Category Archives: Writing fiction

Let’s take a look at a story beginning!

Copyright © 2025 Jerry Dunne First, we will look at a badly written short story beginning and point out its major craftsmanship flaws. Then we will look at the piece rewritten up to a suitable standard of craftsmanship and point … Continue reading

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Pace the story

Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne Narrative pace concerns how fast or slow the plot movement feels to the reader as they make their way through the story. Good pace enables the narrative to offer a feeling of smooth and constant … Continue reading

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Well-structured dialogue for the story

Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne Dialogue is a powerful tool in the development of character, conflict, humour, drama, tension, suspense and pace. But dialogue must be handled skilfully in order to accomplish any of its objectives. Without a proper understanding … Continue reading

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Emotion and the story’s plot arc

Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne Before reading this article, you will need to read The story’s 3-act plot arc structure as we specifically cover some aspects from that article here below. * This article explores the idea that the strong … Continue reading

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The story’s 3-act plot arc structure

Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne The plot isn’t a series of events that move forward in a random way. The events are connected by cause and effect and have a very definite structure to them. In this way, the plot … Continue reading

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The plan: a bird’s-eye view (for fiction)

Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne Before reading this post it is a good idea to read The story’s 3-act plot arc structure, if you do not understand this plot structure. Writing fiction is a very personal and absorbing experience and … Continue reading

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Inspiration from inside an empty matchbox

Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne This post demonstrates how conflict fuels and develops a story. An understanding of our simple example will help the writer with both good story structure and the search for new ideas, although it’s the ideas … Continue reading

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Exercises for sparking up character for the short story

Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne This post is a follow on from Sparking up character in the short story. So now we know we need to find the attitude of the character as related to the idea and plot (or … Continue reading

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From stereotype to rounded character with speed and ease

Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne Stereotypes are not real people, as real people are multi-dimensional. All the same, with only a few simple but poignant attributes, a stereotype offers an immediate, energetic and powerful impression. By using the stereotype as … Continue reading

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Sparking up character for the short story

Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne It is difficult enough to bring character to life in a novel, but a short story offers an even trickier challenge. Many writers need time to build their character and give it energy. They can’t … Continue reading

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