Writing Tips

   As a writer, evoking any kind of emotion from your reader is always a fantastic accomplishment! Tears, smiles, giggles, gasps… these reactions are forever present when we’re reading a good book. Nothing quite compares to excitement, however. It’s one of our favorite things to feel while we’re reading! Here are five ways to conjure up reader enthusiasm in your writing.

It’d be awesome IRL too. Something that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the character in your book, would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your reader as well. And those kinds of opportunities are exciting no matter who you are!

For example, if the character in your book is all of a sudden given VIP access to their fave band’s concert, that’s pretty exciting, right? If we were reading a book where that happened, we know we’d feel pretty darn gleeful!

Same goes for if your character was given the opportunity to be in a national magazine or write an article for it. Hellooo awesomeness!

Believable plot twist. Since you already know how to create a believable plot twist – we wrote about it before – it’s time to incorporate it for excitement purposes. Nothing is quite as awesome as that instance in time when you’re like whaaaat! That’s insane!

   You know that moment when you realize Bella is pregnant, or that Wormtail is Ron’s pet rat? Yeah, those were totally exciting moments!

Your character finally gets what they want. Sometimes the downhill snowball effect is a good tactic to use when writing. Ya know, everything bad that could happen to your character just keeps happening. They do extra chores to earn more allowance so they can go to a concert. The concert gets canceled but your character doesn’t realize until they’ve driven 6 hours to get there. Then it starts raining, they get a flat tire, someone steals their purse…

Then all of a sudden, BAM, the best thing ever happens to your character. They run into the band that was supposed to be playing, or they find a lottery ticket jammed in their glove compartment, a gift they forgot all about, and it’s a million dollar winner. Whatever it is you make happen, your reader will be left yelling YAY! in their room by themselves!

Build up to the moment. Taking time to build anticipation is a great way to evoke excitement in your reader. Maybe your character has spent most of the book studying/freaking out about a huge exam. Then there’s the moment when the grades are announced. Ahhh we need to know!

Or your character has spent most of the book getting ready for the school dance. Getting the perfect date, the fabulous dress, the gorgeous shoes… Then all of a sudden it’s the night they’ve been waiting for and their date shows up looking handsome and holding a bouquet of flowers. Oh em gee! So much cuteness! Your reader’s excitement is so much that they have to run a lap around their living room just to calm themselves down and continue reading.

Cute boys doing funny things. Nothing makes us more giddy then uber hot guys being total goofs. Have you ever laughed out loud in a total obnoxious way just because the boy in the book you’re reading did something totally cute and hilarious? No? Hmm…maybe it’s just.
Written by Virginia Van de Wall

                                                         

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