Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Aaah Factor

We've all done it--set a book down and breathed "Aaah." We got it. The writer allowed us to take more from their story than a break from life.

When I write a story--I want it to become more than a good read. I like to roll my words around in my head and discover that little glimmer--what I call the Aaah factor. It usually means I need to dig deeper -- below the surface. It means I have to inflict enough human emotion into my story that it moves the reader to keep reading long enough to discover what I did in that writing process.

Look around you. Isn't there an Aaah in something about today? When you attended church this morning and the preacher read from the Bible about Easter and why we celebrate it--didn't that feeling begin to bubble up in you--again--even though you've heard the same sermon in one way or another for years? You whispered aaah again and when you stood to exit your pew--you were thinking about it. That's the gold.

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