Novels, I think, have two main engines: two primary reasons to drive the reader on through the book. Those engines are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Propulsion<\/strong>. Anything that makes the reader think, \u2018What\u2019s going to happen next? This is exciting. I can\u2019t tear myself away from this moment.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adhesion<\/strong>. Anything that makes the reader think, \u2018Wow, this feels so real. It\u2019s like I\u2019m really there<\/em>. Yes, I know I exist in the real world, but while I have this book open in front of me, its world seems more real (and more fun.)\u2019 The adhesion stuff is what makes the book stick<\/em>. It\u2019s what makes readers think about your world when they\u2019re on the journey to work \u2026 and months after they\u2019ve finished the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So: if you want your reader to plough excitedly through the book, you need both engines burning away nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All propulsion, no adhesion?<\/strong> Your book is full of wham, bam, action, but it doesn\u2019t feel real, so the characters and the situations don\u2019t really stick. Readers skate through the book and forget it (if you\u2019re lucky) or don\u2019t even skate through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All adhesion, no propulsion?<\/strong> Congratulations. You\u2019ve written a work of literary fiction that people praise but very few people actually read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that seems like a nice tidy plan. Write your book, make sure both motors are firing up nicely \u2013 job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trouble is these engines fire in more or less opposite directions. One (propulsion) is urging you to stick in more people-with-guns \/ love-mishaps \/ zombies-with-interesting-superpowers and the like. The other engine (adhesion) is asking you to slow down and describe all that stuff in enough detail that you can give it a weight and credibility that makes all the stuff feel real and present when it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, one of the magic solutions is one we spoke about last week. What matters to the reader isn\u2019t really \u2018how much plot-style propulsion does this book possess?\u2019 It\u2019s more, \u2018how much propulsion exists per thousand words?\u2019 Same sort of thing when it comes to adhesion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So deleting surplus word count is THE technique for improving both things at the same time. It\u2019s just about the only method that does that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And remember: you\u2019re not aiming to reduce the amount you express. You\u2019re aiming to express the exact same substance, but with greater density.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the things to watch for here is list-making. So you may want 5 sentences to describe (say) a romantic beach-side cottage. But if you whittle that down to just 2-3, you may get the same effect \u2026 or actually greater, because readers read what you\u2019re telling them instead of just skimming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another key technique is frequent switching. So instead of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We do roughly this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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