Rule № 2 of Fiction Writing
Photo: Ben White Today, I am discussing Kurt Vonnegut’s second rule of writing fiction/short story. There are eight of them. In a previous article I discussed the first rule. Future articles will discuss the remaining six. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. What emotional state is your protagonist in? A negative inciting incident can answer this question. It is an effective tool that will get your audience into the story without much effort. It puts your hero in a dilemma that he must resolve. The reader gets pulled into the situation and sides with the main character. The hero’s emotional state can be the actual journey, or a monkey on his back that will hinder his quest. The important thing to remember is to get the reader committed to the main character and his world. Once the journey begins, the pages need to turn from chapter to chapter. A master of this technique is Ste...
