You know, I really hate it when someone catches me crying over a book.
I surreptitiously dab at the corners of my eyes with a finger. I turn away from anyone else who might be in the room. Darn it! Why was I born such an emotional sponge?
The good part is, of course, that the author has succeeded admirably. I am really involved with those characters. When bad things happen, I'm aghast. I can feel their pain. I want things to get better for them - as soon as possible! I can't turn those pages fast enough to find out what happens next.
We'd all love to think that our prose is powerful enough to have readers reaching for the tissues. But how do we do that? What's the secret to putting words together to make our readers cry?
If We Don't Know Them, We Don't Care
Some of you probably sob regularly over sad stories on the nightly news. Others are more hard-hearted - it really takes a lot to make you cry.
Let's imagine you're sitting down in front of the TV set. You're only half-watching the news; flipping through a magazine at the same time. Then up comes one of the night's big stories - a major road accident. You gaze at the mangled wreck and shake your head. There are some awful accidents...
Then the announcer gives a name. You sit bolt upright, and take another look at the car. Your heart sinks like a stone. Oh no... oh no. That's Janet's son they're talking about. That road fatality - that STATISTIC - is the youngest son of one of your neighbours; so proud of his first car. Your hand flies to your mouth, and tears spring to your eyes. Oh, poor Janet...
There's a lesson here. Bad luck is infinitely more tragic if we know the person concerned. We put ourselves in the place of his/her family members. We start thinking about the repercussions.
We HURT.
How can you apply this knowledge to your writing?
Give The Reader A Chance To Get To Know Your Character
You've probably been advised many times to plunge the reader into the story right away. Start at the point of change. Dive into the action; involve the reader.
This is good advice - to a point.
I've read far too many books (published and unpublished) in which the author has begun with Something Bad happening to the main character. The idea is to get the reader hooked from the first sentence. Oh my goodness... how will Jane get out of this?
The bad news is, it doesn't always work. And almost always, the reason it doesn't work is because we're reading about strangers. To become really involved you have to 'become' the viewpoint character. Then you will feel her pain!
Let's dig into this a bit more. Living in your own skin, you have a whole slew of background experiences to call upon. If 'something bad' happens to you, there's a history all waiting.
Case One
You support a talented child all the way through to Olympic success. You've lost count of the sacrifices the family has made. Then at the crucial moment - that child loses his balance on the swimming blocks at the Olympic selections meet and is disqualified. Years of training down the drain. (OK, it happened to Ian Thorpe... but it could have been anybody: the years of training and sacrifice are the same.) How does a parent feel? How does the athlete feel?
Case Two
You scrimp and save for years, sometimes working three jobs, and finally build a successful business. At last, you are financially secure - you can have anything you want. Then your partner, having siphoned off all the money, leaves the country. You're bankrupt. At nearly sixty years of age, you have nothing.
So? you're saying. Wouldn't either of those two scenarios be good openings for a novel? Losing your balance at the crucial moment? Going to work one day to find you'd lost everything?
Yes. Both could work. BUT... hold on a minute.
To make us really care, why not take a little bit of extra time? Get into that character's mind. Help the reader to slip into his skin... to settle in, finding out some of the history. This is what will make us care.
It need not take up much story time or space: sometimes just a few extra paragraphs. Sometimes a couple of pages. You don't have to go into flashback or spend pages telling the backstory. A few hints are enough.
Don't start with the explosion - show the happiness of the victims a few moments beforehand. THEN have the big bang, when we know enough about them to care. Foreshadow the danger, or the approaching disaster, while we're getting to know the characters. THEN show things going wrong.
Here's an example from a published book: Demolition Angel by Robert Crais
Code Three Roll Out
Bomb Squad
Silver Lake, California
Charlie Riggio stared at the cardboard box sitting beside the Dumpster. It was a Jolly Green Giant box, with what appeared to be a crumpled brown paper bag sticking up through the top. The box was stamped GREEN BEANS. Neither Riggio or nor the two uniformed officers with him approached closer than the corner of the strip mall there on Sunset Boulevard; they could see the box fine from where they were.
"How long has it been there?"
One of the Adam car officers, a Filipino named Ruiz, checked his watch.
"We got our dispatch about two hours ago. We been here since."
"Find anyone who saw how it got there?"
"Oh, no, dude. Nobody."
The other officer, a black guy named Mason, nodded.
"Ruiz is the one who saw it. He went over and looked in the bag, the crazy Flip."
"So tell me what you saw."
"I told your sergeant."
"Tell me. I'm the sonofabitch who's gonna approach the damned thing."
Ruiz described seeing the capped ends of two galvanized pipes taped together with silver duct tape. The pipes were loosely wrapped in newspaper, Ruiz said, so he had only seen the ends.
Riggio considered that. They were standing in a strip mall on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake, an area that had seen increasing gang activity in recent months. Gangbangers would steal galvanized pipe from construction sites or dig up plastic PVC from some poor bastard's garden, then stuff them with rocket powder or match heads. Riggio didn't know if the Green Giant box held an actual bomb or not, but he had to approach it if it did. That's the way it was with bomb calls. Better than ninety-five percent turned out to be hairspray cans, some teenager's book bag, or, like his most recent call-out, two pounds of marijuana wrapped in Pampers. Only one out of a hundred was what the bomb techs called an "improvised munition".
A homemade bomb. This introduction of Charlie Riggio takes up roughly one printed page. The author spends another three and a half pages letting the reader get to know Charlie. We see how careful he is; how much experience he has. We are led through the procedure of checking out the bomb prior to its disposal.
And when the bomb detonates at twenty-eight thousand feet per second and kills Charlie, do we care?
You better believe it.
Let the reader get to know your character before you wield the axe... and the tears will flow.
(c) Copyright Marg McAlister
Marg McAlister has published magazine articles, short stories, books for children, ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web content. She has written 5 distance education courses on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all over the world. Sign up for her regular writers' tipsheet at http://www.writing4success.com/
~TYPES~You Want Us to Write What? Understanding the Task AssignedWhich... Read More
So, the decision is final. I am a writer.Actually, I... Read More
Once you've plotted out your book, developed the characters and... Read More
To keep it simple and basic: Jack Finney's Invasion of... Read More
Is there a book inside of you? Yes? Then why... Read More
Just about everyone is familiar with this beginning: "In the... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?Complete a character questionnaire for each of... Read More
This is the ideal topic for us all to think... Read More
Human beings seem to be born with a gene for... Read More
FIVE MINUTES ... Is All You Need ........to phone a... Read More
One day in the mid-1970's a young man stumbled into... Read More
Prolific authors write; they don't just dream about it. A... Read More
Someone once commented that there were no new ideas to... Read More
Great writing transports one vicariously to realms that the reader... Read More
When the writing bug hits you, get out your pencil,... Read More
Rejection. This scary word plagues virtually every writer this side... Read More
A few days ago, I critiqued a chapter for a... Read More
Despite the widespread use of e-mail in commerce today, traditional... Read More
How to get a lot of traffic to your website... Read More
Many of us dream of writing a book. Why not.... Read More
We all know people who ramble. They include every boring... Read More
1. Use Logic: Check for External PressuresAre you under physical... Read More
If you become a writer for any publication, private business,... Read More
When I asked new ezine subscribers, "What is your Number... Read More
Op-ed articles, also known as opinion/editorial articles, are a great... Read More
How many times have you checked out a job board... Read More
As writers, we initially tend to be either more cerebral... Read More
Everone knows that comedy is mostly about timing. If you... Read More
Not long ago, I took stock of my unrealized desire... Read More
Back in the mid to late 1980s I was a... Read More
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It is a... Read More
If you are reading this article then you probably have... Read More
What a wonderful resource the Internet is!Students find information to... Read More
How to Come Up with Fresh Story Ideas When Your... Read More
As an aspiring or an established entrepreneur, you are an... Read More
The first and final rule of quality writing is this:... Read More
Think of writing like karate...it's about DISCIPLINE.Writing, like other forms... Read More
Written communication is often the first impression you make on... Read More
A poet isn't born; you must work at crafting your... Read More
PASSED, PASTPassed is the past tense of pass. Past means... Read More
There is one key difference between reports and most other... Read More
Dr. Phil's Life Strategies, #1 New York Times Bestseller catches... Read More
Every writer knows that the urge to write is not... Read More
As in all endeavors, toil is necessary to succeed and... Read More
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by marketing. First, there's so... Read More
Your struggling to sell just a few copies of your... Read More
LATER, LATTERLater means afterwards; latter is the second of two... Read More
Writing engaging articles and energizing ad copy takes... Read More
Do you want to publish something? An article, a non-fiction... Read More
Chaos and confusion come when established rules and procedures are... Read More
Winning writing contests can provide several advantages to writers. For... Read More
Being a great writer is no longer enough if you... Read More
Having trouble finding a solution to a nagging problem? Try... Read More
You can learn a lot about what it takes to... Read More
[When I was a nineteen-year-old high school student and budding... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?Complete a character questionnaire for each of... Read More
My article this issue is an excerpt from a book... Read More
Wired Online has recently announced its plans to drop capitalization... Read More
The decision to publish a book is very exciting! It... Read More
I call it cheap therapy. That gushing, near-religious, poured-from-the-body stress... Read More
So, the decision is final. I am a writer.Actually, I... Read More
ELICIT, ILLICITElicit means to extract or draw out; illicit means... Read More
|| Graphology & Graphotherapy ||Everybody wants to know more about... Read More
Beyond three and four act story structure, lies the Hero's... Read More
When you run an online agency for freelance writers, editors... Read More
Don't they drive you nuts?You can visit all the rules... Read More
Writing |