Let's Talk About the Reader

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Every writer is a reader and every reader is a writer. Really. Not every writer writes stories or poems or magazine articles. Some write technical papers, reviews, emails, grocery lists, Facebook entries. Any kind of writing makes you a writer. A reader, though, is special.

• A reader is the only reason books are read. They give the book worth.
• A reader changes a writer. The simple act of buying a book tells the writer that what she/he does is worthwhile. That someone besides the writer cares.
• A reader can change future books. When a reader gives feedback through ratings, reviews, or emails, the writer learns what the reader likes and does not like. The writer then decides if the reader's feedback can help the writer better articulate the writer's vision.
• The reader grows as a person by being a reader. There are ideas in books, not just stories. Ideas that a reader can consciously or unconsciously incorporate into the reader's worldview. Attitudes about people, violence, love, good and evil, and perseverance.

A reader is a very special person, not just in view of sales, but in light of what the reader can do for the world. Books are a way to limit and expand a reader's potential. Even the most escapist book can affect a reader in profound or subtle ways. A reader has little or no responsibility for a writer unless the reader chooses to become involved. But a writer has a duty to every reader who picks up that writer's books. To provide a good time. To present ideas that will let the reader grow as a person. To be a writer that the reader can depend on to fulfill that reader's wants and needs.

Chase Scenes: the Mental Element

Oddly, there is very little out on the internet under “writing chase scenes” and “mental” or “emotional”. So I had to figure all this out the hard way... studying lots and lots of chase scenes. Hopefully this series of posts will make things a little easier for future learners.

The mental world is where most of the tension an suspense is found – because even a chase scene is about the character more than it is about the action. The chase takes on importance to the reader only through the character because it is experienced through the character's point of view. The chase scene needs to be a very emotional experience for both the character and the writer. This means letting the reader into the view point character's inner world.

• World: The mental world is full of the character's reactions, evaluations, frustrations, and goals. These can be explicitly stated through thought, shown through action, or implied. If you choose to imply something (especially if you are new to this technique or the scene has failed a beta read), run the sequence by a test reader to make sure they intuit what you mean to imply.
• Limits: The character should have inner limits. This can be set patterns of thought that make it difficult for her to execute a successful pursuit or escape. Or maybe she assumes something about the opponent(s) that is not true. Or she has never learned to travel by rooftop or hide her tracks. All of this limits what she considers as possibilities – until you force her into a situation where she must do one of those things she has never considered (in which case her ignorance, etc. becomes an obstacle.)
• Obstacles: Inner obstacles must be overcome. Inner limits become inner obstacles only when the character must overcome them. Not all limits are obstacles but it is a sure way to raise the stakes! Suppose she not only does not know how to travel by roof-top (and it would never occur to her as a way to travel) but she is afraid of heights. Then make it the only way she can escape (or the person she must catch goes for the roofs). Limits + situation = inner obstacles.
• Action: The mental element should be in constant flux. Certainty gives way to bafflement. Complacency gives way to fear. Over, over, and over. Faster and faster. And as the scene progresses, her perceptions turn darker, more fearful, more disoriented. And more reactive as the pressures build from the inside and the outside. How your character reacts show very clearly where she is in her character arc (if you have one).

Meet the Readeer (cartoon)

(Phot Credit: Pinterest)

Chase Scenes: the Reader Element

The chase scene should be written (or revised) with the reader in mind. Like with any other type of scene, the reader interacts with the character or characters but the reader is not the character. Just because the character experiences the chase scene in a certain way does not necessarily mean the reader will have the same experience.

• World: The reader's experience is limited by the scene's point(s) of view. The fast pace of chase scenes does not leave a lot of room for details. Grounding the reader (time, place, season, etc.) can done (at least in part) indirectly. Every time thee character changes location – which happens a lot in a chase scene – you need to reorient the reader in some way. A possible exception is if the character is lost or disoriented.
• Limits: The reader is limited by how much the reader cares about the character, how well grounded the reader is, and how clearly you write.
• Obstacles: Logic. The sequence in writing is: physical stimulus → internal reaction → physical response. In chase scenes,the pace is fast and one step is sometimes assumed. This is fine – even desirable – so long as the action still makes sense to the reader. A break in logic occurs when the reader is not sure why the character reacted the way he just did. This is the danger of omitting steps. (If the character is not sure why he responded a certain way, the reader needs to know this. That confusion becomes the next internal reaction.)
• Action: You could say that the reader's involvement varies throughout the scene according to whether you are providing questions or answers. The “questions” would be what builds tension, uncertainty, suspense. The “answers” are what brings closure, temporary resolution, certainty. Readers become involved in questions and try to guess the answers to small questions (what happens next?), big questions (will they catch her?) and size in-between. At the same time, they can become frustrated by too many questions and not enough answers. Try overlapping your questions and answers for maximum reader involvement and satisfaction.

Need for Enthusiasm in Writing

Whether you are writing for yourself or for an audience, I think one key to success is to write what you want to read. This means having enthusiasm, passion, and curiosity. When one of these feelings wanes, you can dig deep for another and stoke the fires.

• If you want to read your WIP, you are more likely to finish the first draft. After all, you want to know what happens, right? For now, just get those ideas down on paper.
• If you are enthusiastic, you are more likely to do thorough revisions. Your desire to make your work as close to your idea as possible virtually requires revisions – whether you do those revisions as you go or as multiple drafts. The less your enthusiasm for seeing your idea in its pure form, the more likely you are to makes short-cuts.
• If you want to read it, other readers like you will want to read it. After all, there other people who enjoy the books you enjoy.
• If you are enthusiastic, your enthusiasm will come across to your readers. Enthusiasm for your idea can come across in creative action scenes, resonant reaction scenes, colorful characters, and rich details.
• If you want to write it, it is probably worth writing. As a reader and writer, you have an innate sense of what makes for a “good” story”. Trust those instincts. It may need revisions to highlight the best elements but the uncut gem is in your good idea.

Raise Reader Tension: The Unknown

 Introduce the Unknown and you will have the reader on edge -- an immediate increase in
reader tension. You can do this at any point. I think Middles are particularly well-suited for doing this since Beginings are for set-up, Endings are for wrap-ups, but Middles are for complications. And what is more intriguing and unsettling  to the reader than an "I know something you don't know"? Especially right when the reader is getting complacent.

English: Hampoil cave entrance from inner angle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Foreshadowing in prose, allusions in dialogue, or unexplained events are just a few ways to raise reader tension. Some of this might be plotted into your first draft but if you have places that sag but are necesary to the story, you can add elements of the unknown to draw the reader back into the story.
        Look for ways you can rewrite the scene so the characters explore a new area (a cave, empty building, new sector of the city. A place neither the characteer nor the reader has ever been before.
        Look for places where you tell back-story or history directly and without conflict. Or brainstorm back-story or history that is not included in the story but you wish you could have included. Turn this into a secret to be kept from the reader (and maybe the character) that must be discovered through hints and clues given out by various characters and settings.
        Take a character who is important (but maybe not vital) to the story and rewrite your manuscript so the reader never actually meets this character.
        Take your time when introducing a new character or setting. The reader doesn't need to know everything at once. In fact, the reader doesn't need to know everything at all just so long as you know. Show the action and take your time with the explanations. (Some explanations can wait longer than others.)
Introduce uncertainty, mystery, indecision -- the unknown -- to increase reader tension. Raise reader tension to help tighten the sagging, dragging passages of your manuscript.

Raise Reader Tension: Main Characters

         How can you increase reader tension? I mentioned that it isn't the character that has to feel the tension but the reader. One way to achieve this is through tweaks to your main characters. Remember that surprise is key to reader tension.

English: A thermite reaction using Ferric Oxide. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        One reason readers become complacent is that over time, they learn to predict character reactions. This is especially true in the middle -- after character has been established. By the middle, readers think they know everything there is to know about the character. If you allow this, there is risk that the reader will get bored.
Use their assumptions against them while remaining true to the character you have created.
        Give your character an unexpected reaction. Unexpected to the reader, that is. You will have to justify the reaction and the readers will see that there is more to the characters than they thought, maybe an unmet need, controversial belief, previously unrevealed back-story.

NOTE: this works best if you set up reader expectations before challenging those beliefs. Find several similar situations in your manuscript that evoke the same reaction. Then insert or alter a situation that is almost identical except that it includes a personal trigger that will cause the character to react differently. The reader will be surprised, confused, intrigued. The different reaction will put the reader on edge until the change of behavior is explained (in a way that stays true to character). Done right, you can also deepen character with this technique.

        Another way to use your main character to raise reader tension is to exploit his/her character arc. A character becomes predictable when turning points are delayed for too long, lack surprise twists, or have steps that do not offer enough change in character outlook/motive/behavior.
        These techniques should help you to keep your reader guessing and engaged with your main characters. Keep the reader unsure, keep the surprises coming, and you will be well on your way to raising reader tension.

Raise Reader Tension: Surprise

Tightrope Walker (Photo credit: the other Martin Taylor)

        Does your story drag when you reread it, despite a well-conceived plot? You may be having trouble with dramatic tension. A feeling of tension in the reader is vital to building suspense because it keeps the reader from feeling complacent.
        Reader complacency is the enemy to tension. A reader can still feel complacent -- and bored --  even when faced with the fastest, most action-packed plot.
        How can this be?
         The complacent reader knows what is going to happen. So even when the character is surprised, the reader is not. Predictability is the enemy to dramatic tension.
It is not necessary for the character to feel the tension, so long as the reader feels it.
        After all, the character isn't the one reading the book, turning the pages, making the decision whether or not to put the book down or stay up through the night. Tension in the reader overlaps with -- but is not identical to -- tension in the viewpoint character.
You can fight complacency with uncertainty. Not uncertainty in the character (though that can help) but uncertainty in the reader.
        Surprise the reader.

Boost Your Creativity: Study Your Readers

reading (Photo credit: rachel sian)

       Readers are a finicky bunch. They pick up your book with certain expectations in mind. They want their expectations to be met, but they also want to be surprised. To keep them turning the page, you need to know how your readers think.
       Reader expectations are partly drawn from genre and category. Genre expectations can affect plots, characters, and settings. Category expectations can affect voice, point-of-view, and taboos. Romance is the biggest market right now and I just got back from a romance writers' convention, so let's look at an example using Romance as the genre and Young Adult as a category. The main plot would be a romance plot where two people are attracted to one another but something keeps them apart. They overcome obstacles (usually growing ass people in the process). And they live happily ever after (depending somewhat on the category). Readers also have expectations based on category. Young Adult is typically written in a very deep point-of view. Characters deal with growing-up issues as well as the standard inner and outer conflicts. Young Adult main characters fall within a specific age range (I think it is 12-16) even though readers of Young Adult are often older than this. Readers expect school-aged characters to attend school so this expectation also affects setting. You can imagine the taboos associated with Young Adult books since they are often censored. The point is: the reader has expectations and if you don't meet these expectations, the reader is unhappy and probably won't read your next book (or poem). If the first few pages (some readers are more lenient) look like it isn't the book they are expecting, they might even stop reading right there.
       Reader expectations are partly drawn from what they have read in the past. This is why clichés and stereotypes are bad. Romance readers expect the plot described above -- they even know when picking up the book that the two characters will live happily ever after -- but they still want to be surprised, scared, and delighted. Readers of paranormal still like vampires but only if it is a vampire they haven't met before. Maybe a mobster or a cowboy. Experienced readers think they know every trick, every twist -- and like to guess what is coming next. But like even more to be surprised. The point is: read, read, and read so you can anticipate, misdirect, and surprise your readers.
       Readers also have unconscious expectations for story structure. It's true! Many a beta reader has read a book with poorly planned plot points and been disappointed. Adjust the spacing of the plot points, or the type of plot point, and the beta reader goes away happy. So many writers have told me this story! Nearly every book follows a common plot structure. Several workshop speakers told me that the most common reason for a sagging middle (or beginning or end) in a story is one or more delayed plot points. A story that feels rushed and unsatisfying for a reader probably has one or more major plot point that happens too soon. So study plot structure. If nothing else, it will help with pacing. We'll look later at how plot points can help you be more creative even if you don't like or use outlines.
       Studying reader expectations forces you to be more creative. There are expectations to meet and expectations to avoid. You navigate a land-mine field with a particular destination in mind. To do this successfully, you have to use your head. You have to scheme. And that is where we will be for the next three days.

Paulsen (quote) to readers everywhere

“If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that can’t be in books.
The book needs you.”
― Gary Paulsen

Bookworms will rule the world!

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"Hey" is for Horses

I hadn't met this pony before and as I put the camera up, this was his response!! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Hey, hey". That's how I greet the horses every morning. I'm not much of a "hey, you" kind of girl but it it fits for horses because of how it sounds. Playing with words is probably natural to writers. And when I find I'm doing it, it makes me smile. It can make readers smile, too, or roll their eyes. So where do you draw the line?

• Style: It is all in your style. The richness of your voice, your playfulness, all set the reader up for the tongue in cheek or unusual turn of phrase.
• Character: When playing with words in dialogue or thought, some characters do it more naturally than others. If you are going to do it, you probably should make it a character trait and have the character play with words several times. One time will stand out but not necessarily in a good way. Make this a real trait and not just a behavior for laughs. What kind of character would say or think such a thing? A person with a certain kind of depth and certain sense of humor.
• Reader: Everything is for the reader. This does not mean that your word play needs to be so blatant that it is caught by every reader. It does mean you should remember that your reader probably will not catch a play of words that is an inside joke only between you and your friends. But they might.

“I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual”
― Virginia Woolf

Killing Characters

Français : Abbaye de Saint-Hilaire, Aude (11), Sarcophage de Saint-Sernin face avant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remember the first time I killed a character. I cried for a day and then resurrected him. I've since gotten better at killing them. One of my writer friends once said “I kill people for a living”. I don't know if she was quoting someone else, but her words stuck with me. She meant to be funny, but characters die, sometimes through old age but often violently. Even certain sub-genres of romance are not immune to this – paranormal and romantic suspense come leaping to mind. And writers are responsible. But good writers are responsible killers, they don't do this for no reason. A writer kills a character only for a good reason... or several reasons.

• Mortality: There is nothing like seeing a dead person or animal to remind the reader that the protagonist, too, is mortal and can die. The reader will worry for the character even though the reader knows (almost knows) that the main character will survive in the end.
• Stakes: There are higher stakes than personal survival but the main character can't face them if he or she is dead! The death of a character may raise the stakes because the protagonist can feel his or her own death approaching. Or the death means that one of those higher goals has been threatened temporarily defeated.
• Isolation: The death of a character close to the protagonist weakens or destroys the protagonist's support system. Maybe the other supporting characters are afraid of dying but more often the main character is afraid of placing them in danger and so pulls away. In this way, the protagonist is temporarily weakened (but can become stronger as a result), has something new to worry about, and must rely on him/herself to take on the bad guy. Killing a character close to the protagonist can be crucial to enabling that one-on-one final stand-off.
• Character: It says a lot about a character (and the author) when he comes face-to-face with death. The initial reaction, the coping strategies, the conflict, and the resolution all reveal character and can be a catalyst for character change.
• Reality: Any genre examines life. Death is an inescapable part of living so the inclusion of death in some form will make your WIP more complete, more faceted, more resonant with readers. Also, consider what you character is up against. If her life is on the line, a death or two along the way reminds the reader of this.
• Dimensions: I realize it sounds like I am only talking about physical death here, but remember there are many types of death (physical, professional, psychological. Choose your deaths according to your genre, theme, stakes, and character fears.

Related articles

• Death and the Writer (laurashepperson.wordpress.com)
• When blood-soaked hands are a good thing... (coffee2words.wordpress.com)

Revealing Information: The Reader and the Main Character

Balance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I see it, there are several ways this can fall out. Usually the reader learns something at the same time as the main character (MC). This makes sense because the MC is most often the point of view character. Also, the MC need to learn that something to move the story forward. And if you hold back too much from readers, they will become frustrated or bored and BAM! The book closes never to be opened again. But there are benefits to disturbing the status quo...

• POV superior knowledge: when the POV character – especially an antagonist! – knows something that the reader doesn't know (and the reader knows this), the reader will want to learn the secret and will read on for a while. How long depends in part on the genre and how often you have pulled this trick in the past and with how many other POV characters. This technique does not work well for close POV.
• Temporary reader superior knowledge: the reader can learn something the MC is unaware of if you introduce the information during a different POV scene or an omnipotent passage (but those are tricky). Most times this technique is used to heighten tension and suspense because the MC is in more danger than he or she knows. This lets the MC be blindsided without sacrificing the logical flow of events. It is okay for an event to seem a bolt-from-the-blue to the MC so long as the reader knows the logic and cause of the event.
• Long-term reader superior knowledge: Other times the MC never finds out everything the reader learns. If the MC doesn't need to know, then why bore readers by repeating what they already know? This can be a useful way to tie-up loose ends that no longer affect the MC. And it can give the reader a sense of superiority.

The Reader's Bill of Rights

o-delaisse:

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Let's Talk About the Reader

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Every writer is a reader and every reader is a writer. Really. Not every writer writes stories or poems or magazine articles. Some write technical papers, reviews, emails, grocery lists, Facebook entries. Any kind of writing makes you a writer. A reader, though, is special.

• A reader is the only reason books are read. They give the book worth.
• A reader changes a writer. The simple act of buying a book tells the writer that what she/he does is worthwhile. That someone besides the writer cares.
• A reader can change future books. When a reader gives feedback through ratings, reviews, or emails, the writer learns what the reader likes and does not like. The writer then decides if the reader's feedback can help the writer better articulate the writer's vision.
• The reader grows as a person by being a reader. There are ideas in books, not just stories. Ideas that a reader can consciously or unconsciously incorporate into the reader's worldview. Attitudes about people, violence, love, good and evil, and perseverance.

A reader is a very special person, not just in view of sales, but in light of what the reader can do for the world. Books are a way to limit and expand a reader's potential. Even the most escapist book can affect a reader in profound or subtle ways. A reader has little or no responsibility for a writer unless the reader chooses to become involved. But a writer has a duty to every reader who picks up that writer's books. To provide a good time. To present ideas that will let the reader grow as a person. To be a writer that the reader can depend on to fulfill that reader's wants and needs.