I just finished Captivate Your Readers. I was able to read this book as a "beta reader" and was immediately struck by how helpful this could be for writers at all levels. While compellingly useful for beginners, I found helpful nuggets for the more experienced author as well.
This third guide to writing compelling fiction by respected editor and award-winning author Jodie Renner provides concrete advice for captivating readers and immersing them in your story world. It’s all about engaging readers through the use of techniques such as deep point of view, showing instead of telling, avoiding author intrusions, and basically stepping back and letting the characters tell the story.Today’s readers want to lose themselves in an absorbing story. Renner shows you how to provide the immediacy and emotional involvement readers crave in fiction, and she does it in her usual highly accessible, reader-friendly style, with plenty of concrete tips and examples.
Chapters include:
• 12 Essential Steps from Story Idea to Publish-Ready Novel
• Checklist for Creating Fiction Readers Can’t Put Down
• 33 Must-Do’s for Writing a Winning Short Story
• Create a Complex, Charismatic Main Character
• Character Descriptions – Learn From the Pros
• Those Critical First Five Pages
• Introduction to Point of View in Fiction
• Engage Your Readers with Deep Point of View
• How to Avoid Head-Hopping
• Let the Characters Tell the Story
• 10 Ways to Add Depth to Your Scenes
• How to Keep Your Dialogue Real and Riveting
• Tips for Showing instead of Telling
• How to Avoid Annoying Author Intrusions
Have you read any of Renner's books? What helps you "captivate your readers"?
6 comments:
Thanks for this post, because Jodie Renner's book will be very useful for me. I have never read Renner's books.
Thanks for posting this review of my just-released third writing guide, Sylvia!
I'm thrilled with the response to it, including 3 days as #1 in Authorship on Amazon.com!
Jodie Renner, author
www.JodieRenner.com
Sounds like an interesting book. I try and remember to use emotion to captivate my readers. If it makes me laugh or cry when I write it, my hope is it will make my readers do the same.
Sydney, all three of my books offer concrete tips with examples for bringing characters to life by showing their emotions and reactions. That's so important, I think. But of course, one doesn't want to go overboard and cross the line into melodrama or purple prose! :-)
I think it's important to create characters that are likeable as well as interesting. Even when they're not the good guys in a story.
Robin, I agree that the protagonist and his/her sidekicks should all be likeable. Not so much for the antagonist or villain, whom readers love to hate - and maybe even fear!
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