Control: Rewriting Fiction Effectively…

I, Dalton Lewis, want to rewrite fiction effectively. How?

It’s simple. Listen to the story.

I’m just reading my work and listening to the story, to what works, and what doesn’t. Just listen.

I had a scene: my character failed at something and was made fun of. I didn’t realize: the audience would feel uncomfortable and not like this. They want a character who fights back against this bullying, who feels something, who doesn’t just take this and feel sad.

How to fix: I needed him to fight back, to express that no one destroyed him with this, that he didn’t care, that he fought back like crazy against such mistreatment. I needed him to be a strong and powerful character, not a lightweight who allowed himself to be treated this way by bullies. I needed a proactive character we could love.

Another scene went wrong: I talked in generalizations. I didn’t create a specific scene in which I drank. I talked about my drinking problems in general instead of a scene. Drinking too much every night is a colossal problem and needs to feel that way in the writing.

How to fix: I needed to show myself, in my parents house, in my twenties, unemployed, not having showered, with liquor on top of a cabinet, with a chaser, drinking over and over, barely writing, barely doing anything else. That would make for a better scene.

Characters need to impress and have arcs. They need to have good traits and flaws. Richie needs to be a super smart world traveler and someone who drinks too much and sometimes hated himself growing up. He needs that character development: overcoming mental health problems to become someone amazing. He needs that development.

How to fix: I need to show Richie in high school, creating a society that hates and fears the popular kids and the successful people in school. I need to show him in college having a breakdown and ending up in the hospital. Then I need to show him traveling the world, losing weight, and becoming a smart, talented man.

I have one last problem: I didn’t describe everything. I just sort of went into the main actions of the scene. I just told the story in a plain and direct manner. Sounds good, right? Wrong.

How to fix: show the scene. Show what people are wearing. Describe the temperature. Show how people react to each other. Tell us what the world looks like. Describe the scene. Trust me. People will like your work better if you do so.

Now I need to actually do that in a story I am writing called Descension, a story about my struggle with schizophrenia. I hope you consider it when I finish it.

Thanks, and take care, friends.