Contemporary fiction is a popular genre that involves stories about the real and modern world. Therefore, writers who craft these stories create characters, settings, and circumstances that are believable.
One thing to keep in mind is that contemporary fiction is set in modern, rather than historical or future, settings (in other words, in the present rather than in the past or future). These types of stories can be interesting, inspiring, motivating, and captivating.
If you want to learn how to write contemporary fiction novels, keep reading to access some helpful tips.
Create a Plot Around a Current Topic That People Are Interested In
Because you can’t have your characters go on a fantastical adventure like you can with sci-fi or fantasy novels, when sitting down to come up with plot ideas for a contemporary novel, try to think of issues that are currently having an impact on society or on a group of people.
You might even decide to focus on an issue that’s affecting people in a particular part of the world. If it’s relatable and it gets readers thinking and emotionally involved, it’s a topic that’s likely worth pursuing.
Consider Characters and Their Relationships to One Another
Another tip for writing great contemporary fiction is to focus on the characters that will play important roles in your story, and their relationships to one another. Again, because it’s contemporary fiction, you want your characters to be believable.
Readers should be able to imagine themselves interacting with the same types of people in real life. Remember, your characters should exhibit thoughts and behaviors that modern people would exhibit.
Think About How You Can Motivate Your Readers
The nice thing about contemporary fiction is that it gives you the chance to write about topics that are important to you. If you’re setting your story in a modern-day high school, for example, you can focus your plot on the struggles that today’s teens go through and the methods that they have to cope with those struggles.
By creating conflicts that your target audience can relate to, you can deliver a positive message that may inspire and motivate them to improve themselves and their situations.
Don’t Be Afraid of Making Edits
It can take a long time to write a novel. From the time you come up with your plot, settings, and characters to the actual writing and editing of your manuscript, it might take months or years before you’re done. Because you’re writing contemporary fiction, this might become a problem if too much time goes by and your topic becomes less important or totally irrelevant. So, if you have to, make edits, especially as you’re writing your novel, so you can keep it current and relevant.
Check Your Work Often
As you write, you might inadvertently veer off course. Are you accidentally including some elements that aren’t so modern or relatable? Maybe your story is teetering on fantasy. Be sure to check in and remind yourself that you’re writing contemporary fiction so you can stick with the genre’s characteristics.
Hopefully, the tips above will guide you as you write an amazing contemporary fiction novel. Just remember that the most important thing is to get started. Once you generate one idea, such as one character and conflict, you might discover that more ideas come through, and before you know it, your entire story will be complete.
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