DIGITAL MEDIA GHOST
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About
Search

Pushing the Right (and Wrong) Buttons In Your Fiction

11/22/2016

0 Comments

 
by Will Viharo

​In fiction, certain scenes and situations are created and developed to evoke very specific reactions in the reader, which helps them identity with the narrative and relate to the characters.
 
These feelings can be very visceral or quite cerebral in nature. The trick is to inspire rather than manipulate their responses.
 
Don’t make promises you can’t deliver. After all, you’re an author, not a politician…
 

border:0px;vertical-align:rightCLICK TO TWEET!
People are sick of politics. So make your promises as an author pay off... http://buff.ly/2fy3B9k


​​Emotions are both elusive and effusive. We have little to no control over them in real life. That’s why some writers enjoy their creative opportunity to employ and direct the emotions of their characters at will.
 
And very often, they are channeling their own. This technique – sort of the literary equivalent to method acting – can be very effective, if you’re careful not to be overly self-indulgent.
 
Drawing upon personal experiences, whether pleasant or tragic, helps to inform and infuse your story with a realistic foundation, making it a more credible experience for the reader, even if you’re writing science fiction or fantasy.
 
These artistic echoes of raw reality can be allegorical or literal, depending on the genre and your agenda.
 
But the one thing you must avoid at all costs? As Holden Caulfield would put it: phoniness.
 
Falling Off the Bandwagon
 
Attempting to exploit current news events in your fiction is actually a rich tradition. Almost every writer from Dickens to Mailer to Didion and way beyond has reflected the realities of life in their times within the context of their craft.
 
Playwrights such as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller were particularly sensitive to not only the state of the planet, but their own private circumstances. This resonance helped make their work reverberate on many levels: social, political, and personal.
 
It’s a very delicate web to weave, granted.
 
But in the cases of these literary masters, none of their source material was cynically fabricated, only creatively channeled. They drew from organic material in their immediate and wider surroundings, sublimating popular reactions to historic events as on many scales to create timeless meditations on human nature itself.
 
And human nature is the one thing we all have in common.
 
“I Feel You…No, Really”
 
But readers will resent and reject any attempts to capitalize on either their emotions or even your own when peddling your book as a product to be bought, not a status update to be read or ignored for free.
 
The “fake news” phenomenon is dominating current headlines, which sound more and more like the hyperbolic, horrific news reports in the 1987 movie RoboCop.
 
Separating authenticity from propaganda is hard enough to do in the real world. When it comes to fiction, keep it real. People deserve better than hacks and hucksters when it comes to literary education, escapism and entertainment, probably now more than ever.
 
Just don't string your audience along, and your work will be rewarded with praise and appreciation.

If you’re promising romance, make sure you’re really romantic. If your reader is expecting to be frightened (as if the news isn’t scary enough), don’t hold back. Whatever the context, make sure the blurb on the back cover is a sincere promise, not just another cheap pitch.
 
After all, if you can’t trust the therapeutic power of art, what can you trust these days?
 

□ ALSO READ: Your Fiction: Politically Correct, But Artistically Dishonest?

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Become a Ghostwriter!
    Picture
    Contribute to DMG
    Picture
    BECOME A GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
    Picture
    PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS BY GUEST POSTING
    Picture
    ARE YOU A GHOSTWRITER? WE WANT TO KNOW!
    Picture
    DO YOU HAVE A GHOSTWRITING BUSINESS?

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Agency Spotlight
    Business
    Digital Marketing
    Ghost In A Flash
    Ghostwriting
    Media Relations
    Privacy Concerns
    Social Sabotage
    Technology
    Writer Spotlight
    Writing

    Advertising Disclaimer

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Find your domain and create your site at Weebly.com!
Digital Media Strategy
Content Marketing
Law Firm Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Marketing
eBooks
Writing
Becoming a Ghostwriter
Blogging
Content Marketing
Ghostwriting Services
Guest Post Guidelines
Media Relations
Online Crisis Management
Personal Brand
Public Relations
Reputation Management
About
Our Team
Our Results
Testimonials
Contact Us
Locations:
New Orleans, LA
Nashville, TN

DMG University
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Cookie Policy
Digital Media Ghost  @2020
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About