Keeping It Real: How to Make Your Reader Forget It's Just a Story

You know the feeling. You sat down to read just one chapter of that book, and when you looked up hours later...

That's what we want from all our books. We want them to overwhelm our minds, to become more real than reality, at least for a little while. And as writers, that's the kind of story we want to give people, but where to begin? How do you make sure that your story will cast its spell over the reader and not let go? 

1) Check Your Grammar and Spelling

"What?" you say. "I thought you were going to teach me magic. You want me to proofread?" Darn right, I want you to proofread. Nothing bursts that magic story bubble like bad grammar. Most people read in their first language, a language they learned from infancy. The rules of that language are ingrained in their subconscious, and as long as the words on the page obey those rules, they don't have to devote much attention to the actual reading. That leaves their brain free to visualize your story, to experience it rather than just reading it. But if the words are wrong, if they don't slide smoothly into the subconscious, then POP! The reader finds himself staring at a piece of paper covered with little black symbols while he tries to figure out what you actually meant to say. If this happens too often, he'll probably give up on your story and go read something better. If grammar isn't your strong point, you can always get someone to edit for you, but DON'T rely on a computer. Computers are wonderful tools, but even the smart ones are stupid. They don't know what you meant to say. They don't know which of the spelling variations carries the right connotation for this context. Their first language is binary. 

Obviously, if your story is being translated into a language you don't speak, grammar is no longer your responsibility. Just make sure to hire a good translator. 

2) Watch Out For the Melodrama!!!!

Okay, now that the boring part is out of the way, let's take a look at the emotions. I'll assume your characters have them. Emotions are what drive a story. They motivate the characters to take action. If someone betrays the hero's confidence, he will feel angry. This may cause him to cut the betrayer out of his life, or he might spill one of the betrayer's own secrets to get revenge. Either option might make a good story, but make sure that the reaction fits both the character's personality and the bigger picture. A normally easygoing guy isn't going to throw his friend off a bridge because she dented his car. If he does, the reader will find it difficult to maintain their suspension of disbelief. Be patient. Let the plot move at its natural pace. If that pace is too slow, then rethink the plot, but make sure that the motivations behind each character's actions are plausible. One weak link in the chain of causes and effects can destroy the whole story. 

  

3) Don't Touch the Fourth Wall

 

I'm not talking about a first person narrator who acts as if the reader is just another unlucky soul caught up in the zombie apocalypse or the alien invasion or whatever. I'm talking about an invisible narrator (in other words, the voice of the author) who interjects reminders that this is just a story they are making up for your entertainment. This was very common in children's books in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I think of it as a nod and a wink to the grownup in the room. It's annoying and condescending. Let your reader remain cocooned in the warm embrace of your story and forget about reality for a while. 

Did I miss anything? What helps you get lost in a story? 

14 Quotes That Only Writers Will Understand

Being a writer is kind of like being a soldier, or being married. (Speaking as someone who's done all three.) It's very hard, very rewarding, and no one who hasn't done it is ever going to understand. 

So when you've been asked for the thousandth time what your novel is about and when it's going to be published, and when you've resisted for the thousandth time the impulse to shake the questioner and scream, "What's with the third degree?!", it's good to know that you're not alone in the universe. Here are 14 quotes from great writers through the ages that perfectly sum up the joys and pains of our profession.     

1) William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream": “And as imagination bodies forth/ The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen/ Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing/ A local habitation and a name.”

2) Samuel Johnson, "A Dictionary of the English Language": “It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life to be rather driven by the fear of evil than attracted by the prospect of good…Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries whom mankind have considered not as the pupil, but the slave of science…doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstruction from the path of Learning and Genius who press forward to conquest and glory without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their progress. Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.”

3) William Blake: “Poetry fettered, fetters the human race.”

4) Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass": “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”  

 5) Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn": “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted. Persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished. Persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. By order of the author.”

6) J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Hobbit": “Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.”

7) Orson Welles: “If you want a happy ending, it depends on where you stop the story.”

8) Paul Theroux: “Fiction gives us the second chance that life denies us.”

9) Ron Carlson: “I always write from my own experiences whether I’ve had them or not.”

10) Peter S. Beagle, "Oakland Dragon Blues": “…That wasn’t a real story. It’s not in any book – you were just…making it up as you went along. I’ll bet you couldn’t repeat it right now if you tried. Like a little kid telling a lie.” The author laughed outright… “You’re quite right. We’re all little kids telling lies, writers are, hoping we can keep the lies straight and get away with them…Absolutely right…But you make the same mistake most people do. The magic’s not in books, not in the publishing – it’s in the telling, always.”

11) Terry Pratchett, "Wyrd Sisters": “Particles of raw inspiration sleet through the universe all the time. Every once in a while one of them hits a receptive mind which then invents DNA, or the flute sonata form, or a way of making light bulbs wear out in half the time. But most of them miss. Most people go through their whole lives without being hit by even one. Some people are even more unfortunate. They get them all.”

12) Stephen King, "On Writing": “It starts with this. Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the center of the room. Art is a support system for life, not the other way around.”

13) J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows": “Tell me one thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has it been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry. But why on earth should that mean it isn’t real?”

14) Erin Morgenstern, "The Night Circus": “It is important . . . Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast . . . someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift. Your sister may be able to see the future, but you can shape it, boy. Do not forget that . . . There are many kinds of magic, after all.”

Did I miss any of your favorite writing quotes? Let me know down in the comments.