Creating Engaging and Active Literary Experiences
A work of writing (whether it’s a novel, nonfiction, poetry, short story, essay, film, or play) that is interactively told serves as a portrayal of an experience (emotional, physical, real) on the part of the writer. It becomes a literary blueprint for the reader to have a similar type of experience. However, it should never be a passive encounter for both the writer and the reader; instead, it should be an engaging and active experience. This is what I strive for whenever I write or read.
I strongly believe that this active process (from experiencing to transforming it into confined form [words] and then experiencing it again) can be taught. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have dedicated so much of my life to inspiring aspiring writers. Writers are naturally inquisitive individuals who seek not only knowledge but also to immerse themselves fully in life, and I think that’s where it all begins.
When we write, we must elicit emotions. That’s what defines an experience. The same applies to reading. We make it come alive through our carefully chosen words, employing dynamic verbs and constructing plots in which characters have clear goals and desires. Additionally, conflicts arise that resonate within all of us. It is through this amalgamation of action, goals, and conflicts that we are able to experience not just life itself but also fictional lives, which we then aspire to effectively convey.
When you write, make everything as vivid as the keyboard right in front of you. Make it matter. Enable the reader to feel what you’re feeling (I hope there’s an emotional connection). Amidst all these feelings, actions, goals, and conflicts, we create and share a profound experience.
This is precisely what readers desire from us - not just thoughts or intellectual musings but something tangible that both the writer and the reader can truly experience.
If you wholeheartedly immerse yourself in the experience and diligently work on conveying it skillfully, your reader will undoubtedly experience it too.
Like this blog? Sign up for Clay’s newsletter offering encouragement, skills, resources, and knowledge relating to a balanced life while writing, marketing, promoting, and living. https://claystafford.com/newsletter
