I am a part of a site where querying
authors share the feedback they receive from agents. Most agents have some kind
of a form letter, where they mention that they weren’t pulled in by the writing
or that they didn’t fall in love with the story as much as they had hoped or
that they didn’t connect with the main character enough, to follow him or her
through the rest of the story (all these are polite ways of letting the writers
down). Trying to take the sting out of the rejection.
To solve this puzzle of how to get readers
emotionally involved in our story, I have been reading many writing craft books.
The theory is that the faster a reader’s emotions are invested in both the main
character and the story, the more tuned in they will be, the more eager they
will be to turn the pages to find out what is happening to the main character
and the story.
One way to grab the readers’ emotions as
soon as possible is by ensuring that the main character has the readers’
sympathy. If that has been done, then the readers will continue reading, to know
what will happen next in the story. By this the writing instructors don’t mean
that we must create sad and pitiable characters, they are trying to say that we
must ensure that readers connect emotionally with the character from page one.
We can do this in ways that suit our story.
In a nutshell the advice we are getting is
that we should push the problems our protagonists face in the story, right into
the first chapter to snag readers’interest. No hanging around till the middle
of the book for it to happen, because by then the reader may have lost interest
in the story.
What’s your take on this? Have you followed
this in your own books? Do you agree with this logic?
I feel like that advice is a kind of conundrum. It takes skill and careful planning to achieve both in the first chapter.
ReplyDeleteWe might not be able to bombshell the big issue into the first chapter, but there's always many issues and those we can introduce sooner.
ReplyDeleteYes, that sounds like good advice. Or at least to take the approach Alex suggests.
ReplyDeleteAs many agents have told me, it's such a subjective process, and what resonates with one person doesn't always resonate with another.
ReplyDeleteQuite true, Rachna, but late to read due the hectic travel schedule:)
ReplyDeleteAs I reader I don't have to like the protagonist - but I do have to care what they are going to do next. And they have to behave consistently..
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how emotionally I need to be involved in the first chapter. But I do have to be interested in the character. They have to have something about them that grabs my attention and makes me wonder what they are going to do or what is going to happen to them. I do think the story problem has to be early on. It's usually the problem that gets me interested.
ReplyDeleteIt's very important to get that emotional attachment to a character. In Gabaldon's 'Outlander' books, I liked the male protagonist right away, but the female who narrates most of the story was annoying. I continued reading past that first book and the female character begins to grow. So I do believe the reader needs to invest him/herself in the story early on. But, sometimes, tenacity rewards you with a great story anyway.
ReplyDeleteTo be sure, there must be a hook, but if all the bait is delivered at first, how will we chum the reader through the story?
ReplyDelete