Element Five: Conspiracies: Let’s face it nothing gets society to question things like a good conspiracy. If it questions the norms or the trends of history an audience will listen. For this reason if you have an original conspiracy idea or one that has not been tapped into much, like the Davinci Code the piece is bound to take off. Simply by questioning the laws of accepted history and by calling Biblical theory into question it has earned itself a place at the table of best conspiracy movies.
Element Six: A Twist: During the plot there needs to be a small element which will lead the readers astray. This can be as small as a hint that the story may not turn out the way the reader wants it too or that there could be other possibilities. Keeping your reader guessing is an essential element of a successful book. Think of the twist as an alternate ending for your readers, you will keep them interested and coming back for more.
Element Seven: Momentum: The reason that suspense books sell at the rate they do is not because of careful plot development. However, it is because of the quick clip of the dialogue in the book that people continue to turn the page and see what happens next. One action leads into the next and into the next to ensure that the reader is so enveloped in the train of events that they forget about all other elements of the story.
If you are attempting to write a suspense novel, check out the masters such as John Grisham to see exactly how they draw in the reader and keep them with constant action and plot changes. Or a perusal of some great Sherlock Holmes classics will net you the same discoveries as you decide “who had done it?”
Element Eight: An Awesome Villain: The term awesome might be replaced with original, there needs to be a dialectical force of opposition which leads to the protagonist and the antagonist dancing in a beautiful tango of strife. A villain with all the right characteristics will leave the reader with one of two emotions, disgust or perhaps a sense of slight pity as the reader will feel that he or she can identify with the villain.
This is one of the key elements to building any story to its greatest extent, the villain may not be a person, and it could be a government entity, a monster, or an army. At the end of the day the most important factor is the emotional charge which the villain is able to elicit from the reader. Does the reader love him, hate him, and want him? As long as the reader remembers the villain and thinks about it when he walks away, the mission has been accomplished.
Element Nine: Nostalgia: We have all heard the sayings, “Life was simpler in the past,” since the times of the Romans this has been a recurring theme in all of the books and movies which have pervaded our culture. People dream of living in the thirties or the forties with all the glamour and the glitter of Hollywood in its initial heyday.
However, they conveniently forget the elements of World War II and a Great Depression which were happening at that same time. Any great manuscript will have a hearkening to the past to return the reader to a simpler time and allow that nostalgia to come alive with fanciful settings and detailed descriptions.
Element Ten: A Happy Ending: As much as we might like not to think it, at the end of the day the reader wants a happy ending. Or at least minimally one which wraps the manuscript at a complete closure with satisfying results for the reader. In order for the reader to feel complete and satisfied the reader must know what happened to all of the interests and aspects of the characters that they cared about during the course of the manuscript. Those that are the hardest to digest are books which leave the reader hanging on the edge not knowing the fate of the hero or heroine.
An example of this would be in Gone with the Wind when Rhett Butler steps away from Scarlet and says, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” and Scarlet resolves to get back her man. The audience was left hungering for more to the point of desperation, and 40 years after the author’s death, another author took up Margret Mitchell’s pen to try and complete the hanging conclusion.
Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction the elements of storytelling are universal and the same across the board. The only difference here is that when writing nonfiction it is those tiny bits of unusual fact, gleaned from amazing research that paint the vibrant pictures of a complete and factual manuscript.
Chapter VII: Issues with Style That Leave You Dead in the Water
As writers we are in fact human and flawed, as much as that seems impossible from time to time it is in fact part of life. For this reason we must accept that there are a lot of problems which are made in manuscripts, which are avoidable with careful correction.
Let’s talk about 15 items which will leave your manuscript full of holes and lead to low sales. Consumers, even your average readers, will recognize quality. Much like a plumber would not leave a pipe leaking, a manuscript must also be free of holes. Sometimes however, as a writer it is hard to see the holes within your own manuscript. This checklist of items will assist in finding those issues.
Issue 1: Lack of Development of Point of View: So you are telling a story, how are you, the writer connected? Are you some distant third party observer who has never met anyone? Are you reading newspaper articles and trying to piece together a story without imagining you are the protagonist and thinking about all of the emotions of the situation? To say the least a piece in which there is a very distant point of view, the audience will not become engaged.
Whether the story is being told from the first or the second point of view it needs to be closely connected to the reader. How are they becoming a part of the story? What elements have you not used to bring them into the space, and the time? Is it clear immediately to the reader what you are trying to accomplish by telling this story?
Issue 2: Inadequate Character Feelings: So we have a character but what are they feeling? Are they between a rock and a hard place financially, dying of a disease, stuck in the middle of unrequited love? All of these situations have very specific emotions which go along with them; the job of the author is to make the reader believe that the experience which is being recalled is one which the author has personally experienced.
What is meant by personally is that the level of character emotions and thoughts are believable. What we mean by believable is accurate to a person who has been in that situation. Not fabricated and forced on top of an uncomfortable book template, if you don’t know what the appropriate thoughts and feels are for a person in a situation, interview someone who has been in the position of the character. Find out what his or her personal experience has been.
Issue 3: An Opening Line Which Lacks Force: The first line of a book is the most priceless. If the moment that the reader picks up the book and reads the first line of the book, he is not drawn into another world, or intrigued then the book will be set aside. In a world of constant distractions and immediate means of entertainment as close as your iPhone, the only way to keep the attention of your audience is to ensure that the words you use are engaging, memorable, and active.
Remember as a writer you are not only a content producer, but you are a word smith. What is the difference? A content producer merely writes content, the quality is not discussed. However, a wordsmith is able to take any phrase and turn a clever and enticing line. Be a wordsmith not a content producer, if success is in your cards!