Do You Have What It Takes to Grab and Hold Reader Attention? Does your fiction writing do
sales work for you? Do you have that magic ingredient to hold readers until story's end? What are readers looking for in a good read anyway? This article tells you how What's In It For Me? (WIIFM) formula, normally applied to commercial endeavors, is equally important to readers who are browsing or scanning fiction looking for that next good read.
What's In It For Me? is all about you giving something of value. This is what attracts and holds your reader. As a fiction writer this thing of value that you give to reader is an experience.
An experience is an exchange between story and reader that sets up a thinking and feeling connection for reader.
When a reader first approaches any story they have no connection, no feeling response. At this point no exchange has occurred and no experience has begun.
It is your story's responsibility to move reader into a state of connection by giving them a thinking and feeling experience. The better experience, more your story is valued.
How You Create an Experience for Your Reader. Your fiction story is built from components: plot, structure, characters, action, description, dialogue and your writing style. It is from these components that an experience can be created if you ensure they have quality.
Without quality components your writing will be, at best, bland or uninteresting (default reader disconnection: browsing on to next book), or at worst, even irritating (active reader disconnection: noting never to look at that author's works again).
Rigorously apply following checklist to your story, before and during writing. This ensures each component contributes to a quality reader experience?
Plot Does it offer enough temptation for reader to come along for ride? (Apply this question to every component.) Are twists and turns believable even if incredible? If it's a simple or well-used plot, remember that more responsibility for creating reader experience will therefore fall on other components of your story.
Structure Have you chosen a structure that presents story in its best form and light? Or did you pick easiest or most familiar structure without thinking about it?
Character Here is your most important opportunity to give reader an experience. If you don't create connection here your reader has little reason to stay with story. Psychological depth and originality create some of most compelling and successful characterizations. Are you creating characters using a 'cut and paste' approach from elsewhere in fiction or life? Or are you originating from within your own creative depths, having absorbed observations and experiences from life and let that settle into mix within yourself? A Philip Marlow character or an unfamiliar (new) mix of traits?
Action Are your action scenes genuinely originating out of your characters' interactions with plot and each other? Or are you artificially imposing action responses onto your characters? The latter can lack believability and lose connection you may have established with reader via other components of your story.
