Immersive Writing: 3 Ways to Make Your Reader Forget They’re Reading by Christina Ferko

By Christina Ferko

One of my hopes while writing a story is to make it so immersive that the reader forgets they’re staring at page and instead falls deeply into the world and characters I’ve created. Reading a story where the pages suck you in so deeply like that, to me, is a special type of magic. But how do you do that? What helps a story go from words on a page to something that feels real and alive?

For me, I think there are a few things that can elevate a story and turn it into something readers truly feel a part of, as if they’re right there with the characters and living through the adventures or romances or horrors alongside them.

Here are three things I believe help transform a story into something fully immersive for the readers. (In this post, I’ll be using my current YA horror manuscript, with a summer camp setting, for my examples.)

1.     Word Choice

When writing a scene, I try to think of what I want to convey to the reader—not just the plot and actions of the character but the mood and emotions too. I try to choose words that impact and expand the scene to fit that mood/atmosphere, to show emotion.

If you’re writing a piece where there’s something creepy or scary happening, you want the reader to feel that, right? Or make them swoon with romance and have their heart pounding with adventure.

Here’s an example from my YA horror. In these short sentences, I wanted to invoke the feelings of immediacy and fear and show an atmosphere of tension.

Our feet slam on the wooden pier as we run, a staccato of hard bursts until we make it to the grass. I glance behind me as my breathes rake in and out, but the apparition is gone.

I could have just said: We run down the length of the pier. I glance behind me as my breath rushes in and out, but the apparition is gone.

The two options are close and the second isn’t bad, but choosing more specific and intentional words to add to the mood and feeling of the scene will really help a reader become absorbed in the story you’re telling. I used slam and hard bursts and rake to tie the actions of the character together with the feelings I’m trying to invoke here.

2.     Sensory Descriptions:

Everyone’s heard to add the five senses to your descriptions and I agree with this sentiment so much, but I also want to add that you should try to tailor them, again, to the mood and atmosphere of the scene. Obviously, sight is used a lot, but you can use the other senses as well to steer your reader toward the emotions and vibes you want them feeling, and I encourage you to add more than just sight to fully draw the reader into your story.

(Side note: be careful not to overload each scene/page with too many sensory details that will overwhelm the reader and pull them out of the story. I try to use just a few per page/scene. Sprinkle them throughout, don’t drench the page with them.)

Here's an example. In this scene I’m trying to give my character a moment to breathe and relax and I want the reader to feel that too. I want the reader to feel both the emotion of relief at the character being safe and unharmed while also feeling the sensory details as if they were really in this place or situation.

I lean on the door as I close my eyes and let the fresh air fill my lungs. It tastes like summer, the scent of silt-brewed water and night-blooming flowers. Of flourishing green grasses and sparkling stars.

I could have just written: I lean on the door as I close my eyes and take a deep breath. But how much richer is the scene with those added sensory details and descriptions? Hopefully, the reader feels as if they can almost smell and taste the summer air and take a calming breath with my character here.

3.     Scenery Descriptions:

My last suggestion is to bring the world together with specific scenery details. Tie the setting in with intention. Make your reader feel as if they’ve been fully dropped into the place where your character is—while also adding in either the mood of the character or scene as you share the setting.

(Side note: You don’t need paragraphs and paragraphs describing the environment/place though. I find it best to scatter these details in with the characters’ actions or dialogue.)

 And here’s that example:

We step under the canopy of trees and their vivid green crowns diffuse and dim the sunlight around us. The temperature dips slightly, making the afternoon heat more comfortable.

Pale and papery birch trees surround us, standing like silent sentinels. The gray knobs and knots on their trunks are shaped almost like eyes, staring at us from a hundred different directions and watching our every step. The further we walk, the deeper the chill and the darker the woods become.

“So, what brought you to [camp]?” [Redacted] asks as we walk along a thin dirt path, overgrown with moss and brush. The sun barely creeps through the treetops and the ground is a smear of dark shadows. 

In this section, I wanted to show the reader where the characters are/what the setting is, but I also wanted the character (and reader) to feel as if the comfort of the forest was slowly twisting into something a touch more ominous.

We get descriptions of the forest, but adding vivid green crowns diffuse and dim the sunlight starts out with and gives a warmer feeling to the reader while I show them where these characters are. And while I don’t normally describe the light/sun more than once in such a short space like this, I did here because I wanted this piece to feel as if the mood was turning ominous pretty quickly, and I used a mirrored opposite of that previous sentence about sunlight— The sun barely creeps through the treetops and the ground is a smear of dark shadows —to do it.

I also wanted this scene to start having a slightly creepy feel, so I used the description of the trees around them to show both the forest and that creepiness. The gray knobs and knots on their trunks are shaped almost like eyes, staring at us from a hundred different directions and watching our every step. I wanted the character and reader to start feeling as if they couldn’t trust the forest anymore, and by making the character view the trees as if they’re something almost sentient and watching this character added to that mood that I was trying to invoke here.

Overall, one of the best ways I find to help a reader forget they’re reading words on a page and instead become fully absorbed in the story is by showing off both the emotions of your characters and the mood/atmosphere of each scene with intentional use of the words you’re choosing and the descriptions you’re showing. That, I believe, is where some of the magic of writing really shines through.

Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope this post has helped any of you out there! Happy writing, lovelies!