Today’s edition is a more hands-on/execution-oriented follow up to last week’s piece. In other words: a bit of practical advice on how to create a sense of wonder in your stories.
This series is my attempt at exploring (i. E. learning) the intricacies behind the ‘Elemental Genres’, as spoken about during season 11 of the Writing Excuses Podcast—a resource I recommend all writers check out. Whatever I say here is not one of my original thoughts, but more of a summary/further exploration of something the Writing Excuses folks talked about during episodes 11.6; 11.8, and/or 11.9 of their podcast.
So, without further ado… Here are four techniques you can use to create and/or further increase the element of wonder in your stories.
One – Building Towards Something
(AKA: creating a sense of escalation.)
One way to do this is through the use of foreshadowing in your story. (No, foreshadowings are not only limited to mystery novels.)
According to the Oxford dictionary, a 'foreshadow' or 'foreshadowing' is a "warning or indication of (a future event)." In other words: the inclusion of details that, although not necessarily related to the moment/event you're building towards, provide indications/hints of what is to come.
Another way to create a sense of escalation: Mary Robinette Kowal recommends that you make a list of the things that are awe-inspiring and that you want to see in your story. Once you have that list–put these moments/scenes/sequences in order of magnitude. Then, look at the list and fill in the gaps, always asking yourself: "How can I make this the most satisfying to the reader?"
If you start your story with your most awe-inspiring moment, and then have another equally (or less) awe-inspiring one follow... the reader will feel let down. A story that begins with a ten-page long description of a battle between two armies better have a bigger, more awe-inspiring sequence later, or the reader will feel disappointed.
One last point: Size per se, here, doesn't matter. If the biggest, most awe-inspiring element you want to add to your story is, say, a small watch-like device that answers all questions you ask it truthfully, that doesn't matter. What matters is what the comes before is proportional to the thing you are building towards.
Two – The 'Time Bomb' Technique
If wonder is one of the major themes or Elemental Genres in your story, you might want to consider employing the 'Time Bomb' technique. Brandon Sanderson illustrated this brilliantly:
In his novel Mistborn: The Final Empire (which if you haven't read, you should), Sanderson introduces early on the fact that there are 16 metals that provide select characters (our protagonist being one of them) with magical powers when consumed and burned. That is a wonder-filled time bomb.
How does it work? The fact that you, the reader, get to experience the protagonist discovering the powers behind the first metal sets the fuse. Then, as she discovers the second metal, then the third, then the fourth... the fuse gets shorter and shorter and two things happen:
Eventually, you realize that throughout the time reading this novel, you're going to experience ALL the metals.
because you're a smart reader, and Sanderson is a smart author, you know the scenes involving the discovery of these metals are just going to keep getting better and better.
In short, two things have been accomplished: anticipation & the prospect of an escalation.
Another example of the 'time bomb' technique can be seen in Chapter 6 of HP and The Sorcerer's Stone, which I analyzed last week. In this case, Rowling uses the time bomb technique twice: one at the beginning of the chapter and the other at the end of the chapter. The bomb at the start begins ticking the moment Harry is dropped off at Kings Cross station and explodes when he finally sees Hogwarts for the first time.
The second bomb's start comes right after the first's explosion: the moment Harry sets eyes on the school, a sense of anticipation is created in the reader. JK just promised us something big—that we're going to actually go into the castle, and explore everything (or almost everything) about it.
(Note: there is a pitfall to this technique, so be warned. Putting a wonder-filled time bomb (or many) in your story makes a promise to the reader—the promise that that bomb is going to go off, and that when it does, it will be awe-inspiring. If you don't fulfill those promises... well, let's just say the reader won't be happy.)
Three – The 'Extreme Nonchalance' Technique.
This is one of those tricks that are simple, yet powerful. I'm sad, actually, that I don't get to use it very often since it doesn't fit in all narratives.
What I call the 'Extreme Nonchalance' technique can be best illustrated this way: If the character you're following walks down a street and sees a dragon, and his/her entire reaction is: "hey look, a dragon" and just keeps on walking... That level of nonchalance shocks the reader, and implicitly makes him/her ask him/herself: "If dragons are commonplace in this world/for this character, what the hell am I going to read about later?"
This cognitive dissonance both awes the reader and, of course, creates an expectation for something grander—one you will have to fulfill.
Four – Wonder All The Way Down
As the Writing Excuses folks discussed during episode 11.9, one of the reasons Harry Potter is so successful (and has spanned everything from movies to amusement parks), is that Rowling didn't just focus on creating wonder in the reader through the use of big set-pieces, or plot-centric sequences, or even through an interesting magic system.
JK took it all the way down, took the care to fill even the corners with wonder.
The train. The history. The food. The wand-lore. The candy-wraps and the candy itself. Every detail of the Wizarding world is stock-full with wonder. Look at this description of Honey Dukes from HP and the Prisoner of Askaban:
There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-coloured toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizzbees, the levitating sherbet balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were ‘Special Effects’ sweets: Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-coloured bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps (‘breathe fire for your friends!’), Ice Mice (‘hear your teeth chatter and squeak!’), peppermint creams shaped like toads (‘hop realistically in the stomach!’) , fragile sugar-spun quills and exploding bonbons.
Here are a few other ways to create wonder in your stories, as discussed by the Writing Excuses peoples:
Pairing a character that is immune to awe with another one who isn't. The twist: having the immune-to-awe character feel wonder for the first time at an important junction of your story. (Think: Holmes & Watson or Harry & Ron during their first trip to Hogwarts)
Having your POV character be the least experienced person in a certain awe-inspiring domain of your story. This is very useful when dealing with fantasy or sci-fi worlds.
Expanding the description of a moment/detail/object so the reader can savor the wonder that comes with that moment/detail/object. But be careful––if you linger on it too much, the reader can get bored quickly.
When describing something awe-inspiring, engage as many of the senses as possible. (This is useful description advice in general.)
Combine common-place objects/details to create unexpected pairings. Think: chocolate-covered bacon, or candied pears & Roquefort pizza
And that’s it for today. Have a great weekend!
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