How can I transition from academic writing to fiction writing?

Question

I always receive the same critique when I write fiction. The critique is good for my characters and plot, but I am told that my writing style is stiff, awkward and amateurish. When I wrote academic papers for university, I was often praised for my eloquence, but apparently that writing style does not work for fiction. What resources can I turn to, or what can I do in order to develop a strong writing style for fiction?When I posed this question to a handful of experts, I was told to read a lot of fiction. I read fiction rather obsessively, and I have done so ever since I was a child, so that does not appear to help.

Answer 1

Most of us speak way better than we write. Maybe we've just had more practice but good writing usually sounds conversational, clear and concise. I have found the best way to avoid academic writing and wordiness is to read your writing aloud. For example, you read your first sentence. You hear it is dense and long and lacks energy. This is what you do next; it's also what I do next. It goes something like this: I read the sentence aloud and then I interview myself. I say, "Shelley, what are you trying to say?" Then I make sure I'm not looking at the written word and I say aloud, "I'm trying to say that ... he just turned around and walked out the door." Then I hear it and know that's a far better sentence than the unnecessarily complicated one I'd written which basically says the same thing, SO I quickly write it down. If I don't, I wind up back with my dull and overly long sentencel. Over time you'll hear your voice as you write and you will have eliminated the verbiage. Certainly there's room for great longer words and sentences but not often.

Also, a svariety of sentence type and length is so helpful. I recommend short paragraphs which are highly readable, a short sentence or even a one word sentence occasionally, a question, a quote, dialogue, a very long sentence and so on...

And when you begin to edit down what you've written, read it aloud to hear what may be repetitive, unnecessary, unauthentic, i.e., not feeling really true. You also want to delete words that don't add content. As Strunk and White say, don't use five words when four will do. Don't use four words when three will do and so on...

Also, ask yourself whether your writer's voice sounds like a real person telling a story. Finally, If you keep a journal, chances are you write exactly the way you may want to write fiction.

Hope that helps,

Shelley L.

Answer 2

To transition from a formal to an informal writing style I would suggest that you some what forget your academic style of writing. Fiction is entirely imaginative which does not correspond to academic writing which is based on structure. Allow yourself to think freely when you want to write something fiction-based!