The Movie Experience
I’m sure you’ve experienced this: When you watch a good, exciting movie you forget everything around you after a while, and you feel like you’re inside the world of the movie itself. You’re *there*.
And sometimes, it happens with stories that you’re reading, as well.
Now, you’re a writer. And it should be your goal to write in a way that draws the reader into your world, to give him or her that movie experience. Full immersion in a story, to the point that any interruption will bring an angry response.
But how do you to do that?
There are two steps to achieving this intensity.
1) You yourself have to get into the scene with all your senses.
It isn’t always easy. I’ve just been working on an old story that felt all right. But when a friend looked at it and gave me feedback, I realized this story was flat. Moving with the breaks on. Not going full out.
This friend helped me to get into the story by giving me some images. And my mind supplied the rest:
The predawn light. Lithe, athletic bodies moving among bushes and trees. Hooves stomping the ground, or pawing sparse grass. Snorts in the air. Dust and morning fog intermingling, as they shuffled, like young stallions will. The sharp scent of horses, with a tang of something wilder, stronger. The unspoken challenge making tension rise.
I got goosebumps. I was back *in* the story, not hovering above it. This is what it takes to create the movie experience in story telling.
2) The second step is to write with all your senses full on. Eyes and ears, smell, taste, sensations and intuition. Bring it all – you are a writer, I know you have it in full. Use your love of words to paint the scene. And then it’ll come alive in the mind of the reader. Movie experience. Full immersion. This is what readers crave.
This is our art. This is our calling.
But I can’t do this, you say.
Yes, you can.
Here’s some tapping to help you overcome this limiting thought:
Even though I can’t get into a story like that, I’m okay the way I am and I now allow myself to experience my own story with all of my senses.
Even though I’ve never done this before, I am okay the way I am and I now allow myself to dive into my own creation with all senses open, willing to experience it in full.
Even though I’m not sure I have it in me, I’m getting better and better as writer, and I now allow myself to turn what I experienced inside my creation into words that evoke every part of it.
Let me know if this helps. It’s a huge step to take, but it’s one that will definitely enhance both your joy in writing and the results of your writing. Try it out! You have nothing to lose.
*Image source: F. Moebius
PS: If you feel you want help with this, send me an email and we’ll figure out how I can support you best. I work internationally through Skype. Just click here: Send email to Frauke.
PPS: Don’t know how that “tapping” works? I show you here.
