Touch Secrets of Bestselling Writers

Bestselling Authors and Touch

What if you uncovered how bestselling authors view touch differently, approach touch differently, and apply touch differently than unpublished and even mid-list authors? What if you could pull back the veil on this set of powerful sensory secrets?

Now you can.


How Bestselling Authors View Touch

Bestselling authors view touch as a visceral portal to a reader's imagination, a kaleidoscope of kinesthetic opportunities to reveal character traits, relationships and changes in the story.


How Bestselling Authors Approach Touch

Bestselling authors not only view touch differently, they approach the sense of touch differently in the story. To a bestselling writer, touch offers a playground of opportunities. Touch is a versatile sense that can be engaged in a variety of ways in stories. Touch is a powerful scene builder and story changer. Bestselling authors know this and, therefore, approach touch with thought and care and much deliberation.

How Bestselling Authors Apply Touch


Here we get to the meat of the article, where theoretical understandings of touch meet the written page. Bestselling authors apply touch in a plethora of ways in the story to accomplish multiple story goals.


Touch reveals character traits. Bestselling authors use touch to reveal information about a character. Instead of simply telling the readers that "Joe loves his son" we see Joe hugging his son and teaching his son how to hit a baseball. We learn about the father, Joe, through the way he physicaly touches his son. In another story, we may learn that a character is aggressive and abusive when he or she threatens, grabs, pulls, or slaps another character. Touch helps us "show not tell" who characters are in the story.

How does the main character in your current story touch others? What does that reveal about him or her? Somewhere in your story, find a place where you reveal a character trait through touch.

Touch distinguishes characters. The way someone touches others can distinguish one character from another. For example, one character may be very "touchy feely" and always be touching others. Another character may be standoffish and hardly touch anyone at all.

How do different characters in your story touch others? Do they all touch people the same? How can you make the differences even more clear?

Touch reveals character relationships. By watching how couples touch (or don't touch) we learn how close or distant they feel to each other. Think about it. Characters who hold hands, hug and kiss each other affectionately probably have a close, meaningful relationship. Couples that don't look at each other, who stand far apart, and who don't touch probably are in serious trouble.

How do the characters touch each other in your story? What does that say about them? How can you more clearly reveal relationships through touch? Try to come up with five times in your story where touch speaks to character relationships.


Touch reveals relationship changes. As people grow closer emotionally, they tend to also grow closer physically. They touch more frequently and more lovingly. Bestselling authors often show relationships changing by how touch changes over the course of the story.

How does touch change in your story? Does the way two people in love change in your story? (grow closer or farther apart)


Touch reveals character change.Bestselling authors also apply touch to show a character arc in full swing, such as when a cold-blooded killer first slashes his way through a upper-class neighborhood, then eventually hesitates before he kills, and finally leaves a survivor.

How can you use touch to show how a character changes in your story? Try to insert three (or more) paragraphs or entire scenes in your story where the way your characters touch others communicates internal personality change.


Extra Tips on Touch

1. The way a character touches any object (i.e., washes a car, punches the wall) broadcasts internal feelings about the object, or emotions in general
2. Characters can move from positive to negative or from negative to positive touch
3. Characters may touch differently in differently situations (i.e., at the gym, at home, at the office, etc).
4. Figure out what your character would never touch and then force him or her to touch it in the story.

The Heart of a Bestseller Part II

Welcome back, friend. Continuing with the last post, here are some additional writing secrets culled from Dean Koontz's Your Heart Belongs to Me.

Chapter 2

-The main character reacts and responds both physically, emotionally and mentally to the "episode" in the water (Don't know what I'm talking about? Review the previous post, Heart of a Bestseller Part I).
-The chapter is filled with wonderful sentences like, "The offshore breeze strengthened, blowing liquid smoke off the lips of the waves."
-The two main characters move from the beach to an apartment, where they eat and talk about Sam's (female main character) history with a certain family member. Talk is off death and dying, with a bit of Koontz humor drizzled in for flavor.
-The chapter ends with a short, powerful scene where Ryan (male protagonist) experiences another "episode" with his heart.

Chapter 3

-This four-page chapter details the "episode," detailing both the physical experience and Ryan's response to it.
-More beautiful language.

Chapter 4

-More response to the episodes. Ryan decides to have a doctor check him out.

Chapter 5

-Ryan at the doctor's office.
-The dialogue between doctor (who is a friend) and patient dominates this chapter. The doctor gives information, Ryan responds to it. After dumping the painful prognosis, the doctor and patient talk of common things, things having nothing to do with death and dying or heart problems. They talk about boats.
-The end of the chapter finishes with the twosome returning briefly to the painful prognosis.


What writing secrets can you learn?

*Craft memorable and vivid sentences that fire your reader's brains with delight. Study how bestsellers like Koontz pair words and structure sentences.
*Describe (show!) your protagonist reacting and responding to what happens in the story.
*Go one step further by showing how your characters respond emotionally, physically and mentally to the events of the story. This will add depth and realism to your novel.
*After characters discuss a painful or uncomfortable topic, have them briefly talk about mundane subjects, like mutual passions for boats, for instance. Then, right before the end of the scene or chapter, have the characters return to the painful topic. This will lend the often elusive quality of subtext to your novel or short story.

Stay tuned for the next installment, Heart of a Bestseller Part III.

The Heart of a Bestseller Part I

What makes a bestseller?
What hidden techniques do bestselling novelists like Dean Koontz use to pen blockbuster after blockbuster after blockbuster?
How can you apply those same tricks and secrets to your own fictional stories?

For the answers, read on, fellow writer. Read on.

Let's take a recent bestseller from Dean Koontz, Your Heart Belongs to Me, and analyze it, scene by scene.

Chapter 1

• The first thing that happens is that you find out the protagonists name (first two words in the entire book): Ryan Perry and that something is "broken" in him. This establishes the major point of view character and creates suspense. Not bad for a first sentence.
• Next, the first page of the book tells us a little about Mr. Perry. He is thirty-four, in good shape, likes to exercise, he has money (he has his own home gym and personal trainer), and the man likes to surf. This is almost strictly telling, detail after detail, but it is delivered quickly while we are still spellbound wanting to know about this "brokenness."
• We get more details, a phone conversation with his significant other, Samantha, drizzled with the brief recounting of their first meeting. Notice these details are quickly related and well-written.
• During their phone conversation, we learn more about Ryan and Samantha, notably an occasion when Ryan "rode a shark." Again, interesting. Back and forth goes their dialogue with nary a tag of "said" to be found. Koontz identifies the players up front and then lets their particular speech patterns orient the reader.
• After the phone conversation, we get a little action (dressing to go surfing) and some more details about Ryan's personal and business history.
• The next scene takes place at the beach. Some dialogue, intermingled with poetic descriptions of the sand and surf. Classic Koontz.
  
• Once out in the waves, wading and waiting for a ride back to the beach, Ryan experiences what seems to be a heart attack. At this point in the story, all we know as a reader is that something terrible is happening to someone we already like. The scene ends with everything now seeming formidable and oppressing, the sea rising up against our hero, nature conspiring for his death.

What secrets can you dredge up from this first chapter?

1. Introduce the main characters fairly quickly.
2. Give each character a distinct and memorable speech pattern (way of speaking, commonly used terms and nicknames).
3. Bridge backstory with small scenes and ongoing action.
4. Begin and end with suspense. Keep the reader wanting more, unable to put down the story. Do this by indicating something "broken" or wrong, but not precisely labeling the "brokenness" just yet. Hint at future danger looming in the horizon.
5. Take something familiar to your character (surfing and the ocean to Ryan in our example) and turn it against the character, make it the seeming enemy.



Check out the next installment of "The Heart of a Bestseller" very soon.

God bless you!