Make It Real
It’s a very important task for an author to make their story and characters real. I can’t expect to travel to London and meet the famous Sherlock Holems at 221B Baker Street, but I would like to believe it could be possible. It was placed in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hands to make it easy for us to see Sherlock Holmes as a real person. Detectives are real in this world and we know they solve crimes. Imagining Sherlock to be real is much easier than believing there could be a person like Gandalf the Grey walking around our streets. J. R. R. Tolkien’s job was to make a realistic build of his character for his readers to enjoy. The idea of magic is beyond reality, to most people, but it can be made into something very believable if done right. Gandalf’s character was a happy and clever wizard. Tolkien made it possible to get lost in the character as if he was real. Making a story too far outside a person’s imagination can risk having an author’s book tossed aside. It’s in the author’s hands to make their readers think every word they type is telling a real story.
Grab Their Attention ASAP
Mandy watched as the sun rose way off in the distance. The bright colors surrounding the ground made her heart smile. It was as if she wasn’t stuck inside a hill with five other women trying to raise their children. In only a few more days they would be relocating again. Living on Mars meant constant movements were required to stay alive. They were all hoping their husbands made it back in time.
This paragraph could be a very easy opener to the start of a Sci-Fi novel. Right away the reader is informed about a woman named Mandy who appeared happy under the sun. It seemed as if Mandy’s story was like any other woman’s story. Then in only a matter of a couple sentences the reader is thrown through a loop when they learn a group of women are on another planet. There’s a bit of wonder raised behind something forcing the women to relocate. Where are the men? Why do they need to move to stay alive? Why did they even leave Earth? What’s going on? The qurestions are endless. But these questions shouldn’t annoy the reader because they are now filled with the need to read on to solve the problems. They are only on page one and they hope their questions will be answered as the story continues.
Don’t Leave Any Questions Unanswered
An author should never let mysteries go unsolved in their novels. If a question was created then an answer should be provided. It would anger readers if answers to even the simplest questions weren’t given. An author should do whatever they need to do to make sure they know all the questions and the best way to answer them. It doesn’t need to happen right away. Maybe one of those questions is the focus of the story and the answer is at the end of the book. But the answers need to be there. If something isn’t solved then there better be another book following the story to answer it or a reader will be highly unsatisfied.
There are many ways to hook your readers to your novels. Every person is different and therefore every novel will follow a different path. Stories I have fallen in love with could be different from the stories other people has fallen in love with. When an author writes a novel they have to understand there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like it. Don’t aim to please those people. It’s an author’s job to do their best to trap the readers with their ability to make the story, the characters, and the time enjoyable.
What is the best way for a book to hook you into its pages?
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