Feel the Force

Happy Thursday, everyone! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you’re here. It’s really not the same without you.

This month, we’ve been talking about the things that readers are looking for when it comes to good fiction. We’ve spent some time talking about characters, both the good and the evil, and also about the stories that really make us think. So, now, I have a bit of a logical progression for us (because we all know how fond I am of logic).

#4: Plots That Make You Feel

Again, this isn’t always easy to do. It’s something that I’ve struggled with, from time to time, but something that my readers have adored when I’ve gotten it right.

After all, how much do you love a story that moves you to tears? (in a good way, not like Where the Red Fern Grows) How many times have you reread those stories that give you those nostalgia tears? How often do you find yourself thinking about those stories, relating back to them, linking yourself with those characters?

Exactly why that’s what we should be writing.

Readers are always looking for a way to connect themselves to our stories, to attach themselves to our characters, to become them, in a way. But while the characters help in creating this, it’s the plots that really drive the point forward.

We love a story where a character redeems themselves, in a way that moves us to tears. We love reading and living in a world where our most beloved character finally receives what they’ve been looking for, only to have it ripped from under them in a single instant. We adore reading those stories where our beloved ones reach their goal, only for their lives to end before our eyes.

Yeesh. You’d think we were a bunch of crazy people.

But really, we love when we get so connected to a story, to a plot and a character within it, that we can’t give up on it. That we feel everything they feel, that we live their lives for the term of the book in our hands.

That’s what we’re always hoping for, when we pick up a new book to read. That’s what we all desire.

And that’s what we, as writers, need to give to our readers. Always.

Remember: no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. So don’t be afraid to get so attached yourself. It really helps.

[love]

{Rani Divine}