My first year working in a public school brought to light many differences in how authors write fiction compared to how students write for school assignments. I asked my fourth graders, “How many sentences does a paragraph have?” They were quick to answer: “Five!” They had learned this about writing academic essays and it had stuck.
Academic writing tends to follow a strict format. If your teacher gives you a writing assignment and asks for five-sentence paragraphs, then you write five-sentence paragraphs. I’m not looking to make a rebel of you in regards to your school assignments. However, in fiction—and even in nonfiction or poetry—a paragraph can be as long or as short as you want it to be.
It’s true.
To prove it to you, I pulled my Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary off the shelf and looked up the definition of the word paragraph. They define a paragraph as “a subdivision of a written composition that consists of one or more sentences, deals with one point or gives the words of one speaker, and begins on a new indented line.”
One or more sentences. Which means that one sentence can be a paragraph.
Wow, right?
This was hard for my fourth graders to accept when we started a narrative writing unit. They had worked hard to remember the rules for essays, so it took some time for them to form new habits in regard to writing fiction. But creative writing, whether it be fiction or creative nonfiction, is artistic. You use words, punctuation, and formatting to draw in a reader and affect them emotionally. That is your art form, and with art, there are no rules. Not really.
Sure, we talk about many “writing rules” on this blog, but the thing about these rules is that you only need to learn them so that you understand how to more powerfully communicate to readers. Once you understand the “writing rules,” you can choose to break those rules on purpose for the sake of your own artistic choices.
Many teachers and college professors might tell you that learning to write quality fiction is not important—that to do well in school you must learn academic writing alone. This is true to a certain extent. To succeed in college, you must pass classes in which you will be assigned plenty of academic writing. I would argue, however, that writers who understand story and character motivation, understand readers. And writers who understand readers are better academic writers than those who don’t understand readers because they understand how to effectively communicate with readers.
I had to write a thesis to earn my master’s degree, and because I was already a novelist, it came easily. Yes, I had to learn APA format and citations and how to write a literature review, but my being a novelist not only enabled me to draw readers into my academic writing, it made that academic writing easier to write.
Beyond the freedom of paragraph length, you will find many other ways that writing fiction is different from academic writing. You don’t need to provide a thesis statement or research question when writing fiction, but you will want to introduce a character with a goal. While in academic writing, you may quote multiple people in one paragraph, but in fiction, you will need to divide the dialogue (and sometimes the thoughts and actions) of different characters into separate paragraphs. Academic writing cites facts and research. Fiction spins a story with emotion and feeling, description, action, and dialogue.
So, as you write fiction, keep an open mind and commit to learning how to write powerful fiction as its own genre of writing. If you’re ever in doubt, pick up a beloved novel from your bookshelf and study it. Reading fiction can teach you everything you need to know about writing fiction, so gather a couple mentor texts and keep them handy so you can refer to them as you’re learning. Get creative. Practice playing with words. That’s part of what makes writing fiction so fun.
What is one school writing rule that you’ve found doesn’t apply to writing fiction? Share in the comments.
Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms, and the author of several young adult fantasy novels including the Blood of Kings trilogy. She loves teaching about writing. She blogs at goteenwriters.com and also posts writing videos on her YouTube channel and on Instagram. Jill is a Whovian, a Photoshop addict, and a recovering fashion design assistant. She grew up in Alaska without running water or electricity and now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two kids. Find Jill online at jillwilliamson.com or on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Jill, what kind of things do you look for in reading fiction? I’ve been trying to track plot points & developments. I get lost finding them in act 2, usually?
I haven’t done as much studying of plot structure as I do study prose, word choice, and the way different authors put words together. (Maybe I should study the structure more.) If I’m stuck on an action scene, I might go to my bookshelves and study some action scenes from some adult suspense novels. Or if I’m struggling with a romantic scene, I might read through some similar types of scenes in a few romance novels. This is something that has always helped me when I’m stuck. I want to see how other authors approached the scenes or paced them or used dialogue or description, etc. And that is often enough to inspire me in a way that fits what is happening in my story.
Not to end sentences with prepositions. Like you can’t say “Who is that for?” When people talk they sometimes end sentences with prepositions, so, I felt it was okay to ignore that rule.
Thank you for the post!!
I think ignoring grammar in dialogue is ok as well. You could also use it to show a character–one person could always use proper grammar and maybe even correct the person who doesn’t.
There’s a Churchill quote that goes something like, “The rule not to end a sentence with a preposition is a rule up with which I will not put.”
I’m with you there, Bethany Kim. And I like the Churchill quote, never heard it before but it sounds like something I’d live by.
I ignore the preposition rule too. Especially in dialogue.
I agree with Issabelle P. My 6th grade English teacher was especially strict about this.
Using synonyms for ‘said’. This was a big thing when I was younger, but now my only rules are to avoid passive voice (which applies to fiction as well) and just follow the essay format. Overall though, I’ve found what I’ve learned in school to be helpful as a writer. It definitely is a different kind of writing. The stories I wrote for school were mostly narrative with little to no showing but they still taught me very basic story structure.
Yes, I’ve seen many elementary teachers do lessons on finding more creative words for “said.” I’m always like, “Nooo!” LOL
Yeah, I had always tried to find other words to use instead of “said” until I sat in on a writing webinar and the guy there was saying that “said isn’t dead.” Now I only use another word if said is used too much in a section.
YEEEEES! This is totally me! I have to sit on my hands to heep from startinga fight (just kidding) XD
Along the lines of what Isabelle P. said, there are soo many grammar rules that can be broken in dialogue and thought! Beyond that, phrases like, “in my opinion,” and “every single…” are taboo in the essay world, are great for characterization.
It’s interesting to think about… Thank you for the post!
You’re welcome! Also, most people don’t tend to use transition words in dialogue. “Moreover, I believe we should take the offer.” Ha ha. People do say “however” sometimes, though…
In fiction writing you don’t have to put citations after every other sentence. Thank goodness, lol.
Sentence Fragments!!! (Heh, there’s one right there.) I mean, you still need to make sure it’s clear what you’re saying, of course, but you can still write a fragment without getting yelled at, right?
Riley G., I couldn’t agree more!! You can totally still write fragments in stories and get by with it.
Sentence fragments are my favorite. <3
Great post.
Thanks! 🙂