How to make your novel irresistible to all readers
What draws them in. What makes a book stand the test of time. How to use it in your book.
We read to connect with the human condition. There are two types of books, those you want to read and those you have no interest.
When walking through a bookstore you look at a book and know right away if you want to stop and flip through the pages or not. The old saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” but we still do. You look at a certain section and the books within do not appeal to you. But have you ever wondered why? What makes someone want to read a certain book and not care about others?
In this blog, we will answer How to make your novel irresistible to all readers..
HOW TO MAKE YOUR NOVEL IRRESISTIBLE TO ALL READERS
Table of Contents
In the past two hundred years, there have been thousands of books published with most of them out of print today. Whereas some books were printed a hundred years ago and are still read today, referred to as “literary classics.”
But why are they remembered, as so many are forgotten? What do literary classics have in common that makes us want to read them a hundred years later?
IT COMES DOWN TO CONNECTING WITH CHARACTERS
The answer is character, we like books that focus on the human condition no matter what the genre. When you look at literary classics like “Emma”, “Sense and Sensibility“, “Romeo and Juliet“, “The Great Gatsby” these stories lead with character. We are not given countless pages of description of technology as you would find in a science fiction novel.
A WW2 thriller about submarines may not appeal to the mainstream reader, they’d see it as a non-character driven story. The average reader will look at a book about submarines as “boring”, too much detail about the submarines and how they work. Most people can’t be motivated to keep reading a book about the in’s and out of a submarine. Not to say they’re bad novels. It’s just your average reader can’t get into them. They’re about objects, but the most successful books are about the life and the human condition.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS ABOUT OURSELVES
But what is it about the human condition that draws us in? In truth, we read to connect, to learn about ourselves. Life is complicated; we want to know why we’re here. We’re looking for answers. When you read a book about relationships you can relate. It’s something you’ve been through. If a character in a novel experiences heartache you can relate.
When you read “Sense and Sensibility” you can relate to the characters and their struggles for relationships. When you read “Romeo and Juliet” you can relate to the love story. However, it’s difficult to relate to a science fiction novel in outer space with great detail about how a spaceship works.
WE DO NOT WANT TO FEEL BORED WHEN READING
When we read, we want to feel, that is the heart of all novels. And the best way to feel is to connect. However, we do not want to be bored. Some writers will fill their books with great scientific detail of a how a spaceship works, but your average reader will find it difficult to get into it. It’s hard to connect with. You cannot feel when reading the technical parts of a ship that go on for countless paragraphs.
Can futuristic science fiction books do well? Yes, “Fahrenheit 451” is a classic novel, read many times over. However, its selling point is not long drawn out scientific terms that goes on for pages. It’s about the characters and the message. A theme we can understand. It takes place in the future, but it’s relatable to what’s happening in the world today. We can see ourselves in it. In the end, Fahrenheit 451 is not a “science fiction novel.” It’s about people, even though you might find it the science fiction section in a bookstore.
STEPHEN KING UNDERSTANDS THIS
One category of books that tend to be forgotten or go out of print are horror novels. Many were written in the 1970s and since then have been forgotten. But Stephen King’s novels have sold in the hundreds of millions and are still read today. We have to wonder why are his books still read whereas so many other horror novels have been forgotten to a point where they are out of print.
Stephen King writes about monsters and ghosts, but so do other horror writers. But we’re drawn to Stephen King the most. The secret is Stephen king does not write about ghosts and monsters. He writes about people dealing with monsters and ghosts.
YOU HAVE TO EXPRESS EMOTION
In other horror novels, it’s the monster that’s written about. The author spends a lot of time describing the location. H.P. Lovecraft wrote many horror stories but very little dialogue. He focuses on what’s happening and the atmosphere. Some find it difficult to read H.P. Lovecraft nowadays. But Stephen King takes you into the mind of the characters, their thoughts. Has everyone talking, reacting to each other. Expressing emotions. He’ll bring a scene to life using all five senses. He makes you feel the scene is alive, as though you’re there. He doesn’t tell you what’s happening, he makes you feel it’s happening, to you.
Lets take Stephen Kings’ short story called “The Mist” for example, it’s about a father and son in a supermarket along with a group of strangers when a mist moves in covering the town. Inside the mist are mysterious creatures who kills anyone who goes outside.
STEPHEN KING PUTS YOU INTO THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM
Your average writer would spend their novel talking about the creature, the atmosphere within the mist, describing the little details. It would be well written; the problem is your average reader isn’t drawn to long description. What Stephen King does is puts you into the grocery store. You feel the monsters are closing in on you. You can relate and understand what the characters are feeling and expressing. We want to see how these regular people get out of this impossible situation.
“The Mist” isn’t about the creatures, it’s about a father and son within a supermarket with all the people inside the store fighting about what to do to get out safely. A religious woman believes the young boy has to be sacrificed to please God. The father now has to protect his son. The heart of the story is about the mind; it’s about real people. This is what draws us to the story.
THOSE TYPES OF BOOKS ARE NOT INTERESTING
There are some science fiction books filled with hundreds of pages of great detail about science but yet so few readers have interests to read them. When in a bookstore they walk past them. Your average reader sees those books as “boring”, not character-driven. Large amount of scientific terms do not interest them.
It’s like watching a science fiction movie and then watching NASA TV. The movie is fast pace and character-driven. Whereas NASA TV is about science and long description of what happening in space. Your average viewer sees it as slow and they don’t understand what’s being said, so they turn the channel.
NOVELS ARE LED BY CHARACTERS
Even thriller novels with great detail about historical places tend to be looked over. Dan Brown wrote 3 thriller novels that did not sell before writing “The Da Vinci Code. Because thriller novels are driven by the action, but your average reader would prefer a novel were the lead character isn’t secondary.
Stephen King’s “Cujo” could’ve been a standard horror novel about a dog with rabies going after people, but that’s not what made it popular. The story is not about a sick dog. But a mother and her young son were trapped in a car on a farm with the massive dog with rabies circling them. You wonder how she and her son will survive. The book does not start off with them trapped in the car. It starts off with the woman living a regular life at home. We see her going about her day, so we can connect with her. By the time she arrives at the farm, she isn’t just a character. We see her as a person. So when Cujo approaches the car we feel nervous. We also connect with Cujo because we see the dog at the start being friendly and nice so when it starts acting aggressively from rabies we feel for the dog.
WE HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM
Stephen King’s book “The Shinning” is not about a haunted hotel. It’s about the family within the haunted hotel. We connect with the family. An amateur writer would write about the hotel, and its history, with boring dull characters in the book, the reader would have little motivation to turn the page. A book like that would not sell.
But Stephen King knew it’s the characters within the plot that we care about. Therefore he spends countless pages bringing the characters to life before they end up at the hotel. We want to know what becomes of Danny. We worry for Wendy. What will happen to Jack. The hotel is the backdrop; it’s the characters that sell.
IT PLOT THAT ATTRACTS READERS
The important rule to remember when writing is it’s plot that attracts the reader, but it’s the characters within that makes us turn the pages. You can walk into a bookstore and read the back of a book about the plot and find it interesting, when you get home and start reading you find rather quickly it’s the people within the story that makes you decide if you want to turn the page until the end.
It might’ve been the plot that makes you buy it, but if you don’t care about the characters within you can relate to you’ll find yourself closing the book pretty soon. As a writer you have to remember if you want the reader to finish your book you need to create characters who are, smart, vulnerable, likable and complex. They need to be the most interesting thing.
WE STILL LOVE READING THE GREAT GATSBY
Old crime novels of the 30s selling point were the crime and the investigation but lacked character. As years go by those paperbacks go out of print. But a novel like “The Great Gatsby” still sells because it’s the characters within that make us turn the page. It’s not as book that goes into great detail of the mansions and the cars. It’s about the people in the houses and the lives of the people who drive the cars.
You can fill your book with details of scientific terms thinking it will sell; but in reality, it might hurt your novel. The more you focus on scientific terms in great detail you’re missing out on the human condition. The thing people are drawn to.
OLIVER TWIST TOOK US INSIDE HIS WORLD
Charles Dickson wrote, “Oliver Twist,” which takes place in London in the early 19th century. We see London life. We see how harsh it is. But the book is not a standard play-by-play of life in London, as though reading a history book which could be boring. We see it through the eyes of a boy named Oliver, someone we care about. We worry for his safety. What Charles Dickson did was combine describing life in London with characters we care about. We end up getting both.
If Charles had written hundreds of pages describing life in London we would have no motivation to turn the page. By introducing a protagonist and giving him problems we can relate to we want to read more. We want to know how it ends. Charles uses London as the backdrop but does not make it the selling point. It’s the characters that make us care. The golden rule of writing is to get the reader to keep turning the pages. It doesn’t matter how much you like your novel if everyone reading stops halfway through that’s not a good thing.
WE CAN RELATE TO HER
“Gone with the Wind” is a long novel, taking place in the south during the Civil War. That alone would cause people to not want to read it. Fearing it would be filled with long details of historical battles and locations. Not sounding too appealing. But the reason why the book sold millions is Scarlett O’Hara. We care about what she goes through. Her struggles are things we can relate to. We want to see how she survives in the south during the Civil War.
In fact, we do not see any of the civil war battles within the book. We are not told military terms or numbers, but what we see is the human reaction and lives of the people in the south affected by the war.
IT WOULD’VE COME ACROSS AS BORING
Tom Clancy wrote “The Hunt for Red October” about the Russian and American military going after a stolen advance nuclear submarine. It could’ve come across as a boring military book filled with military terms and submarine advanced technology. But what sells it are the characters of Jack Ryan and Marko Ramius we want to see how they end up, not the submarine.
You’ll find most people when reading a novel skim over the long exposition and technical details. They want to get back into the human drama. Does this mean as a writer you shouldn’t put any details in your book? Of course, you can, but like Tom Clancy you need to remember to focus on the people, don’t try to sell the novel on its technical side only. You can have it in there. But remember to have character drive the story.
you might be interested in these blogs…
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