Fiction is sometimes given a bad wrap. Face it, when someone tells you they write
and read only ‘nonfiction’ their IQ shoots up … 25%. Yep, many people have this idea that
nonfiction is for those ‘smart’ folks.
Sorry people – not me. I’m happy for nonfiction writers/readers,
it’s their choice and if that’s their preference, good for them. But in many ways I think, boy they have it
easy. They write only with the facts and
that’s it.
Fiction writers on the other hand – we have our
job cut out for us. We have to create
characters and make the reader ‘believe they are real.’ Through action, dialogue, span or range of
your story, you make your people ‘come alive’ in your reader’s head. They are believable ‘real’ people facing
‘real’ chalenges, ‘real’ dangers, and showing ‘real’ consequences, taking the
reader with them.
Don’t forget our characters have real pasts,
family history, and they feel ‘real’ emotions, prejudices, and experiences.
We bring our characters to life from a particular
point-of-view (POV). We take our reader
to a particular time and place and draw them into the world of our character. If you walk, talk, and even breath along with
your character, that will flow onto the page and your reader will walk, talk,
and breath with your characters, too.
I’m certain that there are nonfiction writers out
there who are able to take a reader away from it all, bringing their real-life
character to life in the mind’s eye of their reader. But I’m also convinced our fiction writers
are doing the same thing, with more imagination, flare, excitement, and let’s
face it – their journey is the one the reader wants to be on.
If you’ve done your job right, your reader will
be looking for your next book, because it did what it was suppose to do. Suspend the disbelief and take them away from
it all . . . on a journey of emotion . . . that satisfied them at the end.
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