THE KEY TO WRITING _ IWSG post

THE KEY TO WRITING  

is found in 

SELFIES

No, really.

Why people read is linked to why people take selfies.

The readers project themselves into the life of the protagonist.  

They see themselves through the eyes of their thoughts and actions.

Like they choose to post the selfies that project the image by which they wished to be seen,

 they pick the characters whose lives they wish to vicariously live.

If Kim asks herself really honestly why she takes her selfies,

 she’d say it’s part of showing everyone Brand Kardashian. 

'This is what I look like (after a bit of photoshopping) 

and this is how I spend my time (obviously I’ll have chosen the coolest thing I’ve done all week).'

 Dr Terri Apter, psychology lecturer at Cambridge University, 

says taking selfies is all about people trying to figure out who they are and project this to other people. 

“It’s a kind of self-definition,” says Dr Apter.  

“We all like the idea of being sort of in control of our image and getting attention, 

being noticed, being part of the culture.” 

Reading fiction draws people who wish to live vicariously through the characters' lives ...

to be as witty, as charming, as brave, as capable as those characters or 

endure struggles, becoming as successful and triumphant in the end as the heroes.

It is much like why audiences are drawn to apocalyptic dramas, 

imagining they could survive like the actors.

We often read to lose ourselves in the lives of people we wish we could become.  

Many lifelong readers read simply because reading makes them feel good, or because it's familiar. 

Many famous novelists confess to being steered towards books 

by a single transformative reading experience during adolescence.

When writing our book, we should ask ourselves where do our prospective readers want to go and why ...

and get them there in the most entertaining way possible.

 HOW IS YOUR WRITING GOING?