Blog 28. Socially Significant Fiction

Entertainment and significant fiction

Much commercial fiction is pure entertainment. That’s ok; we enjoy being entertained.  However, fiction offers a marvelous opportunity to be more significant, to explore social issues, leaving the reader changed as well as entertained.  Fiction can show a social issue in the setting of the story in the background canvas across which the plot moves. Continue reading

Blog 27. The Must-Do in Fiction

How do you write fiction?

An artistic woman asked me that question. In part, she was asking about the mechanics of drafting a novel. In part, she was asking how you get past the stinging criticism when someone accomplished in the art reads your first draft. One answer is this: don’t show a first draft. Show an edited manuscript that’s as good as you can make it. Maybe the 21st draft. Continue reading