Q&A: How Do I Start Writing Fiction If I’m Not “A Fiction Writer”?

Question: What advice do you have for someone who can write but doesn’t feel he’s a fiction writer and yet has an idea and a working premise for a story he’s been mulling over for years?

Answer: No one can tell you how TO write, they can only tell you how THEY write.

So I can't tell you what will work for you.

But here's something I CAN tell you, a piece of "meta-advice", if you will.

"I write good scenes, but I can't seem to finish a story" is the symptom of an author who hasn't found his writing process yet.

The reason Theft of Fire is dedicated to Brandon Sanderson is that this is the precise state I was in until I watched a series of his lectures recorded at BYU, on writing fantasy.

His process and mine are not the same, but they are similar enough that seeing his allowed me to invent mine.

You need to figure out yours.

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