Writing fiction.

Fiction should involve the reader from the word go.    It should be written to the best of your ability.  But it should show your passion.

Write as well as you can.  Write about something that interests you and hopefully, others will be informed, inspired or entertained by your words.

There are no short cuts, no magic wands.  Sometimes the market dictates that your work is going to be the next best seller.  Not necessarily will happen.  Sometimes writers have been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and their stories have caught the imagination of the agent/publisher to whom it has been sent.

You don’t have to be a grammar teacher to write fiction.  It helps to understand the English language, and to know what makes a sentence.  But at the beginning one should just write.  Get those words down on paper.

After this has been crafted into a story, then the hard work begins.

Editing. 

So important, and yet so flippantly discarded.  Sometimes it is necessary to edit three or four times before submitting your manuscript.   Put your finished work away for a week or two, then get it out and read it.   You will find how to improve it, what to cut and what you want to leave in.  A well constructed manuscript will make an agent want to know more.

Begin with the plot.

?????????

Then of course there is the synopsis.

This is a word that strikes terror into many a novice writer, and even those that are used to it.

A synopsis is the outline of your book.  It is the whole and complete story concise and to the point.

No hidden agendas, no suspense at the end without revealing the outcome.

It has to showcase your book, make the agent/editor want to read the story.

It should be short enough to engage, but long enough to explain.

No more than a single sheet of A4.