Lost in story

I often use different mediums to influence my writing. Thinking, absorbing why something moved me or put me in this... not quite trance, but a state of reflection where I am looking back on my own path and then to where I want to go next.

Stories, audio books, music, writers' journeys; their inspirations, to my overly repeated few anime series and dramas I watch, even the news, makes me learn about this writing craft and appreciate the angles and points of attack they to create. With the latter (news articles and stories) I study their structure, their layout, see why they deviated away from the main point and work out how they draw it all back to form a cohesive, well-balanced piece of writing. This can be about sports or current affairs, but it is through stories and music that I often lose myself.

Our favourite writers has this capacity to lure you in, his style matching your personality and they sit next to me and I just listen. As a story teller, I know I have many limitations and even more so as a writer. My start was filled with mimicking the style of those I read, obviously the outcome was a horrible mix of rubbish, but the next few years I taught myself, listened to some wonderfully gifted writers to create my own style and voice.

Even finding my own style I look towards other mediums, viewing them in an altered light with music a core to how I want to lull a reader into a certain state of 'feeling.' To do this, for me anyway, I lose myself to stories, to the music, to the drive of others, to see how my favourite TV shows play out and why they connected to me.

I recently watched the Wild Robot movie with my kids, it is brilliant and I teared up a few times. Do watch it if you can, even if you do not watch animation, because it is a wonderful piece of cinematography of a story well told through stunning visuals. The story isn't perfect, though nothing is. I think this is important too, not a stubbornness, but the strength to listen to others but stay true to elements of a story that makes it special for you.

What other mediums have made me realise is that having a good story is not the most important aspect to a story. You have to be a strong writer but also one to able to step back from words that maybe viewed as criticism. I have seen many comments that a writer can be too 'wordy' and shift a writer to limit this, but I disagree. I think it is good to be 'wordy,' to overwrite, because there are spaces and times within a story to do so, what is more important is not to stop the words flowing, but understanding how to pace passages so you develop a certain ambiance for the reader and they begin to feel every word, hear every sound you write.

I listen to an audiobook of Haruki Murakami's Scheherazade many times. I am in complete admiration for his skill in 'talking' too much and waffling a lot, yet it doesn't feel like that, because he absolutely captures my attention trapping me in his world. I play Prince's Purple Rain song a lot, his live version with The Revolution is a fascinating 16 minute rendition of the original. And why does this song fixate my interest? I'm not a Prince fan just this song, but it is because of the long repeated, the same beat, the intro. It plays for a while and then it engages the crowd, and they 'woo' in the background generating this lovely vibe, this painting of a setting, a set-up to the rest of the song. Is it too much? Probably in many eyes and ears, yet every time it plays, my mind calms to the melancholy tune that reminds of the case that 'being too wordy' is great to create immersion ... to make a reader be lost in story, it is how a writer can blend this all into their story.

I'm not sure what other's take is but do feel free to share your views. Even with different genres of writing, I feel it is a great skill to be able to make a reader 'believe' they are in your world.

How do you create immersion? How do you make a reader lose themselves in your story?

 

Making a believable world is a balancing act. You have to find that balance of description, mystery, and believablility to make the world interesting.

I recall the Hunger games series, where the first two books created an interesting world, and the third book destroyed my interest in the world. The author managed that with the fasionista tangent in the build up to the climax. As I recall it was about five minutes in the audiobook about what the MC was wearing in the middle of the build up that destroyed the immersion. Granted I am not part of the target audience for the book, but the popularity of the series sparked my interest.

You are asking about the hook in you final question. The hook can be the world, the character, the theme, or the plot. It simply has to grab the reader on some level and create a desire to know more.

 

When I was in another forum, I chose to read a lot of 'learning/beginner writers' stories rather than published books that sit on my shelf. This may seem wrong and I am trying to mix the two (though creating gaps to read, learn, and write is not easy.) Most of the time I focus on my writing and editing though this balance needs amending.

This path has led me to read stories from some very strong writers, who gift of the words made me (literally) say 'wow,' so impressive were some of the writing. The 'hook,' 'grab' or my 'attention' was because of the writing but (from this writer) barely about the character or the world. They wrote setting beautifully, their characters were mysterious but it never gave me any intrigue as they were just a character described with flowing passages, but the world, the actions, the plot ... gave me no interest. I only read and followed their work for their writing.

I always thought that a hook is leaving a question for reader (a something they want answering,) or it is the development of suspense, building of tension the creation of the best question; 'what happens next?' Now I am not so sure. Beautiful writing can take a writer a long way... some of the best novels I read seems like wonderful waffle with no purpose, but on closer reflection, those pages of 'aimless head thoughts and clutter noise' builds a pacing and ambiance to the story. I've been chatting to a member here about 'the set-up' in which passages before (that seems useless) are an actual build-up to the next big plot of the story. I am an advocate that every line must carry new information to a story, yet this thinking is severely challenged by actually none of what you (correctly in my opinion) wrote above.

This has led me to be messing with this story of my for some time, developing certain areas to create this languid flow of 'nice' writing, but making the theme and plot a lot muddled (sorry I am linking this with another thread I bombarded these pages with) because I completely agree with your viewpoints yet from that wonderful writer I spoke about who's writing made me sit up and take notice of their talents, to novels I read so many times... it makes me wonder about immersion.

Sorry, I'm thinking out loud.

 

This makes a lot of sense.

Joyous escape from reality .... I might have to pinch this for this story I am building. FYI ... I figured out to connect all the dots together and aligning the different parts of the story to a new theme.

 

That is another description of a hook. Think about fishing for a moment. The blurb on the back of the book or dust jacket are the bait that get the reader to nibble. If they nibble enough they get to the hook. It is our job as the author to make sure we set the hook in the readers mind. That hook can take a multitude of forms, because different hooks work for different readers.

 

That's a nice metaphor... fishing and reeling a reader in.

There is a writer that I worked closely with their story. They are a superb writer, in that their use of the English language is really to be appreciated and given full praise. It was a surprise that they asked me to read and look over their stories but their writing was an absolute hook. Their writing ability is leagues above my own, yet I never found their stories that exciting.

I think there is a difference between finding a hook to engage a reader, to making a reader being immersed into a story. To return to the writer I wrote just, I kept reading to learn how they were able to use choice words as this was an absolute pull. It waned after I read more of their work and though their stories had a mystery, was well paced, had development and had seamless transitions into scenes... the story did nothing for me.

They could write beautiful setting but I 'saw' the words. Admired how the sentences were written rather than thinking I was in that place they were painting. And they are an artist, and a very very good one. But is immersion about emotions or feelings? Is that what makes a reader be 'lost' in a story?

Is a great story one that clicks with a reader somehow? A reaction that jolts them into believing this is something very real?

 

I would suggest you take a look at the works of Robert McKee, both his books and his videos on YouTube.

It isn't about the reader believing they are in the world you have built, that is frankly setting an extremely high bar for yourself. The more reasonable goal is the willing suspension of disbelief on the readers part.

At this stage, I would suggest you focus on crafting a good story, and let a great story come when you have gained experience with good. If you set the goals to high, or don't set way points toward your goal, you could be setting yourself up for getting discouraged when you don't reach that goal as quickly as you would like.

 

I will check out his videos, thanks for that.

I have had many positive reviews about my stories and setting a high bar is not something I worry about. It is more of the question of if I can reach it and if not... I will keep on pushing.

I posted a story in a workshop in the forums I once belonged and some replies were very kind. A few stated they shed a tear even though I knew there were flaws in my writing. A lot of times when I do write, I am trapped in that world as I view that world as something unfolding before me.

I will have to have a look into the 'suspension of disbelief.' I view myself as a learning writer which is the final upgrade from a few years ago when the title was more of a hobby or part-time wannabe.

One of my aims in writing is to make my reader cry. A few have said they were teary so I'm getting there.

My Dad gave this advice when I was young in that 'as long as I try my best, and you fail, no one will ever shout at you.' Many (of which most i have had to let go) don't really believe in what I can do, keeping me in my place, undermining me more. The chances of 'getting to that top tier or even higher places' are slim. Failure is probably guaranteed but why not try? With a good attitude and honesty to learn, I can be the best I can be... and like Dad said... no one can shout at me for trying.

 

Interesting. This was something that really struck me when I was reading an anthology from Haruki Murakami, I have a poor memory of which collection it was, but I read this short that was incredibly dull. I wouldn't say it was immersive nor tickled any emotion and I was at the point of skipping the story, waiting to the end of the page before jumping to the next story but didn't.

It was so underwhelming and I read the other shorts which were far more engaging yet I could not stop thinking about that story. The plot was literally the MC going to the beach and seeing a mother and son sit in their rented hut for a few days and then one day they didn't turn up. There was a little mystery in trying to find out why but no answers ever came about and I didn't even care about it because I knew nothing about the characters and had zero attachment to them, so I didn't want to know about 'why did they not sit in their hut?' Yet in the whole book, that story has stayed. There isn't even a line i remember of made me think ... 'nice' or be inspired to create my own story (ie like pinching your line for mine- not done that yet) and it had zero emotional grip.

My writing knowledge is so poor so thank you for the name from of Richard Ford, I will browse his work.

 

Well, anything from Murakami will have been translated, so perhaps his prose works better in Japanese.

 

He writes a lot of his stories in English because his command of English isn't so strong. This restriction is deliberate, in that it forced him to keep his sentences simple in order to convey his wonderfully creative ideas whilst painting a most detailed and colourful painting with plain brush strokes.

I am a huge fan of his and this style that my weak writing background doesn't really haunt me as much as it did when I started writing. Keeping things simple fits my ideals perfectly and shows in my writing too.

 

I think pace and resonance go hand-in-hand and should be established as early as possible. The wording can be as sparse or voluminous as you like as long as it is consistent and matches the atmosphere of the book as a whole.

Wordiness only becomes a sin when it has been established that this is going to be the MO of this piece. The same argument arises when readers feel they’re not being “given” enough. The piece may not have effectively championed the scarcity of language in this situation.

I can enjoy either, but a piece that oscillates between a deluge and a trickle of words gives me a headache. I can’t get into rhythm reading something like that.

 

That's a very nicely pieced reply @Midlife Maniac thanks for that... reinforced much of my views about pacing, flow and rhythm.

Because of this, I see music and writing being very closely tied together. A song can have lyrics that moves, but also the instruments behind the voice that builds up a feeling and ambiance to a reader or listener. It is why I love seeing a song being stripped down to its acoustic form where the strength and emotions of the words the artist wrote (or co-wrote) filters through in the most basic form and you see their own interpretation that maybe completely different to our own.