Is Your Writing Boring or Exciting? How to Engage Readers

If you write boringly, your reader will quickly become bored and quit reading. Death to your hard but less than stellar work. Advice from people like Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury tell us to write so the reader does not feel like his time is wasted. Write so that he or she is forced to stay up past bedtime to read just one more chapter. Write so that the reader cheers for at least one character and then write that character into all sorts of troubles and show how that character gets out of the trouble, learns from it or overcomes it. 

Write, then go back and highlight verbs in one color and nouns in another. Did you repeatedly use one or two words? "Brett found a great deal on a horse. He went to the store and chose great tack." Can you find a stronger word to replace an uninteresting one. "Bart decided he was going to learn to ride a horse" or "Bart challenged himself to learn to ride Big George."

Determine your target audience and write to one person in it. If you try to write to the world, 99% of the people will not like your writing, topic or story line and the other 1% will have trouble finding you. Narrow your prose to fit a certain demographic. Try picturing your ideal reader when you are writing. Where is he sitting, what level of education does she have, how is she going to react to what the main protagonist attempts? What would spark interest in a reader to continue reading? Something unsuspected? Something harmful to a character? A plot twist that juxtaposes common sense?

Know your characters down to their sock sizes. Outline a complete picture of what your characters look like, what they like to wear, where they shop, what do they do in their leisure time, their occupation and the clothes they need for it versus clothes for relaxing. Hair color of course but does she dye it? What kind of Stetson does he wear? You will not use most of the information that you envisioned but you will know your character and writing about him or her will be easier. 

Research and get to know the gun used to commit murder or understand what and how a the form of transportation was used in your 1817 novel. Was it a coach, carriage, palanquin, wagon, cart, surry or sedan chair? Did it have leather straps for support (The dry leather straps rubbed against each other creating further irritation for Melanie) or did it have elliptical or leaf springs (Melanie's irritation grew as the springs of the coach squeaked louder with each pot hole).

We all know the rule that a sentence must reveal something or advance the plot. If it doesn't, then delete the sentence as it is of no use. You know in your mind the picture you are trying to create but think objectively if you actually did the best job. Remember the game of two people facing each other with a divider between them; they cannot see each other. One person tells the other how to draw an object without naming the object. Your sentences should draw a picture that readers can imagine easily.

Several writers I know have complained because their editors forced them to reveal facts or introduce people before the writer wanted to. Give your readers as much information as possible quickly so they have an intimate understanding of what is going on and why. You develop tension by the events that you make happen to your characters not by keeping salient points from readers.

We learn that writers must read a variety of genres. Pick up your next book with an agenda in mind. Decide what you are going to look for in this author's writing. Is it how he introduces characters, how she describes emotions, why you believe that that the setting is in NewYork City in 1945? Remember when it was called New York City and not New York? When did it change and why? You should know it when you write about it. "Ethel traveled by train to New York City in 1945." "Kirsten flies to New York in 1999."

 We have stories to tell so let's apply what good writers teach us and hope we are as successful as Flannery O'Conner, Ernest Hemingway, Rex Stout and Stephen King.

Writing a Short, Short, Short, Short Story

Writing North Idaho is sponsoring another contest with a new element. Not only are prizes awarded, but also entrants will receive written critiques of their stories from our professional judges.

Write a short story based on this picture. It can be a comedy, a tragedy or a moment in time.
The contest theme is "A Picture is Worth 500 Words."

Tips for Writing a Short Story

1. Plot should be simple. Create conflict and resolve it. As per any story, write a beginning, middle and ending. Write an interesting story that engages the readers and gives them a satisfactory ending.

2. Limit the number of characters.

3. Choose a point of view.

4. Choose the setting (inside the house, outside, from across the street, from a photo album, or...).

5. Write the first draft without worrying too much about the word count. In the rewrite, look for sentences that are too wordy. Analyze whether you have too many characters. Does the story starts too early leaving little room for the "meat?" Do you need to eliminate some topic? Is there too much development or dialogue?

6. Write a catchy first paragraph or a sentence with a good "hook" to get the reader interested immediately.

7. Vary the length of the sentences.

8. Try using one or some of the five senses: taste, sight, touch, hearing and smell. 

9. Choose strong words; write using few adjectives and fewer adverbs.

10. Keep in mind that you are to provide a direct, brief story from which the reader gleans something---a laugh, a tear, a memory, a "wonder what I would have done" ending, or some other emotion.

Look at the upper right section of this blog for "WNI Contests" and click on it for contest details. The contest ends June 21, 2013 at midnight. Good luck!