What if you wanted readers to toss your book away?
I know, that’s a strange question. But one way of reaching your goals is to reverse those goals. What might kill your story? Keep that story killer away from your work.
Here are four killers to avoid.
- Your story lacks momentum
- You spend ages on exposition
- Nothing ever changes
- No one wants anything
Let’s consider these four points.
- Give readers reasons to keep reading.
Your scenes should link together. Imagine the following short story outline.
Scene 1: A king dies. Scene 2: His queen dies.
There’s not much drawing us forward. We could put scene 2 in front of scene 1 without trouble.
But try adding a link.
Scene 1: A king dies. Scene 2: His queen dies of grief.
Now we have a link: a ‘because’. The king’s death affects our fictional universe, and we couldn’t swap these scenes around.
The king’s death affects the world, and readers will want to know what happens next.
Can you suggest there’ll be trouble when picking an heir? Give your readers’ questions and have them want to read on to learn the answer.
Give your characters hard choices. Keep the stakes high, and any solutions should have drawbacks.
Will the kingdom face invasion if the wrong prince claims the throne? Does the best candidate refuse to claim their birthright? Will a vacant throne invoke an ancient curse?
- Watch exposition
Consider the ‘Empty Throne’ story above. You’ve linked the scenes, and you’ve set up conflict – the rightful heir faces a massive challenge to claim the throne, and disaster will strike if they fail.
But you spend several pages describing the throne. Who made it, why does one leg differ from the others, and why does tarnish only touch the throne’s left side?
Your readers were waiting to see who would claim the throne, but now they’re listening to your history lecture. Or maybe not. Maybe they tossed your book away.
Oh dear!
Be careful with exposition. It can kill your story’s momentum.
Some is necessary, but exposition won’t answer the questions you posed earlier.
Use a ‘Just-in-time’ approach to outline your world’s story and break it into short chunks.
Readers will happily swallow a few morsels of exposition now and again, especially if you’re asking them significant questions.
Try weaving exposition into action and dialogue. Only the throne’s left side tarnishes; is this linked to the curse? Will the curse vanish if people don’t polish the right-hand side?
Shoehorn this information into the story, but don’t shove it all into the story’s beginning. A start is a place for action and asking questions, so save exposition for when it’s needed.
And you might want to avoid using the story’s narrator. Could two cleaners talk about how hard it is to clean the throne? Perhaps a senior cleaner is telling an apprentice what’s needed. Try to slip exposition in ‘under the radar’.
- Keep everything changing.
Your characters should want something.
They should face a challenge in winning their desire.
And their world must change.
Keep those three thoughts in your mind when writing.
Ask yourself four questions about each of your scenes.
- Does the plot develop during the scene?
- Do you reveal something about your characters or your world?
- Would your story change if you sliced this scene out?
- Is the scene funny?
Think again if you answer ‘No’ to any of these questions.
- Dish out desire.
Desire gives your story fuel. It’ll create conflict as desires clash. It’ll have your readers turning the pages to find out if your characters reach their goals.
But keep those desires concrete. Don’t be satisfied with abstract goals like ‘success’ or ‘happiness’; keep those goals specific and concrete. Perhaps our rightful heir must find out who cast the curse before claiming the throne.
Can you raise the stakes? Make the desire an uncontrollable urge? Will the rightful heir face execution if the evil prince seizes the throne?
Can you make desires clash?
Several characters could seek the throne, but only one can claim it.
In powerful stories, the protagonist and antagonist chase one thing (or different sides of the same thing).
A certain Oxford professor once wrote about a magic ring. The protagonist wanted to destroy the ring, and the antagonist sought the ring for themselves. No chance of compromise, but lots of high-stakes conflict, lots of drama, and a fine story.
Your character’s desires should reflect their deepest values. This will help your readers connect with your characters, to want to know if they succeed or fail, and to imagine themselves as being inside your story.
So there are four areas to avoid.
Or rather, four things to reverse and include in your work.
Enrich your story by giving your characters desire, by ladling out exposition in small chunks, by ensuring each scene changes your story, and by adding links between all your scenes.
Thoughts? Comments? Let me know in the comments.