How to engage
A Reader
Keep Readers Hooked with Immersive Writing
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so some authors have this innate ability
to be able to draws into any story and
it just make us laugh and cry or just go
insane over it
these are the ones that become our
favorites even though sometimes we don't
like the endings to them hello my
sister's keeper you ripped my heart out
but I still love you so what is it that
makes these stories so lovable they
immerse you in the story they put us
right in the thick of things and we
forget that there's actually an author
that's telling this story immersing your
reader it's different than just hooking
and it's keeping them hooked these tips
should be used throughout your novel to
keep your reader plugging along and
hopefully to evoke some kind of
emotional response preferably one that
doesn't involve you getting hate mail so
to help you get there I've compiled five
methods that I think will help you
immerse your readers in your writing if
you want to be just as good as your
favorite authors one day then listen on
number one use the force just kidding I
couldn't help myself
number one is actually use the senses
how often do you go through your day not
use your senses hmm that's a toughy oh
yeah it's never unless you've got
extenuating health-related circumstances
you use your senses every single day so
of course you should include this in
your writing but don't feel constricted
into using just the original five senses
what there's more you're probably
familiar with see touch hear taste and
smell but what about proprioception
where you're able to tell where your
body parts are relative to one another
you can use this when you want to
portray that your character is days
early with the function properly perhaps
they've fallen or they've been hit in a
fight equilibrio ception which is
responsible for you being able to keep
your balance can also be used in similar
ways some other interesting ones include
pressure itch hunger and direction now
why am i throwing all these strange
senses at you so you can use them of
course these are naturally occurring
senses for all of us so we shouldn't
forget to use them in our writing making
use of the senses enables the reader to
get a better picture of what's really
happening to your character it brings
the depth to your writing they can't be
replaced with anything else so if you're
in the editing phase and you find that
your work is a little detached then go
back and make sure that you're putting
your senses to work number two learn
deep point of view this is a wonderful
way of creating immersive writing deep
point of view basically means that you
limit the author intrusion and you let
the character tell the story it can
usually accomplish in third person
what writing in first person does and
allows the reader to forget that the
author is even there this allows the
reader to establish a really strong
connection to the story and makes them
feel like they're living the journey
along with the characters start with the
mindset that you should never write
anything down that your character
already knows to be true as an example
if you go to the grocery store you're
not going to jump into the brief history
of the grocery store as you're shopping
around even if it's pertinent to the
story and if something that your
character knows they wouldn't be
thinking it in that immediate moment
eight point of view is more in the
moment so reflection on beer things like
this is a noun own you should also jump
at the chance to use words that are more
meaningful to your character telling a
story this allows your characters to
show through more on the page since a
war veteran couldn't be expected to
describe a story in the same way as Miss
USA for example they would use different
verbage and have a different cadence to
their speaking I particularly like this
aspect because I'm working with multiple
point of views in my work in progress
right now
so I can still get the essence of the
first person without confusing my
readers when I switched who is the eye
and me but tread lightly remember to
only change point of view during scene
changes and make it obvious this is
referred to as head hopping and can give
your reader metaphorical whiplash if
your audience has to reread a passage to
make sure they know who is speaking then
something's wrong this is a great item
to ask beta readers to check out so you
know whether or not you're guilty of
this if you want the readers to live in
the world of your character then you
need to get in that world first and then
make sure you never leave so don't say
things like her brother Eric when we
hope by now that she knows that her
brother is named Eric so to work around
this you can use things like
introductions flashbacks or dialogue to
actually establish that eric is her
brother your readers are smart and they
like it if you leave it up to them to
figure stuff out number three
limit narrative tags this is often
grouped in with the point of view but
can be taken as its own separate point
if you're not quite ready to take the
plunge into that style of writing in
principle the less the reader thinks
that they're reading a story the more
realistic it's going to be for them and
one thing that kind of distracts the
reader from that is narrative tags so
narrative tags can either be dialog tags
to signal who's speaking or filter tags
that the reader knows when the character
is thinking both should be minimized so
that your reader is never pulled out of
the story words like said asked or
wondered actually detract from your
storytelling it's a pause in the
narrative
if it doesn't need to be there instead
you can replace dialogue tags with an
action for example get out of my room
you brat
easy demanded mark made a face at her
make me he retorted now listen to the
following with a narrative tags from the
moon get out of my room you brat ami
tried to shove her brother into the
hallway by his recent growth spurt
difficult make me mark contorted his
face and stood his ground I know I
totally should have been an actor the
ladder reads a lot more smoothly and can
allow the reader to get a better picture
of what's going on think about the last
conversation that you had did you pause
and think about who said what or did you
listen and take in their body languages
and actions at the same time this is
what you want to emulate in your writing
so make it real and drop those tags
number 4 build up to the climax
if the climax involves the death of your
main characters mother and you need to
establish well beforehand why your
character cares so much about her mother
and this starts well before the climax
do this by making their relationship
real so that the reader feels just as
crushed as the character does when the
mother passes away
hooray for crushing readers you need
plenty of time to build up the
foundation so thank goodness you have
3/4 of a book to do it in remember the
movie my dog skip or Marley & Me
I know these movies involve animals and
it's much easier to get attached to
animals but bear with me we all knew
what was coming because hello it can't
end well and through both movies we were
shown the bond formed between the dogs
and their humans their ups and downs and
in-betweens brought them all closer in
the end your story should do the same
thing in order to make your climax so
climactic the events that take place
have to be important first to the
character and then highlight it to the
reader an emotional impact on your
reader whether good or bad is always
what you should strive to accomplish in
your writing number 5 Nick's weak nouns
and verbs you never want your readers to
get bored of your writing fast way to
assure that they do is by using boring
birds and nouns why writing doesn't have
to be fifty shades of purple prose you
should have some fun while you're adding
a little character to the words
themselves weak words are ones that
aren't very descriptive to the situation
at hand verbs and nouns are both great
opportunities to create a more detailed
mental image for your reader equate
verbs are used you're missing a chance
at create some tension and some strong
emotion but if weak nouns are used then
you're leaving your reader in a circle
of hell with vague descriptions the best
way to get this point across
by using examples if I use the word boy
in a sentence there's a lot of
possibility as to what I could really
mean depending on your reader this can
encompass an age gap from 0 to 25 but
think about the words toddler teenager
or infant these words are much more
descriptive and afford your reader a
better picture with the same word gal
this is also something that can be
easily accomplished in the editing phase
after you realized you've said run 4
times in 3 pages instead of using the
word run try to use - trot or scamper
they each have slightly different
connotations and can make your writing
seem a lot less repetitive you should
always look for ways to have the most
impact with as few words as possible and
strong verbs and nouns are just the way
to do that so that's all I have for you
guys today make sure to subscribe to my
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bye guys
