Fiction writing tells a story, whether fictional or real, and can take various forms such as essays, novels, short stories, and poems. It can be a personal catharsis or a public tool to connect with an audience. Narrative structure includes plot, character development, setting, tone, and themes. Short stories and novels are the most common forms, while poems can also be narrative.
Fiction writing focuses on telling a story. This can mean telling a fictional – made up – story or it can mean telling a real-life story in such a way that the author follows a plot structure. It can also take the form of an essay, where the author will use a personal story to prove a point or make an argument. Shapes vary greatly because it is largely a creative endeavor; novels, short stories, poems, blog posts, and essays can all take the form of a narrative, and while the form of writing may change, the function of telling a story remains the same.
Much of fiction writing can be done on a personal level, i.e. written stories don’t necessarily have to be shared with others. The value of such writing becomes apparent as a kind of catharsis: authors may choose to write about a problem situation to help themselves process or understand it better, for example. As a public domain tool, this form of writing helps the author connect with an audience to prove a point, make an argument, or address an important issue. A narrative can set the stage for a particular problem, and the story need not be about the author himself. He may, for example, write an account of a friend or acquaintance’s experiences in a war-torn country without having lived through the experience.
Narratives can also be fictional events that follow a plot structure that includes introduction or exposition, escalating action, climax, descending action, and resolution or denouement. This structure is sometimes known as a plot pyramid or story arc and ensures that all relevant parts of the story are told. Characterization, or the development of a character into a believable, near-real person, is important to the story, as is the development of relevant setting, tone, and themes.
The most common forms of fiction writing include short stories and novels. These two genres generally follow story arcs and different characters and settings can be developed in the novels. A short story usually contains fewer characters and settings, as such stories are designed to be easily digestible text that can be read relatively quickly. Novels are significantly longer, giving the writer ample opportunity to tackle complex themes, characters, and interactions. Poems can also be narrative, although the writer is generally given even less space to tell a story than a short story. Longer narrative poems, however, can run for several pages, and some are even novel-length.
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