Let’s explore three primary ways to make fiction come alive and feel real.
I have done a lot of reading over the years. Books are one of my greatest loves.
It doesn’t matter what form they take. Paperback, hardcover, Kindle, audiobook, or other – I love books and stories about fantastic worlds and unique characters.
To some degree, this is escapism. When I sit down to read sci-fi or fantasy, I am leaving the world I know to enter into one of some other author’s imagination. It can be a really engaging, very exciting trip, too.
There are various ways in which authors make their stories come alive. But it’s not some weird mystery that cannot be analyzed and examined. Today, we’re going to explore three of the means to this end –
- Character
- Visual description
- Sensory connection
Some authors are better at one of these means than the others. A combination of all three makes a story even more powerful. And there are other methods I am not going to explore in-depth here that get to the same end.
The power of character
There are iconic literary characters throughout the history of fiction. No matter the time period, some characters stand out and can be made to feel as real as any person you actually, factually know.
For example – Medusa, Hamlet, D’Artagnan, Bilbo Baggins, and Harry Potter have been so familiar to people that they can evoke a sense of understanding and closeness akin to what the people you know in real life might draw out.
I’ve read plenty of stories where the characters were shallow and lacking. They were there, maybe moved a story along – but they didn’t make it come alive. On the other side, I’ve read stories where even the villains were so deep that while you disagreed with their motivations, you understood them. And sometimes hated them.
I well-written character can breathe life into a story that makes it feel so real that you think about it even when you aren’t reading the story.
The series I am currently reading is KB Wagers’ Farian War trilogy. This series is a sequel to her previous trilogy, The Indranan War. Both trilogies follow the exploits of former gunrunner Hail Bristol as she is forced to return to the life she abandoned twenty years ago – and the empire she’ll inherit there.
The story is told in first-person from Hail’s perspective. And she is such a deeply complex and fascinating character on lots of levels. But it is her character that drives the story – and even when I’ve put it down I sometimes find myself considering her plight, her choices and challenges, and more.
Hail Bristol is a fictional character. But KB Wagers has made her come alive in such a way that, to my mind, she’s almost as real to me as anyone I know. And that is amazing storytelling.
Visual description makes the story come alive
Pause from reading this a moment and take a look around the room or space you are presently in. Now, do that again – but this time, pause at various details. If you are in a room – what color are the walls painted? What items are in the room with you? Are you alone, or are other people present?
When you have done this, take another moment to close your eyes and describe it with words alone. That is the visual description of a reality you know.
When an author details something visual so clearly that you can see it – like the space you are in now – that makes the story utterly come alive.
The ability to describe your surroundings with nothing but words is a skill. Some are much better at this than others.
Beyond that, the description of a character and visual cues about them can make them more real. For example, in the Divergent series, the members of the Erudite faction were always described as wearing glasses (which they oddly ignored in the movie).
The description of The Wall in the Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones) makes it feel enormous, imposing, and impressive. You can picture it like it’s really there (even before they made it come alive in the TV series).
A good visual description makes the fictional real. That engages us nearly as well as a detailed character.
Sensory connection
How we encounter the world around us, externally, is via sensory input. Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and extrasensory connect us to the people, places, and things that make up the world we live in.
Writers across time, place, and genre have crafted descriptions capable of evoking one of our senses. Describing how smooth or rough something is; sweetness or bitterness of taste; loud or soft noise; pleasant smell of foul odor; a beautiful or hideous face; a sense of something being somewhat off or other instinct. Sensory connections make stories come alive just as powerfully as characters and visual connections.
What’s funny is both how often and how easily we take sensory input for granted in real life. When we’re not practicing mindfulness, we often miss nuances and cues in our lives that come to us through our sensory input.
But it’s always there. And when a writer describes something and how it impacts your senses well, it comes alive as though it were real.
These are not the only ways stories come alive
There are lots of ways that authors make their stories come alive. These three – character, visual description, and sensory input – are easy to explore.
Many stories that most come alive use these in concert. The best stories have phenomenal characters, have easily envisioned visual descriptions, and evoke the sensation of sensory input.
These are not mutually exclusive. There are lots of other ways to make a story come alive. For example, sometimes the narrative telling the story is so engaging that all else fades into the plot. Actions on the part of the characters draw us into their world. We get so deep into emotional states that we feel a part of the story.
Whatever ways authors choose, making a story come alive is the difference between good writing and great writing. When you can empathize, relate, and feel like the world of the story is real and just as alive as you are – it’s utterly engaging.
That’s what I strive to do with my work. And there is no One True Way to make a story come alive. But the best stories feel just as real to me as the world I exist within. And that keeps me reading to see, explore, and experience more.
What makes a story come alive for you?
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