Brother Allen's Ten Rules to Good Fiction

1.) GOOD FICTION IS ABOUT DESIRE. Desire adds tension to the story. If you're struggling with you characters desire simply follow this formula.

Once upon a time there was a __________ and what (they) wanted more than anything in the entire world was _________.

A good character is someone who WANTS.

Class example of a BAD desire.

Once upon a time there was a lame squirrel and the thing he wanted more than anything else in the world was to climb up his tree.

This alone does not make a story, thus we have rule 2.

2.) GOOD FICTION IS ABOUT TROUBLE. Simply add this sentence to the formula.

But there was a problem. They couldn't have what they wanted because_____.

Class example of a now good desire.

Once upon a time there was a completely whole and healthy squirrel and the thing he wanted more than anything else in the world was to climb up his tree. But there was a problem. A big fat squirrel lived in that tree and he would eat anything that came near it. Dogs, mailmen, cats you name it, but especially other squirrels. Cannibal Squirrels! (And just then another teacher walks in and wanted to know what was going on. Classic, had to be there.)

3.) GOOD FICTION IS CAREFULLY STRUCTURE. If you haven't seen this formula before you've obviously never had to take an English class. All stories follow a basic structure.

Picture a triangle reading these words left to right while climbing and then descending the triangle. Conflict, Exposition, Rising Action, Crisis Action/Climax(peak, one final choice), Falling Action (very short), Resolution.

"Good literature doesn't happen to characters, but because of characters." - Brother Josh Allen

At this point we talked a little bit about character chance vs character choice and how the best stories are less about fate and more about characters taking responsibility for what happens to them. All good fiction has a balance of chance (opportunity) and choice (reaction).

Example of an all chance: Worm Boy story. Guy with a miserable life is sitting in a bar drinking, a girl walks in, most beautiful girl he's ever seen, straight from his dreams, she sits down next to him and starts talking to him. He doesn't even say hello, watches her walk out of the bar, now curses his crummy life. NEVER WRITE A WORM BOY STORY, IT'S A STORY ABOUT SOMEONE WHO DOES NOTHING. THEREFORE, IT ISN'T A STORY AT ALL.

4.) GOOD FICTION EARNS IT'S CLIMAX'S. Usually because the characters final choice causes the climax. The character created their destiny, it isn't thrust upon them. Even if the bad guy is the one causing all the trouble the character must be the one to decide if he/she is going to do something about it.

Avoid Deus Ex Machina, or the God out of the machine who fixes everything. It makes a very unsatisfying end to otherwise thrilling story.

5.) GOOD FICTION DEMONSTRATES REBIRTH. In other words the character changes or grows into a new character in someway.

Example: Flynn Rider from the Disney movie Tangled. (Which PS, was a princess movie made for dads. The story is totally more about Flynn Riders growth, not the princess. He becomes Eugene Fitsherbert.)

6.) GOOD FICTION BELONGS TO ONE OF THE CHARACTERS. The whole story revolves around them and gives a focal point for the action/tension/story to take place.

7.) GOOD FICTION PRESENTS AT LEAST ONE ROUND CHARACTER. Meaning a character that doesn't exactly fit into a High School drama or stereotype. Someone who has more facets and angles than you'd expect.

For Example: Southern man in the country sitting on his front porch with a gun across his lap and a dog at his feet. When he speaks, he had a very clear British Accent. Suddenly he becomes a lot more interesting, yes?

8.) GOOD FICTION PRESENTS AT LEAST ONE DYNAMIC CHARACTER. Meaning a character who is flexible and changes through the story. Somehow he has to grow either positively or negatively. He's not a worm boy who walks out of the bar as the same guy who walked in. Something has to change, some tiny thing has to change. Or the climax becomes meaningless, pointless, unimportant because the experience had no effect on the characters soul.

9.) GOOD LITERATURE COMMUNICATES THROUGH CONCRETE IMAGES, NOT ABSTRACTIONS. The classic rule of "SHOW, DON'T TELL." A child will put his world into his mouth, so the audience needs to put the characters world into their mouth. In any powerful moment you need at least three senses on the page.

Example: "I will do everything I can to fight this ruling."
vs "I will fall like an ocean on that court." - Arthur Miller "The Crucible"

10.) GOOD FICTION AVOIDS CLICHES. Duh, cliche's are boring because we know how the story ends. Remember the squirrel who wanted to climb his tree vs the squirrel who couldn't get into his tree because of the cannibal squirrel? Cliches are the deja vu's of the literary world. And because of that they kind of kick your reader out the story your trying to write and back into the real world where they remember where they've read that sentence before. It's much better to be new than ordinary.

Example: Once upon a time there was a college freshman girl and what she wanted more than anything else in the entire world was....

Cliche
- To get married
- To be invited to that party
- To impress parents
- To get a 4.0

These are Better
- To drive alone across the country
- To be free of her religious teachers advances
- To cut down the tree that endlessly scratches at her window at night

Remember

"Your mind goes to the laziest place first." - Brother Josh Allen.

SO FIGHT IT!

His advice. Write ten obvious things down so that by the eleventh thing you are no longer writing cliches.

Coming up, more notes from Creative Writing 318.