Science of Fiction Writing

Rule #1: All rules are made to be broken. Scientific study revolves around a
set of rules and laws that dictate what is appropriate in the universe and
what is not. Good fiction writing can also be reduced to a few rules that
define what is universally accepted as quality writing. But fiction writing is
an art, not a science. It is the good, artistic writer who knows when and how
to break these rules.

Rule #2: Conservation of words. An eloquent sentence is one that conveys
the most information in the fewest number of words. Filler words dilute the
action and slow the pace of the novel. When people say the plot drags, they
are usually referring to excessive filler. They are demanding more action
per page. When in doubt—leave it out.

Rule #3: Every word and sentence must move the story forward.

Rule #4: When given a choice, use the part of speech that is most powerful.
Not all parts of speech are created equal. Verbs are the most powerful. Only
a verb can be a complete sentence by itself. "Run!" is a complete thought
and easily understood. A noun (the second most powerful part of speech)
such as "house" or "car" makes little sense by itself. Adjectives are the
third most powerful, followed by adverbs and prepositions. Conjunctions
and articles are sometimes necessary fillers.

Rule #5: Avoid nominalizations. A nominalization is when a verb is used as a
noun or changed to a noun form. Verbs outrank nouns and are preferable.

Good: It was now a race against time.
Better: They were now racing against time.

In the first sentence, race is used as a noun. The only action in the sentence
is was. There is minimal sense of urgency. In the second sentence, the verb
is racing, which suggests urgency. Both sentences convey the same
information.

Good: It was cheaper than the ten-mile drive to town.
Better: It was cheaper than driving ten miles into town.

Good: The FBI conducted an investigation into the kidnapping.
Better: The FBI investigated the kidnapping.

Rule #6: Minimize the use of adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.
Adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions provide less information per word
than verbs or nouns and should be used sparingly. Most stories can be told
better with nouns and verbs. When in doubt—leave it out.

Rule #7: Don't use more than two adjectives per noun.

Poor: He worked the fields under the hot, red, blazing sun.
Good: He worked the fields under the hot, blazing sun.
Better: He worked the fields under the hot sun.

Rule #8: Use stronger verbs in place of adverbs.

Good: A man got in his car and drove very quickly into town.
Better: A man jumped into his car and raced into town.

Rule #9: Use the most specific noun. Specific nouns convey more
information per word and are preferred. The second reference to the noun
can be changed to a pronoun.

Good: A man jumped into his car and raced into town.
Better: John jumped into his Corvette and raced into town.

Rule #10: Avoid empty adverbs. Some adverbs (just, even, that, only, surely,
though, most, much, little, always, also, some, then, any, still, very) provide
minimal information, if any, and should be avoided. When in doubt—leave it
out.

Good: You can answer verbally, or even just nod your head.
Better: You can answer verbally, or nod your head.

Good: I believe that John will win the race.
Better: I believe John will win the race.

Rule #11: Do not use more than three prepositional phrases in a row. Two
or fewer is preferred.

Good: Jill lives in the house on the hill by the creek at the end of the road.
Better: Jill lives in the house at the end of the road.

Rule #12: Change prepositional phrases to possessive nouns or pronouns
when possible. Nouns and pronouns outrank prepositions and are
preferable. They also reduce the number of words and increase the pace.

Good: The car of mine is red.
Better: My car is red.

Good: The opinion of the committee was favorable.
Better: The committee's opinion was favorable.

Rule #13: Change prepositional phrases to adjectives when possible.
Adjectives outrank prepositions and are preferable.

Good: The castle of stone was impregnable.
Better: The stone castle was impregnable.

Rule #14: Avoid double prepositions.

Good: John decided to drive on down the road until he found a motel.
Better: John decided to drive down the road until he found a motel.

Good: He fell off of the ladder.
Better: He fell off the ladder.

Rule #15: When possible, replace multiple words with single words. Often
one word can do the work of several words. That word is obviously
stronger and is preferred. There is no formula or rule for finding these
choice words. A good vocabulary helps. Sometimes they come to mind after
the writing has aged for a few weeks.

Good: While Bob admitted to himself the unlikeliness that they would ever
find the treasure, he would not give up.
Better: While Bob considered it unlikely they would find the treasure, he
would not quit.

Good: It took a moment or two before she became aware of what had
happened.
Better: It took a moment or two before she realized what had happened.

Good: I'll stick around until they get here.
Better: I'll stick around until they arrive.

Rule #16: The average sentence should be twelve words in length. We do
not read sentences; we read thoughts. After reading a paragraph, few
people can repeat it word for word, but they can remember the thoughts.
When we read the sentence, "The store is open every day." we wait until we
reach the period before storing the information in our brain. We then know
the sentence is a complete thought. If we were to encounter a comma after
day instead of a period, we know the thought is incomplete and modifying
information is likely to follow, such as "except on holidays." Extremely long
sentences with a multitude of modifying phrases can be confusing. We
aren't sure when to store it in our mind as a complete thought. Twelve
words per sentence is only an average. Some sentences will be much
longer, other much shorter. On Microsoft Word, average sentence length
can be found by selecting options under tools. Under Spelling and
Grammar, select Show Readability Statistics.

Rule #17: Paragraphs should average about eight or nine lines or less. This
helps the reader maintain his or her place on the page. Most concepts can
be explained in eight or nine lines of thought.

Rule #18: Chapters should be eighteen to twenty pages or less. This is a
courtesy to the reader who will unlikely read the novel in one sitting. It
provides pausing points chosen by the writer, not the reader.

Rule #19: Show, don't tell. This mantra is heard whenever fiction writing is
discussed, but is still frequently ignored even by the best writers. Instead of
telling the reader how a character feels, show the reader how the character
feels by having him react to his situation.

Telling: John found the bloated body that had washed up on the beach
revolting. It was a mental picture he would never forget.

Showing: John looked at the bloated body washed up against the beach
and had to swallow hard to prevent bile from reaching his throat. One eye
socket of the corpse was filled with maggots crawling over each other in
search of choice morsels of flesh. The other eye was glazed over with a
gray film, but still appeared to be staring at him. John wondered if the
body's soul could still see him. The smell of rotting flesh filled his nostrils,
and he was no longer able to suppress the bile.

Rule #20: Avoid passive sentences. A normal sentence has an agent, an
action, and an object in that order.

Active sentence: Bob (agent) hit (action) the ball (object) over the fence.
Passive sentence: The ball (object) was hit (action) over the fence by Bob
(agent.)
Passive sentence: The ball (object) was hit (action) over the fence (no
agent.)

Readers prefer action, and there is always more action when the hero is
doing the beating instead of being beaten on. The following forms of the
verb prepared are passive:

is prepared
is being prepared
was prepared
was being prepared
has been prepared
had been prepared
will be prepared
is going to be prepared

Rule #21: Avoid stand-alone to be verbs. These are another form of passive
sentences that convey no action.

Passive: The house was red.
Passive: The house was on a hillside overlooking the city.
Active: The red house sat on a hillside overlooking the city.

In the active sentence, red is converted to an adjective in front of house,
and the passive verb is changed to the active verb sat. The two passive
sentences have been combined, saving three words, which increases the
pace of the writing.

Rule #22: Unless it is necessary to compare the timing of two actions, use
the past tense instead of the past perfect tense. The past tense is simpler,
uses fewer words, and gives the feeling of more recent action: Bob's car
broke down. The past perfect is more structured and the action appears
more distant. Use it only when you need to convey that an action occurred
before a secondary action: Bob took a taxi, because his car had broken
down.

Rule #23: Limit verbs in dialogue tags to: said, asked, and replied. Dialogue
tags are occasionally necessary, but should be like punctuation and only
seen by the inner mind. Dialogue tags like "Bob growled" draws attention
away from the dialogue and focuses on the writer. If it is necessary to
document that Bob growled, then the dialogue is not well written.

Rule #24: Avoid adverbs and adverbial phrases with dialogue tags: Same
logic as Rule #23. If you need to write, "Bob said angrily," your dialogue is
not strong enough. For those rare occasions when dialogue isn't enough,
show don't tell.

Tell: "Leave me alone," Jim said, with anger.
Show: "Leave me alone." Jim slammed his fist on the table.

Rule #25: All dialogue must advance the story. Real dialogue is often
frivolous, but has no place in fiction.

Frivolous dialogue:

"Nice car," Bob said.
"I like it," Joe relied.
"Do you get good mileage?" Bob asked.
"Not bad," Joe said.
"I like red," Bob said.

This dialogue is realistic and could occur in real life, but it doesn't add to
any story. It is filler that slows the pace of the story.

Rule #26: The noun should precede the verb in dialogue tags. People
expect noun-verb constructions such as Bob said. Verb-noun
constructions such as said Bob seem unnatural and draw undue attention
to the dialogue tag. Like punctuation, dialogue tags run best in the
background.

Rule #27: Keep dialogue sentences simple. People talk in incomplete or
simple sentences with an occasional compound sentence. They don't talk
in phrases or other complex forms seen in writing.

Unrealistic: "We're missing something important, a simple fact, a piece of
trivia, something that should be obvious," Bill said.

Rule #28: Use dialogue tags only when needed. The only purpose of a
dialogue tag is to identify the speaker. Most of the time, the reader knows
who the speaker is and the tag is not needed.

The dialogue below was taken from my novel, Super Mensa. Ana has
escaped from the Spaniard and was attacked by wolves. The dialogue is
between Ana and the Spaniard after she has been recaptured.

(1)"Your precious employer almost got a dead hostage. A wolf pack
thought I would make a good buffet."
(2)"I must apologize for the first night. There's strength in numbers. The
wolves would've never taken on the three of us. You didn't tell me you were
taking off on your own."
(3)"And the second night?"
(4)"I gave the leader of the pack an attitude adjustment with the Tasor, the
same one I used at the beach. The wolves now have a healthy respect for
humans."
(5)"Did you kill him?"
(6)"No. We dragged him off by the tail. Let the rest of the pack watch. Puts
the fear of God in them. He'll be in a daze for twelve hours or so, but he'll
recover. No sense killing him. He was only doing what wolves do."
(7)"You spared him out of professional courtesy?"
(8)"In a matter of speaking." The Spaniard threw Ana an MRE.
(9)"Thanks."
(10)"Don't thank me. It's your MRE."
(11)"No, I mean for sparing the wolf."
(12)"Ana, you're a very complex woman."

No dialogue tags are used in the above dialogue. Line #1: The reader knows
who was attacked by wolves. Line #2: The reader knows the speaker is the
hostage taker. Line #3: There is no identifier, but a new paragraph tells the
reader that the dialogue has changed to a new speaker. Line #8: The
paragraph has an action sentence from the Spaniard's point of view, which
identifies the speaker. If this technique is used, the action sentence cannot
solely identify the speaker; it must also move the story forward. No useless
sentences allowed. Line #12: Ana is addressed by name; therefore, the
Spaniard has to be the speaker.

Rule #29: Every third dialogue shift needs an identifier. Starting a new
paragraph signals to the reader that a new speaker is talking. This is fine for
short exchanges. For longer exchanges, it can become a shell game with
the reader wondering which shell the pea is under. As a favor to the reader,
make sure the speaker is identified after every third exchange-by context,
addressing by name, dialogue tag, or identifiable action.

Rule #30: Do not introduce more than two or three characters at a time.
Have you been to a party where twelve people were introduced to you?
Quick, what were their names? Your readers will have the same problem.
They will thank you if you introduce the characters a few at a time.

Rule #31: Avoid similar sounding names. If you name two characters Sheila
and Shelly, your readers will be continuously asking, "Which character is
Shelly?"

Rule #32: Avoid names that are difficult to pronounce. Readers hate tongue
twisters. They don't want to feel like they are reading the Old Testament.

Words of wisdom #1: Be a storyteller, not a writer. If the words don't
advance the story, delete them. This can be painful if the words are well
written, but not necessary.

Words of wisdom #2: Keep the sentence structure simple. Let the nouns
and verbs tell the story.

Words of wisdom #3: Keep the writing compact without frivolous words.

Words of wisdom #4: When in doubt—cut it out.

Words of wisdom #5: The three most important aspects of writing are
re-write, re-write, re-write.