How to put a spell on the reader 

When we read fiction we enter a scripted dream. So the writer’s task is plain:
We need to put a spell on the reader. To create a trance.
The trance is where you ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ and where you get to perform all your tricks.
Heroes, villains, plots and sub-plots…it all takes place in the dream.
So how do you put a spell on the reader?
How do you put them into a trance?
The good news is, you don’t need the traditional tools of the trade:
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting…
All you need are words. But not just any words. In this lesson we consider which words we must choose to create our dream, and which ones we must avoid.
If you find it helpful, you might like to try my free, novel-writing e-course:
www.malcolmpry...
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On the Art of Writing:
www.gutenberg....
Photo credits:
Bible photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Exeter College, Photo by Simon Q, distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Princess Diana photo by John Mathew Smith CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.