Home For Fiction – Blog

for thinking people

Writing

Repeating Reality in Fiction: Why You Should Avoid It

October 19, 2020

Writing

fiction, guest post, Igor Livramento, reality, writing

Today’s post on (not) repeating reality in fiction is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. Check out his papers on Academia.edu, his music on Bandcamp, and his personal musings on his blog – in Portuguese, Spanish/Castilian, and English. You can also find him on LinkedIn.

If you want your fiction to immerse the reader, you probably suppose you should describe reality as it is. That is, you should be repeating reality in your fiction. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Writing fiction is a process of controlled distortion, in which emphasis is placed on what really matters.

If we describe all the details of an event, we will fill many pages with unimportant trivia. Moreover, we will leave the reader tired, cognitively and affectively, so they will be unable to appreciate the most important moments of the narrative. All our figures of speech, so well crafted, will be nothing more than exhaustive annoyances.

Repeating reality in fiction
To avoid repeating reality in fiction is like a photograph that, by hiding some facets, boosts the affective power of what remains visible
(more…)

Writing Gimmicks and How to Avoid Them

September 28, 2020

Writing

literature, manipulation, music, writing, writing gimmicks

Writing gimmicks are tricks authors use to distract readers from a bad text. We’ll be defining this in more detail in this post, but in this context a trick has nothing to do with reader manipulation.

Reader manipulation is a legitimate narrative technique. Writing gimmicks, on the other hand, are not techniques but fluff. Indeed, writing gimmicks often have nothing to do with the text itself and are more about extra-textual factors.

In this post we’ll see what writing gimmicks are, how to avoid them, and there’s also a bonus: What are reverse writing gimmicks, and how to take advantage of them. As an example, I’ll throw in a brief reference to a kick-ass Japanese rock band. Home for Fiction combines everything, you can’t complain!

writing gimmicks
It looks flashy, but the way doesn’t affect the result. That’s what a writing gimmick is, too
(more…)

17 Ways to Grab a Reader’s Attention

September 21, 2020

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

affect, fiction, guest post, Igor Livramento, writing

Today’s post – showing you 17 ways to grab a reader’s attention – is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. Check out his papers on Academia.edu, his music on Bandcamp, and his personal musings on his blog – in Portuguese, Spanish/Castilian, and English.

Fiction is an invitation to journey alongside characters, through places, with affect and a pinch of reflection.

Due to our increased inattention, the first few sentences are a hook in the sea of readers. Seeking our fish’s bite, we must answer at that initial stage: What is this text about? How will it be told?

A walk amongst bookshelves is a stroll beside infinitely many closed doors one may choose to open. Just flip the page and greet a plethora of people dealing with the most diverse situations in as many ways as possible.

Here I offer 17 sneak peeks that captivated me and might inspire you to captivate more readers. Join me on this ringing doorbells spree! (One could also label this techniques for speed dating the reader – preferences…)

grab reader's attention
There are many ways to grab a reader’s attention, and here are 17 of them to get you started
(more…)