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WRITING POPULAR FICTION BY DEAN R. KOONTZ WRITER'S DIGEST • CINCINNATI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Podkayne of Mars is copyright 1963, by Robert A. Heinlein, and is published in hardcovers by G.P. Putnams Sons. The Puppet Masters is copyright 1951, by Robert A. Heinlein, and is published in hardcovers by Doubleday and Company, Inc. The sections from these works appearing in this book are reprinted by permission of the author and his agent Lurton Blassingame. Quotations from Thorns, Nightwings, and The Masks of Time are copyright 1967, 1968, and 1969 by Robert Silver-berg, and are reprinted by permission of the author and his agent Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc. Big Planet is copyright 1957 by Jack Vance and is quoted by permission of the author. Don't Lie to Me is copyright 1972 by Tucker Coe, published in hardcovers by Random House, and is quoted by permission of the author and his agent Henry Morrison. Legacy of Terror, Demon Child are copyright 1971 by Deanna Dwyer and are quoted by permission of the author. The Haunted Earth is copyright 1973 by Dean R. Koontz. The appearance of the original sample chapter and outline, from which it was sold, is by permission of Lancer Books. Design: Fred Lieberman Second printing, 1974. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-92664 ISBN 0-911654-21-6 Writer's Digest 9933 Alliance Rd., Cincinnati, Ohio 45242 Copyright © 1972 by Dean R. Koontz. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America
To Lynne Ellinwood, whose suggestions made this a much better book than it might have been, And to Robert Hoskins, who taught me most of what I'm now teaching, with apologies for beating him to the punch with this book
A NOTE TO THE READER This book can be valuable to the new writer. It provides insights into category fiction, offers suggestions not to be found elsewhere, and ought to save you time and rejection slips on the way to a sound, professional writing career. I will be pleased to hear from anyone who, having read the book, feels he's gained from it. However, spare me letters that say: —"You forgot to mention theme!" I didn't forget. I neglected it on purpose. The theme, the "meaning" of a story, is not something you can sit down and plan out ahead of time. Or, anyhow, it shouldn't be. Theme should grow from your characters and your plot, naturally, almost subconsciously. If you sit down to deliver a Great Message to the reader, above all else, then you are an essayist, not a novelist. —"Some of these writers whose books you recommend are not really that terribly good." I know. For the most part, I've tried to point you to the best people in each field. But, occasionally, a mediocre writer achieves such stunning success that he must be mentioned in the discussion of his genre. If, out of the hundreds of books I recommend, I steer you to a couple of bums, please realize that you can learn something from those bums, if only the taste of a large part of that genre's readership. -"You list seven science fiction plot types, but I have found an eighth!" Okay. But it may be the only one of its kind; and with enough thought and enough familiarity with the field-Western, suspense, science fiction or whatever—you probably will find it fits into my list just fine. —"You don't show us how to make writing easy!" I know I don't. It's hard work, and it's frustrating, and it's lonely. I'm writing this to inform you, not deceive you. So set to work, and good luck!
CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Hammer, Nails, and Wood Science Fiction and Fantasy Suspense Mysteries Gothic-Romance Westerns Erotica The Most Important Chapter in This Book Other Questions Practicalities: Questions and Answers Marketing Category Fiction: Questions and Answers
CHAPTER ONE Hammer, Nails, and Wood Basically, there are two general kinds of modern fiction: category and "mainstream." The first includes