Fiction-writing modes

A fiction-writing mode is a manner of writing with its own set of conventions regarding how, when, and where it should be used.

Fiction is a form of narrative, one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse. Fiction-writing also has distinct forms of expression, or modes, each with its own purposes and conventions. Currently, there is no consensus within the writing community regarding the number and composition of fiction-writing modes and their uses. Some writing modes suggested include action, dialogue, thoughts, summary, scene, description, background, exposition and transition.

The concept of fiction-writing modes has evolved over time. For many years, fiction writing was described has having two types: narration and dialogue. Evan Marshall, in The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing (1998) noted that writers should know what they are doing at all times. He described what he called fiction-writing modes—the types of writing of which all fiction is made. He listed five modes: action, summary, dialogue, feelings/thoughts, and background, each with its own set of conventions regarding how, when, and where it should be used.

As a fiction-writing mode, narration is how the narrator communicates directly to the reader. This contrasts with the use of the term "narration" as a rhetorical mode of discourse, where it has a broader meaning which encompasses all written fiction.

Description is the fiction-writing mode for transmitting a mental image of the particulars of a story. Together with dialogue, narration, exposition, and summarization, description is one of the most widely recognized of the fiction-writing modes. Description is more than the amassing of details, it is bringing a scene to life by carefully choosing and arranging words and phrases to produce the desired effect.

Broadly defined, exposition is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse. Within the context of fiction-writing modes, exposition is used to convey information. Exposition may be used to add drama to a story, but too much exposition at one time may slow the pace of the story.

, or narrative summary, condenses events to convey, rather than to show, what happens within a story. The "tell" in the axiom "Show, don't tell" is often in the form of summarization. Summarization may be used to:

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