Mesmerize The Reader

Mesmerize The Reader: The Power of Story & Creating Tension

Perhaps you are like me and have always had a love for story and have wanted to write creatively. But perhaps, you did not know how to bring it home.  I view this as an adventure in re-awakening our creative side. When I say write creatively, I am referring to writing fiction, which is very much like giving birth. In addition, when we invent a character, to an extent we must start to take possession of their psyche, or what I call mesmerizing your reader. In order to do this, we must understand how or what makes other people tick and make it come to life. This involves a degree of psychology and what motivates people and what makes them tick. But of course, we must start with ourselves. We will be teaching how to do this in our upcoming workshop.

Awakening your creativity can also be viewed as an adventure of the soul in its quest for meaning. We are all called to create in different ways. Giving expression to a story is not only creative, but we find it helps to create meaning. The brain is wired to learn, remember and make meaning through stories . So whether you are a writer who wants to learn how to unblock your creativity, partner with the unconscious in your writing, or just someone who wants to reconnect with your creative side and learn how to create what you want, this is for you. A way to begin is with expressive writing, just writing whatever comes into your awareness.

The reason is because it has been my experience that writing and telling our stories is a way to RIGHT your life. Research by James Pennebaker has shown that expressive writing can be very therapeutic, helping to increase productivity, reduce stress, and even to achieve your goals.

Story Structure for Your Reader

Once we apply the tenets of story structure, we are entering a different realm. By writing and working with the structure of story, you have the potential to change not only yourself, but also make an impact and affect those who read what you write, if you decide to share it. It is widely known that most fiction writers take elements from their lives and transform it into a story. Everyone’s life is unique and everyone has a story to contribute. By doing so we learn valuable things about ourselves as well as benefit from the experience. Click here to join the workshop that will teach you how to do it.

Self Discovery Through Tension and Transformation

You are already living life by in effect self-selecting a narrative; it is your interpretation of you. Writing helps you to learn more about who you are. As you self -select aspects of you to write about, and transform it into a story; it can in some ways be self-transformative. You become the therapists (writer) of the story. Look at the story what needs to be changed to make it a coherent narrative. In our minds we are always creating stories both consciously and unconsciously. You will learn how transform into the language of story. 

People say you should write what you know. We should also write in a way that will engage what we care about. You can write what you want to know more about. Many writers use personal material for creative fodder. It is also important to write in a way that stirs up powerful emotions. This is to create a powerful and rewarding experience.

But let’s not forget, the most important step toward living a more engaged creative life starts with just showing up. By allowing and seeing what wants to emerge we will invariably include the inner voice of judgment. Trust me you can learn how to deal with the biggest antagonist to creativity, the inner critic. Many writers do not really know exactly what they are writing about until they actually write the first draft. This allows us to clarify the story. From there we can apply the tenets of story structure that make stories work.

So, the question becomes, what makes a story work and how can we mesmerizes our reader. How do we keep them glued to your book from the very first word to the last?

Developing the Tension

In conclusion, to mesmerize your reader, you want them to be riveted to wanting to know what will happen next… and the secret is TENSION and conflict. It’s all about tension, release and more tension. And in order to do this effectively, you have to know how write in a way that deploys emotions: empathy and fear. This includes having a villain that is complex. Once you understand how to do this, you can write a story that resonates with the psyche. You will understand how the mind is wired to respond to story.

First you must care about the characters in the story and pulled into their plight. As Aristotle once said in his work Poetics, tragedy is the imitation of action, but what we are after is to evoke emotion… pity and fear.

Mesmerize the Reader with Tension and Release

So, if you want to learn how to mesmerize your reader, you have to know how to set up and release tension all throughout your book. Not many writers know how to do this. We can learn by paying attention to how other writers do it and understanding some psychology as it applies to writing. This is what we will be sharing, how to mesmerize the reader, in our exciting workshop.