Full Immersion Writing

I am a full immersion writer.

When I was a little girl I loved going to places like Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA, the Shelburne Museum in (South?) Burlington VT, Hancock Shaker Village in the Berkshires of MA and Storrrowtown Village in West Springfield, MA. I particularly liked to watch them dip candles. Each dipping added a wax layer to the wick. It was like magic watching the candles form. (Okay, I'm not all that far from Yankee Candle in Deerfield, MA where they dip candles, but I can't go there because I am allergic to the scented candles! Life is not fair sometimes!)

That's my writing technique. I have an inquisitive mind. I want to know as much as I can about my characters' world. I do not want stick figure people staggering around in sketchy settings. I want full-bodied people with foibles and flaws interacting with like people in settings that are so real that the reader feels as if he or she has walked into that house, has passed through that town in their travels, has visited that diner or park. I want my readers to know what makes my characters tick, what they wear, what their favorite possession is, what kind of car they drive, what foods they like to eat, and why they do the things they do.

I don't just spatter words on a page- I paint scenes, portraits, settings and try to make them come alive in the reader's mind so that they feel they are as familiar with the characters and locations as I am.

My characters may seem perfect at first glance, but they are not perfect. They make mistakes. They fill up with self doubt, they lack self confidence, they are sometimes arrogant and cruel, they are sometimes too kind and easily hurt- they laugh and cry and try to do their best to live their lives to the best of their abilities.

I want my books to be a full immersion experience into the world I've created for the reader to visit.

I read a lot and it irritates me when I finish a book and feel cheated by how pared down and over-edited it is. I cannot connect to the characters because there is nothing there to connect to. I cannot connect to the setting or locale for the same reason.

I put quite a lot into every novel (and into my short stories too, evidently, since people ask what happens next and are disappointed that there isn't more). I give readers an experience (I hope!) and not just brain lint.

One of my favorite books is The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly. Reading that novel I felt connected to her characters. That house was so well-described that I felt as if I had been there listening to records and dancing in the garden. The characters are very well drawn and therefore I connected to them. I laughed, I worried and I cried my way through that book.

Another writer who I consider a full immersion author is J.K. Rowling with her Harry Potter novels.

Do I need to mention Stephen King?

I do not write cozies or easy readers for busy adults. If you read one of my books you have to commit to the experience. A lot of my followers tell me, "I couldn't put the book down." And a few readers have told me, "I was like reading a Hallmark movie (those were comments after reading Yuletide Stories, Always Christmas in My Heart and Together for the Holidays- my holiday stories).

I write to give the reader an experience, not a simple diversion.

I'm always on the lookout for writers who do the same- immerse the reader in the world where their characters interact. It makes me sad when a book is touted as a great book, hits the bestseller lists and I open it and there is nothing much between the covers.

I am a fan of Bronte, Austen, Dickens, Dumas, Poe, and Shirley Jackson. I read Darynda Jones, Linda Castillo, Stefanie Pintoff, Jonathan L. Howard, Alan Bradley,Amanda Stevens, Claude Izner, C. S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr), Kevin Hearne, Tessa Harris, Charles Palliser, and Christine Trent. For fun I read Victoria Thompson's gaslight mysteries. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for books with circus settings and LOVED The Night Circus (I gave it to Kelly to read years ago and she still hasn't read it! Makes me wonder if I was given the wrong baby when we left the hospital back in June 1991- although she loves to read and her piles of books to read are higher than mine!)

In conclusion- if you pick up one of my books be prepared to be dipped like a candle, layer by layer, into the world in which the characters interact and the story unfolds. When you reach the end and close the back cover you're going to feel you know the people who live between the covers, you're going to feel as if you've been a part of their lives.

And you're probably going to wonder what happens to them next.

That's what sequels are for.