All too often, writers forget that we have five senses (at least!). It is easy to remember to evoke the obvious. We smell the flowers, we taste the sour pickle, we see the sunset. Your writing (whether fiction or non-fiction) will be richer and more real if you remember to evoke all the senses on a regular basis. One reason the seaside often inspires powerful writing is because the environment is so rich that we are more aware of all of our senses at once there. We smell the shore wrack, hear the waves, see the water, sky, sand or rocks, taste the salt tang, feel the sand gritting under our feet, the spray on our faces.

Image © Sharon Cousins 2009

The seashore is a rich environment because it bombards all of our senses.

Go beyond the obvious in evoking the senses. What does your sunset sound like, taste like? What does the pickle feel like? Is your flower rustling against others or could there be a bee buzzing away in its cup? Do the petals feel silky? Feathery? Senses help to engage readers because they are something everyone (barring the occasional handicap) can relate to, something all people share. Each sense you evoke can pull your reader deeper into your story. You don't have to get them all into every sentence—it is possible to overdo it—but evoking senses regularly, especially those less expected in a situation, is a good thing. In my opinion, Diana Gabaldon is very good at this aspect of writing, if you want someone to study.

There are so many good resources to help fiction writers, that I'm going to point you at some of the ones I've found most useful and not go on and on with my own ideas right now beyond that very good advice in the first two paragraphs.

My top-pick fiction resource book, which would make the cut if I could only (heaven forbid!) own two writing books, is a modest volume called Self-Editing for Fiction Writers — How to edit yourself into print, by Renni Browne and Dave King. I have writing books three times as fat that don't do a quarter as much as this one does. Unless you already have it or are already well published with established, steady markets and you think you're doing fine, do yourself a favor and order it from your independent bookseller as soon as possible. The sound advice, driven home by good examples of what is being covered, is worth eating a few more bean meals, if that's what it takes to get the book (if you're that poor and struggling, try your local second-hand bookstores, especially if any have a good section of writing books, or see if Better World Books has a second-hand copy in stock—shipping is free in the USA).

Image: Steve Murray

I respect Robert A. Heinlein a great deal, but number three of his Rules for Writing, "You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order," is, for better or for worse, an outmoded guideline. If you want to write with a realistic hope of publication in today's tight markets, you must either learn to competently edit your work or be prepared to pay someone else to take care of it for you, and quality work of that sort doesn't come cheap. Your piece needs to sparkle and sizzle from the first sentence if you want to get it out of the slush pile.

I enjoy editing, mostly. Part of it is like being a kid in a sandbox… let's move this bit here, and pile up a mountain there, then cut a road between and move the castle that way and… And part of it is like cutting a diamond or carving a statue, those careful cuts and little chips you take out before you polish it until it shines like a gem or gleams like a statue. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, described as "a superb tutorial" by Library Journal and "one of six indispensable books for writers" by the LA Times, can help you make those shifts and cuts with the kind of confidence that makes them more satisfying. As a study aid that now comes in handy for travel, I even made a super-condensed version (by hand, in a small pocket notebook) that hits in the highlights of each chapter in a way that helps my old meno-memory remember all the important stuff. I give this book my highest recommendation.

Image: Freddie Johnson

Surprise your reader on a regular basis.

I also feel my fiction has benefited considerably from reading How to Grow a Novel, by Sol Stein. It's an intelligent and engaging blend of anecdote, example, and observation, by a man who has been in the business of writing and publishing for at least as long as I've been alive. I've been doing a better job (among other things) of remembering, on a fairly regular basis, to try to surprise my readers more with what happens next since reading this book, and I really recommend it.

Another thing I recommend, and this goes double for anyone whose dream or vision includes trying to break in to mass-market popular fiction with a view towards building a real career as a novelist, is (depending on what parts of it you may need for where you're at with your writing) the whole series of e-books (some also available in print via Lulu), e-clinics, and e-workshops available through Holly Lisle's Holly Shop, as well as many of the free articles and resources on Holly's website. Holly Lisle is amazing. Since going full time as a writer, in 1992, she has completed and sold more than thirty novels.

Image: Joanne Bell

Thirty novels written, sold, and published, in less than twenty years, with about twenty of them still in print, and accomplished while establishing one of the internet's greatest writers-helping-writers sites (Forward Motion) and raising kids at that! Whether or not you are familiar with her work (primarily fantasy, science fiction, and suspense/thriller), that is quite an accomplishment, and every novel of Holly's that I've read has been tightly and smoothly written and edited, and hard to put down once opened. She is a real pro, and fiction writers are fortunate indeed that this woman is willing to share so many of the tips, tricks, and methods that have made her achievements possible.

I have long enjoyed Holly's articles and essays on writing, some from the archives of Forward Motion and back issue archives of the e-zine Vision, a Resource for Writers and some from poking around her website now and then over the years, but I've only recently become aware of her new line of resource products for writers. I love her practical approach and cut-to-the-chase style, and so far I am finding the tips and tricks I am learning from Holly to be almost priceless. I am really looking forward to getting my solar cooker book done so I can get back to having more time for fiction and really put some of my new tools to work, but I've managed to play hooky from non-fiction and working on this site just enough to try some of them out with a few works in progress, and I am very excited. Holly's Create A Plot Clinic is just what I needed to help me learn to shore up my chronically weak middles (with reasonable efficiency!) so my terrific characters and set-ups can really shine.

At the heart of the plot clinic are 20 plot development "tools," eleven for when things are going well and nine more—one with three variations—for when "things go splat." Honestly, for me these tools alone were worth more than the cost of the whole download! In fact, I think a few of them are going to be priceless. Holly knows how to shake, rattle, and roll her muse six ways from Sunday, until she gets the answers she needs for a good story, and I am grateful she decided to share some of her proven methods. Create A Plot Clinic is one of the best investments in my fiction I have made to date.

For a taste of Holly's teaching style, you can download a free mini-workshop, Holly Lisle's Professional Plot Outline Mini-Course. As a bonus, it comes with a free one-month Using Basic Conflicts to Build Plot e-mail course. Both of these resources contained valuable tips and tools and clear directions on how to put them to work for me, and I recommend them highly to anyone who feels their plotting skills could be improved or made more efficient.

I've got a commitment to the solar book, which is temporarily cutting into my time for fiction, but once that's out of the way I'll definitely be getting more of Holly's e-books. I'm even considering her How to Think Sideways—Career Survival School for Writers course, which is designed to be done either over six months or over the course of a year, whichever can work better for your time and your budget. [UPDATE: Holly is temporarily not accepting new participants in this course, but she is continuing to work with current students.] It looks very promising, especially for people who really want to make a career of novel writing, and it is getting stellar reviews from participants. Getting to where I might hope to give it a good go is providing extra incentive to get this site up and running and my part of the solar cooker book done! Meanwhile, I'll be playing with my new plot tools in stolen moments and looking forward to trying some of Holly's other products soon.

This will be my next
Holly Shop purchase.

Holly Lisle is far from the only author in the Holly Shop. The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make series has given several writers with extra areas of expertise a chance to save the rest of us from making dumb mistakes about various subjects outside our own experience. If I were writing a story that involved, say, a blind person, construction or construction workers, disappearing in the USA, or any of the other topics covered, I would invest in this growing line of e-books. As a reader who happens to also have some expertise in other areas, I know how those dumb mistakes can rankle the reader (there's a point in a certain science fiction book where I always want to yell "hey, a strawberry is NOT a legume!"). Now there are a number of areas where you don't need to make those kinds of mistakes thanks to this smart series.

Image: john lund

A lot of new writers (and some not so new) struggle with getting enough conflict and complication into their stories. If insufficient conflict is creating soft spots in your plots, check out one of Holly's many free resources, the workshop article, Creating Conflict: or, The Joys of Boiling Oil. Go through it and really do the exercises and see if they help you to firm things up. For a relatively quick (but by no means shallow) boost in the character development department, try The Character Workshop—Designing A Life. It's fun and free, and if you really work your way down the list of questions, you can have a new character and know a great deal about him or her in a relatively short amount of time. I think Holly Lisle's Create a Character Clinic will be my next purchase from the Holly Shop, but even the free character workshop is very worthwhile.

Image: lisa_fohey

Apples come in more shapes, sizes, and color combinations than you will experience if you only shop at an average supermarket.

I've enjoyed many of Holly's thought-provoking free essays and articles. From Apples, Bananas—The Writer's Need for Experience to Finding Silence and points beyond and between, I have never read any essay or article or workshop on Holly's website that didn't bring me inspiration or good food for thought or a new tool or idea or encouragement of some useful kind or other. There is so much there that it would take most of us a long time to peruse all of it, but I recommend doing what I do. Go back every so often when you've got a little time to spare to poke around pull another treasure or two out of the chest.

Image: Ulrich Weidemann

Fiction writers can also find lots of help at the Forward Motion for Writers website. Founded and run in the early years by Holly Lisle and now in the capable hands of Lazette Gifford, Forward Motion is an awesome resource. You can get and give critiques (and in many cases you will actually get more out of giving them, though getting them is a good thing, too), discuss everything from plot problems to worldbuilding to finding an agent to or how to punctuate a tricky sentence, find prompts and story-starter inspiration, and more at Forward Motion. My own writing schedule and ongoing family crises make it difficult for me to spend much time in online forums right now, but I spent a lot of time there at one point, posting under my screen name, SharonID, and I gained a tremendous amount from the experience and met some terrific people.

Do be aware that you must register to see and participate in most of the best forums at Forward Motion. This is to protect your right of first publication on your original work. This is a Good Thing, so don't be afraid to register and check out the good stuff. FM is so big it can be a little overwhelming, but read the FAQ and check out the forum for newcomers and the main board to get a feel for the place, then start poking at whatever interests you most. You don't have to keep up with every forum just because it's there. This resource gets top marks from me, too.

That's Forward Motion for Writers: http://www.fmwriters.com/. Memorize it; it's not hard. Check it out, if you never have, and that goes double if you are a writer in an isolated situation. And while FM is completely free, it can only stay that way if the users who are able will contribute a bit to keeping the place up, so if you do use it and can make even a small donation, please do so.

Image: Bruno Abarca

Go deep. Look up from under as well as down from above.

Susan M. Tiberghien's book, One Year to a Writing Life — Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer's Craft, which I go into in greater detail on the Non-Fiction page, has a lot to offer fiction writers, too. The chapters "Short Stories and the Short-Short", "Dreams and Writing", "Dialogue", "Tales: Folk, Fairy, and Contemporary", and "The Alchemy of Imagination" speak very directly to writers of fiction, and the whole book (particularly for those who do the exercises) will make your writing truer, deeper and richer. I wish every writer could have this book, and it would make the cuts if I had to (heaven forbid) cut down to three writing books. Susan is a fantastic teacher, if you ever get a chance to workshop with her (see Non-Fiction for more information), but her unique voice comes through very well on the page. Don't miss this book, whatever you write.

The Literary Enneagram : Characters from the Inside Out, by Judith Searle, is an intriguing read for fiction writers seeking deeper insight into character development. If you are not familiar with the Enneagram, it is a fascinating system that many people use to better understand personality types and human behavior and interaction. Using excerpts from literary and popular fiction, Judith, an authority on the Enneagram, demonstrates how often the behavior and interaction of well-known fictional characters at times of stress or security follow the patterns of the Enneagram. I've never seen anyone do a better job of choosing and clearly but concisely introducing excerpts, so if that is something you do in your writing, this book is worth a read just for that. Superb.

If you have trouble coming up with multi-dimensional characters that ring rich and true, part of the problem might be that your character's "stress point" and "security point" behaviors don't jibe right with his or her baseline personality style. This book could help you sort things out so you hit a better balance. I read it with great interest and appreciated the substantial food for thought. If you already have an interest the Enneagram and didn't know about this book, you should definitely give it a run-through.

Judith Searle presents occasional workshops on the Enneagram's relationship to literature and film, such as GREAT MOVIES, GREAT BOOKS AND THE ENNEAGRAM — A fresh perspective on the nine basic human personality styles. She is also a professional writer and editor who teaches "Writing Effective Dialogue" each June at the International Women's Writing Guild's annual conference. I learned a lot from Judith the year I took her class, and dialogue was already one of the things I do best.

Image: Dragoljub Paunovic

I've spent a bit of time on Hatrack, the writers' forums that are one of Orson Scott Card's contributions to aspiring writers, and there are some good people (and writers) there, helping each other get better. I did find the Hatrack emphasis on only posting the first thirteen lines of original work (a different slant on how to protect the author's first right of publication) somewhat off-balancing over time. I think it puts too much weight on the side of endlessly reworking the beginning. I like the Forward Motion model better for dealing with original work, but Hatrack is smaller and might be less intimidating to some people. As you might suppose, a lot of science fiction writers are drawn there. Anyway, it's well worth checking out, if you are looking for online writers' feedback and companionship, and they're a friendly, helpful bunch.

If you are looking for markets (or contest possibilities) for your fiction, there is a great free online service (please donate if you are using the service regularly and are able to donate even a little) called Duotrope that maintains an enormous searchable database of markets for fiction and poetry. Duotrope also puts out a weekly e-update with details on new markets, changes in existing markets, upcoming contests and themes, etc. Check it out and sign up for the newsletter.

Those are some of my favorite fiction resources. What are yours? If you think something has really helped you, and you are willing to share (I do NOT mean sharing copyrighted specific details of someone else's book or class… in those cases, point me to the book or class and give general information about the area it covers and how it helped you), please feel free to contact me. Tell me a little about why your resource is a good one and how it helped you and maybe I can put it up for others to share.

Bonus Elemental Story-Starter Image Set

Here is a set of visual elements for you. Look at them closely, noting small details as well as large ones and see if they inspire any ideas. Should you take the images literally or figuratively? Is the lightning real or symbolic and who or what will it strike? What is about to rain down or be swept away? That is up to you and your muse, but keep in mind that the best stories often include a rich literal-to-figurative range.

And while in a straight-out freewrite, first thought is considered best thought, sometimes when it comes to story-starters your first thought isn't as original as some you'll come up with if you dig deeper (this is especially important if you intend to go in for themed and prompted contests or issues or anthologies). You might freewrite about ideas for the elements starting with your first thought, but you don't necessarily want to put a lot of story work into your first idea when working with image prompts or other themes. That's what I think anyway. Have fun, and if this inspires anything for you, please feel free to contact me and let me know. If enough people like the visual prompts, maybe we can have an occasional contest.

Character/person: Image: keely	Place/setting: Image: Vladimir Ginzburg
Object: Image: Jean-Francois Dupuis	Situation: Image: Becky and Melissa at Artisticsavvy