The Trendsetter

The above title is the advice I remember the most while I’m sitting here writing my Work In Progress (WIP) manuscript. The purpose is to not take your reader where he believes he will be taken, but to prolong the suspense and force your reader into a position where he will find it irresistible to know more about what happens next.

This emotional manipulation is one of the best ingredients in plotting your scene to the point where the reader has no choice but to finish reading it. And this reminds me of an interesting topic I learned in my psychological studies called reverse psychology. What does emotional manipulation in fiction have to do with reverse psychology you probably ask? Well, first, let us define reverse psychology. In Wikipedia,

Reverse Psychology is the term that describes the outcome where advocacy of one course of action persuades another person to do the opposite.

For example, reverse psychology occurs in an episode of Seinfeld, when a waitress admonishes Elaine not to touch the hot cup of coffee. Elaine, of course, promptly does.

In real life, we do it all the time. That’s why a lot of people break the rules and usually will do things they are advised not to do. In fiction, you can use this to create more tension along the way. Remember, as a writer your job is to frustrate the reader – agitate them with stress and pressure – strain them to the point of frustration where they are so absorbed into the story they must fulfill their psychological need to find closure by reading it to the very end. Your reader will love this.

In my short story Antara Dua Kota, my editor told me, in an extreme state of frustration, that he hates my female protagonist falling in love with the French fashion photographer. He wants Anita to just come back from her studies abroad without being involved with any European men. In this story, I don’t even mention that these two protagonists will be together, instead I used the foreshadow technique. As a smart reader, the editor senses what is coming next - and he doesn’t like it at all. As a writer, I am glad that I am able to manipulate his emotions so much that he chose it as one of the best short stories for the state award.

So if you want to manipulate your reader’s emotions, learn to use reverse psychology by applying it to your plot. I am sure you will find it very useful to maintain the suspense and tension in your story. Try it - you will glad you did.