Using Your Influence

Writers work on their readers in many ways, their wonders to perform.

You can convey information directly, by telling the reader that something is so; you can allude to it symbolically and get them to work it out for themselves, but sometimes it can be quite fun, and therefore satisfying, simply to influence them.  By means of mood and atmosphere and choice of words, you can nudge them in the direction that you want them to go.  Done well, this can be a subtle tool, but a lightness of touch is important.

Here's little exercise to practise with, in between wrapping presents.  Write a quick sketch of a character in such a way that it quickly becomes apparent that the person you are describing is sympathetic and likeable.  Then see how  little you have to change -- make sure it is the absolute minimum -- to recast them as somebody for whom the reader will have no sympathy.  Explore the small margin that exists between the two, the grey area, the ambiguous area, as that is often where your most interesting work will occur.

I'll be wrapping presents in the next couple of days, so blogging might become a little sporadic (I'm giving myself plenty of latitude for a could do better  New Year's resolution...)