How to Engage Your Reader in Full

I love writing fiction. I don’t know if I adore it more than writing elegant prose about my family, but that might be simply because I’ve had so much less opportunity to do it. Though I have half a dozen books in various stages of manuscript, and an awesome project half way done with David Wright (Available Darkness over at the Inkwell), paid work must always come first. Of course this leaves many of my ideas to wither on the vine of my hard drive.

I wrote my first novel six months before I even realized I was a writer. Odd but true. My long hiatus from writing fiction has left me with more than a few lingering thoughts while I await my return to unbridled writing and answering to no one but my whispering muse.

One of the purposes of crafting a story straight from the depths of nowhere, is to design a world that will draw the reader away from their own; removing them from the mundane and moving them to the magic. In order to truly do this, a writer must craft suspense, drama and mystery, all in mingling measure. The reader must be compelled to turn the pages, always eager to discover what is waiting.

There are countless techniques to give your narrative gas and engage your reader in full. Here are three of my favorite for writing fiction:

1) Start in the middle of a problem. An argument, a bank heist, a moral dilemma; a car chase, a long kiss, an aching farewell. When the author throws us into the middle of something, we as the readers will want to swim to the surface.

2) Start from inside an unusual environment. The future, a fantastic world, or a city under the sea. When the atmosphere triggers the imagination, the reader is far less likely to leave it behind.

3) Start with sensation. The touch of a lover, the scent of the ocean, the blue of the sky; the taste of melting chocolate or the sound of a woman laughing. We all share the same five senses. Triggering the senses at the start of the story is like sending the wafting scent of an apple pie on a window sill to the nostrils above a rumbling tummy.

Writing fiction is most fun when it comes fast and furious. It’s best to not get too weighted down by details in the beginning. Get the story out, engage your reader, and then spend the rest of your pages making them happy they decided to stay. I can’t wait to do it myself.