Tiny Lines: A Friday Invitation to Make Writing

My Friday Substack Series is especially for writers and those who teach writing. I say more about this here, if you’re a new visitor.

I’m calling this week’s craft move the reader’s reach. It begins when the writer introduces a narrator whose perspective on a set of events or the relationships between the people involved in them is quite limited. That narrator’s observations are offered unfiltered and devoid of greater context.

The reader sees what the narrator sees, but the reader also knows things the narrator doesn’t.

It’s in the gap between that narrator’s clear observation and all of that missing context that the reader does heavy interpretive work. It’s that work that pulls the reader deeper into the story.

The reader’s reach is one of the most powerful moves in narrative writing, and it’s one that you and your students already recognize in the literature you read. Let’s explore it more together.

I’ll see you on the other side.