How to Write Killer Prose (2)

The most important piece of advice I have to share about writing fiction sounds really boring. It sounds like one of those dicta that sound meaningful, but don't actually mean anything. But it does, and it's this:

Your reader must be invested in your story.

Let's rewind. A friend's going on a blind date, and asks you for advice. You say the usual things: act normally, don't overthink the situation, be yourself. That's good advice, and it applies equally to fiction. When a reader first encounters your work, it's a blind date. You want her or him to be intrigued, to like what they see, to be drawn in. But how do you achieve this? How do you use words and sentences to make people invest in your fictional world. Can this be taught? Can it be learnt?

Absolutely.

Let's get the negatives out of the way. What are the sure-fire loser moves? What's the literary equivalent of asking your date how much they think your watch cost, or dragging them to a karaoke bar and forcing them to sit through your off-key rendition of My Humps?

Basically, any kind of peacocking. Overwrought prose, laboured description, simulated deep feeling, look-at-me metaphors (and yes, I've been guilty them all of them). The problem with this kind of stuff is that it sets out to impress rather than communicate, and that's every bit as distancing on the page as it is face to face. A successful first date is one in which an encounter between strangers becomes a shared experience. That's what you should be trying to achieve with your fiction.

Let's look at ways and means.