{"id":300,"date":"2012-06-21T18:27:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T18:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2012\/06\/21\/thursdays-tips-dont-lose-your-reader\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:23:15","slug":"thursdays-tips-dont-lose-your-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/thursdays-tips-dont-lose-your-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday’s Tips: Don’t Lose Your Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nReaders are willing participants in your storyworld. They
\nenter in with anticipation and willingness to let you keep (some) secrets and
\ntake them on an adventure. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBut readers come with expectations. A big key is not keeping
\nreaders in the dark. Many of the items in the list below relate with this. Here
\nare some expectations readers have as they read your book:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\nReaders expect a logical flow. <\/b>Help us see the
\nworld you\u2019ve created and the action in a logical way. Don\u2019t take leaps of logic
\nthat might lose or confuse readers. Don\u2019t suddenly mention a character who\u2019s
\nbeen in the room all the time but who wasn\u2019t revealed until he offers a remark
\n(unless you\u2019re writing a suspense). While you\u2019re following a logical path, be
\ncareful of not falling into what I call \u201cprogressive\u201d steps either. Like: Jon
\nopened the door. Jan walked through the doorway. Jon closed the door. (etc.)<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/b>Readers expect to not be lost in confusion. <\/b>It\u2019s
\nso difficult to be objective about our own writing. That\u2019s where critique
\ngroups come in handy. As writers, we picture exactly what we mean to portray,
\nbut sometimes the portrayal doesn’t work. Be clear. Step back and
\nread the passage again. Have you kept too
\n<\/i>many secrets? Be purposeful about the secrets you\u2019re keeping. A confused
\nreader is likely to give up on your book
\nand may not be eager to pick up your next one. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\nReaders expect to see a story question so they
\nknow why to keep reading.<\/b> Be clear in your own mind about the story question
\nbefore you begin the story. Include that question as early in the first chapter
\nas you can. First page is best. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/b>Readers expect to be hooked right away <\/b>(some of
\nthat is accomplished by introducing a clear story question, some by involving
\nthe reader in action early in the story). <\/b>Work to hook your reader through as many
\nmeans as you can\u2014story question, action, character sympathy, etc.\u2014as early as
\nyou can. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\nReaders expect to get to know and like<\/i> your MC (main character). <\/b>Help your
\nreaders learn about your MC. Help us understand their ordinary world, their coping mechanisms, their main problem, their fears, their goals. Give
\nyour character layers via backstory (all of which you know; some of which you\u2019ll
\nshare with your readers), and complex emotions. Always answer the question \u201cWhy?\u201d
\nwhen it comes to your character. Why does Jon do this or that? What motivates
\nhim? Why? What does he fear? Why? What does he want? Why? <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/b>Readers expect to sympathize with your MC and
\neventually to love him\/her.<\/b> Help readers like your MC by giving us something to
\nrelate (sympathize) with. People relate with what are known as \u201cuniversal themes.\u201d
\nThese themes include, a father\u2019s love, a mother\u2019s love, wanting to protect
\nchildren, justice, the need for acceptance, fear of rejection, a longing for
\nforgiveness, etc. Through deep POV (point of view), help readers relate with
\nyour MC so we sympathize. That will keep readers hooked and help meet their
\nexpectations. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\nReaders expect to understand your characters\u2019 motives,
\nincluding those of the antagonist.<\/b> This ties in with believability<\/b>, which is so key in storytelling. Yes, readers are
\nsuspending their disbelief, but even a fantasy world full of hobbits must have certain
\nelements for believability. That comes down to characterization most times and
\nincludes character motivations. Would a character who fights for justice
\nsuddenly (and without cause) choose to harm the innocent? Unless you\u2019ve provided
\nclear, believable motivation, readers will reject this thread, come to despise
\nyour character, and probably stop reading the book. Furthermore, evil characters have
\na reason for doing what they do. Demonstrate that and your readers will not only
\nbelieve in your character and his\/her involvement in the story, they\u2019ll
\nsympathize with the antagonist. (Generally the more you can help readers
\nanalyze their own thoughts, motives, feelings, the better. It\u2019s one of the ways
\nfiction works to change lives. Giving readers conflicting reasons to sympathize and care helps facilitate this.)<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\nReaders
\nexpect to suspend disbelief for the sake of story<\/b> (which still involves logical
\nflow). Readers will willingly follow, as I\u2019ve stated above, so long as you
\nkeep them engaged without introducing unbelievable elements. Remember, they
\nwant to go along for the roller coaster ride. But it\u2019s the writer\u2019s job to keep
\nthem belted into the car. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\nReaders
\nexpect clear point of view without head-hopping.<\/b> Lastly for our
\nnon-exhaustive list, I\u2019ll discuss point of view. Part of why readers get lost
\nor confused in our stories is that the writer includes what\u2019s called head-hopping.
\nBe clear about point of view. Use one character per scene and\/or chapter. Don\u2019t
\nswitch into omniscient point of view. Take advantage of deep POV to not only
\ngive us the elements of the story, but to also give us more reasons to love
\nyour MC. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nExample of omniscient POV: <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe sun
\nshone on the mountain top, highlighting the snowy ridges in pink. Villagers
\nawakened from deep sleep and dreams of holiday celebrations. Everyone anticipated
\nthe huge Christmas extravaganza that afternoon. Bakers everywhere mixed up
\nsweet treats to tempt the attendees. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nInstead, try helping us get into
\nthe MC\u2019s head:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe sun hadn\u2019t even risen by the
\ntime Christine Carson found herself in the kitchen. How in the world would she
\nget five pies baked and three cakes frosted by herself? This was her chance to
\nmake a good impression. Her chance to get Tom\u2019s attention. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSee how we get immersed into the story elements? We can
\nrelate with Christine. We can guess what others in the village are doing, but
\nwe can\u2019t know unless our main character knows and decides to mention it. (By
\nthe way, only mention extra information if in deed, it isn\u2019t \u201cextra.\u201d Be
\nspecific about where you choose to use your story\u2019s words.)<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis isn\u2019t an exhaustive list, as I\u2019ve said. What are other
\nways that readers can be lost in the dark, so to speak, when it comes to
\nbeginning a story? And how have you overcome them?<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Readers are willing participants in your storyworld. They enter in with anticipation and willingness to let you keep (some) secrets and take them on an adventure.  But readers come with expectations. A big key is not keeping readers in the dark. Many of the items in the list below relate with this. Here are some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[169,138],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-readers-expectations","tag-thursdays-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}