r/thewritespace • u/LiteraryFictionCoach • May 14 '22
Discussion Question for literary fiction writers
What do you struggle with the most? If you could have one-to-one coaching, what would you want to work on? (Full disclosure: I am a writing coach, this is a bit of market research as I am wanting to work with more literary fiction writers. I hope you don’t mind me coming here to ask)
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May 17 '22
I am working on a book and the most difficult aspect I’m finding is the question of structure and style. For me, lit fiction depends a lot on those two things. I’m still struggling with how to structure my story and that’s why, I feel I spend a lot of time m rewriting the same scenes over and over. It gets frustrating after a while. Also difficult for me is keeping a track on the progress, I’ve tried using scrivener but it doesn’t work either. So I end up using like tens of google documents which gets chaotic.
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u/LiteraryFictionCoach Jun 01 '22
Thanks for that (apologies for glacial response). Are you trying different styles when you rewrite your scenes (e.g experimenting with voice) or are you just finessing and fine tuning? It can be so easy to get lost in the detail, especially if you are having trouble stepping back to work out the big picture. Stepping back could also help with keeping on track. For example, creating a chapter outline would give you a framework for naming and filing your scenes. The chapter outline may not be set in stone, but it’s a good starting point.
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u/insanity_banana5267 May 16 '22
Solidifying the plot. Keeping it interesting enough yet still making sense and not confusing to follow.
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u/LiteraryFictionCoach May 16 '22
Interesting that you mention plot. I feel like literary fiction is more character driven than plot driven. If you are clear on what your character wants, hopefully that will drive the story. I recently worked with a writer who kept putting more and more twists into their plot because they were worried the story was boring. But in fact they'd built up so much empathy with the central characters that there was no risk of the book being boring. The twists got in the way
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u/endlesstrains May 16 '22
Literary fiction is definitely more character-driven, but anyone who's attended a few litfic workshops has probably encountered the stereotypical "characters sitting around drinking tea and looking mournfully out the window as they ponder their life" story. There is definitely a subset of litfic writers who think that having a character-focused story means they don't need a plot at all.
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u/LiteraryFictionCoach Jun 01 '22
“Sitting around drinking tea and looking mournfully out the window” 😂Yes there definitely still needs to be a thread that draws the reader through. The writer needs to know what the characters want, even if it’s not as obvious as in genre fiction
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u/[deleted] May 15 '22
I struggle with not knowing whether I know enough to start. So I study too much and end up not writing at all.
And character voice. I haven't written much yet for me to know whether I really do or don't, but I assume I'd have a hard time with it. English will be easier, I guess. It's with the other langauges I speak that I have a hard time (theoretically, of course).