ENERGY SHORTAGE?
by Deb Vanasse
Energy. It’s in short supply and high demand as I write this piece in mid-December, a couple of weeks before the winter solstice. We all know the drill. Short on light, long on cold. Perfect conditions for nice long naps. Not exactly conducive to the high-energy pursuit of writing.But by the time you read this, we’ll be an upswing in the energy cycle. Days will start getting longer, and eventually the frigid temperatures will become an almost-distant memory. It won’t be so tough to stay up past nine and get a few things done.We all know it takes energy to write. More than that, your written page needs to pulse with energy if it’s going to hold your reader’s attention. So how can you energize your stories, articles, and books? Start with the element of surprise. When you’re thinking through a piece, don’t settle for the logical flow of one idea or scene to the next. Don’t settle for only doing what makes sense. Figure out which plot developments will shake things up. Get past the ho-hum in your non-fiction outline. Inject an element of surprise. Ask yourself what if. Make sure your particular way of looking at things draws attention because it’s not the same as the next guy’s.Pacing can also add a burst of energy to your writing. Rev the engines with your pacing. Speed things up when they start to drag. Switch scenes. Provide a different point of view. When you get into a suspenseful place in your piece – and this applies to nonfiction as well as fiction – slow things down. Draw out the tension. Let your reader revel in the build-up toward a turning point in the story or a crucial element of your non-fiction narrative.And don’t forget about presentation. It’s amazing how much power you can draw out of a page by rearranging a few things. Pull a significant phrase out of a sentence. Set a phrase or sentence off by itself on the page. White space has an energy all its own. Maybe the phrase that starts a sentence will pack a bigger punch at the end. Maybe the sentence that starts the paragraph will deliver a bigger jolt later on.If your piece is still lacking in get-up-and-go, try pepping up the voice. Characters gain power when you tell not only what they say but how they say it, along with hinting at what they leave unsaid. Voice enhances the tension in characters, heightening the dichotomies and contradictions that leave the reader begging to know more.Energy radiates from the books and articles that we love. You can feel the way the author is herself pulled into the work. Irresistibly. Maybe even uncontrollably. The enthusiasm of an author for her work is the ultimate energizer. But we all know writing’s not one big enthusiastic race to the finish. The road is long. It’s full of twists and turns and ups and downs. You’ll probably end up hating your own creation at some point or another. So how to recover your enthusiasm? Take some time. Create some distance. Walk away from it for awhile. Think about what your piece is really about, what you’re really trying to say, how your readers will think about life differently after they’ve read your story or book. Then return to it, re-energized, and go at it again.An encouraging response from an editor, or better yet a contract, is a great energizer. But you can’t rely on others to energize your work. You’ve got to find your own renewable energy sources. Your readers will thank you for it.Voice. Style. Mood.
