Making your Fiction or Non-fiction a Page-Turner
Writers produce emotional reactions in their readers by making them crave to know what is going to happen to the characters and people in a story, award-winning author T.K. Thorne told members of Alabama Media Professionals on March 8. “Story is hardwired into all of us,” Thorne said at AMP’s monthly meeting. It’s how culture and experience were passed down through the generations, she continues, and it happens on an individual basis as well. Information from our senses floods in as plain facts, and our brains turn them into a story. Because of this hardwiring, humans are sensitive to being told a story, Thorne said. “That’s why the best way to communicate, whether in a tweet, article or novel, is through storytelling,” she said. Thorne shared seven steps for effectively telling stories by connecting readers with characters and people:
Set up
Develop the characters
Conflict
Use tension or suspense
Have characters make choices
Create and maintain a sense of movement
Make it interesting
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