Writing is being a maker of jigsaw puzzles.
You give your reader the pieces—each chapter, plot point, or character—and they place them on the board, twisting and turning the shapes around in their fingers until they secure the interlocking edges and see how everything fits together neatly. When they finish, the picture they’ve created with the pieces they've been given should match the image on the front of the box—the vision in the writer’s mind.
My biggest challenge is getting out of my own head. In my head, I can see the whole story, all of the characters, the actions, the world, all of it. But I have to remind myself constantly that my reader doesn’t know any of this yet. They only know what they are reading. Word by word, line by line, they are seeing the picture slowly come into view. I have to lay down the track piece by piece for them and lead them in the right direction.
Two things have helped me with that in unexpected ways: marketing and theatre.
In marketing, you have to think about everything from your audience’s perspective. You have to understand their journey and take them along for a ride, making sure they’re with you at each stop. You have to empathize with their situation and put yourself in their shoes before you can craft any messaging or content that will resonate with them and want them to keep moving forward with you as their selected partner. In marketing, when you captivate your readers, they take action in terms of engaging with your content or purchasing your product, but it takes many touchpoints (or chapters?!) to get there.
In theatre, you have to perform each show as if it is the first time you have done it, because it's the first time that particular audience is seeing it. You can’t forget the things that make the show believable, the parts that will be surprising, or the little gestures you did in yesterday's performance, because it’s all new to them tonight. It’s fresh and exciting every night for the audience. You have to think about that newness and not let the fact that you know the ending or you've done this before prevent them from having a wonderful first experience. In theatre, when you captivate your readers aka audience members, they feel immersed in the plot, believe what's happening on stage is true, empathize with the characters, and maybe even want a certain outcome to happen. If you've done it right, you've got them hooked.
In writing, I think about my reader’s journey through my story, and I make sure they are experiencing the carpet unroll before them as they walk, not too far ahead of them but just enough that they can step solidly one foot at a time. I think about how they are experiencing everything for the first time rather than seeing the ragged edges of the worn picture that's in MY head getting told for the millionth time.
I think about what information they might need in that moment in order to want to take that next step. They don't know how it unfolds. They don't know how it ends. They don't know what I know. I have to hand them crumbs, little by little, until they have arrived at the same ending I have. Until they can see that the puzzle they've put together matches the picture on the front of the box.
Think about your story from your reader’s perspective. Make sure as they experience your story for the first time everything is logical and easy to follow.
And remember, they don’t know how it ends the way that you do. Make them want to get there. Keep them engaged through the last word!
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