in my book.

The beauty of writing historical fiction is that you're free to introduce any character you wish, as long as the way you paint that period in time remains accurate.

Old Books

Visit your local library and read as many books as you can - not just books about the era that interests you but those written during that time.

Seeing things from the point of view of an author (what was seen as important, thrilling, scandalous, or story-worthy back then) will give you a glimpse into how you too should approach your story.

And remember historical novels are not always set in Europe or America. Contemporary western literature dates back hundreds of years and can be a great source of inspiration, but likewise, there are many other works from all around the world that may inspire you.

Interview Someone Who Was There

If you are writing historical fiction set in the past seventy years, why not interview someone who actually lived back then? A real person's life experience will enable you to re-live historical events through the eyes of someone who was actually there.

Likewise, you can watch interviews on YouTube. I recently watched a 1990s interview of a woman who had survived the Titanic. It was fascinating to hear someone who was really there recount the horror of that fateful night.

Family History

A fiction writer will always draw inspiration from the people in their own lives - whether they mean to or not.

A flick through an old family photo album or a chat with your great aunt may well uncover some great ideas for your next novel. Sometimes family members have old relics and antiques that they will want to show you, or outfits from decades ago. Most of these items will probably come with their own story attached.

You may even discover some family secrets you never knew about!

Likewise, signing up for sites like Ancestry.com can help you trace your family tree, enabling you to see photos and documents from long-forgotten relatives.

So go and speak to the eldest person in your family and ask them questions. You never know what you may walk away with!

The Author's Imagination

Many authors pluck ideas out of thin air, using the 'what if?' method of brainstorming. It's a very easy technique. All you have to do is think of a situation and ask 'what if?'

Although this is popular for those writing contemporary genre, you can use modern-day scenarios to inspire your historical fiction too.

For instance, you may be sitting on a train and see a woman accidentally pick up the wrong piece of luggage and ask yourself 'what if two characters in my book did that... except it's 1899 and they are on the Orient Express... and one is a spy?'

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Historical Fiction?

Historical fiction is a genre of novel whereby the author is inspired by a real historical event or period in history and uses that as the backdrop of their book.

Unlike historical non-fiction, where the book will be a factual account of a person or era in history, historical fiction is simply set in that time or inspired by something that happened in the past - the author is free to twist and change it at their will.

What Is A Historical Fiction Example?

Historical fiction can include more than one sub-genre. An example may be a historical romance series such as Bridgerton, set in the Regency era (which has gone on to be a top-grossing Netflix production), it can also include historical fantasy such as Outlander (also a big TV hit) or something a little more serious.

What Are 3 Characteristics Of Historical Fiction?

1. Historical Accuracy

It's very important that authors of historical fiction do their research. Unless you are writing fantasy and have purposely misrepresented a certain time period, your book will lose credibility if you do not portray that era accurately.

2. Authenticity

Be authentic. It really helps to have a genuine love of a certain time in history if you choose to write about it.

3. Sensitivity

An author must be sensitive when writing historical fiction; especially if they are focusing on diverse characters or contentious issues. For this reason, I would strongly recommend all writers (especially those writing historical fiction) use sensitivity readers and consult experts from that era.

As a writer, you don't want your book to lose credibility because you are either insensitive or inaccurate.

In Summary

Historical fiction is a fun, fascinating and varied genre, covering many different themes and styles - for every age and reader.

I hope you have found my guide to writing historical fiction both interesting and informative, and I hope your books will one day make it into an article just like this one!

Are you looking to make a living out of writing? Or perhaps you're just starting out and want to practice various writing styles until you find the one that feels right for you.

Making a living as a writer means being adaptable and able to write in different styles - whether creatively, for business, or for academic publications.

In this article, I will be describing fourteen different writing styles, what they mean, and how to approach them.

Why Must Writers Adopt Different Writing Styles?

Every writer writes in a certain way; their style a little like a painter's technique - some of the best authors are recognisable by the tone, style and syntax of their work. But that doesn't mean all writers are limited to just writing books or resorting to just one writing style.

If, like me, you are both a published author and a freelance writer, being able to adapt your writing style to fit with the publications you're writing for, the topics you're writing about, and your target audience, is key to getting plenty of work.

Developing your writing skills is something all writers should aim to do. Even if you only wish to write novels for the rest of your life, being able to adapt your style of writing is a skill that will also strengthen your abilities as an author.

Before we take a look at the fourteen different types of writing that you may need to learn as part of your writing career, let's start with the one thing you need to know before deciding on the style of writing required.

What Is Your Objective?

You can't know what style of writing is needed from you unless you know what the objective of the piece is.

There are many different types of writing styles, each one catering to a different target audience and each one needing to do something different.

Before you start writing, ask yourself what your objective is.

Are you looking to:

• Inform
• Entertain
• Inspire
• Express your personal opinion
• State facts
• Share information
• Educate
• Expose
• Sell
• Review someone else's work
• Explain
• Investigate

These are just a few different reasons as to why you may choose to write something, or why a certain piece may have been commissioned to you. Consider what you are trying to achieve before choosing your style.

14 Different Types Of Writing Styles

Let's go deeper and look at fourteen very different writing styles that meet a variety of objectives.

Narrative Writing Style

Narrative writing is usually found in fictional work - namely novels and short stories - but you can also use a narrative writing style when writing non-fiction.

Even if you are writing a blog post, when using the narrative style it should be structured using the usual story form, which means it must have a beginning, middle and an end.

This style of writing takes readers on a journey, introduces them to a topic, delves into it, and then provides a conclusive ending. The piece should be engaging, creative and interesting to read, and can be written in the first person and include personal experiences.

Each writer has their own writing style, so feel free to use the kinds of words that you feel comfortable with. It can be fun and informal, or more serious and formal.

Things To Remember

Ask yourself whether your piece of work needs to be presented as a story, or whether the reader is only after facts and you can communicate it in a simpler way.

Remember, the narrative style of writing isn't limited to just fiction writing, it can include essays and articles, but is sometimes too informal for more academic or business publications.

Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing is full of... description! Often combined with narrative writing, it can be used in fiction and poetry.

For instance, if you were commissioned to write an article about tulips for a scientific magazine you would do well to research all facts on tulips, describe them from a scientific standpoint, and ensure your data is correct.

But if you were writing a magazine article about your day at a tulip farm, or a scene from a book where your main characters are frolicking in a field of tulips, then you might prefer to use descriptive writing.

Descriptive Writing Allows You To Use:

• Literary devices (metaphors, similes, allegories, archetypes etc)
• The five senses/sensory details
• Any tense you prefer

Famous authors use descriptive writing in all their novels. Unlike a screenplay, where there's minimal need for narration and most of the story is based around dialogue, when writing a book or short story it's important to add as much description as possible.

Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing is generally used in sales, marketing and advertising - although you might use it when trying to convince someone to work with you (such as in a query letter to an agent or a cover letter along with a job application).

Convincing people to buy something, do something, or act a certain way through words alone is a very specific skill, which is why top ad agencies pay copywriters very well.

Using A Persuasive Writing Style Means Applying The Following Approach:

• Write about what you know
• Understand your audience
• Hook their attention
• Research well
• Get your facts right
• Be empathetic
• Repeat yourself
• Use keywords
• Ask rhetorical questions (not too many)

Creative Writing

Creative writing generally refers to writing fiction - it's about creating characters, setting, and scenarios and bringing them to life.

Although it's usually found in a novel or short story, creative writing styles can also be found in articles and even blog posts.

An author's writing style is unique, and each one has a way of providing vivid descriptions of the human experience through their creatively descriptive writing style. They may choose flowery prose, they may keep it sharp and simple, or their stories may be unique and inventive in the way they are written.

When choosing creative writing, consider the genre and study it well.

Horror writers write very differently from erotic writers. And likewise, those who write for children approach their work very differently to authors who pen literary fiction.

The beauty of creative writing is that there are no rules, so don't overthink it. Just be creative!

Expository Writing

Expository writing is a body of work that is either trying to explain, illuminate, educate or 'expose' (which is where the word 'expository' comes from).

It may be an investigative piece by a journalist exposing a juicy story for a newspaper or magazine, or it may be a textbook or instruction manual explaining how something works.

Even a blog post such as this one is expository writing because I'm outlining all the different types of writing styles you can adopt and (I hope) you are learning along the way.

The key to writing in an expository style is to keep things clear and succinct.

Expository Writing Is Supported By Using:

• Diagrams
• Quotes or examples
• Bullet points
• Clear headers
• Images

Subjective Writing

Subjective writing is all about writing from your own point of view and sharing your opinion.

Subjective writing is generally written in an individual's own voice and may discuss real life topics, often based on personal experiences.

An example of this is a writer with their own column in a magazine or newspaper, a blogger, a reviewer, a non-fiction author writing a book about a topic they are knowledgeable in, or someone writing their memoirs.

Although non-fiction work should feature accurate data and shouldn't include made-up facts or figures, with subjective writing the author is allowed to express their opinions freely.

Review Writing

A review writer focuses on the works of others (or products) and gives their subjective opinion on the topic they are covering.

Critics and bloggers make a living from writing reviews which are widely read. In many cases, those reviews can make or break a movie/product/event, depending on the weight that the reviewer's words carry.

To Be A Reviewer You Need To:

• Be knowledgeable about what you are writing
• Be credible
• Understand your audience
• Be prepared for reactions/backlash
• Back your findings with facts
• And (although your opinions are subjective) it always helps to be fair

Anyone can review anything nowadays, so if you are passionate about something and want to practice your review writing, you can...

• Set up your own blog
• Create videos for social media
• Write reviews on pages such as Netgalley, Goodreads and Amazon
• Review books etc for recognised publications

Poetic Writing

Poetic writing isn't simply about writing poetry (although it does include that too). Writing poetically means creating a piece of work with emotional appeal.

That may be a novel, a beautifully-written feature in a magazine, or even a piece of sales copy that really captures the hearts and imagination of your target audience.

When considering whether to write your piece poetically, ask yourself what the objective of the work is.

What Can Be Written Poetically:

• Poems
• Short stories
• Feature articles
• Novels
• Blogs
• Advertising copy

What Can't Be Written Poetically:

• Academic papers
• Business papers
• Expository writing
• Scientific papers

If you are really creative you may attempt to combine more than one style, such as writing a persuasive piece in a poetic fashion... but that, of course, is dependent on what you are selling and who you are selling it to.

Formal Writing

Unlike the other styles of writing above which give the writer the opportunity to express themselves creatively, use literary devices, and figurative language; the aim of formal writing is not to entertain or sweep the reader away with a compelling story but to outline facts and be accurate.

You can find formal writing styles used in business publications and textbooks, non-fiction books, manuals and academic papers.

Here are some examples of formal writing styles and how they differ from one another.

Objective Writing

Writing something objective means that you are unbiased - something a news journalist should strive to be. It is the very opposite of an opinion piece.

With formal writing it is often important to be subjective because the focus of the work is on the subject and not on the point of view.

An objective writer generally uses the third person (because they are not talking about their own experiences or what they think) and they stick to the facts.

Examples Of Objective Writing May Include:

• News articles
• Press release
• Web copy
• Fact sheet
• Any type of report
• Academic papers
• Scientific, technical and business writing

One exception may be in academic writing. Although the style is normally formal, if the student has been asked to give their review or opinion on something (such as their interpretation of Lady Macbeth's soliloquy) then the work will remain subjective.

Technical Writing

Technical writing is writing communication used in technical fields such as computer hardware and software.

It can also include other technical industries such as:

• Architecture
• Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Robotics
• Finance
• Science
• Consumer electronics
• Medical
• Biotechnology

Technical published works may include articles for technical or internal corporate publications and websites, reviews, consumer-facing literature or product information.

To be a technical writer is really helps to understand both the industry you are writing for/about, as well as the audience. Technical writing is very... well, technical... so it's vital that all the information you share is factually correct.

Scientific Writing

Much like technical writing, if you wish to write for scientific journals and publications you really need to understand (and preferably be qualified in) what you are writing about.

Scientific writing can centre around a number of topics; everything from robotics, AI and medicine, to historical scientific discoveries and climate change.

Places That Feature Scientific Writing May Include:

• Scientific publications or websites
• News articles covering scientific discoveries
• Internal communication for the science industry
• Product descriptions or reviews

Academic Writing

For many of us, the first piece of writing we were ever asked to produce was an academic paper at school.

Whether that includes an essay, a thesis, or a dissertation - scholarly writing takes a different type of skill from the other types of writing styles above.

Writing academically involves a lot of research.

Whether you set out to write an objective essay (ie if you are writing an essay on a time in history or a geographical location) or a subjective piece (ie your opinion on a piece of art, literature or music) it is still really important that you research and gather all the information required, use quotes and examples to back up your theories, and use citations/a bibliography to explain your findings.

An academic essay should be written in three parts - somewhat like a narrative piece of writing.

How To Structure An Essay

Writing an essay is a little like writing an expository article (such as this one). Once you have collated your research and made notes, split your essay into three parts.

1. Introduction
This is where you approach the topic and explain what you are going to do. You can even write 'In this essay I will...'

2. Main Copy
This is the part of the essay where you address the question. Depending on the length of the essay you may want to split it in to 3-6 parts. Present each argument with clear references, citations and examples (always ensuring you address the initial question).

3. Conclusion
This is the last part of the essay where you include a shorter summary of what you have discovered, answer the initial question and make your final opinion/conclusion clear.

Business Writing

Writing for business is one of the more lucrative types of freelance writing as the corporate world tends to have bigger budgets for copywriters.

Writing about business can be both objective and subjective, covering a large range of topics from economy and finance, to politics and business development.

This can range from serious pieces in publications such as Time Magazine and the New York Times, to more personal articles on a business blog or website.

Business writers also cater directly to consumers. They may write expository articles and How-To guides.

There is also a large market for self help business books that assist readers with their business acumen or help them gain confidence in the corporate world.

Once again, it's important when writing for business that you understand both the subject matter and the audience, as each industry varies greatly and the tone of what you write should do too.

6 Things To Consider Before Writing

When you are commissioned to write a piece, there are a number of things you must know before you start.

It goes without saying that the fee and deadline are important, especially if you are a freelancer, but if you are writing as part of your day job, you need to really understand the task you have been set.

Here are 6 things to consider before writing:

Word Count & Objective

How many words is your piece?

I knew, before writing this blog post, that the word count had to fall between 3,100-3,500 words.

When you know what you have to work with, you can think about flow and pacing, and how to set out your article.

If you are writing for online and the object of the piece is to attract traffic, then SEO and the layout are really important.

Alternatively, if your goal is to persuade a brand's key demographic to buy something and you are only given a small word count, it's vital that you choose your words carefully and are as succinct as possible. This is especially important in advertising when the designers only have a small amount of space for your words.

Unique Writing Styles

Every writer has a unique writing style, and that may be why you're commissioned to write a certain piece.

Ask yourself what the client/your boss is looking for and ensure your tone fits not only the topic and style of writing you are aiming for, but that it's in line with everything else that publication has released.

Sentence Structure

How you structure a sentence matters.

If you are writing something creative or poetic, you can allow yourself to have long, descriptive prose. If you are writing something technical or expository, then it's a lot easier for the reader to see each sentence broken down into bullet points, with lots of headers.

Word Choice

As above, the style of writing you have chosen will determine the choice of words you use. Will you get technical, descriptive, creative or simple? That all depends on the...

Audience

It is impossible to write effective sales copy, a novel, or even a blog without knowing you who are talking to.

If you are writing a thriller novel, you will use a completely different writing style than if you write romance. Likewise, if you are writing for a scientific journal it will sound very different than if you are writing toy reviews.

Before I began planning this article I knew I was writing for adult writers. But this blog would have looked completely different if I were describing different writing styles to high school students.

Publication/Platform

Likewise, it's really important to know where your work is going to be published.

All magazines and newspapers have a house style (even book publishers do). When you are commissioned to write for a publication they will send you a guide as to what your writing should sound like (as well as what they don't want).

Always read other pieces of work in that publication to get an idea of your audience, their style and the tone required.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are The 5 Main Styles Of Writing?

1. Narrative - a piece of writing that has a start, beginning and end.
2. Descriptive - prose that goes into detail and pulls the reader in.
3. Persuasive - reserved for writers trying to sell products and services, or convince readers to do something or join somewhere.
4. Expository - a style of writing that exposes something, illuminates, educates or reveals; this can include journalism, How-To guides, non-fiction and blogs such as this one.
5. Creative - this normally applies to novels and short stories, although you can have non-fiction work that's creative, such as essays and memoirs.

How Do I Identify My Writing Style?

An author's writing style is defined by two things:

1. Voice - this is how the piece of writing sounds, what makes it unique to that writer and their point of view.
2. Tone - the tone is identified by the vibe the piece of writing conveys. Is it serious, humorous, eerie, or pompous, even?

Get It Write

Getting to write for a living is an honour, but getting it right is no easy feat.

The key to success as an author and freelance writer is to be adaptable, to keep learning and to understand where your strengths lie. My one piece of advice to any writer starting out in this field is to focus on two to three types of writing.

Perhaps you have a background in marketing, so are good at persuasive writing and expository writing, and are also an author. In which case stick to those three.

Or perhaps you come from a technical and scientific background and have written a number of How-To non-fiction books. In which case specialise in the styles you are already familiar with.

However and whatever you choose to write, I hope this article has been a useful reference guide and has inspired you to get your work out there.

Happy writing!

When it comes to writing, people often focus on plot, character, and setting, but the emotional landscape you create in your story is important too.

In this guide, you’re going to learn ten ways to convey emotions in your writing, so you can create unforgettable characters and delight your readers, immediately drawing them into your stories.  

You’ll get a set of practical techniques to use, whatever kind of story you’re telling, many of which I didn’t know about when I wrote my first two novels.

We’ll look at why characters are key when it comes to writing emotion and achieving emotional mastery, then I’ll answer three of the most frequently asked questions about emotions in writing.  

Why Are Emotions Important In Writing?

As story creators, we want readers to identify with our characters and immerse themselves in our story worlds, so they get hooked and keep reading. We do that using emotion.

Emotion also helps readers gain understanding and perspective from different viewpoints, as well as providing an opportunity for them to escape from the ‘real world’ for a while.  

There are three types of emotion in writing:  

• Emotion experienced by you, the writer
• Emotion experienced by the character  
• And an emotional response from the reader

These are different things. For example, you might feel impatient to finish writing a scene, while your main character is in love, and you're aiming for the reader to feel suspicious. Or perhaps you’re in love with your characters, your point of view character feels guilty, and you want your reader to be desperate find out what happens next. 

Consider your own emotions and whether they are ending up on the page.

Here’s a fairly common example: a writer feels bored and therefore writes a scene where the characters are bored, which will bore her readers. I’m using a negative to make a point – so bear with me! 

You can address how you are feeling by using Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages, and by learning self-care for writers; both of which are outside the scope of this guide. Or see our article on writing and burnout for more self-care tips.

There is a way of using your own emotional experiences to your advantage when writing emotions, using a theatrical technique called ‘emotion memory’ – more on that later. 

Going back to the example of the bored writer writing a boring scene that bores the reader, the solution to this problem is to consider upfront what emotional effect you want to have on your reader, asking: 

What do you want your reader to experience?  

The best way to create an emotional response in your reader is to have them identify with your characters and fully immerse themselves in their world.

If you’re telling any kind of story, whether you’re a playwright, a screenwriter, a memoirist or a novelist, the steps are the same:  

1. Decide what you want the reader to experience. 
2. Get the reader to identify with your main characters. 

Easier said than done, right? Keep reading! 

Focus On Your Characters 

We’ve established that, when conveying emotion in writing, the most crucial thing to consider is how to get readers to respond to your characters. Here’s one way to do that. I call it the C.A.S.E. method for short, which stands for contradictions, action, sympathy and empathy: 

• Well-rounded, authentic characters, just like all human beings, will have contradictions. Contradictions make characters seem real and therefore relatable. 
• Readers like characters who take action, and who do something about the dilemma they’re in.   
• Initially, readers will sympathise with the main character, and want to know what happens next.  
• As the problems deepen, readers empathise with the character and wonder what they would do in the same situation. Empathy happens as a result of the first three. 

Here’s an example from the psychological thriller Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister (2022): 

• The main character, Jen, feels guilty about not being a good mother, but at the same time, she’s prepared to do anything to help her son. (Contradiction)  
• Jen tries to solve the seemingly impossible problem she faces. (Action) 
• We feel sorry for her because of what happens at the beginning of the book and as a result – I won’t give it away. (Sympathy)  
• We can stand in her shoes and see the world through her eyes because of the vivid detail McAllister uses and because of the compelling dilemma Jen faces. We wonder what we would do in a similar situation. (Empathy) 

Character contradictions, action, sympathy and empathy work together. If one is missing, it feels like something is wrong!

All four will affect your readers' emotions and elicit a response in them, leading to emotional engagement – and they’ll want to keep reading.  

How To Convey Emotion In Writing  

So you know you need C.A.S.E., but also, in order for readers to engage, the emotions your characters experience must seem authentic. How do you do that? I’m glad you asked!

Here are ten ways to convey emotion in your writing. You can use: 

1. Observation from life 
2. Emotion memory 
3. The body  
4. The whole message 
5. Emotional leakage 
6. Idioms 
7. Imagery 
8. Form 
9. Emotion encyclopaedias 
10. The objective correlative 

1. Use Observations From Life

During your day-to-day life, observe how you and others experience and exhibit emotions. What goes on in your body and mind and in your environment? What behaviours and words are associated with the emotion? If you work with other people, this technique is particularly useful. Take a breath, observe, and note down what happened later.

Over time you’ll create a resource you can draw on when you’re writing. There are instances where it wouldn’t be appropriate to step back and observe in the moment, of course, but you can still make notes later. I’ve put observation first because it’s the most important. 

2. Use Emotion Memory

Emotion memory is a technique developed by the theatre director Stanislavski, where actors recall experiencing an emotion to enact it authentically on stage. It’s where method acting comes from!

There’s a section on Stanislavski in Dramatic Techniques for Creative Writers by Jules Horne (2018) in case you want to follow this up.

Here’s how to use emotion memory in your writing: 

• Recall a memory in as much detail as possible, using the senses.  
• Start small: use the memory of leaves falling from trees in a park or the hottest day in summer or your earliest memory of the festive season, for instance.  
• Don’t do this with troubling memories at first, and if you do want to explore more difficult or intense emotions, have someone around to talk to, plus the support of a writing group.  
• Now imagine you can connect to a character’s (made up) memories in a similar way. 
• Use memory in your writing to convey the feelings that came up as you or your character remembered the past. 

3. Use The Body

Both observation from life and emotion memory will help with this one.

Write about internal and external bodily sensations.

When your character is angry, for example, where in their body do they feel it? If someone slaps them across the face, they might feel pain from the slap, and a hot sensation in the chest, or they may experience tunnel vision. Hint at these bodily experiences during the relevant scene.  

For example, in the opening sequence of The Namesake – depicting the birth of the main character – Jhumpa Lahiri shows us Ashima’s emotions using:  

• Her contractions,  
• The people around her,  
• Her memories.  

In fact, Lahiri uses observation from life, emotion memory, and the body both to show us how Ashima might be feeling as she goes into labour, and to evoke an emotional response in the reader.

There’s only one paragraph where we’re told directly how she feels – ‘astonished’ and ‘terrified’ – and even that’s in the context of a recent memory.

In other words, the opening of The Namesake is also a good example of communicating emotion using show not tell. You can read the opening via the ‘look inside’ feature on online bookstores. 

4. Use The Whole Message  

In his book Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People (2013), James Borg discusses research by sociolinguistics experts that shows:  

“a [spoken] message could be classified as 55 per cent visual (non-verbal), 38 per cent vocal (such things as tone or voice, rhythm, inflection) and 7 per cent verbal (meaning the actual words used).” (p. 58) 

Only 7% of spoken communication comes from the meaning of the words! When we hear people talk, we are all used to looking for clues from other sources. Your readers will do this too and will bring some of that experience to bear on your story.

This means that using a character’s tone of voice and behaviour to show that they are angry or embarrassed – or even using body language instead of dialogue – will work much better than simply telling us about it. 

5. Use ‘Emotional Leakage’  

Related to the idea of using the ‘whole message’, James Borg also tells us that we communicate in intentional and unintentional ways. This is good news for fiction writers, because unintended ‘emotional leakage’ (body language, gestures, fleeting expressions) can give away how a character is feeling inside.

For example, body language might undermine what a character is saying, showing us how they are truly feeling. Because we’re used to looking for the 93% of a message that isn’t verbal, we’ll attribute more meaning to body language than to the words a character speaks.  

James Borg has also written another book, called Body Language (2008), where he explores this idea further.  

We communicate through context, too: through personal circumstances, social status and presentation, through clothes, hair and personal grooming, for instance.

In a story, if a character’s presentation is out of the ordinary for the situation, or conflicts with their supposed social status, this immediately causes intrigue.  

For instance, when a character who looks as if he spent the night under a hedge turns up as the replacement vicar at a wedding service, the reader will wonder what’s going on and why.

Your character's thoughts and contexts can usefully contradict other aspects of what they say and do, so you can use context and ‘emotional leakage’ together. For example, if a character turns up to her daughter’s wedding with two black-eyes and a hangover and tells everyone she’s fine, the reader will know that's not the case.  

Agatha Christie frequently uses emotional leakage to indicate how her characters are really feeling, but also to trick us with misdirection and red herrings.  

For instance, near the beginning of Sad Cypress (1940), Mrs Welman’s two nurses are talking over tea, and we get a scene involving mainly dialogue. We learn that “Nurse O’Brien pursed her lips and put her head on one side” and a few lines later “over their steaming cups the women drew a little closer together.”  

A few paragraphs further on, we hear that Mrs Welman woke in the night asking for a photograph of Lewis, a handsome man who was not her husband. Christie tells us that “Nurse Hopkins had a long nose, and the end of it quivered a little with pleasurable emotion.” 

The two nurses are acting as if they are proper while we know they are gossiping. What’s more, the reader is listening in, sharing in the gossip.  

6. Use Idioms

Used sparingly, idioms are a handy shortcut: readers will know what you mean.

'Her heart sank', for example, lets us know the bodily sensation and the emotion in three words.

More interestingly, you can play with idioms. Rewrite them. Invent your own. Write the opposite.

However, don’t rely solely on idioms to convey emotion, and avoid using idioms repeatedly.

Some emotional idioms are so well-worn they’ve become clichés: a ray of light representing hope, for instance.

Generally, if it’s difficult to imagine it happening to you or in front of you, or if it doesn’t communicate what you want to say in enough depth, it’s probably a cliché, so is best avoided.  

7. Use Imagery

What is the emotion like when it happens to you or your character? Observation from life and emotion memory will help once again.

For example, in my first novel I described a character feeling mortified by saying she ‘went cold slowly, like someone was pouring cold custard over [her] head.’ In the same novel, I described emotional pain which was ‘like a stone in the middle of [her] chest.’

In both of these examples, I was using an image to describe the bodily sensation experienced by the character, which would then (hopefully) convey the emotion to the reader without naming it.  

Years after my second novel was published, I realised I was far too fond of using balloon images. For instance, ‘Alex felt as deflated as a popped balloon’, and ‘Mrs Brown’s face [hovered] in front of her like a balloon’, and ‘the words bursting out of her mouth like balloons.’  

Unfortunately, when I want to convey emotions, I immediately think of cold custard, stones, and balloons, like I’ve invented my own personal clichés! So be aware that you may have to ‘murder your darlings’ if you grow too fond of particular images like I did. In my current work-in-progress, I’m having to edit for internal stones and balloon images – I managed to avoid the custard! 

Ask yourself how deep you want to go: to convey deep emotion, use your own imagery. To avoid slowing the pace, use quick idioms, but do so sparingly.  

8. Use Form  

You don’t have to be writing concrete poetry or avant-garde fiction to use form to convey emotion. This simply means invoking an emotional reaction in your reader – usually to illustrate how a character is feeling – using the shape of the writing. You could create a fast pace and short clipped sentences to show anger, and give us poignancy and sadness using a slow pace and long sentences, for example.  

At the beginning of Jośe Saramago's novel Blindness the dialogue isn’t punctuated, creating a sense of confusion after a character goes blind. Saramago replicates what it would be like to suddenly go blind – to hear voices but not know who is talking – so that the reader’s confusion matches the character’s. 

9. Use Emotion Encyclopaedias

I’ve left emotion encyclopaedias and resources until near the end of this list of techniques because you need to use at least a couple of the others in conjunction with them. However, doing some research is useful, especially if your POV character is experiencing things that you never have, and if they are very different to you.  

You can find lists of emotions online. For example, google ‘emotion wheels’ or ‘feeling wheel’ and you’ll likely find a diagram you can download and put up on the wall in your writing space. You can use the emotions on the wheel to brainstorm how a character experiencing that emotion might behave or what body language they might display or what bodily sensations they might notice.  

Emotion reference books for writers include: The Emotion Thesaurus by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman (2019), Body Beats to Build On: A Fiction Writer's Resource by April Gardner (2019) and Character Reactions from Head to Toe by Valerie Howard (2019). 

10. Use An Objective Correlative

The objective correlative, or what we called the OC where I used to teach, was made famous by T.S. Eliot. In fact, Eliot said the objective correlative was the only way to communicate an emotion to a reader, which is why I’ve left it till last. There’s no need to read up on literary the theory unless you want to; as readers and viewers we’re used to seeing this technique in action, especially in films.  

It’s where a writer uses a thing – an object or a place or event (even the weather) – to invoke an emotional response in the reader, and therefore, in a story, to demonstrate how a character feels, without mentioning the emotion. Earlier I said that using a ray of sunlight to suggest hope is a bit of a cliché. It’s also an example of the OC. Watch a few Hollywood blockbusters and see if you can spot some more over-used examples of the objective correlative! They are often weather or nature-related. 

Here’s another example. If I tell you that a character walked home in the rain, got soaked by a passing car, only to discover they were locked out of their house, you’ll probably assume they feel miserable. There’s nothing intrinsic about water or losing your keys that means you have to feel miserable. The OC works for two reasons, because the reader or viewer: 

• Puts themselves in the character’s shoes almost automatically – we ask how we would feel if the same thing happened to us. 
• Assumes that you’re showing us this rain-soaked character for a reason, otherwise why would they be there? Elements of a story are supposed to communicate something – so we attribute meaning to them. 

Notice how, for the OC to work, you have to use show rather than tell. In fact, the objective correlative is, at least partly, a formal way of saying ‘show don’t tell’. Conversely, if you’re not sure how to show instead of tell, then try the OC. Use a thing to represent an emotion. 

Emotional Writing: Top Tips 

Here are three top tips for conveying and evoking emotion in writing: 

1.  If you try any of the above techniques, make it observation from life. Stepping back and observing the life around you will help more than anything else.  

2. Remember that your emotional response, your readers’, and your characters’ are all different, but will have an impact on each other.  

3. As with all things in writing, conveying emotion is about balance. Think about whether you want the pace to slow down or speed up, for example, when editing a scene.  

Frequently Asked Questions

In this section I’ll answer three of the most asked questions in relation to emotions in writing:  

• How do you show emotions in dialogue? 
• What are emotional beats in writing? 
• Why is emotion important in literature? 

How Do You Show Emotions In Dialogue?

When writing dialogue it’s often better to show your reader your character’s emotions by embedding small details and actions between the lines of speech. The scene from Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie that I mentioned earlier is an example of this. You’re also giving the reader the chance to visualise where the characters are in space.

By the way, it’s usually better not to use adverbs after speech tags, which are a ‘tell’ rather than a ‘show.’  

Embedding a lot of action and detail in dialogue slows the pace, so consider how fast you want the scene to move and vary the pace across the story as a whole.   

Occasionally use the following during the dialogue to show us the emotion: 

• body language,  
• facial expressions,  
• interaction with the environment 
• internal bodily sensations (quick ones, from the point of view character)  

What Are Emotional Beats In Writing? 

Embedding small details and actions between the lines of speech can be described as ‘adding emotional beats’ to your dialogue. That is, moments of pause where you show us your character's feelings and what they're experiencing, even when it’s only a raised eyebrow.  

At a structural level, emotional beats are the moments when a character has an emotional response to an event, and it motivates them to take action. Emotional beats are, therefore, like the character taking a breath before continuing to solve the dilemma set up at the beginning of the story.  

You’ll want a character to be doing something active during the emotional response. Being overcome by grief or realising they’re in love while working on the checkout at a supermarket or arranging flowers in a hospital, for example, works better than the same thing happening when they are lying in bed or watching TV.  

Why Is Emotion Important In Literature?

We turn to stories to entertain us and also to help us to make sense of the world. Emotions are important in literature because they help us to understand people better, enabling us to practise empathy and problem-solving through reading. In fact, researchers have proved that literature graduates are more empathetic! Deep emotions transport us into the world of the story, allowing us to fully immerse ourselves and escape our ‘real world’ problems for a while.  

From a writing point of view, we can use emotions to draw readers into the story and keep them hooked. If your story lacks emotional impact, it’s likely you need to work on the characterisation and on ‘show not tell’. If you want to learn to evoke emotion, start there.  

And Finally...

I hope you have enjoyed this guide and that it will help you to develop the confidence to try different ways of expressing intense emotion through your writing. It’s such a thrill to hear a reader say that your work has affected them.

Remember that characterisation and achieving an emotional impact on your reader are key to conveying emotion, so put aside some time to try out the ten techniques listed with this in mind. 

Don’t forget – the emotional effect you want to achieve will come through redrafting. So keep going!  

One of the hardest things to gauge as writers is, perhaps, whether our writing is any good. Honestly, many published authors experience this too.  

There is one thing we can do to ensure we keep improving though – refine our stories by using writing techniques. 

In this article, we’ll go through different writing techniques, list writing technique examples, and note how we can use them to take our stories to a whole new level. 

What Are Writing Techniques? 

As authentic, racy, or tear-jerking as your plot might be, the storytelling comes down to every single sentence. The skilful execution of sentences and their syntax is called a writing technique. We can observe this skillfulness in the choice of tense for a scene or setting, point-of-view narrative, and other literary devices chosen by the writer.  

Useful Writing Techniques To Enrich Your Work 

Using writing techniques, consciously, makes our writing stronger. So, let’s look at some of the best techniques and writing styles we could adopt:  

Playing With Time 

Using time in certain ways can be very effective. It can involve literal time travel or just a travel in time, like a flash-forward or a flashback.  

You could even use time to slow down a situation in the story, or speed it right up. This is often a well-handled technique in popular fiction. Take a look at this passage: 

Hermione didn’t turn up for the next class and wasn’t seen all afternoon... Harry and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls’ bathroom and wanted to be left alone.  

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J K Rowling

The passage of time here is not as important as the passage of that time in Hermione’s absence is. Time (a whole afternoon) has been squeezed in to drop in information that’s important later on in the story.  

Point Of View Narratives 

Every narrator is unreliable to some degree, because they’re human, even if fictional. Using POV narratives with multiple characters takes this human limitation to a whole other level. Naturally, it works very well in mysteries, thrillers, and crime fiction. Think The Da Vinci Code, Gone Girl, and The Girl On The Train.  

Using various POV narratives is a good way to eliminate stagnation, especially if your plot is complex and your story is somewhat slow. George R R Martin does this in his mammoth fantasy novel series A Song Of Ice And Fire, popularly known as the Game Of Thrones television series.  

Subversion Of Clichés 

Every writer is bound to have fallen into the cliché sinkhole at one point or another – the mousy librarian, the girl in high heels, the good-looking chauvinist. Well, you know them. Nothing wrong with clichés, except sometimes they’re overdone and boring.  

Lately though, one of the frontrunners in subverting clichés is Disney. In aiming to stay relevant for kids of the new generation, they’re now rich with a Cinderella who wants nothing but to design and sell dresses; a male fairy-godparent with an exquisite taste in fashion; Princess Merida (from the movie Brave) who runs wild, loves archery and couldn’t care less about princes; Princess Fiona who sacrifices her beauty to be with the love of her life – an ogre, Shrek; and Maleficent who becomes an adoptive mother (and true love) to Sleeping Beauty Aurora.  

These subversions make for very satisfying stories retold for the current times. They add immense didactic value to a whole genre – fairytales.

Comparative Descriptions 

We’re all fond of metaphors and similes, aren’t we? But it can get tiring to read the same old Her eyes were blue as the seas or Her words cut him like a knife in descriptive writing.

There’s a line from a debut novel When Dimple Met Rishi by author Sandhya Menon that has a descriptive writing style which is neither cliché nor purple:

His eyes reminded her of old apothecary bottles, deep brown, when the sunlight hit them and turned them almost amber.  

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

There are other kinds of comparative descriptions too: personification (Look at that sad bungalow; no one lives in it); pathetic fallacy (Even the sun gave up soon that day and by the time he reached home the sky was well and truly blue);and anthropomorphism where the personification is very literal (Pinocchio, the wooden boy that came to life).  

Lyrical Writing 

One of the things we might not often think about when we write is how the text sounds. This is important in all kinds of writing, from persuasive writing to narrative writing. Those with a flair for lyrical writing are able to create compelling prose, using sounds to great effect.  

Using assonance (repeated vowel sounds), consonance (repeated consonant sounds), and alliteration can easily draw the reader’s attention. Here’s a passage from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where Rowling uses consonance and alliteration to draw the reader’s focus toward Professor Umbridge’s speech:  

“The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance... There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering...” 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling

Funnily enough, most characters don’t pay much attention to it, even though we as readers can see, clearly, that Umbridge (on behalf of the Ministry) intends to meddle with the school’s affairs. It’s a clever usage of lyrical quality in expository writing to foreshadow the plot development.  

Irony 

The above scene, where readers are privy to Professor Umbridge’s true intentions, yet the characters are not, is an instance of dramatic irony.

Situational irony is another variation, where a character finds themselves in the exact opposite situation of what’s normal for, or expected of, them. There’s an episode in the popular 90s sitcom Friends, where Joey plays a neurosurgeon in a fictional television drama who then dies of brain damage.  

Irony sure spices things up, be it for comedy or foreboding development, or in the above case, both.  

Sensory Appeal 

There’s a common tendency to describe a setting as the narrator sees it. Not including what they smell, hear, feel and taste can sometimes make the writing stale. All the text needs is a bit of varied sensory language.

There’s a passage from the bestselling thriller Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn that captures the first kiss of the protagonist and her husband with a literal, kind of sickening, sweetness: 

As we turn the corner, the local bakery is getting its powdered sugar delivered... we can see nothing but the shadows of the deliverymen in the white, sweet cloud... Nick pulls me close and smiles that smile again, and he takes a single lock of my hair between two fingers and runs them all the way to the end, tugging twice, like he’s ringing a bell. His eye­lashes are trimmed with powder, and before he leans in, he brushes the sugar from my lips so he can taste me. 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Flynn has made use of the senses of taste and touch, to turn a kiss into something ominous. This is further pronounced by Flynn’s use of kinesthetic imagery in the phrases “turn the corner” and “like he’s ringing a bell”.  

Suffice it to say that making use of these writing techniques consciously can bring about great results. Now, let’s look into a few ways in which you can use these writing styles in your own stories to develop good prose. 

Useful Writing Techniques To Enrich Your Work 

Foreshadowing

If you’d like to keep your reader hooked to your story, then, try foreshadowing to make the reader feel anxious for your character. 

Multiple POVs 

If your story is a family drama and rather slow, consider moving the plot along through multiple-character POV narrations.

Subvert Clichés

Why not try subverting the cliché of ‘happy endings’ in your romance? What if your protagonists decide that marriage is not for them, and instead explore how a platonic friendship is actually a better fit for them? The happy ending, then, is a healthy and mature friendship instead of the idealised marriage. 

Try Something Unique

Let’s say you’d like to write a story on environmental pollution. What if you anthropomorphised water and detailed its struggle with contamination of various kinds? 

Experiment

If your character is on the hunt for a killer, try sending them to a blues concert where the singer sings a song with alliteration in the lyrics, hiding clues. This can draw the reader’s attention while leaving your character clueless. That’s dramatic irony and lyrical writing in one go. 

Use The Senses

If you need to describe mundane information, try drawing the reader into the intimate sensory perceptions of your character. It is a sure-shot way to hold the reader’s attention.  

Frequently Asked Questions 

What Are The 7 Writing Techniques? 

The seven writing techniques are:

• Playing with time 
• Point-of-view narratives 
• Subversion of clichés 
• Comparative descriptions 
• Lyrical writing 
• Irony 
• Sensory appeal 

What Is Good Writing? 

If you put some time between the first edit and the final one, you can pay more attention to the creative writing techniques used and see how well they serve your story. Conscious self-editing of these writing styles is perhaps the closest measure of good writing. 

Writing Techniques

Whether you're looking for ways to enliven your writing style, or are keen to develop your writing skills, I hope this article has been helpful.

Experiment, have fun, and see what works for you!