Do I Make The Reader Feel Anything?

The worst thing you can do to a reader is to bore him. It is worse than enraging them. You must ask yourself what makes life interesting to you--and to them, the readers. Your story must have life to it--a seemingly tactile presence that they can almost reach out and touch. That is your goal as an author and nothing less. Decide that now and you will reach that star. Neglect it and you will be just another "wannabe" writer. It pays to study what moves you, the author. If it moves you, it may move an audience. And help you to get published and paid for your hard work. Publishing, movie rights...ahhhhh, wouldn't that be the life? Anyway, study the imagery, the "visual-ness", if you will, of the following vignettes (slices of life, a moment in time).


Anywhere I Want—© Steven G. O’Dell Nov. 2005

Thomas Feldon had reached the end of his workday. He slogged dejectedly through the front gate and climbed the worn steps to his front door. He had no one to return to each day, he hated his job and he had not so much as a pet to complain to for comfort. He was exhausted—not physically, but mentally and spiritually. Thomas unlocked and opened the door for the thousandth time, slipped in quietly and closed it behind himself. There was no noise at all in his house. It was silent as a tomb.

Sighing to himself, Thomas abruptly dropped his briefcase and thought to himself, That is the last of you for the weekend. Removing his suit jacket, he dropped it onto the sofa and felt yet another weight lifted from his shoulders—No more petty dictator bosses for the next few days. Sitting down, he removed his shoes and again delivered himself from a not-so-imaginary burden. No more deadlines to contend with for now. He removed his socks, smiled and dropped them where they would. No more nasty looks from the bosses’ secretary until Monday. Thomas stood up and unbuttoned his shirt, breathing a deep sigh of relief and exhaling it slowly. Removing his shirt, he tossed it onto the back of the sofa and stretched his arms upward. No whispering around the water cooler when I am approaching. He grinned widely and with renewed determination headed toward the back door, clad in T-shirt and trousers.

There was nothing in Thomas’s backyard except the grass and the sunshine, a few flowers that had voluntarily come up this year and the sound of the birds in the neighborhood trees. No matter. He was now in complete control of his world. Thomas closed his eyes and with face toward the sun, immediately detached himself from life as he knew it. Eyes still tightly shut, he smiled confidently and mysteriously and then stepped boldly forth into the dense forest that had just "appeared" before him. What a grand adventure must await me there, he thought. Perhaps this time I shall not return at all. And this time he didn’t.

From Shining Armor--Book One--The Knight Appears (C) Steven G. O'Dell 2002

Her mood swung suddenly, growing sober and deliberate. She looked straight into his eyes with warmth that seemed to heat the room and her gaze said more silently than she could have ever expressed in words. Ron felt the muscles in his chest tighten with the anxiety of an inexperienced schoolboy as he sat frozen in rapt and anxious attention, watching her slow approach and wondering that he had ever been so shy and backward as to almost let this precious pearl slip through his fingers. Thank God for Barbara, he thought.

She lowered herself easily onto his lap and slowly leaned forward, gently placing her lips upon his. She saw that he closed his eyes and heard him let out an involuntary whimper. She, too, closed her eyes and they kissed for the first time. A long, perfect kiss that made time and space disappear altogether. Such a kiss as she was sure had never been equaled since the world began. A kiss that, for its perfection, even the very heavens must take notice of. When they again opened their eyes, what had been a sunset was now complete darkness, except for a streetlight that graced the window from afar.