{"id":2182,"date":"2012-08-20T04:15:47","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T12:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182"},"modified":"2012-08-20T04:15:47","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T12:15:47","slug":"how-do-you-write-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Write Fiction?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you?<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time?<\/p>\n<p>Do you know timelines and ages, etc. before you start writing or do you figure these things out as you proceed?<\/p>\n<p>Do you outline the book and then write it? Or do you just start writing and watch the story take shape?<\/p>\n<p>Do you think about your plot and characters a lot when you are away from the computer? Does this help or hinder your progress with your story?<\/p>\n<p>When you recognize that something in your story isn\u2019t ringing true, do you fix it then or wait until you\u2019ve finished fleshing out a scene.<\/p>\n<p>Do you stop to research small questions while writing or do you make notes to conduct this research later.<\/p>\n<p>How important is the flow of the story? In other words, is it important that you keep writing and worry about questions and problems later?<\/p>\n<p>How do you keep characters and the progress of the storyline organized? Do you have pages of notes, note cards, a wall chart?<\/p>\n<p>A whole lot of fiction writers would like to know. Would love to have you share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.9 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patricia\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.9\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writing and Publishing News - from\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-20T12:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-20T12:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#blogposting\",\"name\":\"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News\",\"headline\":\"How Do You Write Fiction?\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?author=5#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/#organization\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"commentCount\":1,\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Writing\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?cat=4#listItem\",\"name\":\"Writing\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?cat=4#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Writing\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?cat=4\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#listItem\",\"name\":\"How Do You Write Fiction?\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How Do You Write Fiction?\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?cat=4#listItem\",\"name\":\"Writing\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Writing and Publishing News\",\"description\":\"from\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?author=5#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?author=5\",\"name\":\"Patricia\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182\",\"name\":\"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News\",\"description\":\"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?p=2182#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?author=5#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/?author=5#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Writing and Publishing News\",\"description\":\"from\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.matilijapress.com\\\/publishingblog\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News","description":"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do","canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#blogposting","name":"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News","headline":"How Do You Write Fiction?","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?author=5#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/#organization"},"datePublished":"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00","dateModified":"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00","inLanguage":"en-US","commentCount":1,"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#webpage"},"articleSection":"Writing"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?cat=4#listItem","name":"Writing"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?cat=4#listItem","position":2,"name":"Writing","item":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?cat=4","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#listItem","name":"How Do You Write Fiction?"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#listItem","position":3,"name":"How Do You Write Fiction?","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?cat=4#listItem","name":"Writing"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/#organization","name":"Writing and Publishing News","description":"from","url":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?author=5#author","url":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?author=5","name":"Patricia"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182","name":"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News","description":"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?author=5#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?author=5#author"},"datePublished":"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00","dateModified":"2012-08-20T04:15:47-08:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/","name":"Writing and Publishing News","description":"from","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Writing and Publishing News - from","og:type":"article","og:title":"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News","og:description":"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do","og:url":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182","article:published_time":"2012-08-20T12:15:47+00:00","article:modified_time":"2012-08-20T12:15:47+00:00","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"How Do You Write Fiction? - Writing and Publishing News","twitter:description":"How do you go about writing a story? Do you have a technique for writing a short story or a book that works for you? Do you have a plot and characters in mind when you start to write? Or does the plot develop as you write and do the characters emerge over time? Do"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"2182","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"BlogPosting","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"created":"2022-03-09 12:20:25","updated":"2026-07-08 05:22:17","ai":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?cat=4\" title=\"Writing\">Writing<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tHow Do You Write Fiction?\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog"},{"label":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?cat=4"},{"label":"How Do You Write Fiction?","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=2182"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2183,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}