Writing is a difficult craft. We all know it. It's just a challenge we as writers come to accept the moment we sit down to write. Writing a story requires careful thought, planning and fine tuning. It is a complex process, a process of bringing together a chaotic variety of ingredients, mixing them together and producing literary gold.
But this literary gold doesn't come easily. Like an alchemist, the writer needs to mix the right ingredients in the right way and in the right quantities. Even on their best day, a writer will produce a fairly standard story, one that might strike a familiar chord to a novel they read back in high school, or just last week. The writer knows the basics of craft and all the elements are there in the story, neatly wrapped up from beginning to end. But even after the editing stage, the story might lack originality, or that addictive hook, the kind that snatches the reader and holds them tight. In these instances, the story might lack depth.
I believe that the key to producing quality fiction is depth. No matter what genre you write in, no matter how long the story is, whether it be a short story, novella or a novel, every story needs under-layers, a sense of depth. A story with depth grips readers, makes a story fresh and original, adds significance to the narrative and can leave the reader immersed, even after they finish reading. So it pays off to put that extra effort into the writing process.
One of the problems that I face as a writer is how to create depth. It's all very well to say that a story needs depth, that it needs under-layers. But what does that mean anyway? How can I add depth in a story?
There are many ways writers can create depth in their stories. Some of which I'll have a look at later on. As a young writer myself, I am still learning the craft. But these are some of the few things that I have learnt along the way.
Beatrice Ross
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Writing: The In-depth Approach
Non-FictionIn this piece of writing, I will explore how writer's can create depth in their stories. I will show you how to write stories that grip the reader. I will show how you can make a story fresh and original and how to add significance to the narra...
