Story Physics by Larry Brooks

Author:Larry Brooks [Brooks, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2013-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

THE GOAL IS GOOSEBUMPS

Vicarious experience, as a goal and as a brute force of story physics, can be more than simply time and place. It can be delivered through social and character dynamics as well. It’s like that old fortune cookie gag, where you add the words “in bed” to the end of any message. Just add “What would it be like…?” to the beginning of your setting or situation, and you’re already delving into vicarious experience.

What would it be like to be married to a serial killer?

To discover your child has supernatural abilities?

To suddenly possess supernatural abilities?

To live in a world in which aliens have taken over?

To live in a world in which an alien is elected President?

To be told your spouse is having an affair?

To win the lottery?

To suddenly be able to read minds?

To be locked in your own body without the ability to move or communicate?

To go to heaven? To go to hell?

To talk to God directly … and get responses via e-mail or text?

The answers to each of these is pure vicarious experience. These and an infinite list of others are contextual, conceptual, thematic, and even character-centric landscapes that could unfold in any place, at any time, and within any social system. These are things readers will never experience … until you give them that experience in your pages.

So there it is, a secret writing weapon just waiting for you.

Take a look at your story and ask yourself what kind of vicarious experience you are delivering to your reader. All stories take us out of our own lives and into another existence, but does your setting—either time, place, contextual, or relational—contribute to the reading experience in an exciting, compelling, or even frightening way? One that is vicarious? One that readers will be drawn to—drawn into—by virtue of this alone?

When you understand the power and consequences of your choices, you begin to comprehend more than ever that the upside of your story is yours to craft, because the outcome is almost entirely rooted in vicarious experience.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.