How to make the reader CARE when writing fiction / booktube

Рет қаралды 3,850

3 жыл бұрын

One of the most important questions we must ask ourselves when writing fiction is, "why should my reader care about this?" How do we make the reader interested? How do we make the reader feel emotion? In this video, I explore this question and read a children's book as an example of how not to do it.

Пікірлер: 31

@21stCenturyWriter 3 жыл бұрын

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@doreenzimmerman7410 3 жыл бұрын

Great video. You made it really clear what a reader caring means. I didn't like the book from the beginning where the kid says he can't draw a dragon because he's never seen one but he clearly knows what a dragon looks like. In the next scene he has already drawn one. My take on the last page is it was supposed to represent how much the boy's imagination grew by just one trip to the library. Basically, I thought the theme of the book was kids should read more. I don't think any part of it was clear.

@21stCenturyWriter 3 жыл бұрын

Hey, thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Ah - that's what the last page means! Of course. Wow, they could've made that clearer. It really isn't a great book, is it? Hopefully it was a good example for this video. Thanks again for your comment :)

@doreenzimmerman7410 3 жыл бұрын

@@21stCenturyWriter You're welcome. I thought it was a great example for the video but a terrible children's book.

@jeremyfee 3 жыл бұрын

Great video. I love your point about scenes not being pointless so readers aren't bored. I assume this is a British or Scottish children's book. I think, because the character's name is Cuthbert, that this is religious symbolism. In Dungeons & Dragons, in the older editions, one of the deities was Saint Cuthbert and he represented being good, strong, and protecting people; I mention this because of the dragon connection. But Saint Cuthbert was borrowed from real history as one of the Anglo-Saxon monks who became a bishop. Standing strong with his "brothers" could be symbolic of the other monks or saints and them coming together to protect the boy. As long as he was with Cuthbert and the brothers, he was safe. The normally aggressive animals may have been appeased by the presence of Cuthbert? I don't know. But great points nonetheless. Maybe the carwash reference on the last page is meant to represent a baptism of sorts, being fully engulfed in water and coming out of it clean? It's a stretch for a children's book, but now that the child has embraced Saint Cuthbert, he can be a true worshipper?

@21stCenturyWriter 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Jeremy. Wow, I hadn't even considered any of that! That's really interesting, and you could definitely be right. Who knew a children's book could be so deep? I'll have to research Saint Cuthbert, I'd never even heard of him before! Thanks for the info :)

@amdi8966 6 ай бұрын

Take your meds 😂

@camir2747 9 ай бұрын

One of the points of the story is to familiarise children with all sorts of interjections. So that's where the bear scene is handy. Grrraaaa!😊

@gregahunt 9 ай бұрын

good vid. thanks

@21stCenturyWriter 9 ай бұрын

You're welcome!

@voidsword8095 9 ай бұрын

Great video

@21stCenturyWriter 9 ай бұрын

Thank you, that means a lot. I hope it helps.

@cringyboring 3 жыл бұрын

What about showing events unrelated to the story for world building?

@21stCenturyWriter 3 жыл бұрын

Good point! It depends how it's done, but usually this will put a reader off before they get started. It's usually best to try and build the world through the course of the story itself. Don't listen to me though! It's always worth experimenting. I'm sure some writers can make it work :)

@yuchow5652 7 ай бұрын

It is because the scenes don't fit the direction of the story. The writer makes it so generic that the readers do not even know what to expect other than "there must be something fantasy ahead". Since they are not sure where the story is going, they can't make sense why and how scenes matter. IMO the motivation of characters are not strong enough to carry the story going along, as they are not expected to die/injure or they really want to know what dragons are. I do not know much about kid's books so I do not know if there is some limitations on the content. Can we write something about fear? school? friendship? parents? hardship? I don't know. I can imagine there are many things could be the "bear" or "troll" and it could be more interesting as the structure of Life of Pi.

@markphillips7538 4 ай бұрын

I believe the last page is a lead-in for the next adventure he dreams up going through a carwash.

@21stCenturyWriter 4 ай бұрын

Of course! Why didn't I think of that?

@tomlysaght4283 8 ай бұрын

They apparently had some drawings and tried to fit a story around them

@OmegaEmpire 5 ай бұрын

Making sense of this is simply too complicated and convoluted 😂

@JoeyPaulOnline 3 жыл бұрын

I have no idea what that last page means, I think the brothers thing is showing the younger one proving himself as a Knight but it doesn't say that so I don't know if I'm right

@21stCenturyWriter 3 жыл бұрын

Ah good point, maybe that's the case! Still annoys me though, haha :)

@jonlittle5032 Ай бұрын

This is actually a well-written story. Bear. MC is scared. Ally shows MC not to be scared, not to assume the bear is a danger. Troll. MC learns lesson, goes from passive to active, and convinces troll not to eat the Ally that saved MC in first conflict. Brothers. They came, they saw, they got scared. This reinforces the idea not to be scared. Climax. Dragons. MC uses lessons learned, makes friends with Dragons, and they become friends (tea party is symbolic of that). Basic narrative structure. Now, the car wash? No idea.

@moegirl76 9 ай бұрын

I really liked this video. I've got a children's book in mind and that was really helpful. I read a manuscript of a new writer and often thought "what's the point of this?" while reading it. Nice to know my instincts are spot on.

@21stCenturyWriter 9 ай бұрын

Hey, thank you :) I hope it goes well.

@nicolemarcinawrites 3 жыл бұрын

Maybe the carwash is the dragon??? 😂

@21stCenturyWriter 3 жыл бұрын

Haha I hadn't thought of that Nicole! Nice theory :P

@nicolemarcinawrites 3 жыл бұрын

@@21stCenturyWriter Because the carwash looked like a dragon 😂 or it’s just my imagination 😂

@cuyaCT 8 ай бұрын

you basically said “how to make readers care-only make scenes they care about.” that’s like saying “how to make customers satisfied with a meal-only make good food.” i think your analysis of what bad scenes are is good evidence, but you didn’t really answer the question very thorough

@21stCenturyWriter 8 ай бұрын

Good point, sorry about that.

@grifflancer2999 8 ай бұрын

To be fair, only make good food is good advice for a restraunt. If you dont know what good food is then you shouldn't be running a restraunt.

@cuyaCT 8 ай бұрын

@@grifflancer2999 true, and i think this video is well intentioned. but for a 14 min video, i think his point could’ve been made much sooner, and brought out more examples about how to make scenes they care about rather than pointing out what good scenes were. this is just feedback from someone who was interested in his topic due to his video title, but what i received was “only make scenes they care about,” which is pretty obvious. again, i’m sure this video is well intentioned, i just felt compelled to respond w/ feedback