Recently, I took a free Coursera course on “How to Craft Contagious Content.” The information was so compelling I realized that you could use it to write anything.
- Emotional. How many times have you received a rejection or a critique that your story wasn’t emotional? It didn’t have enough heart in it. This is the emotional pull that makes people keep reading or unable to turn away from the television during a commercial. What affects you on an emotional level is what you remember. A social worker once told my mother that while my grandmother wouldn’t remember details, she could recall how she felt. A story that draws upon your own emotion is the one you’ll remember forever. This picture book is a good example.
- Simple. Stories especially picture books need to focus on one thing that happens. When you’re able to zoom in with laser focus on one benefit of a product you’re writing copy for or one event that happens to your main character, you make it easier for an audience to remember it. This is true when you’re querying your manuscript or pitching it on Twitter. More than wanting to inform them about every single thing that’s happening in your story, sell them the stickiest one.
- Unexpected. Stories that shock are also the most memorable. To do this strategically, begin by stating what’s expected. When you set up a pattern like introducing a boy being naughty, it’s even more surprising when he ends up Where the Wild Things Are.
- Credible. We’re more likely to remember something if we believe it’s true. This means you need to set up certain believable conditions in your story. Even if you’re writing fantasy, you can draw on something that’s grounding like the dysfunctional relationship your teen protagonist has with his mother, your readers will more likely believe he’s also a vampire.
- Leave room for curiosity. When you give a little information, you’re more apt to want to learn more. A gap in knowledge builds questions in our mind. Not knowing makes us want to know and then we can’t stop thinking about the answer. If you create mystery in your picture book or manuscript by leaving clues at every page, you build interest and cultivate a curiosity gap. This is particularly important if you want an agent to request more pages.
Which one of these techniques can you or have you applied in your own book or story? Let me know in the comments.
