Embrace the power of storytelling and watch as your words transform lives!
My life is full of contradictions. I want to eat pancakes, pizza, and ice cream, but I don’t want by belly to jiggle like a pudding cup. I want to be loved and admired, but I don’t want the work of building human relationships. I want to experience the natural world but I don’t want to be uncomfortable. Contradictions are at the heart of every problem, including the reader’s problem of picking out what to read next.
Strategy:
This exercise helps writers explore how their writing process can navigate the inherent contradictions in readers' preferences. By considering different approaches to balancing or leaning into these contradictions, writers can make intentional choices that shape their unique style and target audience.
Instructions:
Choose a Contradiction: Select one of the eight contradictions from the provided list (see Further Resources section) that resonates with you or challenges your current writing approach.
Explore the Middle Road: Brainstorm ways you could balance the two opposing factors in your writing process. Consider how you might incorporate elements of both to create a satisfying compromise.
Lean into Factor One: Imagine reshaping your writing process to fully embrace the first factor in the contradiction. What would you prioritize, and what would you let go of? How might this affect your storytelling and reader experience?
Lean into Factor Two: Now, envision a writing process that wholly embodies the second factor in the contradiction. What would you focus on, and what would take a backseat? How might this change the type of stories you tell and the readers you attract?
Seek a Resolution: Challenge yourself to find a way to optimize for both factors simultaneously. How could you reshape your writing process to achieve the benefits of both elements without compromise? What innovative techniques or mindset shifts might this require?
Analyze Your Audience: Reflect on the different approaches you've explored. Which one aligns best with your authorial identity and the audience you want to reach? Consider how each choice might shape your brand and the expectations readers bring to your work.
Tags: writing process, contradictions, style, audience, creativity, storytelling, reflection
Category: Manage Projects > Cultivate Your Audience
Example:
Choose a Contradiction: I've chosen to explore the contradiction of Depth vs Pace.
Explore the Middle Road: To balance depth and pace, I could alternate between immersive world-building chapters and fast-paced action scenes. I might also reveal character backstories and setting details through brief, intriguing hints scattered throughout the story.
Lean into Factor One: To prioritize depth, I would spend extensive time developing intricate histories, cultures, and landscapes for my story world. I'd write lengthy, descriptive passages to fully immerse the reader in the setting and characters' inner lives, even if it slowed down the plot.
Lean into Factor Two: To focus on pace, I would structure my story with short, punchy chapters that end on cliffhangers. I'd ruthlessly cut any scenes or details that don't directly serve the plot's momentum, and I'd use a lot of dialogue and action to propel the story forward.
Seek a Resolution: To optimize for both depth and pace, I could try to make every world-building detail and character interaction serve a dual purpose - both immersing the reader in a richly textured world and creating narrative tension or momentum. I'd look for ways to convey complex ideas and backstories through concise, evocative details that don't slow down the story.
Analyze Your Audience: The approach that most appeals to me is seeking a resolution between depth and pace. I want to attract readers who crave immersive, intellectually stimulating storytelling but also appreciate a gripping, fast-moving plot. By weaving together those two elements, I hope to build an audience that values both literary depth and entertaining momentum in a story.
Further Resources:
Here are some possible contradictions in reader desires. When readers evaluate your work, they have their own rubric on how they want these contradictions solved. But if you look at readers as a whole, they will want stories that are…
Familiarity vs Novelty: Both comfortingly familiar yet excitingly fresh and original.
Immediacy vs Quality: Available to consume immediately (rapid release) yet are exquisitely crafted.
Complexity vs. Clarity: Intricately plotted and with layered characters, yet clear, coherent, and easy to follow.
Accessibility vs Richness: Effortlessly draws the reader in yet incredibly rich and thoughtful.
Depth vs Pace: Expansive in their world and cast, yet tightly paced with little exposition.
Surprise vs. Satisfaction: Full of unexpected twists, revelations, and subversions of tropes, yet tied up, with plot threads and character arcs completed.
Realism vs. Escapism: Authentic and relatable, yet fantastical or extraordinary.
Closure vs Continuity: Resolved in a satisfying way, yet leaving them eager for more.