The effects good of writing on readers/listeners
and what the writer must to do to create these effects

HOW DOES GOOD WRITING AFFECT THE READER/LISTENER?

• It grabs the attention immediately and holds it to the end.
• It says something new/interesting/educational.
• Perhaps it creates intrigue/tension/excitement.
• It raises/exercises issues in your mind. Perhaps it resolves some of the issues. Perhaps it opens your mind to new experiences and/or perspectives. Perhaps it challenges your way of thinking about others, yourself or the world around you.
• Perhaps it plays upon your emotions, for example by making you laugh and/or causing you undergo a series of different feelings — anger, pity, fear, empathy, nostalgia, embarrassment, etc.
• Perhaps it creates visual images in your mind.
• Perhaps it evokes memories, prompting self-recognition.
• Perhaps it prompts a physical response, such as a tingling feeling or a faster heart rate.
• Perhaps it deploys characters and makes them come to life.
• Perhaps it enables the reader to escape, in mind, from the real world.
• It satisfies, but perhaps it leaves you wanting more.
• It makes you want to read/hear it again.
• Perhaps it has hidden meanings that are not necessarily apparent at first.
• Perhaps it inspires the reader, for example to explore the subject further or to change one’s behaviour.
• Perhaps it is particularly evocative of a certain time or place.
• It is memorable.
• Perhaps it creates some metaphysical relationship between writer and reader/listener, such as empathy or (one-sided!) friendship.

WHAT CAN THE WRITER DO TO HAVE THE DESIRED EFFECTS ON THE READER/LISTENER?

(These answers cannot necessarily be readily applied to all types of writing. For example, the concept of characterisation, though crucial to plays and most stories, does not necessarily apply to certain types of poetry.)

Technique

• Say things that the reader does not already know — Offer new insights.
• Use compelling ideas, sounds, words, phrases, characters, situations, etc that perhaps have a strong visual component.
• Invoke action.
• Stimulate memories. Excite emotions. Communicate enthusiasm.
• Perhaps use special writing styles and techniques that please the (inner) ear — for example assonance, metaphor, rhythm, rhyme.
• Develop and deploy a logical framework of ideas, making the text/action attractive, even if their full meaning is not immediately apparent.
• Use contrasting moods, for example to relieve extreme tension or to enliven necessary description.
• Write clearly, for example using familiar language and grammar unless there is a deliberate reason for not doing so.
• Work from each sentence to the next, luring the reader all the way.
• Write from experience and with integrity.
• Perhaps use research to enhance authenticity.
• Create engaging, colourful, differentiated, sometimes empathetic characters. Reveal their depths in the course of the work. Allow at least some characters to develop in the course of the work.
• Avoid stereotypes, unless they are deliberately chosen and engagingly developed.
• Avoid having too many characters.
• Create conflicts between characters and/or within individual characters. Perhaps resolve some of the conflicts.
• Perhaps create internal cross-references (such as repetition of key words or themes) to bind the narrative together and facilitate memory.
• Perhaps create external references (such as allusions to other works of literature) to stimulate readers with literary interests and link the work to the wider body of literature.
• Hold back information that answers questions in the minds of the readers until as late in the narrative as possible.
• Be concise — Say only what needs to be said.
• Communicate universal truths.

Self-Discipline

• Set clear goals and work towards them.
• Be receptive to new ideas, not least your own. Experiment freely as a means of developing your writing style, gaining confidence and finding out what works and what does not.
• Set constraints, or be willing to accept them, and abide by them. Constraints may slow down the process of writing, but they usually cause the writer to think more deeply.
• Take time to reflect on what you have written. Think deeply about how its effect on your readers may be improved. Never be satisfied with second best.
• Write every day if possible, or at least every few days. Make a timetable if necessary and stick to it.
• Keep writing materials ready at hand to capture fleeting moments of inspiration.

Objectivity

• Imagine your intended readers and their likely thought processes.
• Imagine the questions raised by your writing in others’ minds and perhaps answer them.
• Invite others, especially other writers, to suggest ways in which your work may be improved. Thank them for their criticism, however painful it may feel, and reflect upon it. Offer to criticise others’ work in return, taking care to criticise them as you would like to be criticised: positively and constructively.