He grasped me firmly but gently, just above my elbow, and guided me into a room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. Soundlessly, he approached from behind and spoke in a low, reassuring voice close to my ear.
“Just relax.”
Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat. I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn’t care. His touch was so experienced, so sure.
When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder, and partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage. And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled sharply. Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine to my panties.
Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and expectant. This is a man, I thought. A man used to taking charge. A man not used to taking ‘no’ for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted. A man who would look into my soul and say …
“Okay, ma’am,” said a voice. “All done.”
My eyes snapped open and he was standing in front of me, smiling, holding out my purse. “You can board your flight now.”
Okay, you’ve probably all read that story before, and now you’re thinking it's a really weird thing for me to post and wondering what possessed me to do it. And... because you’ve read this far, I’m going to tell you.
You read this far because something in the title, or perhaps that first line...or even the photo...promised you something. You read even further because what you were reading was interesting in some way. Maybe it was titillating, or you thought it was funny…or maybe you know me and thought it was a bizarre thing for me to post. Or…maybe you really wanted to know what was going to happen next?
The excerpt is fiction…it’s a joke…a scene some think could be taken straight from a bad romance novel (or good depending on your point of view). But, for purposes of this blog, it’s an example of how to engage the reader and keep him reading. It's a very simple example in the art of verbal seduction.
The story started big and kept on going. You knew there was more to it, but you didn’t know what, so you kept reading. You kept reading because the beginning promised you something and you wanted to know if the story was going to fulfill its promise.
And it did with the punchline. But that’s not all…
You’re still reading because you know that story wasn’t all I was going to say. Why? Because with my blog title, I made a promise that I’m going to tell you something about the art of seduction. And…because this is a writer’s blog, I've made an unspoken promise to say something about writing.
So, I will.
Novelists must be experts in the art of seduction.
Whether you’re writing a romance novel or straight fiction, writers must persuade the reader to keep flipping pages. We do it by seducing him, trifling with his emotions. We toss out the emotional hook and draw him in. Whether we make the reader laugh, cry, or feel he needs to know more, we are engaging him emotionally.
Think about it. If we read something that makes us angry, or makes us rail at injustice, we are emotionally engaged. When we’re emotionally engaged, when we care about something…or the person we are reading about, we want to know what’s going to happen next and we keep reading.
We anticipate.
Anticipation causes tension and suspense. Tension and suspense, wondering what happens next is what compels us to keep flipping pages.
The relationship between your most wonderful character and the reader must be an emotional experience, one you tap into from page one. If we make a promise to the reader at the beginning of our story that something interesting is going to happen, he’ll keep reading.
Just like you did here.
Hey…if I got you to read this far, you know it works. Think about it. Why do you keep reading? What is it that pulls you into a story and keeps you reading?
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I'll be talking a lot more about this in my next online class “Infusing Your Story With Emotion” beginning May 27th. For more information about the class, go to http://www.bootcampfornovelists.com/ls-courses/l-course-5p-emotion.html
For more information about all classes, and about me, go to http://www.bootcampfornovelists.com/
14 comments:
You had me going! :-) I think I need to book an airline ticket.
LOL, Eve. Do that. You can come to Italy with me!! :-)
Linda, nice job seducing me into seeing where you were going with that little scene.
What draws me immediately into a story is emotional involvement with a character. Then what keeps me going is anticipation, questions raised, tension, and more emotion.
Hi Susan. Yes, that was the point and I'm glad to see it worked. ;-) Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I totally agree.
So, to draw a parallel here, ifyou're writing a story about seduction, you the writer are seeking to engage the reader emotionally with your character and are promising him or her an interesting, emotional story, while the characters in your story are hooking each other's emotions, making promises--maybe not verbally but in some way--to one another of something good to come, and continuing the eemotional engagement and the hinted promises, drawing each other closer and closer emotionally and physically and mentally, making resistance ever harder, until it feels imposssible? I know this may be obvious, but it's something I've had in the back of my mind, my subconscious, for the past week or two, while starting to write my first novella, which is what brought me so hurriedly over to your blog when I saw today's title.
Hi Varina. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your excellent parallel analysis! You are spot on! In out novels, we make a promise to the reader about our story, we create an emotional bond between the reader and our protagonist, keeping said reader in suspense about what happens next. Our characters do the same with each other as they move through their story.
Linda
Such a seductive tale and it even ended with a twist. Great post, Linda. Thanks for sharing!
I Love it, Linda! Even though I've read the post before, I still kept reading thinking "maybe it will turn out differently this time!" What a great way to illustrate ways to get the readers hooked!
Ciao!
Great blog, Linda, I have seen this before but I forgot about it when I was reading it so I was surprised again.
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for stopping by. Glad you like the blog. I'm always looking for new ways to illustrate a point. :-)
Linda
Hi Donna,
Nice to see you. Isn't it funny how even though we've read something, we'll keep reading anyway. But then, you knew I wouldn't just post a joke, didn't you. ;-)
Linda
Thanks Connie. It is cute, isn't it...and perfect to illustrate my point. Hmmm. I'm getting on a flight tomorrow. I wonder.....
Hi, Linda,
Good questions.
What pulls me into a story is the author's/character's voice and the character's dilemma.
What keeps me reading is coming to care for the character. That's when I feel the emotional involvement.
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for stopping by. You brought up an excellent point. An author's voice is so important, and it's one of the things that will draw me, too...along with an interesting story. Neither, however, work for long if I don't care what happens to the character. It always comes back to character, doesn't it.
Cheers,
Linda
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