Drive Forward

Often when I hear a story I know by the gaps that it’s a first draft.  Often students believe they are done when I know they’ve only just begun.  One sign is that the reader is not moved or cares about the character enough to want to know the outcome. The transformative journey may be in the writer’s head but not on paper. Here are some ways that help inject emotional glue into a story to make it stick and leave the reader affixed to the page with the prospect of more things to come.  

Clarify your intention
Stay focused on why you’re writing this story and what it’s actually about – the theme, it’s message, and vision of it. What happens at the end and what’s the point? Hold that motive in your mind from the beginning—and shape all the internal spaces, reactions and responses so they’re consistent with that ultimate goal.

Focus on the narrative voice
It’s always the narrative voice that conveys the internal response, the feeling and attitude that holds the story together and moves it on.  This is true whether you’re writing in first person, or in third person. 

Provide clues and unspoken detail
Give us an occasional clue, the unspoken detail that reflects what just happened or effects the character’s future actions. Describe the emotional event that can’t be seen or heard. But don’t explain or interpret.  Don’t tell the reader what you want them to feel, or try to control what the story means to them.

Be prudent
Inject moments of emotional glue from the beginning of the story, infrequently at first, with just a bit more as the story progresses. There’s no formula or rule about this but rather a requirement of good literary craft. Don’t let any new material stand out, slow the pace or become repetitious. Think of it as part of a seamless story-telling voice, either the character’s or your own.
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