How Do You Learn the Craft of Writing Fiction?

Learning how to write fiction is different from learning how to write academically such as essays, research papers, or book reports. Fiction requires superb storytelling skills. There are three main ways to learn the craft of writing fiction: studying the craft from experts, getting your work critiqued, and attending writing conferences and retreats.

What is the Writing Craft?Just what does it mean to study the craft of writing anyway? There are many ways you could answer this question. One dictionary definition goes like this: 

Writing Craft - n. “the artistic skill or technique with which an author puts together narrative and other elements in order to convey meaning.” 

Let’s get more specific. The writing craft consists of basic elements to help make your story readable and have meaning. It consists of such strategies as characterization, conflict, plot, dialogue, tension, backstory, theme, pacing, tone, voice, setting, point of view, and more. These are the narrative storytelling elements that make your writing flow and make sense to a reader.

One way to learn the writing craft is to jump in and figure it out. Just write. Keep practicing. You’ll get there eventually. But there are better ways.

Study the Craft of Writing From Experts
Experts in the literary industry include published authors, editors, and book coaches. They can teach us a lot about how to write fiction. All we have to do is consume their information, usually in the form of books, workshops, or courses. So when you have an opportunity to buy a book you think will help you, or attend a workshop or take a course from a writer you admire, do it!
Other tips to become a better fiction writer and practice the craft include the following:

• Read more books in your genre. Some people say that reading doesn’t make you a better writer, that it only makes you a better reader. But do you really think that musicians never listen to music? No! Because listening to music (or reading) is part of the job. 
• Use writing prompts. Need a story starter idea? Writing prompts are a great way to stretch you out of your comfort zone and strengthen your creativity.
• Practice specific writing exercises. Think of doing writing exercises like doing a weight workout at the gym. Or a speed or hill repeat running workout. They help you get better to improve your overall mastery. One good book that does a great job with this is 101 Fun Creative Writing Exercises: Become a Better Writer in 14 Minutes a Day.
• Copy the masters. I learned this technique in college. It’s great for learning tone, voice, flow, sentence structure, and more. Take a page from a book and copy their style by substituting your own nouns for their nouns, your own verbs for their verbs, etc. The book mentioned above also has a chapter with examples for how to do this. It can help you brainstorm ideas for your story when you get stuck too!

If you’re reading, writing, and studying about writing, you will continue to get better. And when it comes to your writing craft, that’s always the goal.