![](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-b5dJYmotKYE\/T482KqDpKXI\/AAAAAAAADJs\/-VcDdrK4Srw\/s1600\/Carroting.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n\nI promise to get down to writing in a minute here. Do you remember when \u201cplate\u201d
\nbecame a verb in cooking circles? The food channels and recent popularity of cooking obsessions necessitated
\nthe term to refer to how a chef presents a well-cooked meal. The term is
\nplating. \u201cLet\u2019s plate up this masterpiece. It\u2019s all in the presentation.\u201d <\/div>\n
\nme explain. When you, as the writer, keep things from your readers, you \u201ccarrot\u201d
\nthem along\u2014as in bait them to follow you. This is a necessary technique. You
\ndon\u2019t want to not<\/i> do this! However,
\nyou also don\u2019t want to overdo it either. <\/div>\n
\nreader\u2019s interest. It\u2019s a tool of engagement. And keeping readers engaged is
\nkey, right? But there\u2019s a fine line, and there are some techniques to keep in
\nmind. Plus, no matter what, you\u2019ll always have some carroting going on because
\nyou need to keep that story question in question until near the end of the
\nstory.\n<\/div>\n
\ncan you best use this \u201ccarroting\u201d technique? <\/div>\n
\nchapters have enough question marks (in the sense of unanswered questions).
\nReaders are trying to get into your story world, to get to know the characters,
\nto discern the story question, the stakes, the genre elements specific to your
\nwork. They\u2019re trying to bond with your POV character, to sympathize, to find
\nsome common ground. They\u2019re trying to get into that character\u2019s head. Deep POV
\nhelps them do this. However, if you bait them with senselessly unanswered
\nquestions, you won\u2019t make friends with your readers. There had better be a good
\nreason for not divulging information. We\u2019re in his\/her head, and
\ns\/he knows why Aunt So-and-So is standing on the front porch carrying a
\nshotgun. Let\u2019s hear it. <\/div>\n
\ngive your manuscript a read. They\u2019ll tell you. <\/div>\n
\nthat the point-of-view character obviously knows the answers, and if we\u2019re in
\ndeep POV, we should too. Otherwise, the secret-keeping feels contrived, forced,
\nartificial. (Now, there are times when the POV character does not <\/i>know the answer. In mysteries, for example. Great! Carry
\non with secret-keeping.) So, your best strategy is to know deep POV (First KEY)<\/b>. Study it and practice it. Editors can
\ntell if you get POV or not and we can tell if you\u2019re using \u201ccarroting\u201d incorrectly,
\nas your main<\/i> means to keep readers engaged,
\nespecially where that opening chapter is concerned. <\/div>\n
\nmore than one means of engaging the reader. Use character sympathy, action,
\nsuspenseful elements, etc., to keep your reader engaged. Don\u2019t have one inane secret,
\nwhich just happens to be your main POV character\u2019s secret, be the only means of
\nhooking the reader. Have more things up your sleeve.<\/div>\n
\nfirst chapter. <\/div>\n
\n(engaged) in the story, particularly in that all-important opening chapter. (Especially
\nif it\u2019s obvious the POV character is dancing around the answer.)<\/div>\n
\ndoesn\u2019t mean share everything the POV character knows, but it definitely
\npertains to not keeping readers in the dark. <\/div>\n
\ngreat presentation!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let\u2019s begin with another foodie term first though, shall we? I promise to get down to writing in a minute here. Do you remember when \u201cplate\u201d became a verb in cooking circles? The food channels and recent popularity of cooking obsessions necessitated the term to refer to how a chef presents a well-cooked meal. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1073,"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":[10,23],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-writing-craft","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","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=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}