5 Things To Know About The Psychology Of Readers.
Every writer asks themselves, "How do I reach my readers?" That's not as hard as you think if you remember these 5 simple tips:
1. Make it believable,
2. Write in plain English,
3. Be passionate about what you're writing,
4. Understand how people read,
5. Write for all formats.
Those seem simple right? Actually, they are. Let's look at each for a moment.
1. Make it believable:
No matter what the genre, you can stretch the fantasy all so far. Even in Sci-Fi, the story has to be at least possible. The best example of this was the series Star Trek. Did you know when it first came out it was a flop? Why, because it wasn't conceived as being believable. The series started in September of 1966. It was way ahead of its time in the realm of possibilities. However, the space program really got started in 1961 with the first man on the moon in 1969. During that time from 1961 to 1969, the space program was beginning to get a great deal of publicity. Star Trek hung in there and look what it turned into. You can get as far into fantasy as you would like. Be sure what you write about is at least conceivable. With technology being what it is, the thoughts of things being possible are greater. Remember, on the silver screen, people are fascinated more by the cinematography than they are the story. The writer does NOT have that tool at their disposable. It has to be in the words.
2. Write in plain English:
If your writing looks like this, you lost them. In a non-fictional narrative for a technical project is fine. However, in other genres, if your reader has to stop many times to look up words they don't know the meaning to, eventually they will put the book down. This often happens in murder mysteries. If you use a technical term, define it's meaning.
For example: "The forensic team commonly used Luminol on the crime scene." What the hell is "Luminol?" Do you think your reader knows? Probably not. They stop, put your book down, and google the term. To much of that, and they give up. How about this wording?
"The forensic team used Luminol, which is a solution that under certain types of light allows them to see trace amounts of blood on an item." Now your reader does not have to stop reading. The moment is not lost, and they can continue.
3. Be passionate about what you're write:
This is a true statement. Talent is worthless without passion. Put passion into your writing. Let the reader feel your passion about what you are writing. They can tell if you threw a few words together, or really took the time to organize them and present them with passion.
4. Understand how people read:
Many years ago writing was much different. We had printed books. Today, we have printed books, E-Books, and Audiobooks. People read at different paces and have different levels of comprehension. If your project moves to quickly, or is to complicated, you lose them. Realize there is a wide range of ages that may be reading your books. In general, your book should cater to them all by using trending terms. Terminology that people can relate to. Write for your characters, not for you. If every character has the same style, a reader will find it difficult to establish their personality and never make a connection. A good example of this is gender writing. Men and women speak differently. Develop your characters by the writing style for the personality you are portraying. This greatly helps the reader to understand each character.
5. Write for all formats: