Hey Guys!
So I'm starting to dabble in some fiction writing, and I was wondering if any fiction writers on here could give me any helpful tips.
Right now I'm in a doctoral program and working with my Center for Healthcare Ethics as a graduate research assistant, so my writing is just a side project at the moment. I'm working on a fantasy novel with some ethical/philosophy of religion undertones, sort of in the Randian story-telling fashion. I'm now up to the writing stage, and I've done all of the world and character building along with the outline of the narrative.
The problem I'm having is that 99% of my writing experience has been academic in nature, and, stylistically, it has all been analytical or argumentative approaches to philosophical/ethical subjects. So I'm running into the problems of information dumps and a logical (as opposed to a creative) writing style that solves problems analytically rather than taking creative approaches to the narrative's problems.
The obvious answer is to just read more fiction, specifically the genre that I'm planning to write in. Over the years, I've read some from Martin (G.o.T.) and Tolkien (TLOTR) and several others, and I'm even more familiar with their cinematic adaptations. But I'm already reading approximately 400 pages a week for my program and research, so that's not really feasible.
Is there any helpful tips or methods to avoid information dumps and an analytical approach?
What I have so far reads more like a movie/episode script than a novel. How can I move away from that type of writing to a more "novel-esque" type of creative writing?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!