How Do Your Characters Stack Up? Using Real Life Events in Fiction Stories

You are as happy as you can be: your story, be it short story, novel or novelette, is finally finished. However, when you are using real life events as a source of inspiration, you may not always get a true-to-life effect. Before you send your work to a publisher, first check if the story makes sense as it does in real life.

In order to reach the final draft, you need to be tough with yourself and cast an editor's eye over your piece. Although real life events have their own logic, when you read your story from head to tail for the first time you will surely notice some plotting errors. However, there are other vital points you should check off when comparing your version of the story to the events that inspired you.

1. Is the behavior of your characters as believable as it should be? Bear in mind that in fiction, the people you describe rarely, if ever, act "out of character." If your character behaves differently, you have to be attentive to this and ask yourself whether this corresponds to a real life pattern.

2. Do your characters relate to each other as they should? As in real life, events in your story may influence the attitudes and emotions your characters have towards one another. Real people would always mention events that happened to them within the story -- make sure your characters do, too.

3. Do your characters manifest believable reactions? If in the same type of situation your character is once enraged and the other time annoyed, there is something wrong. If you have a real person in mind, you should be aware of the fact that real people are usually constant in their reactions.

4. Do readers understand what your characters are doing at the precise time they are doing it? You need to make clear what happens in your story, otherwise your readers will lose the thread and your story may be lost altogether. When transforming reality into fiction, make sure you don't forget any relevant links, so as to avoid alienating your readers.

5. Are your characters where they should be? You may easily have a character in two places at once if you do not control this critical thread. Especially if you have one or several subplots at the same time, you need to pay extra care as they can quickly spiral out of your control.

Checking all these points will take you a lot of time, dedication and effort. However, is you fail to make sure that your story makes sense according to the real events, you will only manage to waste your own time. Editors expect stories that hang together.

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com

Tips to Help You Find Your Writing Voice

Editors and readers alike will usually ignore the voiceless writers who write stale, uninteresting articles. What everybody is looking for is a fresh voice that will get readers' attention.

Basically, your voice means your style, the manner in which you're writing and you feel most comfortable writing. No one will be really able to define what a writer's voice is, but everybody knows it when they see it.

Finding your writing voice can be a difficult and complex process. Believe it or not, even the famous writers took years to find their voice. Writing courses and workshops can help writers find their voice. However, there things you can do starting right now to find your writing voice.

Here are some tips on how you can add your own voice to your written work:

1. Be original. Many new writers follow in the footsteps of the established writers they admire. This may often result in plain lack of creativity for the writer. So try to break any patterns you have by writing something original and new every time you start to create.

2. Write from the heart. If you don't feel what you write, if you are not in touch with yourself, probably your readers won't be either. You'll find your voice in the most intense moments -- when you feel like grabbing a pencil and writing away.

3. Simple is better. Many writers strive to express themselves in complicated ways. But keep it simple and write as you speak. Record yourself speaking and then compare it to your pieces.

4. Learn to edit. It is easy to be carried away once you start writing. Sometimes, you may need to cut some of the pieces you have written just to add more value to the essence. Your voice will come through if you continually distill your writing.

5. Don't listen too much to your inner critic. Your inner self could give you constructive criticisms, but it could also prevent you from finding your voice. Listen to your inner critic, but don't allow it to interfere while you're still in the writing process.

6. Be open. Learn to open yourself every time you write. Reveal your innermost desires, hopes, fears and dreams. If you feel embarrassed, perhaps it's your voice showing up.

Now that you have some ideas about how to find your voice, discovery will be a lot easier. What are you waiting for? Start writing and finding your voice!

Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com