National Book Award nominee Franny Billingsley (2011's Chime) urges writers to put the characters (and therefore your readers) into as concrete a world as possible. Put your reader somewhere they want to be, she says. Into your book, which is akin to a pleasant dream-state. How to keep your readers there? Deploy concrete, sensory details. And these aren't vague, dreamy details; they're vivid. Like a really clear continuously shot movie. No fallback words like "beautiful." Or "bad." Perhaps her most pertinent nugget? "Gather your senses, keep your senses alert."
Now go back to sleep, perchance to dream....
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