Crafting Compelling Fiction: Mastering Attention in Your Writing

The biggest problem I face when writing fiction is that I don’t know what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

Selective attention is choosing what to tell your reader and what not to.

When your audience is reading your work it’s like they are dropped into a dark forest. They only see the blackness and you come along and give them a flashlight, which you point at things. These things come together to form a story.

The problem here is as a beginner you don’t know what’s important to point the flashlight at and what to skip over.

It is an intricate process but one that can become second nature using three key points of consideration.

In this short post, I will offer some guidance on prioritizing key elements in fiction writing.

Let’s go.

Defining the Essence of the Narrative

The ultimate end goal for telling a meaningful story is for your audience to take something away from it, for the audience to learn something.

This thing that you are trying to get across is the essence of your narrative.

Every narrative you write should have an essence or a core. If it doesn’t, find one, it will make your writing A LOT easier.

To find the essence of your narrative you ask yourself;

“What is my story REALLY about?”

Jurassic Park is about dinosaurs and humans fighting. Jurassic Park is REALLY about the way humans screw themselves with their own issues and naive technological advancements.

As you can see there are two meanings to a story and more often than not they are very different in the way they come across.

This is where symbolism and all that jazz comes in but that’s a post for another day.

Once you have the essence of your story you’ll know what to pay attention to.

For example, Jurassic Park shows us images of the dinosaurs attacking humans and whatnot but doesn’t show how the dinosaurs are fed every day or how their carer treats them. This is not shown as it’s not important to the essence of the narrative.

Find the essence of your narrative, everything stems from that.

Point the Central Conflict Through the Characters

Stories are interactions between characters.

Simple as that.

That’s why you need to pay great attention to the characterization of your narrative.

Characterization is the creation and manipulation of a fictional character. You have the power to make your character do and say anything you like.

However, a character should be given life then it should act of its own accord.

Stephen King talked about his novels as the equivalent of a little fire in the darkness that every now and then a character he created would add a piece of wood to the fire, this happens over and over until the narrative is a burning bonfire alive with conflict.

Create your characters and understand what they want and what they need.

These are two different things.

A character could want to be in a relationship with their crush but the character needs to learn how to love themself.

These two things will keep your story moving by having your characters seek what they want and give them what they need.

Once you understand this relationship between characters you can choose to pay attention to things that advance your character in the way of their NEEDS.

This is how to use characterization for attention.

Balancing Characters, Setting and Detail

The best way to drive a plot is by well-crafted characters coming alive on the page.

This is what you should be hoping for as a writer, for your characters to live and breathe on their own.

An example I can think of is Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.

Crime and Punishment is about a man named Raskolnikov tormented by his thoughts after killing his landlady.

The story is praised as one of the best novels of all time as it has such a meaningful essence of the story, this meaning is primarily due to the characters of the novel.

The novel has very few actual events such as the murder of the lady but the book’s plot twists and shapes because of the unique characters of it, each character lives on their own and pushes the plot in one way or another.

This goes to show that a good story doesn’t necessarily point at the right things at the right time but exposes the universality of its meaning through well-written characters bumping into each other.

Balance Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding is the crafting of the world of your text, such as what everyday life looks like? What are the rules? Who lives there?

This is an important part of fiction as the world you explain is the world you tell your story. If you don’t have a world you don’t have a story.

However, you mustn’t get caught up in explaining every single detail of your world, spending pages and pages of writing describing the plants and the sky and the way people hold themselves.

Worldbuilding is done in passing.

There is no better way to world-build than to tell your story and give the bear essentials for what your reader needs to know for your story to make sense.

In this way the reader does the worldbuilding.

Of course, you can and should spend time fleshing out the world of your narrative but this mustn’t be THE priority.

There needs to be a balance.

Selective Detail to Engage

Crafting a captivating narrative involves more than just telling a story—it requires a keen understanding of when to reveal and when to withhold.

The art of selective detail plays a pivotal role in keeping readers engrossed without overwhelming them with unnecessary information.

In their most essential form details are the things you shine the flashlight at. You’re just pointing your reader’s attention at them and letting them come up with its meaning.

This is why carefully choosing what you show the reader enriches the reader’s experience and contributes to the overall atmosphere of the story.

Picture this: the aroma of freshly baked bread, the feel of a cool breeze, the distant hum of city life.

Sensory details have the power to transport readers into the heart of your fictional world.

To choose what you use go back to the essence of your story and the character conflict.

It’s important to understand that not every detail deserves a spotlight.

Sometimes I get into the trap of describing and describing without anything actually happening story-wise.

The way to solve this is to understand it’s all about finding that delicate balance—enough to enthrall, not too much to overwhelm.

The best stories leave room for the reader’s imagination to flourish to feed the reader but not pander to them.

Pacing and Tension Mastery

Reader engagement and the attention of your audience is largely due to the pacing of your novel.

Often mindless descriptions will slow the pacing and bore the audience.

The goal is to keep a dance between slow and fast revealing of information.

A great way to squeeze description into your prose is to add information during a quick or tense scene.

For example;

The writhing mass of worms turns its head to face Dylan’s stare, an orange glow emanates from its lifeless eyes illuminating Dylan’s chainmail bouncing off the sharp steel strapped to his body.

In only a couple of sentences, we now understand there is a worm monster with glowing eyes in front of a steadfast soldier named Dylan.

What was only really a monster turning its head has turned into an interesting balance between pacing and detail.

A similar technique is using tension.

Especially in horror (which is what I write) tension is such an effective way of capturing and keeping attention.

Tension is not just showing a lot of scary stuff but rather paying attention to oddly unnerving details in a specific order.

So make sure to speed up, slow down, and add tension through your description to further the plot and add details without listing them.

In Conclusion. . .

As we near the finale of our exploration into the art of crafting compelling fiction, let’s revisit the three pillars that form the foundation of impactful storytelling;

Identify the Essence of Your Narrative– Remember, it’s the heartbeat that propels your narrative forward and resonates with your readers.
Achieve a Harmonious Balance Between Characters Setting and Detail-By understanding the significance of each element and their interplay, you pave the way for a seamless and immersive reading experience.
Pacing and Tension- The rhythm of your narrative, the ebb, and flow of tension—mastering pacing is the key to keeping your readers hooked.

Now armed with insights into narrative essence, balanced elements, and pacing mastery, it’s time to wield these tools in your own writing arsenal.

Embrace the creative journey with newfound confidence, knowing that each word you pen contributes to the tapestry of your unique storytelling voice.

Challenge yourself to infuse these principles into your current projects, and watch as your narratives evolve into captivating tales that resonate long after the final page is turned.

Drop a comment, share your stories, and let’s continue this dialogue. Together, we can inspire and elevate each other on the ever-evolving journey of crafting captivating fiction.

Happy writing!

Check out how to Write Effective Horror with this Post;

Crafting Unforgettable Horror: A Three-Step Approach