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Sometimes I get questions from very young would-be waiters and I welcome them. I was a teen age writer. Yes, most of my efforts at fiction were dumb and melodramatic dribble , but I was learning. One of the things that good fiction MUST have is conflict. Even romance writers, although they follow the same formula every time,they use conflict. Why is that important? To put it simply, if your hero is happy - your reader won't be.
Readers like a challenge. They like to try o guess who killed who? And why? Good authors like Larry Block and Harlan Coben use conflict all the time. For instance, if the detective asks the suspect, "Where were you on the night of June third?" Instead of answering the question, the suspect always answers with a question. "Why do you want to know ?" And this answering questions with questions may go on for several pages. It shows CONFLICT.
Another trick of good fiction is called "fore-shadowing" The first chapter or maybe the Foreword may have the hero standing over the grave stone. And he hears, what he perspires the murderer , approaching on soft footsteps. Now, you must admit that arouses all kinds of curiosity. And the answer to that one probably won't come until the last chapter or the Afterworrd.
All of this is just "tricks of the trade." And make no mistake, really good fiction is full of the tricks. How do you learn them? Is there a secret book of the tricks?" No. You learn them by reading good fiction, but not as a casual reader, but as one who is on the lookout for the tricks or gimmicks the good author uses to keep the reader - reading. Reading for pleasure is fine. Bu if you wish to be a writer each book of fiction you read every novel like a textbook.
Until next time, take care and stay safe.
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