So, you want to tell a story?
Maybe you’ve had a character living in your head for years, nagging you while you’re stuck in traffic. Maybe you read a mystery novel recently and thought, I could do this better. Or maybe you just feel a creative itch that your 9-to-5 job isn’t scratching.
Whatever brought you here, welcome. Pull up a chair.
If you’re reading this, you might be feeling a mix of excitement and absolute terror. That is completely normal. Starting a creative endeavor in your 30s, 40s, or 50s can feel daunting. We often tell ourselves that if we were going to be writers, we would have been scribbling masterpieces in notebooks at age 12. But the truth? You have something now that you didn’t have then: Life experience.
Fiction requires empathy, observation, and an understanding of human complexity. Those are things you earn by living. So, let’s banish the idea that you’re "late to the party." You’re just on time.
In this guide, we’re going to strip away the scary academic language and look at fiction writing for what it really is: the art of telling lies to tell the truth. We’ll look at the forms, where to hunt for ideas, and why "craft" is your best friend.
At its simplest, fiction is narrative writing drawn from the imagination. It’s not a biography, and it’s not a history textbook (though it can contain elements of both). It is a made-up story designed to entertain, move, or provoke the reader.
But "fiction" is a massive umbrella. Before you start typing, it helps to know what kind of container you want to pour your ideas into.
Length dictates form, and form dictates how you tell the story.
● Flash Fiction: The sprinter of the group. Usually under 1,000 words. It’s punchy, immediate, and often ends with a twist or an emotional gut-punch.
● The Short Story: Typically between 1,000 and 7,500 words. This is a slice of life. It usually focuses on one major event or realization in a character’s life. It’s a great place for beginners to start because the commitment is lower, but the discipline required is high.
● The Novella: The middle child, often ignored but beautiful. Falling between 17,500 and 40,000 words, it has more room to breathe than a short story but focuses on a tighter plot than a novel. Think Animal Farm or The Old Man and the Sea.
● The Novel: The marathon. usually 80,000 to 100,000 words (though fantasy and sci-fi can go much longer). Novels allow for multiple subplots, a large cast of characters, and deep immersion.
You also need to consider Genre. Are you writing Literary Fiction, which tends to focus more on style, character depth, and themes? or Genre Fiction (Sci-Fi, Romance, Thriller, Fantasy), which often prioritizes plot, pacing, and specific tropes?
Pro Tip: Don’t get too hung up on labels right now. Just write the story you’d want to read.
"Where do you get your ideas?"
This is the question every author gets asked, and most of them hate it. Why? Because ideas aren't something you go to the store and buy. They are everywhere, floating around us like dust motes. You just have to learn to see them.
This is the bread and butter of speculative fiction (Sci-Fi/Fantasy), but it works for everything.
● What if the Roman Empire never fell?
● What if a woman discovered her husband was leading a double life, but the "other woman" was actually a spy?
● What if you woke up tomorrow and everyone had forgotten who The Beatles were? (Okay, that one was already a movie, but you get the point).
Writers are professional spies. Listen to conversations in coffee shops. Watch how a couple argues in the grocery store aisle—do they shout, or do they get quiet and cold? Notice the specific details: the way a barista wipes the counter, the sound of a specific dog’s bark.
● Action: Keep a notebook or a notes app on your phone. Write down snippets of dialogue or descriptions that strike you. These are seeds.
You don’t have to write an autobiography to use your life. Did you have a terrifying boss ten years ago? Use his mannerisms for a villain. Did you experience a heartbreak that changed you? Give that emotion to a character, even if the situation is totally different. As the famous advice goes, "Write what you know"—but interpret that emotionally, not just literally. [^1]
Here is the hard truth: Great ideas are cheap. Execution is everything.
You can have the best idea in the world, but if the writing falls flat, the reader will put the book down. This is where "Craft" comes in. Craft is the toolbox you use to build the house.
Your protagonist (main character) needs to want something. Badly. And they need to have a hard time getting it. [^2] A character who is perfectly happy and has everything they need is boring. We want to see struggle. We want to see flaws.
● Ask yourself: What is my character afraid of? What is their secret?
Plot is simply what happens. But "what happens" needs to have cause and effect. It shouldn't just be "this happened, and then this happened." It should be "this happened, therefore this happened."
● The Inciting Incident: The event that kicks the character out of their normal life and starts the story.
Where are we? A spaceship? A dusty town in Texas? Victorian London? The setting should influence the story. A story set in a blizzard feels different than one set on a tropical beach. Use sensory details—smell, touch, sound—to ground the reader.
You will hear this advice until you are sick of it, but it is essential.
● Telling: John was angry.
● Showing: John slammed his coffee mug down so hard the ceramic chipped. His jaw muscles bunched, and he refused to look me in the eye.
See the difference? "Showing" invites the reader to interpret the action. It pulls them into the scene.
● First Person ("I"): Intimate, immediate, but limited to what that one person knows.
● Third Person Limited ("He/She"): We follow one character closely, seeing the world over their shoulder.
● Third Person Omniscient: The "God" view. The narrator knows everything about everyone.
This is the most important advice I can give you: Give yourself permission to suck.
Author Anne Lamott, in her brilliant book on writing Bird by Bird, calls this the "Shitty First Draft." [^3] No one writes a perfect book on the first try. Not Stephen King, not J.K. Rowling, not Hemingway.
The first draft is just you telling the story to yourself. You are shoveling sand into a box so that later, you can build castles. If you try to edit while you write, you will freeze. Just get the words down. You can fix a bad page; you cannot fix a blank page.
Writing fiction is a solitary act, but it connects you to a tradition as old as humanity itself. We are storytelling animals. We need stories to make sense of the chaos of the world.
So, don't worry about getting an agent, or making the bestseller list, or what your high school English teacher would think. Open a document, or crack the spine of a fresh notebook.
Write one true sentence. Then write another.
You have a story to tell. We’re waiting to hear it.
● Start with what you can manage: If a novel feels too big, try writing a scene or a short story.
● Read like a writer: When you read a book you love, try to analyze why it works. How did the author make you feel scared? How did they transition between scenes?
● Characters need desire: A passive character kills a story. Make them want something.
● Routine beats inspiration: Don't wait for the muse. Set a small goal (even 200 words a day) and stick to it.
● Your first draft is meant to be messy: Don't polish until the story is finished.
[^1]:
King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Scribner, 2000. (A seminal text that argues "Write what you know" includes your own fears, dreams, and reading experiences).
[^2]:
Vonnegut, Kurt. "Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Rules for Writing a Short Story." Bagombo Snuff Box. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999. (Specifically rule #3: "Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.")
[^3]:
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anchor Books, 1994. (The definitive source on the concept of the "Shitty First Draft").