Writer’s Tip #27: People Read to Learn
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip:People like insider information
Lots of people want to learn from what they read. That doesn’t mean you present a textbook-style, footnoted narrative on a topic. It means you share fascinating bits of knowledge wrapped in the accouterments of fiction writing–characters, plot, setting. Tell us about the Thames as part of a London scene. Share background on Sherlock Holmes in dialogue, as your character tries to solve a crime. Salt your story with amazing facts that will stay with your reader even better than the outcome of the plot. Did you read Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code? The reason for its popularity is the insider knowledge he included. The plot was good, but not unusual. The knowledge is what set the book apart.
You may not have an art history sort of novel, but throw in fascinating facts now and then. It’ll grab your reader and they’ll keep turning the pages, hoping for more.
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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com , Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: characters, dialogue, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: characteristics of writing, fiction writing, plot, setting, writers tips
