A Musical Theory of Writing
When I think about my reader experience of a book, I think about music.
Just as with music, when I read a book, I feel three distinct kinds of satisfaction: intellectual, emotional, and resonant. Every book plays with these elements differently—the way classical compositions play across treble, mid, and bass. Taken together, they create a reader experience entirely unique to that book.
These elements of reader satisfaction are:
Things that Engage the Brain, and make things intellectually satisfying for the reader. The small hooks of questions followed by reveals, the wonder of exploring the world and magic and characters, the turns and tricks of plot, clever language. Anything that gives the reader that burst of intellectual satisfaction, that warm glow of clicking puzzle pieces together.
I associate it with a more distant POV.
In my music metaphor, this is the treble. You feel it in your head.
Things that Engage the Emotions, and make things emotionally satisfying for the reader. Character relationships being tested and proved true in moments of crisis, cathartic and revelatory character moments, those places where you’re deeply seated in a character’s emotional journey, the give and take of relationships growing deeper. Any time you cry in a Pixar movie.
I associate it with a tight POV.
In my music metaphor, this is the mid. You feel it in your heart.
Things that Engage the Instincts, and make things feel true and resonant for the reader. Mood and atmosphere, metaphor and symbolism and resonant objects, repetitions that reflect meaningful changes in characters, language that counters or undermines or emphasizes the action on the page, perfect and specific details that represent important moments in the story and are burned into your brain, anything that is unsaid but that you FEEL because of all of the above.
I associate it with an incredibly visceral POV.
In my music metaphor, this is the bass. You feel it in your gut.
How to Use This Weird Metaphor
I use this primarily as an analysis tool. When there’s this strange feeling of something lacking in a manuscript you’re working on? Looking at the strings of reader experience and seeing where one might need a bit more play can help. Want to improve your writing? Each kind of reader satisfaction has numerous tools associated with it. When brainstorming a new project? Feeling it out musically can help shape it in numerous ways, from the plot to the POV.
Not Working For You? Change the Metaphor
Or, if music isn’t your thing? Change the metaphor. You could create a stellar metaphor with cooking—mapping elements to salt, fat, acid, heat, and sweetness. (Does your book need more acid? Does it need a hit of sweetness for all that spicy?) You could do it with just about anything.
The important part is to find a metaphor with patterns you can map to your book, so that you can manipulate and feel the elements of your story with new eyes.